Soaking Grains
It must be the weather. The temperature is in the 60s and rainy. Or, it could be the signs of autumn:
Whatever it is, this week I have been in a cooking mood! On Tuesday I made four different marinades and packaged up 15 pounds of chicken. (It was on sale for $1.69 a pound!! It was begging to go into my freezer.) Below you get a nice view of the inside of my frig (you're welcome) in which I have Lemon-Pepper, Middle-Eastern, Cranberry, and good ol' BBQ marinades happily creating tasty future meals. (The dish with the green lid is cucumber soup.)
This morning I checked my upcoming menus for the weekend and discovered I had lots of bread recipes planned. Following the advice in Nourishing Traditions, I soak my flour with homemade cultured milk to neutralize the phytates. Doing this makes the nutrients in the grain bio-available (cool word, eh?) to your body. Without soaking (or using sourdough, or sprouting the grains), the nutrients sort of move through your body without really benefiting it. To read more about that, click HERE.
I have three bowls of flour soaking for three different bread recipes. The soaking time is overnight, so tomorrow will be a baking day.
In the picture below, starting on the left, you see my grain mill bottom (I LOVE my grain mill), and a large blue bowl holding spelt flour dough for making 4 pizza crusts. On top of that (in the bowl that states, "The Good Stuff is In Here"), is oat flour for biscuits. In front of those bowls is tomorrow's breakfast--Buttermilk pancakes. The tall jar holds some oat groats (lovely name).
I really do think it's the weather. How about you? Are you in a cooking mood due to conditions beyond your control?
(BTW, if anyone would like to contribute some recipes for my "Emergency Cookbook" request HERE, please email me. My email address is at the top of the page.)
8 comments:
I love your baking frenzy. Yes, it's definitely spurred on by the weather and moods for me, too!
I'm so glad you like the peanut butter/banana cubes idea! I just made another batch of them today with three spotty bananas, and it turns out so good.
Hey there, thanks for the welcome back! This cooler weather does make me want to knit more.
Hubby & I celebrate #25 on Dec 19 of this year. We've got tickets to Cirque de Soleil around that time and we'll go out for a nice dinner together.
I'm also getting the baking & cooking mojo back. Summer is way too hot to care about that stuff!
The weather has definetly been affecting my mood to cook. I live in Colorado and it is SO hot here right now. This week it is cooler and in the 70's but next week it jumps back up to the 80's.UGH! We've had unusual weather this time of year and it makes me not want to step foot in my kitchen! I get break a sweat just by looking at the stove!
Meagan
It's a cold rainy day here and YES I am so in the mood for cooking --comfort foods in general. I'm also in major fall nesting mode too.
Love the photo of the tree...so beautiful.
Wow, you have been a busy little gal!
Rebecca--I've printed out your banana cube recipe and put it on the frig. We should get to try them soon--if I can get my son to leave the bananas long enough to get spotty! (He's a banana fan.)
Gina--The Cirque de Soleil? That would be SO cool to go and see. What a wonderful plan for such a milestone of an anniversary!
Meagan--I hear you. I never understood the "draw" of hot cocoa when I lived in Florida. When I moved Up North, I found that I actually CRAVED hot cocoa and stews and all those cozy, warm comfort foods.
Trixie--I think fall is an amazing time of the year. It always surprises me with its color and crispness.
Jan--We have a LOT of fall foliage pictures. I grew up in Florida so I'm still impressed with the change in the leaves. I may have to post another beauty soon!
Mary--I was on a nice roll with all this cooking and then I had to go and catch a cold. I was very glad that I had all that pre-cooked beef in the freezer from a few weeks ago!
OHMIGOSH! I'm jealous! I've been feeling the freezer frenzy too. I've been making tomato puree. We don't have a stand alone freezer (although I've begged enough I believe one is on it's way. Yahoo!). Okay going back to drool over your fridge....
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