Some Thoughts of Being Normal

We are reading Joel Salatin's book, "Folks, This Ain't Normal" and I have to say, it's darn near life changing. The idea that most of us have no idea, and don't care,  where our food comes from is startling, and up until a couple of weeks ago, it didn't bother me at all- I never even thought about it. We are so removed from the agrarian society we used to be. We can run to the store ( and have a myriad of stores to choose from) for just any old thing we want. Shipped in from who-knows-where twice a week or more. There really is no such thing as "seasonal produce" anymore. Whatever we want, whenever we want. As long as we have the money to buy it, its ours. Instant gratification.
One day we hope to live out in the country, but right now we live in town and on the other side of our fence is a small chain store. Every day there are big trucks backing up to deliver dairy products, shelf-stable processed foods, toilietries, etc. Sometimes twice a day. Where is it all coming from? Who is making it all? And when was it made?
The New York Times published an article called The Extraordinary Science of Junkfood that I read recently. Its long but worth the read if you are interested in how food manufacturers produce and market their products. Its also kind of sickening because ultimately, their "food" is really just manufactured tastes and scents, pieces of this and that and chemicals to make us want more, and a pretty package. Which is where I'm torn. Because some of it does taste really good. But I can tell you, I will never feed my kids lunchables again.
Partly because of Joel's ideas and partly because of a class we took at church about re-training our bodies to eat differently, the way God intended us to eat (fresh vegetables and fruit, meats, nuts, etc. Not the processed, manufactured foods we are used to eating) we've been really reevaluating how we come by the food we eat. We've been growing our seedlings and putting in our raised beds. We've been getting fresh farm eggs locally, and next week we are going to get some local raw milk. We eat lots of salad now but are trying to stick with organic non-irradiated fruits and veggies. The HH's brother and his wife are starting a new life as farmers and we hope to be able to support them by buying chickens and whatever other kinds of meat they raise. They are big fans of Joel Salatin too.
 I never thought I would be one to choose the organic stuff or search out butter from cows that weren't given the growth hormones but it feels good knowing that for us, this is the better choice. I can only say what's best for my family, and I like having this sort of a relationship with or knowledge about what I'm feeding them.
You might notice I haven't posted any bread-related recipes lately (except the birthday cake) and that's because we no longer eat bread. Which is crazy I know. I used to eat bread all the live long day. But in our class we learned about how our bodies react to grains and carbs and it was all very sciency so I won't bore you. But there won't be too many bread type recipes here anymore sad to say. But I look forward to posting more to do with the fresh foods. It's kind of a challenge sometimes to make things myself instead of buying them but its also fun and I know the more I can lessen our dependence on the supermarket food supply, the better off we will be.

Homemade Yellow Cake and Chocolate Frosting

Mmmmm. This is my favorite kind of cake. This week we celebrated my mom's birthday and I offered to make her whatever kind of cake she wanted, and she chose this kind. I love the kind in the box, but I didn't have any and I'm so glad I found this recipe because I will never make buy another one. The frosting is a little sweeter than the tub kind, it reminds me of the kind on doughnuts. Yum! I accidentally ate about 1/4th of a cup before I knew what was happening. The cake is a bit more dense but richer tasting than the box mix.

The Cake: ( Mix the following in a quart size bag and freeze up to 2 months, or leave out the butter and vanilla and store in your pantry.)

From: Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Note: the recipe calls for cake flour, which I never have on hand so I substituted 2 3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour and 3 tablespoons cornstarch for the three cups of flour called for in the recipe. It worked beautifully.

Ingredients

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 16 tablespoons butter (2 sticks), cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Process sugar, flours (or flour and cornstarch if making the substitution for the cake flour), milk powder, baking powder, and salt in a food processor for 15 seconds to combine. Add butter and vanilla and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal (you want this much finer than, say, a pie crust). Freeze the dry mixture in a zipper-lock bag for up to 2 months or use immediately.
2. To make the cake, adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour your pan of choice (see the note above the recipe).
3. With an electric mixer, beat the prepared cake mix, 1 1/4 cups warm water and 2 large room-temperature eggs until the mixture is smooth, about 2 minutes. Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan(s) and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25-27 minutes for two 9-inch layer cakes. See the note above the recipe for alternate cooking times with other baking pans. Cool the cake(s) in pan(s) for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Cool completely

The Frosting: Chocolate Buttercream Frosting from Food.com

6 tablespoons butter, softened

2 2/3 cups confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1/3 cup milk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Place butter in a bowl and beat until creamy.
2. Add sugar and cocoa, mixing well.
3. Stir in milk in portions, stirring each time.
4. Add vanilla.
5. Spread on cooled cake or other items needing frosting

I also added a bit of flour to help it stand up a little more- it was very soft and creamy. I probably could have let it cool in the fridge and gotten the same results.