In the Kitchen - Weekly Resolutions

Lately, I have resolved to incorporate more Nourishing Traditions type cooking into our diets as well as my new efforts to minimize plastics in our daily lives.  I'm doing this in baby steps.

So far:

I tried soaking steel cut oats for oatmeal.  I LOVED it.  And I don't like oatmeal much, but the kids only ate a spoonful or two and then discretely took their bowls to the sink.  So I've decided that this week I'd try something I saw suggested in some the comments section of a NT cooking blog somewhere, which is to soak the oatmeal during the day and then cook it very slowly overnight in the crockpot.  Supposedly it comes out very creamy and not chewy, which is what the kids objected too.  I thought it had wonderful texture but they said they felt like they had pebbles in their mouths!  So cooking oatmeal again is resolution # 1 for this week.

Hannah bought a big tub of vanilla yogurt when she was here for Thanksgiving.  It's just been sitting in the fridge.  I think I should make smoothies for breakfast one morning with that.  I don't know if that is Nourishing Traditions or not, it's store bought yogurt, but it is using up something in the fridge!  And hopefully the kids will like it.  Resolution #2

I kind of suspended my breadmaking activities.  I think I only made bread one day this past week, but I really can't seem to get the kind of bread I want.  I need to order the dough improver from King Arthur.  Resolution #3.

I made broth from our Thanksgiving turkey and made turkey soup, but again nobody but myself and my aunt ate it.  And I've got a huge pot of it in the fridge.  Is it still good after all this time?  I don't have anything to freeze it in.  It did supply a couple of nights dinner for two and a couple of lunches as well.  And it was a good experiment for me because I was trying to be very conscientious about how I made it.  But I might just toss the rest.  I do however need to get something non-plastic that I can freeze soup in!  So I need to be on the hunt for something suitable.  Resolution #4.

I bought a huge tin of popcorn at Trader Joe's this week, just because I wanted a huge tin.  So the kids have been snacking on the popcorn and when they are done that will become my bread storage.  I need to decorate the outside somehow because I know having a Christmas themed tin on my counter all year long will bother me.  I think I'll put Becky on that task.  She'll come up with something clever.  But it is big and I bet it will store a loaf of homemade bread and leftover bagels quite nicely.  So we can be plastic free about bread!  Resolution #5

I just visited a tiny little organic grocers in our town.  Everything is local and organic.  Everything is also out of this world expensive!  I bought some locally grown/ground cornmeal and I plan to make cornbread this week with it.  I also bought some locally raised/made bacon.  Very costly and not even enough bacon to feed the whole family two slices at breakfast!  So I cooked it up and it's first come, first served.  Some of my kids don't even like pork bacon because they are so used to the turkey bacon I  usually get (and actually prefer; the pork kind can be so fatty).  However, apparently that fat is good for you!  My mom always saved bacon grease and used it for making eggs.  She'd also use it with baked beans or instead of butter on vegetables (especially green beans; they were yummy!).  So I found a stainless steel water bottle that we've seemed to have misplaced the lid for.  I was really grumbling about that because those water bottles aren't cheap!  Though I suppose they are more cost effective (and healthier and better for the planet) than constantly buying plastic water bottles.  But anyway, I decided to use it for my bacon lard and just cover it with some foil for a lid.  So, ta da, I now have my very own bacon grease tin.  Resolution # 6 - cook something with bacon grease this week!  Maybe the cornbread!

Lastly,   I bought organic coconut oil but I don't know how to use it?  Does it replace vegetable oil in recipes?  Resolution #7 - figure out coconut oil.

So that is one resolution per day this week!  A tall order for me, the perpetually overwhelmed and scatter-brained soul that I am.  Well, they are something to aspire to, anyway!