Look what Lee brought home!

Yep--I mentioned something about a bread maker for Christmas, and I guess Lee decided that it was such a good idea, that we couldn't wait until Christmas for it! We got a few ingredients that we were missing, mainly yeast, at Aldi this afternoon, and set out to make a yummy loaf of warm, fresh bread.

I read the directions carefully for the "quick" bread which takes all of an hour to mix and bake. I put the ingredients into the machine in the proper order and turned it on. A short while later, Lee called me up, and the machine was smoking a little out the back and smelled like something was burning. Upon looking into the machine, the ingredients were really dry (looked like sand), so flour must have escaped the pan and gotten onto the burners. I guess I somehow measured something wrong--water or flour or something. So after the machine cooled, Lee measured up a batch and turned it on. An hour later, we were removing a wonderful-smelling, beautiful, crusty loaf of white bread. I sliced it up right then and there, and little of it remains. Lee used two big slices for an enormous sandwich, Molly used two small slices for a sandwich, and Adam and I just ate warm bread with butter on it. MMMMmmmmm.... Then Adam ate the rest of Lee's sandwich that he couldn't finish.

We are going to experiment with different recipes and find one that we like that doesn't cost much to make. I am going to try freezing the slices to make them last longer (no preservatives=spoils quickly). I figure I can freeze two slices and take them straight from the freezer to the kids' lunch boxes. Well, that is, if the loaf can even survive long enough to cool off good.

We have set out to find ways to save money various ways--by couponing and stockpiling, and by making our own stuff, when it is cheaper to do so. We want to make eating at home more attractive than eating out. And, since I'm not so crazy about fixing up elaborate gourmet meals, we have to work hard to keep the restaurants out of our minds. The bread machine is just another step in this journey.