Mmmmm bread

I have a fascination with food. To me, food is my best friend. It has absolutely nothing to do with guilt, depression, or any other ailment you could conjure up. I just love food, with the exception of mushrooms, that is. Every type of food that I can think of brings to mind specific memories, but the one item that brings the most emotion is bread. Bread?! Yes, indeed! You see, my mother always had the innate ability to burn bread. When I say always, I mean ALWAYS. From the time I was old enough to operate a clock I have been instructing my mother on the proper cooking times of bread, but somehow she would still manage to ruin it! I honestly still do not understand how she does it! Her affliction is not just with a particular type of bread, it is with ANY bread that must be toasted, baked, warmed up, or grilled. The woman is an amazing cook, she taught me everything I know about cooking. Except for the poor bread! I always thought that it was funny growing up, but what amazes me is that twenty years later, she still has the problem! Who does that, seriously? I never ate an entire piece of bread until I moved out of my mother's house. We always had to cut the burnt bottom half off of the poor roll to begin to make it edible. It has always been perplexing to me how this woman could make from scratch anything you could imagine, but could not toast you a piece of loaf bread to save her life! It is a funny story that will stay with me forever. As an adult I have learned to keep my mother as far away from bread at the holidays as I can get her, everyone knows the consequence of mom cooking the bread! You can never really appreciate bread until you have had a whole piece. Trust me, it took 18 years to get a "proper" piece.

Yum Yum!

Tonight my lovely sister made dinner.  It included :

• ·         Rice- Fresh from the box!

• ·         Cream of Mushroom Soup- Compliments of Campbell’s!

• ·         Cream of Chicken Soup- Campbell’s here too!

• ·         Chicken Thighs- I believe these were from Food Depot

• ·         Salt, Pepper, and Dry Onion Powder- It’s a sure bet that none of these are local items!

• ·         Water- Fresh from the tap!

• ·         Salad Mix- A mixed green bag from the produce isle at Ingles

• ·         Steamed White Corn- From the frozen food isle at Kroger

While I sit and ponder on the food I had for dinner, I have the same thought that I’ve had a lot lately. Yes, the food we ate was made at home. No, it did not come from McDonald's or any of the other fast food chains. But I still have this annoying thought eating away at me, it keeps telling me that I’m not eating fresh, wholesome meals.  But then I wonder how in the world I could actually manage to make truly fresh foods. Do not get me wrong, my house eats loads of fresh veggies every week, but what about all of the items that you cannot get fresh? Pastas, breads, cream, etc. There is no way to truly make everything from home unless you have a wheat crop in your back yard, and who possibly could have the time or the space?! Back to the point. . What normally flows through my brain next is the thought that bothers me more than anything else. Is the food we cook at home actually better for you than the crap food you get at McDonald's?! The harder I dwell on the topic, the more I really begin to wonder. A few months back I tried to only buy fresh items, and only buy packaged foods that had “normal” ingredients in them. Needless to say, I did NOT have very many groceries in my house! I wish there was a quick solution to my nagging problem, but I know that is just wishful thinking. In the mean time, I will continue to frequent my local grocery store always in search for “real” food!

Hi!

Hello!!