No Impact Man

No Impact Man is a film about Colin Beavan and his family changing their lives for one year to achieve zero impact on the environment. They start with buying local food, walking or biking everywhere, and getting rid of toxic chemicals. They slowly phase in more changes that become more difficult, especially hard when living in an apartment in New York City. They start a worm compost, shut off the electricity, which means no refrigerator, and wash their clothes in the bath tub.

Most of these changes are easier for Colin than his wife, who is reluctant toward these changes. It is interesting to watch how these changes affect two different people and even their daughter. While some of this is easy for most people to implement, it would be a bit difficult to shut off the electricity or wash clothes in the bath tub. The movie is entertaining and serves as a good reminder to be more conscious on how many resources we consume and how much waste we produce.

Check out the movie website at www.noimpactdoc.com

Honey-Whole Wheat Bread

Over the last few years, I've tried 5- 10 different bread recipes but this is the one I've had the most success with. In recent months I've been putting forth a lot more effort to make bread from scratch. I used to make it from scratch just because it tasted so good. Now I bake bread to replace buying bread from the store. This recipe makes 2 loaves and I'd like it to last us 2 weeks (usually freeze 1 loaf) but sometimes it lasts only about 1 week. Dan makes sandwiches to take to work every day and sometimes I do too.

This recipe is from Betty Crocker.

Prep: 35 min; Proof: 1hr 50 min; Bake: 45 min                     

Makes 2 loaves, 16 slices each

3 cups stone-ground whole wheat or graham flour

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup shortening

1 tablespoon salt

2 packages regular yeast or quick active dry yeast

2 1/4 cups very warm water (120 degrees to 130 degrees)

3 to 4 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour

Margarine or butter, melted, if desired

1. Mix whole wheat flour, honey, shortening, salt and yeast in large bowl. Add warm water. Beat with electric mixer on low speed 1 minutes, scraping bowl frequently. Beat on medium speed 1 minute, scraping bowl frequently. Stir in remaining all-purpose flour, 1 cup at a time, to make dough easy to handle.

2. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead about 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Place in greased bowl and turn greased side up. Cover and let rise in warm place 40 to 60 minutes or until double. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.

3. Grease bottoms and sides of 2 loaf pans, 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 or 9 x 5 x 3 inches, with shortening.

4. Punch down dough and divide in half. Flatten each half with hands or rolling pin into rectangle, 18 x 9 inches, on lightly floured surface. Roll dough up tightly, beginning with 9-inch side, to form a loaf. Press with thumbs to seal after each turn. Pinch edge of dough into roll to seal. Fold ends under loaf. Place seam side down in pan. Brush loaves lightly with margarine. Cover and let rise in warm place 35 to 50 minutes or until double.

5. Move oven rack to low position so that tops of pan will be in center of oven. Heat oven to 375 degrees.

6. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until loaves are deep golden brown and sound hollow when tapped. Remove from pans to wire rack. Brush loaves with margarine, cool.

(Note: Allow bread to completely cool before slicing into pieces. This will help prevent in from becoming crumbly. Sometimes I do cut off an end piece just to have a quick taste!).

I'm hoping that after enough practice my loaves will come out more evenly shaped and the same size. But as long as the bread tastes good, the presentation doesn't matter.