Will this Harm us or Help us?

**There is a bread recipe after this rant so just make it through...it's worth it! lol

I was in the grocery store today and I observed two things that kindda made my heart sad. I was in the bulk section (unbleached flour for .28 a lb!) and I noticed a family with four (yelling) children. One of the girls says ,'Mom! I'm getting some beef jerky!' She walks near me and picks up a handful of  Slim Jim things. And yes I mean things. I turn back around and think...'Oh sweetheart that is not beef jerky.' Then I get in line and a mom and her five children are in front of me and I'm thinking...'How fun a big family would be.' Then she starts to load their food and I see 3 huge boxes of Pop tarts, fruit cups...processed food and more processed food.


I'm not judging these people. They just don't know what they are feeding their family. The mom in front of me probably thought fruit cups were a healthy choice. But she doesn't know that they contain High Fructose Corn Syrup which harms your immune system. So when her kids get sick she'll wonder why their little bodies take so long to recover.


Every time I'm at the grocery store I am reminded why we eat the way we do. And don't get me wrong we don't eat perfectly...my weakness is chocolate {grin}. We have been slowly changing our habits over the past year or so and we have a ton more to learn and change. This is what I've learned so far...question everything's ingredients before it goes in our basket. Will this item help us or harm us? Then make your decision.


It comes down to... I want to know what I'm feeding my family.


So we have stopped buying a lot of items we used to. I have started cooking from scratch instead of a box. We try to stick with organic foods as much as we can afford. And we are trying lots of new things...good and bad (lol). Ex: Don't make homemade doughnuts with whole wheat flour...they are horrible! 


One of our newer things is homemade bread. You can buy real bread at Trader Joes or Lassens or whatever health food store you have but this can be expensive depending on how much bread you go through a week. So I tried a whole wheat bread machine recipe for a couple months and slowly but surely my family stopped asking for toast or sandwiches. So back to the internet I go and find a recipe for oven baked white bread. My husband loves the bread and that is a big deal! I used to be afraid of bread but it's so easy. So I don't feel like I'm always checking on it I just set my timer for the rising times. There are 6 ingredients in this bread. Take a quick look in your pantry and see how many are listed on your bread...surprised?? Me too.

3 cups of warm water                                            
3 TBS yeast                                                          
3 tsp salt                                                                
4 TBS oil
1/2 cup organic sugar
8 cups of bread flour
*Tip* So you don't have to buy different flours just buy the one you like and find Gluten Flour in your bulk section and add 1TBS per cup of flour. Ex: This calls for 8 cups of bread flour so I used 8 cups unbleached flour and add 8 TBS Gluten Flour to make it bread flour.

Combine water, yeast, salt, oil, sugar, and 4 cups of flour. Let rise until double. (Mine takes about 30mins)

Add 4 cups of flour and knead until smooth (I used my Kitchen Aid). Put into greased bowl and cover with damp cloth until double. (about another 30mins)

Punch down and let rest a few mins. Divide into 3 parts, shape (just make the top look nice and smooth), and place in 3 greased loaf pans. Cover and let rise until double. ( about another 30 mins) 

Finally!! Bake 35 mins set on 350* And you get these beautiful loaves....

Now remember that this bread has no preservatives so you need to eat it or freeze it. This lasted us a week and a half. I kept 2 out and froze the other until we needed it. I looks like a lot of work but it's really not and it's delicious! For us this is one more step to self sufficiency...I'm never buying store bread again {Grin}