Cabin Fever

Have a child that is sick ALL week and not sure what to do with yourself to avoid going crazy? Why not grind some flour?? I borrowed an electric grain mill and tried my hand at making oat, rice, and bean flour for Ben-friendly baking.

The finished product: A canister of oat flour. Cost: 99 cents for the canister of whole oats. A similar quantity at a specialty store would be upwards of $18.

The WonderMill, a.k.a. "The World's #1 Whisper Mill." I would give it high ratings for its ability to quickly dispense with large amounts of grains, but I don't know what kind of whisper it's talking about. I wish I would have worn earplugs. But I guess that's pretty standard for these kind of contraptions.

Still trying to figure out how to use the pinto bean flour I ground. Any ideas? Have you ever ground your own flour before? Do you think it's worth the time/effort/money?

I'm also a big fan of making my own baby food and am excited to start whipping up big batches of baked sweet potatoes, squash, zucchini, and peas for Miss Lucy. She will be six months old on Feb. 20 and we'll start her on solids. We started Ben before a little before four months old because he was so big and our witch doctor (no joke) at the Harvard Health Services told us it would help him sleep through the night (big joke). We think it mostly exacerbated his allergies, but I do have fond memories of spending one night a week in the kitchen slipping baking sheets loaded with veggies into the oven, mashing them up onced baked, and partitioning them into ice cube trays for individual servings.