On the Road to Healthy Eating

Being on the Prism program and watching what I eat as been an eye opening experience.  I have learned a lot about our food and why it is not good for us.  The more I learn the more I desire to make everything that I can from scratch and the more I want to avoid those food products that come in boxes and cans.  If I could I wouldn't even mind finding a farmer who would let me milk their cow for fresh milk, yogurt, cheese, and butter.  (Yeah, I am a little weird that way.  I call it the "farm girl" blood that runs in my veins.  My mom did grow up on the farm, you know.)

One of the blessings about our current living situation is that the former owners left my pantry stocked with a lot of whole grains.  I have bins of whole wheat flour, rice flour, soy flour, kamut grain, cracked wheat, wheat bran flakes, wheat germ, sesame seeds, lentils, barley, etc.....So I have begun to experiment.  Remember that book I told you about, Nourishing Traditions?  Well, I have been reading it alot.  I mean, ALOT!   Besides making the muesli, I have also made kamut porridge for breakfast.  Yum!  With the leftover kamut porridge, I make fried mush which is one of Bonnie's favorite dishes to eat for breakfast or for an after school snack.  A litttle honey to sweeten and it is awesome.  To make the kamut porridge, you take a cup of kamut grain and coarsely grind it.  Add a cup of warm water and a teaspoon of vinegar, cover it, and let it sit for twenty four hours.  The next morning, boil a cup of water, add the soaked kamut grains, cover, and simmer for five minutes. I then add a teaspoon of honey and cinnamon to flavor it.  For fried mush, add an egg to the leftover porridge and mix.  In a skillet add a tablespoon of butter and melt.  Spoon in the porridge mixture and fry it in the butter.  Turn it over like a pancake and fry the other side.  Serve with a little honey or pure maple syrup. 

Not all of my experiments have turned out so well.  I am not a good bread maker, but I want to be.  I thought I would try to make a healthy whole grain bread with all of the ingredients that are in my pantry.  I took the kamut grain and ground into a flour.  I then toasted some barley and oats and ground them into a flour as well.  Mixing those flours with some whole wheat I tried to make a healthy bread and this is what I got....I'm not to proud to show my utter failures!

Not very appetizing.  It didn't even taste good.  lol    However, nothing must go to waste so I took the bread and broke it up into pieces, spread it over my cookie sheet, and set it in the oven at 200 degrees until it all dried up.  Then I ran it through my processor and made it into bread crumbs.

Now I will use it for meatloaf, meatballs, salmon patties, or breading for chicken and fish. 

 

I haven't given up on making whole wheat bread though.  I will try again, and I will eventually succeed.! 

 

On a final note....I weighed in at our meeting last night.  I have lost another 12 pounds since our last weigh in giving me a total weight loss of 28 pounds since starting the Prism program four months ago.  Since starting the journey to loose weight and getting in shape two years ago, I have now lost a total of 55 pounds!  Yeah!