This week my sourdough starter has really taken off (out of control one might say), so I’ve been baking a lot. I’m glad my homemade starter
turned out to be so healthy and is giving great rise and flavor to my homemade baked goods. I don’t like to throw anything out, so I’ve been baking with the discard portion of the sourdough starter as well as with the fed starter. This week I’ve used they fruity fermented starter to bake homemade roasted garlic sourdough bread, kaiser rolls, and had a failed attempt to make pita bread…I tuned the oven to give the dough a jump start in a warm oven, but I forgot to turn it off, so I ended up with dried out bread dough that had sat in an oven turned on to warm for nearly an hour. 
I only realized it was in the rising bowl in the oven when I was starting to smell the wonderful aromas of baked bread. Although it smelled delicious, it was very dense and definitely not anything I would be able to make pitas with. Those homemade pitas will be made another day as I have no shortage of sourdough starter or schedule I need to follow for the summer.
Brickman and Fancy are home from school for the summer now, so I am finding myself in the kitchen more. Not only because I have 2 extra to feed breakfast and lunch, but I find the kitchen to be my refuge from bickering and whining kids! Usually, I end up with helpers in the kitchen too, which stops the bickering for the most part, as one will have a chance to play on the computer as the other one is my helper and taste tester. It’s been a 
chilly start to the summer as per usual in the Pacific Northwest. We say our summer doesn’t start until the 4th of July instead of Memorial Day…and for the past 4 years I’ve lived here it has held true. I’m taking full advantage of the cooler temps, overcast days, or just plain nasty weather…see all that marble sized hail? It came down for quite a while on Tuesday, which was Field day at the kids’ school of course! At least we had a nice day for the last day of school and our Welcome to Summer block party! I’m glad we have such a great neighborhood of Coastie families who get together and do fun things for the kids and each other!
Friday
- Spaghetti with meat sauce
- Garden Salad
- Homemade roasted garlic sourdough
Saturday
- Mussgo, freezer meal, or meal not cooked last week
Sunday
- Italian baked chicken-I used this recipe with bone in breasts and baked until internal temperature reads 165 (about 1 hour)
- Panzenella salad-great way to use up leftover bread from Friday’s meal
- Banana cake with Nutella cream cheese frosting– I just added a few spoonfuls of Nutella to the frosting recipe.
Monday
- Falafel with tzatziki sauce in pita bread-I used dried beans cooked on low in the slow
cooker for about 4 hours. - Greek quinoa salad ( cook a little extra plain quinoa for one of my
favorite mussgo dishes on Thursday)
Tuesday
- Mexican steak torta sandwich
- Refried beans
- Sauteed corn with bell pepper, onion, garlic, and taco seasoning
Wednesday
- Panko lemon herb crusted tilapia-I just
added some lemon zest, parsley, salt, and
pepper to some panko and dipped one side of the tilapia in it before putting it on aparchment lined baking sheet. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until fish if flaky but still moist. - Lemon ricotta squash galette
- Spring greens with cucumbers and dried cranberries
Thursday
- Mussgo
- Buffalo chicken quinoa salad-use leftover chicken from Sunday and quinoa from Monday. I use a bag of broccoli slaw instead of all the veggies listed in the recipe for a quick fix dinner.