Everything Evolves

We’re all evolving. At least we’re supposed to be. This blog has evolved a bit too. I no longer find myself writing about strictly organic topics. I seem to digress to parenting, philosophy, chicken-keeping, gardening, and managing a home, with the occasional political rant thrown in for fun. Hope that’s OK with you. As it evolves, I would invite you to suggest topics. Some weeks I have more ideas and words than I know what to do with, and other weeks (like this week for instance) I have to scrounge around for something relevant to say.

I like to post twice a week, but if it gets to the point where I find myself writing just to be writing, I’ll try to spare you and get by with just one post. There are topics I covered last year that I may revisit because my own understanding of a particular topic has evolved.

I would also just LOVE to have a guest blogger contribute something, so if you have something to say, pass it along. I’m a gentle editor, if I was a little tougher you wouldn’t have to wade through so many words each post. I’m still waiting for my cousin Carolee to send me her guest-post on Air-dried Laundry (ha! Now you have to do it!).

In the spirit of evolving, I’d like to share my latest wheat bread recipe for the bread maker. I’m always trying to perfect my sandwich bread recipe so my kids won’t resent the fact that their crazy mother refuses to provide store-bought bread. I know lunchtime finds them a bit self-conscious of the size and shape of the bread itself, so I’ve been working towards making the bread so delicious that they suffer the humiliation gladly. Here’s the latest evolution of our sandwich wheat bread:

Honey-Flax-Sunflower Wheat Bread
(makes a medium loaf)

1 ¼ cup water
3 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons butter
1 ½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup sunflower seeds (I finely chop mine in the food processor so no one suspects there are nuts in the bread)
¼ cup ground flax meal
2 cups Whole Wheat flour
1 ½ cups unbleached bread flour
1 ¼ teaspoon yeast

Place the ingredients in the processor in the order listed. Bake on Whole Wheat setting.

Every bread maker is different, but mine takes these ingredients and makes bread that has a delicious crust, yet is soft and moist on the inside. It's full of wonderful flavors. Sometimes I substitute pumpkins seeds (ground up, of course) for the sunflower seeds. One of these days I'll get real crazy and throw in both! Gotta love my exciting life.