A Little Help for my Friends

This is for everyone, addict or normie, but it's especially for Bobby*. Hang in there, man! Also for Karen**, because I know you read this regularly and love my cooking. ;)

*not his real name
**her real name



A couple of threads on the KCI board recently have me thinking about something that may seem off the topic of recovery, but really isn't. Addicts who've used for most of their lives usually end up starting over, and sometimes, over and over again. Speaking for myself, starting my life from scratch in the middle of my life, (yikes!) really bites. Realizing how much time I've lost is almost enough to make me want to go back out again.

A huge part of re-building revolves around money. Some had nothing for years except for the chase. Some of us had money and possessions that were lost or thrown away. Whatever the reason, we are, for the most part, starting from scratch. People don't spend their whole lives as addicts and then smoothly transition to the normal world as if nothing ever happened. The point is, being poor sucks. Especially in this economy.

There are people I talk to in forums who are barely managing to feed themselves and their families. Which brings me (finally) to the point of this post.

When I lost my job about a month ago, the first thing I thought, right after I realized that blowing up a building would totally be against my probation, was: how am I going to feed Andy? Not only that, but with limited funds, how would I feed him nutritiously?

I'm baking today. I've been making the following recipes every other week since the day that I********e made the egregious error of letting their best employee go. (I'm not bitter. Just pissed off.) So I thought I'd share these low cost, nutritional recipes. Enjoy!

Simple Whole Wheat Bread

6 cups warm water ($0.00)
4 packages of yeast ($1.50 max)**
1 1/3 cups honey or molasses (molasses are cheaper $2.50 for a bottle)
16 cups whole wheat flour ($.41/lb. bulk - $2.05 for 5 lbs.)**
6 Tbsp melted butter (buy margarine - 1 stick= $.50 max)
2 Tbsp salt ($1.00 for a whole box, so actually nothing)**
appx. 3 cups regular flour ($1.00)**
(I always throw a bunch of flax seed, ground of course, but that's optional.)

Use molassas and Nucoa margarine to veganize, if that's your thing.

**Buy in bulk! Save $$$$$!

Mix water, yeast & half the sweetener, (2/3 c.) with 6 cups w.w. flour together in a big-ass mixing bowl. Let it sit for half an hour or so until it gets bubbly. It will get huge, which is why you need a big-ass bowl.

What? You don't have a big-ass mixing bowl? Haul your butt to the thrift store and pick one up for a buck.

Mix butter, 10 cups w.w. flour and the other half (2/3 c.) of the sweetener with the goo in the big-ass bowl. Knead the hell out of it. If you use regular white flour for the kneading, it will be cheaper. You'll 'knead' a lot of it. (sorry, couldn't resist)

Let it rise until it doubles in volume. Punch it down, knead it again & divide into 4 equal pieces. Slap those puppies into 4 bread pans either greased or sprayed with non-stick...uh...spray. When done, remove from pans immediately and lightly grease (butter, margarine, shortening) on top and all four sides. Otherwise, it'll dry out. Blah.

What? You don't have bread pans? If you can score dope on the streets of San Fransisco at 2 am, you can figure out how to get some bread pans for next to nothing. Spray the pans really well if you've just bought those cheap ones at the Salvation Army.

Let rise until it looks like raw bread. Bake at 350 for 25 - 30 mins. If you're unsure if it's done, flick the top with your finger. It should sound hollow.

TA-DA! Four loaves of VERY nutritious bread (whole wheat, no preservatives & very little fat) for the grand total of $1.88 per loaf. About $7.55 for the whole shebang. The best part about this bread is that it's so dense, it's not only filling, but it's easy to cut into thin slices - something that hard to do with more airy bread.

Tomorrow on The Next 24, Thick, Chewy Oatmeal Cookies & Vegetable Soup. (mmmmm...soup!)