In The Kitchen

What an excellent idea it was to participate in the National Blog Posting Month.  I feel a sense of accomplishment for doing it, and I have a renewed enjoyment in blogging.  I hope to continue writing regularly.

Now... do you know what I did yesterday?  I spent time in my kitchen.  On purpose.  Just because I wanted to.  That just doesn't happen to me, people, so this is a good thing.  I had borrowed a book from the library called Make it Fast, Cook it Slow, which is a very cool book of crockpot recipes.  There seems to be quite a few in it that I would like to try.  Anyway, I thought I might try making one of the recipes today, but unfortunately I ran out of vanilla extract over the weekend, which I need for any of the recipes I intended to make.  Seeing as I still had the notion  in my head to bake something {again, amazing!}, I decided to try another quick bread using my bread machine.

I've been experimenting in my recipes with switching out some of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat instead.  It appears to make the breads darker, and seems to give them a tougher texture.  They still taste good to me, though.  I ended up making Apple Pecan Bread because I had a whole bag of Golden Delicious apples that went unused when I didn't make that homemade pie for Thanksgiving.  What an aroma filled my house while that was baking!  Wonderful. 

I must say, I have felt so much better in the last two weeks.  I don't know where this renewed energy has come from.  Prior to that time, I had been seriously feeling drained all the time.  I hated the way I felt.  All I wanted to do was go to bed when I got home from work, and I only work four hours every morning.  I was afraid to exercise because I knew whatever energy I had left afterward would be zapped for the night.  Well, I don't know what changed, but all of a sudden I can get through my days without dragging.  I'm so thankful that seems to be behind me now.

Maybe I will spend more time whipping things up in the kitchen, since I'm feeling rejuvenated.  Maybe?

*Photo courtesy of Microsoft Office Clip Art