Homemaking

I finally have made whole-wheat bread a few times and succeeded!  I don't know what I was so afraid of, it really was pretty easy. 

And it tastes good too, especially when it's still hot from the oven and slathered with butter.  Mmm...  I want to try out more bread recipes now.  Anyone have a good one to share? 

We were going to put in a garden this year, but Katie was born right around planting time (yes, it's early down here in Texas).  So we have a little patio garden instead.  We were going to use big containers, but discovered these garden bags at Home Depot and decided to try them.  Have you ever seen these before?  So far, so good.  We have tomatoes, basil, rosemary, cilantro, and thyme. 

We have been harvesting tomatoes for the last few weeks.  It's also been great to use fresh herbs when I cook.  I hope we'll be able to have a large garden next year and grow even more vegetables. 

We went to a preparedness fair about a month ago and it was a good reminder of what areas we need to improve on.  I learned about sprouting and decided to try it with lentils.  I forgot to take pictures, but it was so easy.  I poured a half cup of lentils into a mason jar, soaked them in water overnight, then poured off the water.  For the next three days I rinsed them with water twice a day and watched the sprouts grow.  (Keep them stored in the fridge after that.)  We ate them plain and on sandwiches and salads.  They tasted like sugar snap peas to me.  Yum! 

We also ordered a solar oven which should be here soon.  I'm excited to try it out!  Anyone else ever cooked in one?