Turquoise

Remember when I was inspired to spray paint? Well, I thought I'd start with something dramatic. Here is the before:

And here is the after:

It's bright! I like it for now, but I can see myself growing tired of it. Hmm, what's next on my spray painting list...

Last minute

card for work.

Oatmeal...

...blech.

Does anyone know how to make oatmeal look good in a photo? I just got a lot of gross shots. Does anyone know how to make oatmeal taste good without adding loads of sugar?

I wanted to try oatmeal for a "filling and frugal start" to my day. It is also ideal for soaking to help reduce the phytic acid. I followed the recipe here. I added little cubes of apple, maple syrup, whole milk, and a little brown sugar. Blech. I couldn't finish the bowl. It's too sticky and not very tasty. Either the apples were not sweet at all or the oatmeal zapped any sweetness that was there.

Even the Babe only had a few bites before she was done.

Anyone know how to make tasty oatmeal without resorting to the quaker instant packs?

A sign for Grace

I like these kind of crafts, the kind that take less than a half hour but look nicer than that.

I'm not really fond of the font I used for "GRACE" so one day I might change it. I really like the font for "finds beauty in everything" and if you're interested you can find it here.

Soaked in Buttermilk Whole Wheat Bread

I have begun my big new old-fashioned food experiment. I have to admit, this is the first time I've made whole wheat bread! This is also the first time I've ground my own wheat! And not as surprising, this is the first time I've soaked flour overnight in buttermilk! All in all it turned out pleasantly.

The recipe I used was from here. I halved the recipe, left out all the optional ingredients and the dough inhancer, and *ahem* accidentally started with an extra cup of flour. I'm not so good at halving recipes in my head. I kind of expected a flaming disaster and a soaring success all at once. What I got was somewhere inbetween-closer to the success side. The texture was perfect! I could've sold it at the grocery store and competed with Grandma Sycamore. The bread was tasty, too. However soaking in buttermilk left a sourdough tang that I don't know if I really love. It's not bad, but it's not for everything.

The point of this experiment, though, is not to make things that are out-of-this-world delicious. The point of this experiment is to see if eating homemade foods prepared with old-fashioned techniques helps me feel better and digest food better. The more I think about it, the more daunting this experiment can be. The only way to really know the difference is if I am consistant and replace ALL my bread with this bread, and ALL my grains with soaked grains (or the like).

I'll start with the bread. I'm pretty sure I can keep this up indefinitely.