Moores Flour Mill

Moores flour mill entry view.

Looking down one of the four isles at Moores where my lovely wife stands.

Another isle at Moores flour mill.

I made a trip to our local flour mill that is very well hidden in our small town. It has been in business though for a pretty long time and has a very loyal following, plus their products are carried in many local grocery stores. Above you can see a few quick snaps we took while grabbing a few items we needed since we have gotten on a make our own bread kick.

They do grind and back all of their flours and most of their other items they offer. From cornmeal, to semolina, and assorted oats. They are also fully stocked with every starch one could think of, a variety of dried pasta, a few in house mixes (pancake, etc.), every kind of grain and dried bean one could want, plus a pretty fine spice area. The staff is super friendly and honestly if they were not a tad bit busy I would of asked if I could go into the massive backroom to get some more photos for all of you that are interested.

When we left to go to Moores flour mill we had a list that included the following: White bread flour, whole wheat bread flour, active dry yeast, and some rye flour. Well we picked up a 10 pound sack of the white and whole wheat flour (they go from 10lb to like 50lb plus). We also picked up a sack of active dry yeast, must be at very least 2 possibly almost 3 cups worth. Unfortunately they were out of the rye flour for the day (said check back tomorrow), but they did have pumpernickel which basically is the less but just less ground – we opted to wait for now. While checking over the spice area we did notice that they had some great deals and we ended up getting a large bottle of sweet Spanish paprika and some more dried marjoram (we just used the rest earlier this week). Then to wrap it up we also grabbed two locally produced soda’s for the ride back home.

Julia got herself a vanilla cream soda and I got myself a root beer. Must say that even though I drank it, and they were only .99 cents each – I just did not care that much for the flavor. Not sure if it was the sarsaparilla, the vanilla, the birch, the wintergreen, the sugar, or perhaps even the water. Whatever it was the spice blend just was not what I was looking for. I did not get a chance to taste the Vanilla cream soda, so that too will remain a mystery. I suppose to my next visit there I will grab a few soda’s to talk about on here.

Oh ya check this out:

• 10 pounds whole wheat bread flour.
• 10 pounds white bread flour.
• Huge sack of instant yeast, must weigh at least a pound.
• Large jar of sweet Spanish paprika.
• Standard sized spice jar of Marjoram.
• 2 Locally produced bottles of soda.
• Total cost – under $20.00 *we did bring in and use our own grocery bags, we always try to.

I am typically not a brand whore.  I will spend more on some brands over others but there must be a noticeable quality difference, beyond the popular label and what your friends think. I have tested assorted brands of canned tomatoes, brands of ketchup, canned beans, types of tuna fish both in oil and in water, you can pretty much name it and there is a good chance our family has tested it. Often the ones hawked on FN by the “celebrity” chefs do not come out as winners in my book. There are a few exceptions though and I am going to share one with you, well I will share one but must say several of their products are far superior to any others available out there. They are worth hunting down if you can. Depending on your market they may or may not cost more than some other brand – perhaps one that starts with the letters O R T E G.

So I share with you one of my pantry staples that I always have sitting in my “south of the border/Tex Mex” area. Yes before you ask I do have assorted areas of my pantry for certain cuisine types. Back on subject what I always do keep there is some assorted Hatch products. Normally the stuff I have the types that come in glass jars but during my last shopping trip they just had the canned varieties. I keep stocked up on both medium, and hot enchilada sauce, along with some canned roasted hatch peppers of both heats. In a pinch they both have infinite uses beyond the standards like enchiladas (which I did make this week). For example I find the sauce goes perfect when warmed and poured over a simple omelet, or toss a few of the roasted chilies onto a burger and the flavor explosion is hard to contain.

Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce

Fairly sure we are heading into a 3rd year of a drought. Not really much I can do about it. The weather has been super warm to say the least. I am honestly thinking about uncovering my BBQ and starting to grill and slow cook some stuff outside. I really can not take the cold, my body rejects it but it just has been that warm. Also should be on the look out for a rotisserie for my BBQ, I do not have one and I really think I should get one despite that I do a whole lot of indirect cooking. Now I must see if I can find one for my model of BBQ.

I also assure you I will have some more recipes up and posted soon. I did start a big batch of dough and let it sit around and rise on our counter for about 18 hours or so. It now sits covered in the fridge awaiting to be turned into some bread. Speaking of which we do have a lovely flour mill in town that grinds all of their assorted flours. I am going to visit them this week (on a bread kick), I will be sure to snap some photos for all of you.

I noticed I have just been typing stuff straight out of my head on this blog and really not editing it at all. I vow to change that very soon, perhaps as early as the 1st. I also will do a better job at taking photos and running them through photo shop. You can say that I have been a bit lazy with the whole thing and that really is not my style. I apologize for that. Warning you may still see a few bad pictures here and there over the next few updates as I have already shot a bunch of standby material and I just can not redo them.

I also plan on giving this blog a bit of a touch up. I knew from the get go that it was very generic. I figured I would eventually get to making it a bit more pretty and reflective of myself. Speaking of this blog a few people I have spoke to have asked me about it and why I would even bother. It is not like it will make me any money, nor provide me with some ego boost. I do not do this for the comments, though they would be nice. I am primarily doing this mostly because I do like to share and I want an easy place for my wife, my friends, or even myself to quickly find some of my recipes.

I have been thinking a lot lately which almost always can be a bad thing, it often lands me in trouble or making a mess. I have been reading tons of blogs, one at a time almost. Thankfully I am a quick reader, and I love the comments that people leave. I will find a blog and then read the whole entire thing over the course of a day or two, three to four if I am lucky and stumble on a large older blog I had not read yet. Anyways back to my thinking. I have noticed a whole lot of so called “foodies” and as of today I really do not think I am one anymore.

Allow me to explain. I love food, I am very particular about many of my ingredients.  I will often spend a little bit or a bit more to buy the better item, yet it better really be better and not just a better or more fashionable name. Designer foods really piss me off, nothing I hate more with food that something that is only popular because some other popular people claimed it was. I have just about every spice known to man. I have a wide assortment of vinegars and oils. I grind many of my own spices, I grow herbs. Heck I have different types of salts which to many non food people would make zero sense. Friends and family know I am sort of the go to person when it comes to making something or other, I can always be relied upon to bring a great dish to whatever I am invited to – people enjoy coming to my dinners for the food. In almost every sense of the word people would think I am a foodie.

Much to my surprise, I do not seem to fit in as much though. I must be lacking some special gene or something. I do not have an issue if someone wants to pour ketchup on their steak before even trying it. Macaroni and cheese out of a box will do in a pinch. The ideas that everything must be organic and people can always taste the difference seems plain odd to me. I guess it boils down to that as long as somebody enjoys it and that is how they like it, why should I bitch or care otherwise?

The more I read the more it seems that many have placed foodie and elitist snob in the same group. People seem to scoff at many items as if they are below people. Even worse is the whole assumption that everything must spoil near instantly and one would have an insane death wish if they dared to even think about leaving something out for an hour or whatever – the type of people who would of starved to death less than a century ago it seems.

I really should not even be going on about all of this as I may end up offending even more people. Just one of those things that really gets under my nerves. Almost as bad as those who give a recipe a negative review – after they have changed just about everything in it.

Figured I would begin to share my “planned” menu plans on my blog. May as well allow them to leave my way to fussy self made calendar done up in Excel. I will admit though that before I started to plan out my little Excel menu this year, the wife and I had way to many conversations and semi arguments about what is for dinner – typically like an hour before we should be eating. This also wrecked havoc on trying to do our shopping since we really never knew what we wanted. I mean of course we could and will adjust assorted vegetables and such to the seasons – the base dishes really could still be laid out (of course with some wiggle room if something special or on sale popped up).

So far my menu only includes dinner items. I am taking it slow and easing into the whole thing. Plus I often just eat leftovers or a sandwich for lunch anyways and honestly my idea of breakfast is usually a cup of tea and maybe a piece of toast (yeah I need to work on that).

One last little note. This article may change a bit as things get updated or switched around (that’s life). I will also try to link any given dishes that I managed to photograph and write out the recipe to share here. That way they are easier to find.

February Menu Plan:

1. Thai style chicken skewer, peanut sauce, cucumber salad, and rice.
2. Roast beef, mixed vegetables, and twice baked potatoes.
3. Roast beef sandwiches served open face with gravy, and a salad.
4. Spinach salad, lamb meatballs, saffron couscous, and almond cookies ~ adapted from Sunset magazine.
5. Old fashioned homemade hamburgers.
6. White fish, steamed vegetables, and a baked potato.
7. Some sort of soy based slow cooked chicken thighs, rice, and carrot salad.
8. Chicken parmesan, vegetables, and garlic bread.
9. Porcupine meatballs, mashed potatoes, and salad.
10. Beef stroganoff my way over rice, and salad.
11. Gumbo, rice, and cornbread.
12. Shepherds pie ~ with a note to fry extra ground beef for taco’s.
13. Sweet and sour chicken over rice.
14. Valentines day dinner ~ more than likely will mail order lobster or crayfish.
15. Soft taco’s, re fried beans, fresh salsa and guacamole.
16. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans.
17. Baked spiral ham, glazed carrots, and roasted potatoes.
18. Ham and cheese omelets and a salad.
19. Steak, potato skins, and brussel sprouts.
20. Homemade macaroni and cheese, along with some ham. Will be bulk making the mac and cheese for extra freezer sides.
21. Soup and bread – not sure of what type, figure it will use ham bone.
22. Loaded burritos, fresh salsa, guacamole, beans, and rice.
23. Corned beef, cabbage, boiled vegetables.
24. Leftover corned beef and cabbage dinner.
25. Leftover stuffed peppers from the freezer when I made them in bulk, plus salad.
26. Homemade pizza.
27. Beef stew.
28. Leftover beef stew.

Well there you have it for now. We also will be trying to toss in a few desserts as well as some baked goods scattered throughout the month.