100 Days toward a healthier life - Day 80

Breakfast:  Soup
Lunch:  Raw vegetables, bit-o-dip, 2 slices of bread
Dinner:  Chicken sandwich, bread, mayo, mustard, mild peppers, pudding snack cup

So, wherever this energy came from, it resulted in two batches of slow cooker soup in two days.  I have been craving bread for a week and finally made a loaf of whole wheat in the bread machine.  But, because I had waited through an entire week of cravings, it seems that I could not wait for the full cycle and used the rapid one, even though it is for white bread only.  Yeah.  Like I would let something like that stop me.

I started on the vegetables whilst waiting for the bread.  I kept is simple and low-calorie, even though I am not watching, much less counting, calories.  Especially with bread cooking away in the kitchen.  Really.  Celery, broccoli, green pepper and cucumber.  All easy to prepare, eat and except for the little bit of dip I mixed up, good on the whole calorie thing, were I keeping track, that is.

One short hour later, there were still a few vegetables and most of the dip left.  I raced to the kitchen and took out the baking container.  There is a reason that one should only make white bread using this setting.  I did not know that, but I should have just taken the machine's word for it and done white bread.  But...but...I wanted whole wheat!!  I wanted rich, nutty goodness and lots of fiber to help me justify eating bread, for crying out loud.  Healthy bread, or at least as close to healthy as someone who avoids most carbs should have.

I had to take a picture and left the bread container next to the loaf.  You know, just so that you could see what size it should have been, because a 1.5 pound loaf of bread should be well over the top of the container, nicely rounded and sweetly browned.

This is what I found.

A gnarly little loaf.  Stunted as only the wrong grain for the process could be.  You cannot see it, but the other surfaces look like money bread.  There are strange, nearly perfectly round holes that go deep into the loaf.  When I sliced it, it was dense and ultra moist.  It was still too warm, right out of the machine, but the texture was between a well-baked loaf of whole wheat and a steamed pudding, just a little drier is all.

It is delicious.  A nice crumb, albeit dense and really moist, but the wet-wetness seems to have gone somewhere with the cooling of the loaf.

I had two slices with butter.  No pictures because I was busy eating.  I cannot even begin to think what calories were in each yummy bite, and my chicken sandwich for dinner was wonderful.  Just a smidgen each of mayo and mustard and a nice layer of the mild peppers.  Really good, even though I used some of the chicken that was supposed to be curried.

I wanted to write an ode to the loaf, but I seem to have used up all of my juice today.  More stuff bagged and boxed for the charity shops...how the hell did all of this stuff find its way here...and I will load the car and drop it all off on Thursday.

Nice soup, bread and business cards to take to work tomorrow, all home and hand made.  Kind of nice that I have been able to accomplish so much lately.  Maybe I am lighter or less burdened with every bit of anything that leaves here.  I cannot remember who shared with me (who are you?) that when her elderly relative, maybe her mother, had to downsize to the essentials and felt so much better for it, lighter I think she said.  Yeah, maybe it is that.

And, holy macaroni, can it really be day 80?