Whether I’m trying to do too much.

The to-do/to-learn list generated today (just for the kitchen. Yes we did school):

• Make Ketchup (this recipe or this one look too adventurous for now. I’ll start here.)
• Make “un-soy” sauce — since we can’t eat soy anymore (had this with lettuce rolls last night.  Wonderful.)
• Prep Peaches/nectarines for food drier
• Learn how to make lard
• Research how to make coconut yogurt (For my goal of getting us dairy-free for at least 3 or 4 weeks, to see if it helps)
• Sandwich bread
• Make laundry detergent (the girls are looking forward to seeing/participating with this one)
• Ham and chicken chowder (so the thawed meat is used in a timely manner)

And, yeah, it is too much, actually.

I even removed making graham crackers from the list.

But since going gluten-free, I sort of see this doing-too-much as a sort of “overhead” for the life we’re growing into. The un-soy, for example, or any number of breads and baked goods in their all their (tiny-amounts-of-multiple-ingredients) glory, is something I know how to manage now.

And I like how it leads to my being both more organized and tidy.

I used to leave the flour and sugar out when I moved on to mixing up my batter/dough/etc., but six jars jars on the counter will cramp my sense of space to work in.

So I’ve gotten really consistent about putting stuff away as soon as I’m done using it.

I feel like I’m getting the hang of this, even as I wrestle with how far I have to go (where it doesn’t take all my focus to stay on top of).  Because the big deal to me is that I have a known-something to do.