Home Baking

I'm all for it!

Awhile back I was in a conversation that turned to baking. My friend extolled my baking and deferred to my expertise because I bake "professionally." I reminded her of the absolutely delicious loaf of raisin-cinnamon bread that she baked and gave me at Christmastime, that she was indeed a baker.

I bake a lot and people do buy my baked goods. That doesn't necessarily make me a better baker than anyone else, just a more prolific one. And maybe a more interested one.

I think anyone who wants to can bake. And if they want to, I encourage them to do so. I think we need lots more home baking and home cooking and lots less processed, mass-produced food.

I write this blog in part to encourage others to bake--to share what I know and learn about baking, present ideas, and to give information about baking.

I encourage you to bake. Whether you bake once in a while or regularly, I think it enriches your health and your life.

When you bake something yourself, you know what's in it. You can make something that is (or should be) inherently healthful, like bread, more healthful. Even if you are baking white bread, you can use fresh, high-quality ingredients in appropriate proportions (lower on the salt, sugar, and fat) and no preservatives. And if you want to bake whole-grain bread, I'm your cheerleader! Even if you bake something that's not so healthful, like brownies, you can still use fresh, high-quality ingredients, no preservatives, and you may even find you prefer them with whole-grain flour. I do!

When you bake something yourself, it is fresh. You get to enjoy it at its peak of deliciousness. Not to mention you get to enjoy the lovely scent of whatever you're baking.

There is a sense of satisfaction, even accomplishment, when you bake something yourself. I don't know if baking skills will ever be necessary for your survival, but when you can bake, your world is a little better for it

My dinner: Buffalo-chicken pizza with broccoli, peppers and onions, on a whole-wheat tortilla crust.

Some Disturbing Nutritional News

Look at the two graphs on Marion Nestle's blog post titled "We eat what we buy. Both need improvement, says USDA." Focusing on grains, for example, we all know we're supposed to eat whole grains. It doesn't need to be 100%, but these graphs show that we, as a society, are way off the mark.

Here are two quotes from the abstract of the study cited by Dr. Nestle:

Overall, consumers purchase too few fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and too many refined grains, fats, and sugars/sweets.

Differences across income levels and across race are small,with all subgroups falling well short of the recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines.

And from "Discussion and Conclusions," page 15:

Virtually without exception among food categories, consumers allocate too much of their food budgets to less healthful options and too little to healthful options. We find that the average household falls far short in fruit and vegetable consumption and spends too much on sugars and refined grains. The correlation between income and purchase healthfulness warrants further research on both the food environment and consumer perceptions, particularly since healthy food options are typically not more expensive (Carlson and Frazao, 2012).

If you do better than this, keep up the good work.

If this describes you, consider making a small change for the better!

Eating Healthy Food Doesn't Have to be Expensive

Often I hear and read comments like these:

A bag of Cheetos is cheaper than a bag of apples; unhealthy processed foods are more prevalent (and less expensive) than whole foods

I hear people use these as excuses for choosing the less-healthy foods to fill up on.

I would like to offer a few random examples of inexpensive, healthy, and (very important) delicious foods. They may require a little extra time. But often that just requires a little planning ahead.

Bake fresh whole-wheat bread for less than $1 for a 1 pound loaf. It tastes better than anything you can buy in the grocery store, it is more nutritious, and it is satisfying. Freeze whatever you can't use right away. When you thaw it out, it will be as good as fresh. Well, almost. Yes, it requires some up-front costs, like a grain mill and grain. But those are obstacles that can be overcome. (I'll address them in a future post.)

Last week I made Split Pea Soup. Delicious, nutritious, and very inexpensive. I made about a gallon of soup for less than $5. That's 16 cups of soup. That's 31 cents per cup:

$2 for 2 lb. split peas, 38 cents for 2 oz. of ham, and I'm being generous when I figure about $2.50 for a few ribs of celery, a couple of carrots, an onion, 2 cloves of garlic, a couple of teaspoons of thyme, a little freshly-ground pepper, and a little salt. I happened to have a quart of home made chicken broth in the freezer, so I used it in place of some of the water.

When my kids were little, I was a stay-at-home-mom, and I always tried to start the day with a hearty breakfast--things like pancakes, French toast, scrambled eggs and toast. Add a glass of milk and seasonal fruit (apple slices, orange slices) or canned fruit (those were the days of home made applesauce and home canned peaches!) and it's a pretty inexpensive meal. Breakfast doesn't have to be eaten in the morning either. It can make a quick, inexpensive supper.

Speaking of breakfast, a bowl of oatmeal costs a lot less than a bowl of any cereal from a box. And it's more nutritious and more filling.

As I said, these are just random examples, but I don't believe you have to choose between eating cheap and eating healthy. You do need to be judicious in your choices, and you need to be willing to cook more from scratch and use fewer prepared foods. But some people--like me--think that's a better way to eat anyway!

What are your inexpensive healthy food choices?