some thoughtful changes

Some of the things that I have started over here are:

1. making my own bread rather then buying the store bought (even if it is ezekiel bread) & made homemade buttermilk bisquits from scratch too!

2. eating out of our freezer and frig - I am inspired by Kristen who has a weekly post called "Food Waste Friday" where she logs what she didn't end up using that has gone off

3. using homemade cleaning products during my spring cleaning - i love that fresh smell

4. picking up the recycling and composting that had gone to the least important task list

5. trading my homemade bread for lovely fresh organic eggs with a friend at church

6. clearing the clutter from our home feels so good!

7. staying strictly to my menu plan as best as possible and not making individual trips to the grocery for missing/used up items - this takes discipline but I remind myself that I have a plan and that I can make it to Thursday to buy my half and half and for now I can use the 2% milk in my coffee.

8. researching CSA's and farmer's markets that truly are "local" to me

how are you bringing thoughtful and purposeful stewardship in to your home this spring?

using everything

here is a few ways i have been trying to be more frugal in our home:

1. ate delicious green beans we picked the day before in my mama's garden + cooked them with some bacon = saved the boiling water and freezed it for future soup broths

2. chopped up almost all of the celery (including the the leaves) to use in a bahamian macaroni and cheese recipe i was making -- usually i would have cut all of that off -- but now we got all that good stuff right in the casserole. maybe it outweighed the cheese and butter?:)

3. bought a 10 lb. bag of freshly ground whole wheat flour from our mill back near my folks' farm + my own bread hook on the kitchen aide = fresh bread. my mama used to make four loaves every week when we were little b/c it was so cheap and they were living on a shoestring. she made some for us when we were visiting and used some of the leftover whey from making her artisan goat cheese. it was phenomenol. i am vowing to make my own bread (as soon as i can get some bulk ingredients). i think if i get a little station up and running and in to a routine, we are going to be so much happier with the finished product. plus it just makes sense for our family, as our four littles get bigger and require more food.

here are a few links to some great cooking from scratch posts:

from kitchen
stewardship via simplemom

scratch hacks from simple mom

leila's use for potato water in bread