We don't have the equipment to remove the bran and the germ from the wheat, leaving the endosperm for making "white" flour. You'd be amazed if you ever toured a flour mill. The processes the wheat goes through are impossible to duplicate at home. I've been in several modern mills and an 1880's water-powered mill not far from here. The best advise I can give on how NOT to make a 100% Whole Wheat "Brick" is to use a variety of wheat called hard WHITE (spring or winter) wheat (think of it as the albino of wheat). Wheat Montana's - Prairie Gold Spring Hard White Wheat is the best for bread that I've used. I also use Soft White Wheat for quick breads, pastry, cakes (it has less gluten than hard wheat varieties). I mill "cake" flour from 3-parts soft white wheat and 1-part oat groats. It's a low-gluten flour that can be used for angel food cakes and chiffon cakes. Too much gluten makes cake tough. All-purpose flour is a mixture of hard and soft wheat varieties. Pastry and cake flour is milled from soft wheat varieties. White wheat is like red wheat varieties in looks, as a plant, nutrition and fiber, and other attributes. It just doesn't have the genes necessary to make the bran "red". There are up to 3 genes that make the bran color. The original hard wheat - granddaddy of them all - Turkey Red Wheat - has 3 genes and the bran is very dark and the flour very acidic-tasting. Most of todays red wheat varieties only have one or two of those genes. Because white wheat has no genes for bran color, there are no strongly-flavored phenolic compounds that we associate with the bitter taste of whole wheat flour. The next thing is to incorporate an old-fashioned sponge technique (which takes more time), rather than the more modern Straight or Direct Method of making bread. I usually let the sponge set for 2-1/2 hours, or up to 12-hours (or anything in between). This helps to break down the bran and hydrate the gluten which improves the texture and flavor of the bread and helps it to rise higher. I also use a Zojirushi Bread Machine for making the dough. That has been shown to make whole wheat bread rise higher than by-hand OR a stand mixer in side-by-side tests done in King Arthur Flour test kitchens. Even sourdough breads are lighter because they included l-o-n-g rises, which does some of the same work as the sponge technique. In "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon, she uses a soaked flour method that renders whole wheat bread nearly as light in color and texture as white bread. I've had problems with this method, but DO use a sponge with half the flour in my standard recipe, and my bread is as light and high-rising as any white bread. But it took the sponge method to get me off making light wheat bread (a portion of the flour unbleached flour as well as whole wheat) and into 100% Whole Wheat Bread. I haven't used bleached flour in a couple decades - I consider it next to poison. I no longer use commercial flour of any kind - only freshly-milled. When I ran out of commercial unbleached flour last winter, I didn't purchase anymore. I want 100% of the nutrition and fiber you can only get from freshly-milled flour. Much of the commercial whole wheat flour is nothing more than white flour with some of the bran raked back into it. Even those companies that use 100% of the grain, the germ oil goes rancid and the nutrients degrade rapidly after milling. Within 3 hours of milling the flour has begun to rapidly degrade. -Grainlady

Okay, I will try to post again! I tried last week and when I went to submit, my screen went blank and then each time there was some sort of problem with trying to get on the Garden Web. Here is the big batch of pie dough. You will need of course a very large bowl and either a hand mixer or a pastry blender tool. In a large bowl put 5 pounds of all purpose flour. I take mine right out of the freezer and it is very cold. To this add 1 three pound can of vegetable shortening that has been in the refrigerator. Add the shortening in large spoons full and either use the mixer or your pastry blender tool or whatever you like to mix in the flour and shortening until it is fairly small pieces. When it is done add to this two 12 ounce cans of lemon lime drink. Let it soak in and then stir it well until it becomes a large lump! Then shape smaller portions of the dough in a size for a top and bottom crust. Wrap in plastic wrap, and freeze. Put the wrapped dough into a ziplock freezer bag. Put in the refrigerator to thaw when ready to use or put in the to chill refrigerator and then roll out for pie. Some times I add some sugar to the flour and shortening mixture and also maybe some vanilla if you wish a sweeter dough. This does not call for any salt. I don't know how many pies this makes as I don't use it all at once. It has always turned out well for me. Sue

I follow weight watchers and I find that if I plan out our weekly menu it's easier, I eat healthier and it's much less expensive, though I will admit there were weeks (especially while house hunting) where everything got messed up. It's difficult to be dedicated to this, but when we don't (I mean, when I don't) plan we either eat out or eat pasta. I have a huge list of food blogs that I go to for ideas. We also eat very little meat during the week because we do not support factory farms and cannot really afford the meat otherwise. We have DH daughter on weekends, so we save the meat meals for then, otherwise it's just the 2 of us. I do the planning and buy the groceries, DH cooks, but I do get his OK on the chosen meals. So, here is what I do. Sometime during the weekend I check out what we have left that needs to be used up and write that down. Then I ask DSD and DH if they have any requests for the next weekend. Then I start searching/reading my food blogs and weight watchers cook books. I find recipes or whatever for dinners Sunday - Saturday night, and either more for lunches, or plan the dinners to be bigger to accommodate extra portions. Then I get "approval" from DH. I write up 2 lists (I like to write things down). 1 is each recipe's ingredients. The other is all the items we need from the store. This way if I get to the store and need to eliminate one of the recipes or make some other change, I can check all the recipes and see if that will cause changes anywhere else. We do the shopping Sunday. I try to plan for an easy meal for Sunday night cuz who wants to do all that work after shopping? Otherwise, each meal does not have a set day. It seems like a lot of work, but honestly, our grocery bill has dropped dramatically, and it's so much easier to come home and check the list for dinner then to come home tired at the end of the day to a bunch of random groceries and say "hm, what can we make out of this", which is when we end up eating out, not cost effective. Life does get in the way, he does get too tired to cook, but I do try to plan some simple meals for the worst days. Grilled veggie burgers is one of them. He wants to make up a spreadsheet of meals we've tried and rate them for easy picking when I don't have time to plan. This week is bad because my back is very injured and I've been in a lot of pain since Saturday. I don't think it even occurred to him to plan or go shopping :( But my appetite is pretty much gone, so we can have pasta all week if he wants LOL I'd like to eventually get to the once or twice a month cooking, but that's a very long term goal! I hope this ramble helped someone!!!

I ALWAYS double up on any meats that I am cooking...C.O.S.T. cooking is the key. Cook Once, Serve Twice (at least:) I will be doing up a big batch of Ground Beef, flavored with Homemade Gourmet's Taco Soup seasoning. I will tacos one meal (I lay out toppings and the kids pick soft or hard shell and what they want in it.) Then I will use left over seasoned ground beef for taco soup....mmmm....my kids very favorite. I also put aside some of the meat for taco dip which is a staple in our house (if meat is gone we make it vegetarian). Sour cream (or cottage cheese if I am trying to be healthy), black beans, salsa, shredded cheese, green peppers, tomatoes, and taco soup seasoning....oh, all the kids love it and it's a great way to get the raw veggies in. We literally have this 3-4 times a week as our late snack...with many times it turning into dinner. :) blessings on the journey, Jen Here is a link that might be useful: Easy Family Dinners