There's something about leaving my immediate family for a week and going off to help my extended family clean out a garage and tidy up part of a yard that doesn't lend itself to cooking intentionally. In fact, with the exception of setting out coldcuts for one meal, I did nothing that remotely resembled feeding anyone. We did have fun, for the most part. And the garage and yard look a lot better.

Home again, I've been picking up the reins in my own household. I was informed by S when I got home that I needed to hurry up and a. do some laundry and b. do some grocery shopping. I told him he looked neither hungry nor naked, but I have done both of those things.

Today's meal was soup and bread; a fitting meal in my opinion for a day which was overcast and gloomy, with fits of hard rain, up until sunset when the sky cleared off and let the setting sun shine through.

Healthy Sisters' Soup and Bean Works is a local group that teaches women with no business experience of any kind how to run a business of their own. They make darn good bean soup mixes. This one was Simone's Sumptuous Bean Soup . I soaked the beans overnight. I then put them in the crockpot with
1 7oz can of tomato sauce,
1 15 oz can of tomato chunks,
1/2 pound browned pork sausage,
1 pound browned ground beef,
the spices from the soup mix,
2 cups water and
3 cups vegetable bouillion.
This cooked on low all day and left a wonderful aroma. It made a wonderfully hearty almost stew.

This afternoon I put the ingredients for the bread in the bread maker (on dough setting).
Honey Whole Wheat Bread :
4 T butter
4 T honey (buckwheat for a dark rich flavor)
2 T wheat germ
1 C water
1 egg
1 1/2 c white whole wheat flour
1 3/4 c bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 T steelcut oats
1 T wheat gluten
2 T powdered buttermilk
1 T yeast

After the dough cycle ended, I let the dough rise again for 25 minutes in the bread pan and then baked at 350 F for 50 minutes.