A New Workout!

     So, I do not like "working out". Not in the - go to the gym, lift some weights, go for a run type anyways. I also don't like to "watch what I eat" in terms of counting calories and searching out low fat foods. If I did I think I'd feel pretty guilty after devouring an entire bag of chips (really though, a bag of chips does not have near as many chips as it used to). However, I do like getting a workout from doing things for a purpose, like walking the dog, or carrying Penelope (seriously the best weight training for your arms), and I do find that the more real the food the tastier! Which means most of the foods I like are already lower in fat and healthier anyways. Add in my care for the environment and desire to search out sustainable and local foods and BAM! I'm making flour!    
    I have been fortunate enough to borrow a Country Living grain mill (a pricey piece of equipment that I'm not ready to pay for myself). It's a manual mill which I was warned took quite the effort to produce minimal results. Which is true; it does take time and can get you working up a sweat, but it was still faster and less effort than I thought it was going to be.

Country Living Grain Mill

     Next you need wheat berries. Tasty cooked up all on there own, we had never tried wheat berries until I got some for grinding into flour. There's this great place near Tavistock,  Oak Manor, that sources their products locally and organically. My sister Ashley stopped in on her way for a visit from their home in Waterloo and picked us up a giant bag to split.

Wheat Berries

     So then I needed to test out the tastiness of my own ground flour. I decided on regular chocolate chip cookies which turned out to be not so regular seeing as I also made bean flour to add to the mix and used honey and molasses instead of sugar, but they tasted like regular chocolate chip cookies, therefore, good! Then since the oven was already hot and I had some fresh zucchinis to use up, zucchini loaf and chocolate, chocolate chip zucchini muffins followed.

Yum! 

       So it was a workout with a purpose. Altogether it was a little over 5 cups of flour ground for these treats. Also a little healthier and environmentally friendly using organic, local, minimally processed flour (and eggs, and honey, and zucchini). It really didn't take too long either. I started grinding the flour when I put Penelope down for a nap and everything was done by the time she woke up.