There you are! (There you are? No, there YOU are!) Yes, it's been too long from the time of last post to this one. I apologize for that. It's been busy! (What, you, too??)
This post is dedicated to the art of being resourceful and getting your hands "dirtied" in a little bit of homesteading. Dirty, or, floured, perhaps. "Something old" refers to the old-fashioned domestic past-time of making bread, and more abstractly, making one's own food. "Something new" refers to the manner in which it is done: bread machine. Is a bread machine a sign of cheating? Well, maybe. CuisineArt would say no, right?
Here's the deal. Making your own food, but in an industrious and time-efficient way, can save you money and boost your confidence. If you have a grain grinder like a Vita-Mix grain blender or even a non-electric hand grinder, you can extract your own high-quality, high-fiber, highly-nutritious flour from your grain du jour. Or, you can invest in good pre-milled flours (King Arthur is one that is both readily available and pretty good quality). Then, use technology to help you out and get yourself a bread maker. This will save you time, while allowing you to bake bread that is more filled with substantive goodness and none of the preservatives. Plus, best of all, you really can save money. That is, unless you're purchasing white bread for $1.29 a loaf, in which case, it is necessary to look at the long-term detrimental health effects of food which has sold its soul to extended shelf life and that mush-able quality of biodegradable packing peanuts.
There is truly an art to eating well while at the same time eating cost-effectively. For so many busy individuals or families, one of these elements ends up sacrificed upon the altar of convenience. But the challenge to you today is: how can you realistically claim that which was lost?
Choose one thing in your life that you can make at home, using wisdom and the help of technology or a more simplified processing method. For example, if you don't have time to make bread (even through the labors of a machine!), experiment with making easy stovetop "pancakes". Put a "pat" of cold-processed, good quality coconut oil in a pan (or try no fat, just water for a baked effect), and cook upon it this mixture: 1 1/2 cups water, 1 cup or so of nutritious flour of your choice, one egg (or none), a pinch of sea salt, and maybe two tablespoons of honey, if you like. It's like instant bread, a filling starch, and simply made. You'll feel almost primitively satisfied as you take your first bite! Don't worry if it's a little bland - it's nothing that some agave, honey, or even flavored applesauce won't mend.
LIVE FRESH: If you can't make food exactly like great grandma Mabel did in her Iowan farmhouse kitchen, at least try to meet the goal modern-style. Do what you can - use technology to speed up the time factor of cooking, baking, stewing, fermenting, creating good, healthy, vitality-breeding foods. Just tell yourself that it's a step closer to being more self-sufficient and getting more out of life and land, like so many of our ancestors did.
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