Vitafamiliae

I am happy to learn that our readers love talking about a subject near and dear to my heart: FOOD! Let’s start with the questions involving that great subject.

Mary C. asks What is your favorite kind of food? What is one thing you make for dinner that everyone will eat?

Well, Mary, the short answer to both of those questions is chocolate. Surprised?

My favorite food is a steak and a baked potato, extra butter. With a side of fresh fried potato chips dipped in ranch. Because I don’t get enough starch in my life. Oh, and with sweet tea. Forget that I take a diabetic medication three times a day, pile on the carbs and sugars, baby!

Andrew says his favorite foods are these two nameless pasta dishes I make. They’re basically the same thing, but one has a red sauce and the other has a white sauce. Begin with bacon. Saute it with olive oil, butter, onions, and garlic. Stir in sauce or cream. Toss with noodles. The end. I don’t find it particularly earth-shattering, and it’s always hit or miss with me and sauteeing onions. But he digs it. I also happen to know that he loves COFFEE, in all its various forms. And he’s got a little soft spot in his heart for gummy peaches, but don’t tell him I told you that.

Right now the kids are pretty consistent in their love of pizza. It’s a sure fire winner in their book. At any meal. And cake. They love cake.

As a family, I was going to say that my crock pot roast is the meal to trump all meals, yet we had it tonight, and Adam wouldn’t eat it. But I’m inclined not to count him. He’s incredibly picky and very unpredictable. I swear he ate two helpings last time.

We recently bought a portion of a grass-fed beef cow who now resides in our freezer. I grab a hunk of roast early in the morning and chunk it in the crock pot with a generous pour of Dale’s Seasoning. If I have it, I’ll add a packet of dried onion soup mix. If I don’t have that, I’ll add onion flakes and beef bouillon. After lunch, I toss in carrots. Around three in the afternoon, I add potatoes. Voila! Crock pot roast! It’s my favorite “company” dish, but it’s a family fave as well. (And nothing makes it yummier than a side of hot, buttered Sister Schubert’s yeast rolls. But those are made of, shhhhhh, white flour, so we try to keep those out of the house.) And that’s an excellent segue to our next question…

“K” asks Can you tell us more about your food mill and how you use it?

Heavens, when have I mentioned my mill in the last year? Thanks for reading my archives, K! It’s not a food mill. I have a Nutrimill grain mill. It is used for grains only. I use it to grind whole wheat into fresh flour. For the past two years, I’ve made our bread. Now, to be real honest, I haven’t made any since February. But we just ran out a month ago from that batch. And I’ve been procrastinating about bread-baking since then. I do use my grain mill weekly, though, because I use it to grind soft wheat into soft wheat flour which I use for muffins, pancakes, pretty much all the other stuff besides bread. I keep any leftover flour in the freezer so it won’t go rancid. And I buy wheat in bulk and keep it in buckets stashed in various places.

I love the Nutrimill and, even though it’s loud, I think it does a great job. Since I make six loaves of bread at a time, I have to grind about fifteen cups of flour. Nutrimill can do it quickly. It’s one of those appliances I can’t live without. It seemed like a really odd and “crunchy” sort of purchase when we bought it, but it’s pretty much an every day sort of thing now. I keep it in a cabinet all set up to go and just yank it out and plug it in when I need it. It doesn’t require much maintenance, so I can grind and go.

For those of you who turn up your noses at how dry and “earthy” whole wheat flour is, you’ve probably never had fresh ground. The soft wheat in muffins and such, when fresh ground, is almost unmistakable from white flour. But it’s far better for us, still having the germ and the bran in there, plus it hasn’t started going rancid like store-bought flour. I once made my father-in-law waffles using fresh ground flour. He ate several before I informed him he’d just consumed whole wheat. He hasn’t spoken to me much since then.

At any rate, if you ever think you’re interested in tasting the difference between fresh ground flour and store brand sawdust, I’m always happy to share. In exchange for a little chocolate, of course!