Bread and Veggies (and a puppy)

In light of the Virginia Tech killings, I feel superfluous posting about anything right now. But until I can think of anything else to do, my life must go on (which means that I should probably stop obsessively listening to news coverage on the radio).

Here is the latest CSA box:

A lot of it went into a huge free-for-all soup that I froze and have been enjoying for a few weeks now. I've discovered that this is the best way to use the contents of the box, mostly because I've run out of other ways to use the leeks and carrots. I can only make leek omelets so many times before feeling sick to my stomach. The soup calms the taste of the leeks and they add a lot to the flavor when mixed with a lot of other veggies.

The asparagus was sauteed in butter and eaten with buckwheat, which I cooked the crap out of by mistake. A lesson for the future; 2 parts water to 1 part buckwheat is too much water. I also made some recycled grain bread with my sourdough starter!


You can see the left-over rice sticking out of the dough. I used mostly wheat flour and some white and oat, along with the sourdough starter and the brown rice.


Unfortunately, I have no patience and I didn't let the loaves rise enough before cooking them. I've also realized that I need to use more flour because my hands are always sticky and covered with dough after I knead the bread. I'm pretty sure that is not what is supposed to happen at that stage in the bread-making.


I should also score the loaves on top because they busted out the side when they baked. Whoops. Whatever, it was a learning experience. I used a massive serrated knife to cut the slices and I swear I was sore the next day. They were like little bricks (this is how I know I need to let them rise longer).


But the bread is quite tasty with some butter and jelly (okay, a LOT of butter and jelly). I'm also dipping it in my soup. Mmmmm, homemade makes me happy.


I feel I have been lax in my puppy picture duties, so here are a few cute ones of Marshall. He's getting to look like a big boy now, but he still has that baby chub around the feet, so cute. He really likes the tennis balls that my mom sent home with me. He has the typical dog response when you throw two of them, "Which one do I chew? This one? That one? Can I chew both and the same time?"








And finally (sorry for the loooong post), I bought a bunch of line and some clothes pins at the hardware store so I can put up a clothesline in the backyard! Just one more way to save energy (especially in my house where it takes the dryer two hours to dry your clothes. No more of that for me). Karen just posted some very pretty pics from her own clothesline and I will probably copy her during the next laundry day. For now though I've had to make do with the curtain hangers as a make shift underwear line. I like the effect.