Happy Thursday...Day 2 Of Creative Cooking

Happy Thursday folks!

Today I am 22 weeks and two days along! I'm feeling decent, however, I felt a little worn out from all of the cooking I did in the kitchen today. This is day two of me trying to put together meals for the family with what I have left in the house because I didn't go grocery shopping last weekend.

But, I'm very proud of my culinary efforts and the bounty of food they have yielded. I made some things today that I've never made before and may very well make them part of the rotation.

If you recall, yesterday I had made some original malt-o-meal muffins made with malt-o-meal and whole wheat flour. I started the day with making a double batch since the kids ate them so fast yesterday. Then for lunch, I fed them, a muffin, the leftover spaghetti dish that I had made last night....

And boiled up some broccoli florets that had been sitting in the freezer for a few months. I wasn't sure if the broccoli would still be good, but it was.

I used it a 13 ounce bag and the kids, for the most part, ate it.

For myself, I skipped the pasta dish and had two whole eggs instead.

I started preparing the supper meal around 11:00 a.m. with making a few batches of whole wheat bread. The recipe, which I found on the back of this flour bag, asked for 1/4 cup of powdered milk. I didn't have that, but I did find this powdered formula for babies. The recipe also asked for "instant" yeast. I had yeast, but I wasn't sure if my yeast was different than instant yeast.

This is what the dough looked liked "before" the bread raised...

Then, this is what it looked like 90 minutes later after raising.

Then, I cooked it for 35 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees.

This is what it looked like.

It was a hit!!

The entire family ate this bread like it was candy...

I couldn't believe it.

For dinner I decided to make barley soup and add some lentils, split peas and these spices, and not pictured was a little over a pound of chicken breasts that I found spread apart in two bags in the freezer.

The directions on the barley said I needed to "hand sort" it and wash it.

Same directions with the lentils and split peas.

Well, after yesterday's bug scare, I was keeping an eye out for anything that moved.

Yes, Sunshine Meg, I do think I was traumatized by the whole bug fest going on in the Rice-a-Roni box.

The whole barley thing amazed me.

I had to cook one pound of barely in 12 cups of water. The whole process took about 2 1/2 to three hours. But, the barely expanded. And by the time I was done with all of my add-ins, my "little" recipe filled a crock pot.

Folks, I don't think I'll be needing to cook tomorrow, because I have so much chicken and barley left-overs.

And this bag of barely only cost like fifty cents and it's super healthy and low calorie.

So, this is dinner.

I will admit that the kids weren't as impressed with the barley dish as I was.

I think the next time I make this I will use less salt.

Otherwise, it tasted great.

But...the kids did like dessert.

I unthawed a bag of strawberries that I had picked from a few weeks ago and served it as a topping for some vanilla ice cream that I had in the freezer.

Wow...that was good.

So, now you can see why I am worn out from cooking...

But the good thing is that I made so much food today that I probably won't really need to cook much tomorrow. I still have a whole loaf of bread yet, 3/4 of a crock pot full of chicken barley, I have several muffins still.

And, honestly, I really wasn't expecting this barley dish to turn out so huge. Ha, ha!!

And by the time, I pick up and photograph what I plan to use for Fantasy Food Friday...Well, I won't need to cook until Saturday!

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Other than that, I have to tell you all that I went to my first "Mom's In Motion" class tonight at the local YMCA and the instructor, who I'm sure has never been pregnant, had us doing three or four songs of Zumba, which involves very quick, hip swiveling movements.

Jumping, leaping...I guess I was expecting a class that had slower movements that involved more strength. I'm not sure pregnant women should be doing zumba.

I demonstrated some of the movements to my husband and daughter when I got home and they looked at me in shock. Ha, Ha!

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Well, you all know what tomorrow is...

Have a good Friday!!

Sincerely,

Sunshine Mama