Redefining "rustic"

As most my South Beach folks know (and anybody who reads my stuff), I have been on a bread baking kick. This is unusual for me since I am on plan that basically keeps an eye on how many servings of carbs you eat and of course the type. I figured out along my SB adventures that I don't go out of my way to eat pasta or rice. 1/2 cup serving size just does nothing for me so I don't bother. I eat it rarely (ie maybe once every 4 - 6 months). I do eat bread - normally whole wheat pita or Orowheat Thins but I keep it at one serving every day max.

So I dusted off the bread machine which I have had for several years but have lent it out (for a couple years to my girlfriend) and just recently had to insist to my hubby that NO it wasn't being freecycled (since we were moving and HE was trying to whittle down my kitchen...HA!). I made a loaf and enjoyed it but it got my cooking curiousity going. I love a good sourdough and I happened across a food blog about sourdough starters. And away I went! I spent a couple weeks trying to get my sourdough starter to the right "sour". It took me awhile - particularly since Abe decided it smelled too good and he knocked it over and ate it.

As with most newbie sourdough bakers, I just could not bring myself to toss out my starter that I had to pull out in order to feed it. So I did what any good baker does - I made bread. I made bread sticks (Aliegh loves), pizza dough, several loafs of various types (experimenting with recipes), and made croutons OUT of the bread. Yup that is ALOT of bread. The good thing is my hubby needs carbs so he just changed up what carbs he was eating and started eating the bread. I have been providing bread to both my kids' households and my friends in the old neighborhood. The other good thing is I have figured out several recipes that our sourdough and wheat (or multigrain) based.

I love cooking and I have found like I love baking bread - not bread machine type but the actual kneading, shaping, etc. We figure it is meeting one of my creative needs. I like working with my hands and normally am involved with some kind of artistic endeavor. But for awhile now, I just haven't found anything that has peaked my interest other than my cooking. So this works for me now.

We laugh because the joke in the household is I am giving "rustic" bread a whole new definition. I can't draw a straight line, I don't follow recipes to the "T", and I have NEVER made anything that looks exactly like picture. So I am thrilled when a loaf of bread at least LOOKS like bread...

Pumpkin Sourdough Bread:


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Vegetarian Chili (because yes I do cook something besides bread):
recipes.sparkpeople.com/
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And Ms Aliegh who LOVES helping: