its time to plant seedlings indoors for those who have vegetable gardens. Wal-Mart has flower and vegetable seeds for 20 cents each. all others are either 1.00 or 1.50. they also have starter trays for 6 dollars. They have 60 peat pots, a watering system, and a plastic "greenhouse" top.

if you don't have a yard, these things can be grown easily on a balcony or porch, in containers.

cherry tomatoes
herbs of all kinds
lettuce
cucumbers

gardening is another great stress reliever, not to mention the health benefits of home grown, pesticide free veggies.

bread baking

I LOVE BAKING YEAST BREADS

There are also health benefits of eating homemade breads. kneaded dough is easier to digest then than commercially prepared bread. this is because commercial breads are mixed, but never kneaded. You also control the amount of fat in the bread, and you know there are no preservatives or additives or CORN SYRUP.

There is something about baking my own bread that simplifies my life. Its as if i have returned to basics. To one of the simple things in life that our technological, mass produced society replaced.

There is little so comforting as a warm slice of homemade bread.

Kneading dough is a great stress reliever. its also fun to punch down the dough and watching it rise somehow gives a feeling of accomplishment.

bread is made in three steps, so can be easily worked into a busy schedule. starter at night, mixing and kneading after lunch, rising, punching and rising to finish just in time for dinner.

here is the easiest and most foolproof recipe i have thus far.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Rustic-Country-Bread/Detail.as

Allrecipes.com is also a great site which saves the time i spend searching a million cookbooks for a common recipe.