Somebody really should have warned me...

about the side-effects of home-ground, home-baked bread!!!!

People told me that the kids would love it. The girls loved it from the start. It took Cooper about a week to get used to it, but now he is on board too.

People told me that we would use half as much bread, because it would fill them up so much better. It does and we do.

What people didn't warn me about was the effect it wold have on ME!! I am having SUCH a hard time using ANY "convenience" foods now. By "convenience" I mean processed. After I turned a fresh loaf out onto the bread plate today and sliced it up for the kids' lunch, i stood there for almost 10 minutes trying to convince myself to just put the cheeses slices on the bread!!! It wasn't "bad" cheese necessarily. It was KRAFT singles. It just seemed to feel like I was adding a layer of plastic to such a nutritious meal (the bread alone). The same thing happened when I was making PB & J's the other day. You just stand there, knife in hand, wondering, "IS this worthy of being put on my bread?!?!?!?!" I did indeed finally put the cheese on and grill it, but now I find myself rethinking a lot about the way we eat and it all started with THIS BREAD!!

It is amazing how, reading about for years and now actually making this bread has changed my mindset so much. We switched to real butter a while ago, because the thought of feeding the kids the chemicals that make up the non-fat stuff just grossed me out completely. We do meatless meals now at least a few nights a week. too. Now, I am starting to read about whole-eating and some of the things you read would make anyone surrender their fat-frees and sugar-frees forever.

I do think that, once things get settled in the new house and after I get curriculum picked out for next year for the girls, I am going to find our balance in this. I know that there are some things I won't be able to do (like milk my own cow to make my own cheese...YET!!!!) But I know that I CAN make several changes that will positively affect our family's health.

As I write this, I am picturing Nathan's face when I start changing things up. He will hear me out, roll his eyes at the thought of all of the changes, the new grocery budget : ), and getting the kids on board for them (not that they will have a choice : ) and then he will support me 100%.

So now back to packing for me, but I know that some of my bread-making influences read this and again I ask, "WHY DIDN'T YOU WARN ME!?!?!?!?!: -Just teasing!