I'm back. And it feels good.
Sometimes, we need to hit the reset button. And hit it again. And again. And again. Until finally, we hit our stride.
If you're like me and you've got a little Ross Gellar living inside your creative mind constantly yelling, PIVOT! It's ok, we can befriend him. You're allowed to change your creative flow whenever and however you see fit. You're allowed to build new rhythms when and where needed. No one gets this thing we call life perfect in one fell swoop. It takes time, and adjustments, and growth. And, we can learn to love the journey along the way.
For me, taking some time off all things online gave me a chance to get creative in the kitchen again... and man did it feel good. Over the last few weeks I've embraced being fully present in the kitchen as new rhythms in slow living and simple cooking emerged.
I now make a batch of weekly meat broth for soups, rices, stews, and just pure drinking. I make at lease one batch of bread. And I get creative with using those. This week - dump soup, and bread leftovers became the croutons dreams are made of.
It obviously was not always like this here in my kitchen. For a while, I was stuck. I kind of just kept telling myself "one day I'll do GAPS diet" and "one day I'll bake weekly sandwich bread".... well all it takes to get going is... well.. giving it a go. So a'going I went. Starting, with broth. And it was too easy...
Meat Broth Recipe
- one whole pasture raised chicken
- one onion
- one carrot
- one celery stick
- one zucchini
- one tablespoon salt
- on tablespoon peppercorns
- cover with water in a dutch oven
- bring to boil, then reduce and simmer for at least three hours
- (full video & recipe coming later this week)
It took time to get the hang of making meat broth. And then when I did, I started adding bread to the mix and that's really my game plan going forward - master one task, then add something new.
Breaking things down into smaller pieces is a great way to manage overwhelm in life and learn to enjoy the process - smell the dough, feel it, stretch it, enjoy it.
Sandwich Bread Recipe
(full video & recipe here)
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 2 teaspoons instant active yeast
- 3 cups flour
- 1.5 teaspoons sea salt
- 1 tablespoon cane sugar
- 3 tablespoons softened unsalted butter
Instructions
- combine dry ingredients
- add wet ingredients slowly to dry in stand mixer with dough hook
- once dough has formed, add butter slowly
- knead dough into ball, set aside to rise for one hour or until doubled in size
- degas and roll out dough roll dough up and place in greased loaf pan allow to rise 30min or until doubled in size
- Bake @350 for 35-40min min or until golden brown
- Remove from loaf pan to cool on wire rack (full video & recipe here)
Slowly but surely, we're living more and more of a homegrown and homemade life over here and my heart is full.
A sweet story before we part ways- Tommy told me he appreciated that I made crepes this morning because it made the day feel special and made him happy. What an honor to wield such power in this place we call home. I get to be a homemaker and shift the entire feeling of a place and a day with something as simple as crepes.... and soups and breads and all the things we love around here. What a gift.
