Buckwheat Flapjacks

Our daughter, Dawn, came to visit for several days and these delicious flapjacks are one of her favorite breakfasts.
Buckwheat has a distinctive earthy flavor and dark robust color as you may see by the pictures.

BUCKWHEAT FLAPJACKS

1C. Buckwheat Flour
1C. Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1t. Baking Powder
1t. Baking Soda
1/4t. Salt

2 Eggs
2C. Coconut Milk or milk of choice
2T. Coconut Oil melted
3T. Pure Maple Syrup or Honey or Agave
1t. Vanilla
1t. Cinnamon

Mix ingredients together and cook as you would any pancake. Remember that they are ready to turn when a number of the bubbles that appear on the top no longer close up.
Serve with the topping of your choice (we still prefer pure maple syrup!).
In this picture you can see how dark these pancakes are! Our little Garret loves "em!

Your Very Own As You Like It Master Granola Recipe

I found it! A granola recipe that I could adapt into a Master and could be made totally with your choice of ingredients! (The original came from bestfoodblogever.com.) My new version is such a yummy recipe because you put into it the things you love. Make it different each time or stand by your very favorites!

In a large bowl place dry ingredients:
2 C. Whole Rolled Cereal ~ Oats, Wheat, etc.
4 C. Total Additions like:
1 1/2 C. Nuts of Choice
1 C. Unsweetened Coconut
1/2 C. Seeds ~ Sesame, Flax, Sunflower, etc.
1 C. Dried Fruit ~ Raisins, Cranberries, Cut Up Apricots, etc. Fruit is added halfway into baking time.

In a smaller bowl place wet ingredients:
2/3 C. Honey, or Maple Syrup, Brown Rice Syrup, Agave, or any combination of your choice
1/4 C. Nut Butter ~ Peanut, Almond, etc.
1 1/2 t. Vanilla, or Part Vanilla and Part Maple or Almond etc.
Dash of Salt, if desired and salted nuts were not used.

Mix dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, except fruit. Stir wet ingredients well. Pour syrup mixture over dry ingredients and stir till thoroughly coated.Spread onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes, stirring after 10 minutes.Add fruit if using, to cookie sheet and return to oven for another 20 min. stirring after 10 min.. Cool to room temp and store in an airtight container. Makes about 7 Cups.
Serve with your favorite milk. Mine's Coconut!

How-To Freeze Ice Cream In A Plastic Bag

Summer is coming fast and some days our weather here is already in the high 80's. Strawberries are in full swing at the fruit stands, too, and it's time for a good strawberry ice cream recipe. This freezing method is great for Family Night or as a party activity for the kids.

Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream

Blend in blender:

3 Egg Yolks
2C. Coconut Milk or Milk of Choice
1/4C. Xylitol (or sugar)
Pour into saucepan and bring to scalding on med. heat. DO NOT BOIL. Cover and cool to room temp. and place in refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight.

Almost liquify in blender:

2+ C. Hulled Strawberries
1/4C. Honey or Light Agave (or sugar)
1t. Vanilla
Chill.
Stir mixtures together. Pour 1/2-1C. ice cream mixture into sandwich sized ziplock freezer bags. For each sandwich bag you will also need a 1 gallon freezer bag and a friend. You will need at least 4. Fill gallon bags half full with ice. Sprinkle ice with about 1/2C. table salt. Add one bag of ice cream to each gallon bag and turn over and over to churn and freeze ice cream. Putting a towel on the table is a good idea for soaking up any spilled water (or, heaven forbid! Ice cream!!)

For a simple and easy 5 minute vanilla recipe click HERE.
And for more info click HERE.

Kitchen Chemistry

Over the years I have spent many hours, not always enough thought, and a fair amount of money into experimenting with recipes trying to make them healthier. Some with success and others? Well, not so much. I have yet to find the all-encompassing food chemistry manual of my dreams. You know, the one that includes things like what will result by using coconut oil in the recipe instead of shortening. (Don't do it by-the-way, without some study. I once tried to make popcorn balls using coconut oil instead of butter and they never held together because one of coconut oil's virtues is that it resists hardening when heated to high temperatures. And I knew that?)

Well, we all start from somewhere. For me, my journey began with switching from refined grains and sweeteners to natural. That was a huge beginning. In addition to learning the reasons why it would be worth it I also had to learn how to do it. Things like:
~ When baking with whole wheat flour, you can use just a little less than refined white because of its bulk, otherwise your results may be too dry.
~ Again, when using honey you can use a bit less because it's sweeter than sugar.
~ And, when substituting any liquid for a dry ingredient, you must compensate for the change somewhere else in the recipe. For example, 1C. of honey also adds 1/4th C. of liquid so you use 1/4th C. less other liquid. If the recipe is for cookies and doesn't have a wet ingredient like water or milk, search for someone else's recipe for best results!
Back then there were no computers in our homes for relative ease in research. Now, thanks to Google and other search engines, so much info is at our fingertips. Still, we have to know enough about our subject to know what to ask!
From time to time, I'll be adding to this little page of mine, facts and figures to hopefully make the use of "new" food more practical and still tasty.

Got A Sweet Tooth?

I do.
It's a shameful thing I know, but here I am needing something sweet to end my evening meal! It doesn't have to be big or fancy, just a nibble will do but it has to be something!
I decided several years ago to do some sleuthing around about what sweeteners were "good" and which ones were not. I'd already given up on processed, granulated white sugar, brown sugar, and powdered sugar, chemicals and all you know. But I took one look at the shelf at the health food store and felt so overwhelmed I uttered prayers right there on the spot!
I know honey is one of the best choices with it's trace minerals, but sometimes I just don't want my final product to taste like it. A good alternative is agave, although I'm still learning about how to cook with that one. Maple Syrup is wonderful when you're looking for the brown sugar flavor, and grade B does it best in recipes. Honey, Agave and Pure Maple Syrup are all low to med-low on the glycemic index.
Next on the list are the ones that are quite sweet but aren't sugars at all. There's Xylitol and Stevia.
Ever notice when label reading that there are usually multiple sweeteners in any given product? That's because they each have their strengths and weaknesses. Xylitol has the drawback of causing diarhea if too much is consumed. (A moderate amount is harmless) Stevia tends to have a bit of an aftertaste if too much is added to the recipe but Truvia brand doesn't. Each of these are calorie free, have no effect on blood sugar and do not promote candida or tooth decay. Xylitol actually strengthens bones and restores tooth enamel!So. How about that! There really are sweeteners out there that are good for you! Recipes to follow soon!

How-To "Do" Rice

I used to shy away from the whole idea of using brown rice. It just took too long to cook and I got less than ideal results. But all brown rice is not the same. Select long grain to get lighter, fluffier rice. Short grain is a bit chewier and tends to get sticky. Cooking a large batch works well because you can make it ahead and freeze it. This way you only have to cook it once a month or so and all it takes is getting it from the freezer instead of cooking it for 45 minutes each time. Yes, 2 lbs of rice takes the same amount of cooking time as 1C. of rice!
Follow the package directions, and measure the amount of water carefully. You don't want too much or too little. Cover and bring to a boil on high heat, then lower the flame and set the timer. Make sure to simmer on low and DON'T PEEK for the whole 45 minutes! After the timer goes off, check to make sure all the water has been absorbed by pushing rice aside with a spoon and looking at the bottom of the pan. You can replace the lid and cook it for 5-10 min. longer if needed. If there isn't water but the rice is a little wet, you can turn off the flame, fluff the rice with a fork and let it dry out for a few minutes before serving, leaving the lid off and allowing the steam to escape. Cool and divide into sandwich-sized bags and store in the freezer. Once cooked it's easy to add a bag of rice to browned ground meat seasoned with onion and/or garlic and a bit of salt, or to soups, etc.. As a lover of Rice Pudding, and custards in general, I'm sharing a favorite here.

The rice came out more even-colored than the picture shows.

Place in lightly greased 8" pan:
4C. or 2 Freezer Bags of Cooked Brown Rice
Sprinkle with Raisins, if desired.
In the blender mix:
2 1/2C. Milk of choice
2-3 Eggs, 2 if extra large
1/2C. Honey
1/2t. Cinnamon, if desired
Pour custard mixture over rice and bake at 350 for about 1 hour or until custard is set. Baking in glass makes it so you don't need to put the pan in water in the oven, as custards usually require, because it protects the delicate food from getting too hot on the bottom. Serve with milk, if desired.
With only 2 of us, leftovers make a quick and yummy breakfast or dessert right from the fridge or warmed in the microwave.

My Grandma Knew

With mixes out there for decades and fewer people baking for themselves, some of what used to be common knowledge has been lost. We put together a family cookbook several years ago and a muffin recipe of my Grandma Shipp's from the 1950's was included. Here is her recipe:

4T. Shortening
1/2t. Salt
1C. Milk
1 Egg, well beaten
1/4C. Karo
1 3/4C. Flour
1/4C. Cornstarch
4t. Baking Powder

Beat all ing. til just blended. Pour into muffin tins. Bake in a hot oven. That's it! No temperature or amount of baking time. And did you notice cornstarch? When I first saw that I thought surely it must be a typo. It caused me to research it out though, and this is what I learned. Soft White Wheat is called Pastry Flour because it has less gluten than Hard Red Wheat Flour. So in order to get a lighter, fluffier result when using whole wheat flour for cakes, muffins and other products calling for baking powder, less gluten is advised. When you can't get Pastry Flour you may substitute cornstarch for a small part of the flour. Subtract 2T. flour in each cup of flour called for and replace it with cornstarch to make up the difference. But if you're making yeast bread you'll want the higher gluten content to help it rise. In baking, once ovens were made with a temperature control, a slow oven became 250-300 degrees, a moderate oven, 350-400 degrees, a hot oven, 400-450. And baking time for muffins is usually about 20-30 minutes.
I rewrote this recipe for how I'd use it. Here's what I did:

4T. Applesauce (no shortening or added fat)
1/8-1/4 t. Salt
1C. Soymilk or other milk of choice
1 Egg well beaten
1/4C. Honey
1 3/4C. Whole Wheat Flour
1/4C. Cornstarch
4t. Baking Powder

Mix all ing. til just blended. Pour into pan-sprayed muffin tin. Bake 25 minutes at 400. Makes 1 dozen. This is a nice moist, not too sweet basic muffin you can serve with dinner or to which you can add seasonings like onion, thyme or dill. You could make them a little sweeter by doubling the honey, adding a sweet streusel-top, or cinnamon, raisins, blueberries, or nuts etc.. Also, muffins with no fat should not be baked in papers as they will stick. * Clip art in the cookbook came from Colossal Clip Art by Dianne J. Hook. The monkey belongs to the Going Bananas At Mealtime Busy Family Cookbook by Bright Impressions and was not intended for other use.