Homemade

I love to cook and bake from scratch. Yesterday I made homemade french bread. I only made half a recipe and the loaf is almost gone. I should have made a full recipe! Last week I made my own tortillas and they were fantastic. I like them much better than the ones at the store. And we have baked goods that I make several times a month. It is fun for me and it helps to keep our grocery bill down.

The problem with baking from scratch is that it takes more time. Many would think that as a stay at home mom I have more time. In some ways that is true, I am not running in the door at 5 or later to make dinner and feed everyone before bedtime. I am not gone all day at work, I am at home (most days at least). However I have a husband, three kids, a part time job and a house to take care of. This makes finding time to make things, even with being home most of the day, is not always easy. This is why I batch cook when I can. This satisfies my want and need to make things from scratch and helps with the time issue. The tortillas will be perfect for this. I have many frozen dinners from my batch cooking. These are very helpful on the nights where Ben won't let me put him down or we have been out and about most of the day. They keep me from running up the bill on fast food (which isn't healthy either!)

The positive from baking from scratch is that it is healthier and less expensive. We use less processed foods this way and my grocery bill doesn't increase as much. And many of the things taste much, much better. My kids like to help out as well. Yesterday that helped me to knead the bread as well as measure out the ingredients. They had fun and were learning about how our food is made as well.

But again we come back to the time factor. With fresh bread in the house I am reminded on how much I love it. I want to make it more often but I just don't have the time. So I am looking into buying a bread machine. If you have any recommendations please tell me. I have never used one before, and never even heard of one until about 3 years ago! But I like the idea of having fresh bread for our sandwiches and I am looking for something inexpensive but that will last.

What is your favorite thing to make?