Summer Goals Update

Hind sight is 20/20.
Look before you leap.
Count the cost.

All those pithy warnings mean the same thing: take a minute to analyze whatever commitment you're about to make :-).

Which of course we did the night before we started our 30 day real-foods challenge. Of course we did. We even made the one rule a fairly easy rule to follow. And yet, when we woke up all gung ho on Saturday morning, what to our wondering eyes did appear? NOTHING.

Yep. We had no bread that "fit," the whole wheat mini bagels were out, all boxed cereal on hand was out....

So, we made do. And it ended up being marvelous: whole wheat biscuits (we were out of white flour, even!) and fried eggs. Mmmm.

I had to "quick-like" whip up some whole wheat bread dough so we could have some sort of sandwich for lunch and made a quick run to the store for more flour and such. This being the end of the month, grocery-budget-wise, we didn't want to overspend. And since we hadn't decided on our challenge until, um, the night before, I hadn't saved enough money nor bought the right stuff to make this first week a glorious celebration of real foods. [Approved storebought bread will cost us $6/loaf...] So, we've been ransacking the pantry and freezer and have ended up eating quite well so far. We'll be taking the weekend off since we'll be with family, and I don't expect them to be making me bread all weekend :-).

I won't be giving mini-updates all through this 30 days, but I thought it worth pointing out that the challenge so far has really pushed us to eat up some of the random food on hand, and it's been great. It's also worth pointing out that I don't work outside the home, the kids are out of school, and the hubby is fully on board. That means I have loads of time to let bread rise, to make something from scratch, and some willing "helping hands."

In fact, the biggest success of the week? The husband's sourdough starter* is flourishing, and he made an *amazing* giant boule of sourdough bread. YUM YUM. A wonderful new discovery. Did you know how cheap sourdough bread is to make?! We also made a sourdough coffee cake. And regular pound cake (heck, it's all real ingredients by our terms!). And whole wheat applesauce muffins. And Mediterranean Salmon Cakes (which we love, but haven't had in a while). And Pasta with Lentils--another dish we enjoy but haven't had in a while. And a new granola recipe I plan to share. And yogurt (I've made yogurt for years--but I'd gotten out of the habit this semester). And barley "pasta" salad.

All these recipes on full tummies that we enjoy but haven't been making--it's a great start!

I only need to make it a couple more days before heading to the store. I think we'll survive!

*He's been listening to Michael Pollan's latest book, Cooked, and has come home inspired to make sourdough starter/bread AND to start pickling things. Should be a great summer!