Jan. 2, 2013

When I got up this morning the first thing I did was check on my soaking grains. They had absorbed most of the water but were not sprouted. Further information was needed. I Googled  'How to germinate wheat' and read several blogs. I learned that it takes 2-3 days for wheat to germinate, not just 8-12 hours. I also learned that the grains need to be rinsed twice a day while they are in the process of germination. I rinsed them this morning and then set the jars on their sides. I will rinse them again before bed.

I also have two different kinds of wheat. Hard red wheat and Durum wheat. Not sure about the difference, but we'll see which makes the best bread. Or, maybe I'll Goolge it.

I had a cup of coffee for breakfast; Organic of course, with organic coconut milk and agave nectar instead of the typical Coffeemate creamer. It was not that good. I think I'll try goat milk and maple syrup tomorrow.

We didn't eat breakfast. Not sure if that's good or bad. A cup of coffee is typical for me, but I may need to start my day a bit better than that. I'll plan a hearty breakfast for tomorrow and see how that goes over.

Lunch was leftover stew from last night and an organic salad. Owen took this meal to work with him and I am proud to say he ate all of it with no need for the habitual convenience store stop. We ate a friends house for dinner. This is the hardest part about being on a strict diet. One can not always prepare ones own food and it's definitely not God's plan to isolate oneself from friends and family just to stay "clean". The evening was marvelous though because our friends are healthy eater and everything was automatically on our diet. Yay!

I tried a new recipe from my "Wholesome" cookbook. It was a rhubarb cake. I took it to the dinner party. I couldn't try it because I'm gluten intolerant, but Owen and the girls had some. Owen poured eggnog on it. He said it wasn't sweet enough. (We had a little "discussion" on the way home about that one.) Much repentance ensued and we are now back on the same page. :)

The vote was that the cake was more like a sweet bread, like zucchini bread. We decided that raisins would be better than rhubarb and cinnamon instead of allspice. Other than that, the cake was moist, it rose well, and was light, even though it was made with whole wheat flour, stevia and honey. I will make a note of the adjustments in the cookbook and we'll do it again later. I think it would be good with other fruit like peaches or pineapple too.

I'm not a big fan of Stevia or any other "alternative" sweeteners. I think they defeat the purpose of eating whole foods since they are not a whole food in the same way that honey or cane juice is. I will definitely seek out recipes that use honey and molasses instead of stevia.

 I think it's important to have all kinds of foods available at all times. It makes no sense to me to omit something like cake or cookies just because the type of cakes we are used to are bad for us. Let's just develop treats that are good for us and add a smile to our face. God made honey for a reason, but even He said that 'too much honey makes a person sick'. (paraphrase mine :)

We agreed as a family that it will take time for our taste buds to adjust to less sugar, whole grains, etc. But once they adjust we may find that we are tasting food for the very first time.

Until next time...

Proverb of the day: Proverbs 2:3-5 ...if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.