Strawberry Jam without extra sugar

This weekend the kids and I made no-sugar-added Strawberry Freezer Jam. Oh. my. goodness, it is good! We made a special loaf of Honey Oatmeal Wheat bread and the combo is our go-to food for breakfast, lunch and snacks. Fresh strawberries smeared on toasted perfection... what's not to love?

Strawberry Freezer Jam

2 lbs strawberries

1 tube frozen white grape juice concentrate or apple juice concentrate

1 package no-sugar added pectin

2 envelopes plain gelatin

2 T-1/4 c. lemon juice

stevia

Heat juice concentrate to boiling and allow to simmer until reduced to approximately 1/2 cup. Set aside.

Hull and cut the strawberries (we cut ours in 1/2 inch pieces). Crush the strawberries to desired smoothness (we left big chunks). Allow the strawberries to sit for a while, or until a lot of juice has come out of them.

Put strawberries in large pan, then mix in juice concentrate and 2 T of lemon juice. Next add pectin and gelatin and mix until both are dissolved. Heat the pan over medium high heat, stirring frequently. The jam should boil hard and thicken (if it seems too thick, add a teeny bit of water or more lemon juice -- it is better to have it too thick than too runny). It will eventually begin to foam. When this happens, turn off the heat, skim the foam and continue to stir occasionally for a minute or two. Taste the jam (carefully!) and add stevia to taste (Start with 5-10 drops and mix well before re-tasting. Don't add so much that it is bitter. Stevia is not good when it is the first thing one tastes.).

Ladle warm jam into freezer containers and allow to cool before covering and putting in fridge or freezer. It should keep in the fridge for several weeks and the freezer for several months, though, trust me, you'll use it long before that.

Before eating, stir it a little to make it less jello-like. Ours is exactly like regular sugar-filled jam when stirred.

Enjoy (in copious amounts)!

And let me know if you try it!

Edited to add: I forgot the lemon juice! It's fixed now.

Snowman Soup

We had a very snowy day here on Thursday. The schools were closed in town and all was quiet. Main Street, which is usually very busy, was empty save for a lone car just occasionally.
To mark the occasion, Annalivia, Daniel and I made Snowman Soup during Emmeliese's nap.

First I had them draw the recipe. Annalivia did all the drawing, save for a lone potato by Daniel, and Daniel did all the coloring. We got things a little out of order, but their drawing is pretty close to the order of the recipe. Then we did all the steps -- peeling, boiling, draining, and mashing potatoes, adding butter and milk, making croutons -- I had the children do it all. It took FOREVER (I had to hold their hands and peel the potatoes for them), but they were so excited to make the soup and try their creation!
While we waited for the potatoes to boil, we made up a story about a snowman named Henry whose mother made him Snowman Soup. We liked it so much, we decided to make a book. Annalivia drew all the pictures.I especially like this one that occurs after Henry has followed several woodland creatures far from home and realizes he is hungry. Can you see his expression and his tummy growling? (Click on the pic to enlarge). She did all of that herself; I just read her the words that were written.

It was a very nice morning together. And we had a yummy lunch as a bonus! I hope this will become a first-big-snow (or in our case, first-big-snow-unless-that-happens-on-Christmas) tradition for the McStews.

Snowman Soup

5-6 potatoes

1/4 stick butter

3-4 cups milk

2 thick slices wheat or pumpernickel bread

salt and pepper to taste

baby carrots

Peel potatoes and put in pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil, turn down a bit and simmer until potatoes are soft.

While potatoes cook, cut bread into thick cubes. If desired, toss with olive oil and a bit of garlic salt. Then spread on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes or until nicely toasted, turn each crouton over, and then bake other side until toasted.

When potatoes are soft, drain and return to pot. Add butter and milk and mash potatoes to desired consistency (I used a stick blender after the kids mashed the potatoes up.) Add salt and pepper to taste.

Place baby carrots and croutons in serving dishes. Serve the soup in bowls, then let kids add baby carrots (the snowman noses) and croutons (eyes and buttons*). Enjoy the warm soup and be glad that you aren't out in the snow like a snowman!:)

*Crumbled bacon can also be used as eyes and buttons, but a parent should probably do the cooking.

I'm linking to Kimba at A Soft Place to Land's DIY Day.

Recipe: Multi-grain bread

I've finally found a multi-grain bread recipe that works consistently. (The original recipe is here.) I think it's as good as the kind from Panera and costs much less. It's not a dense, chewy bread (i.e. the kind I would much rather have for toast, with soups, etc.) It makes nice, light loaves that are good for sandwiches and are easy to substitute for less healthy bread, since everyone in the family likes it, too.

Multigrain Bread

3 cups warm water
1 tablespoon yeast
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
3-5 cups white whole wheat flour
2 cups assorted whole grain flours (i.e. millet, kamut, oat flour, rolled oats, wheat germ, corn, etc)
5 tablespoons vital wheat gluten

Mix yeast with water, salt and sugar and let bloom. After the yeast is bubbly, break the yolk on the egg and add it. Then add 3 cups white whole wheat flour. (I use King Arthur brand, but have had good luck with Montana Wheat Prairie Gold). Then add whatever grains you have on hand, pouring them into one-cup measures so that you have approximately two cups of grains. Add wheat gluten. Begin mixing, adding more flour, until dough sticks together well. Knead until dough bounces back when you poke it with your finger. Cover and allow to rise until double, then punch down. Form into two loaves (can be braided), or rolls, or breadsticks or whatever. Cover and allow to rise until doubled again. Then bake at 350 for about 40 minutes or until crust is lovely and brown and bread sounds hollow when tapped. Turn out of pan and cool as long as you can stand it.

Some notes:

• I make this in my Kitchen Aid mixer. It takes about 5 minutes of mixing. I have no idea how long one would have to knead it.
• Depending on the humidity, I sometimes have to add a lot more flour than I expect.
• If you want a nice, soft crust on the bread, use a butter wrapper on the top after you take it out of the pan.
• This has no preservatives, so be sure to freeze or refrigerate if you are not planning to use it in a day or two.

Recipe: Smoky Potato Corn Chowder

Winter is returning to central Illinois with cold rain today. Here is a recipe perfect for warming up some bellies, and at least a corner of the kitchen. I developed it because I had heavy cream to use, but it is good without it and is also tasty without the smoked sausage or with Italian sausage or with spinach or kale or... well, you get it. It's very adaptable.

.



Smoky Potato Corn Chowder

6-8 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

1 onion, diced

4 celery stalks

1 can sweet corn (drained or undrained -- read on)

1 lb. beef smoked sausage, sliced

1 1/2-2 cups chicken broth

1-2 cups cream

1-2 T butter

black pepper

Put everything except cream in the crockpot. Set on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4 hours. Stir occasionally. Before serving, add cream to desired consistency and stir in butter and add pepper to taste. Mashing up a few of the potatoes will make it more creamy.

Note-- This can also be made on the stovetop. If you make it in the crockpot and aren't home to stir the soup, you may end up with discolored potatoes. They still taste good. Also, if you add the undrained corn to the soup, it will be slightly sweet. Drained corn will make the soup less sweet, but you may need a bit more broth.

Perfecting pizza (a needlessly long dissertation)

Our family loves to eat pizza. I love the cheese and bread. Dennis loves the cheese and tomato sauce. Annalivia and Daniel love the cheese. It's always a meal all of us will like and eat.

One of the things we really miss about northwestern Illinois is the plethora of really amazing pizza places. The pizza up there is all very similar, made on a sweet crust with plenty of cheese that is cooked at a very high temperature until the cheese sort of carmelizes. I had never had it anywhere else before I moved there. And it is amazing.

Around here, we have a few pizza places we like, but nothing stands out in a big way. We've tried pizza at the local popular restaurants and...eh. It's ok, but not great.

We have also tried to find decent frozen pizzas, but frozen pizza can be expensive and the cheap stuff is not good, usually. And I have an issue with sausage on frozen pizzas-- I hate it when sausage tastes sweet or has nutmeg in it and sooooo many of them have really icky sausage on them. What is with that?

ANYWAY -- the answer has been to make our own pizza. And I think we have finally perfected the procedure. We've found that when it comes to speed, nothing beats a pepperoni pizza. So we've been eating it a lot lately which is odd because we never, ever order pepperoni at a pizza place. But it's really easy to open a bag of pepperoni rather than brown a pan of sausage or cut up a bunch of veggies. A lot less cleanup, too. And we've found out that our local store brand of pepperoni is just as good as the brand name and 80 cents cheaper, so we're happy.

We also speed things up by using canned or bottled sauce. We think the generic or store brand of "homestyle" pizza sauce that doesn't have corn syrup in it is good and we also like regular canned tomato sauce found in amidst the tomato products. When we use that, we add Italian seasoning and a little garlic powder to it.

The crust that we've settled on, right now, is white flour. In the past we've used completely whole wheat in the crust recipe and it was good, but not totally delicious like this one. I anticipate that soon we will be working the whole wheat flour back in, but we all really, really like the crust recipe we use now. If you're interested, it's 3 cups of Bob's Red Mill Unbleached Flour (other flours just don't seem to taste as good), 1 1/4 cup water, 1 T yeast, 2 T sugar (or honey, but sugar is sweeter, which is what we were going for), 3 T olive oil, 2 t salt. I put it in the KitchenAid mixer and let it knead, then put it in a bowl with about 1 T olive oil spread around it, cover it with a wet towel and set it on the warming oven. It is ready to be punched down in about 30 minutes and we only let it have one rise. It makes a fairly thick, chewy crust -- I think it could even make two thin crust pizzas, but we'll probably never find out because we like it this way.

I make the crust and after it is in the bowl rising, Dennis does the rest. He worked for Domino's back in the day, after all, and he makes a great pizza. I always put too much or too little sauce on or too much cheese or something. He always gets it right.

The other two things we've discovered is that the right pan makes a difference and the right oven temp is crucial. For a while we used a pizza stone, but ours cracked and then the one we got to replace it made everything taste funky. So we bought two pizza pans and the one that makes the best crust has holes in it. Dennis works the dough on the countertop in some sort of semi-pro way and then puts it on the pan, tops it and then sticks it in a 400 degree oven. The crust ends up crunchy and chewy and delicious, the cheese browned. It's great.

Now that we've got the process in hand, I think we're going to branch back out with different toppings. My favorite is sausage with fresh onion, green pepper and mushrooms. Dennis likes the same with pepperoni on top. And I remember being a big fan of ground beef on pizza when I was little. We'll have to see.

We may have to try it again tomorrow night! :)

Sunday Dinner II

Today, we hosted Sunday dinner again. Dennis got a ham from work for the holidays and rather than freezing it to use later, we decided to cook it up. So we had a nice dinner of spinach bisque, ham, scalloped potatoes, and buttermilk rolls provided by me, with jello and green salad provided by Mom and green beans with bacon provided by Lil. I also made pineapple upside down cake with whipped cream for dessert. We were all full. And now we have a refrigerator full of food going into this Thanksgiving week. I guess we don't have to worry about dinners and lunches for a few days.

I wanted to share two interesting recipes I ended up using. The first is for Refrigerator Buttermilk Rolls. The interesting part is that the dough can supposedly be made up ahead of time and then stuck in the refrigerator for up to 7 days. I even ran out of buttermilk and used the ol' milk-with-vinegar trick and it worked well, which makes this a keeper recipe, for me. The rolls, which I made in regular round shape, were very soft and light and tasty and delicious, especially with a bit of the homemade butter Lil provided. They'd be great hamburger buns, I think. I will try them with whole wheat next time. I thought someone may enjoy the recipe for Thanksgiving. It's always nice to find things that can be made ahead.

The other recipe worth sharing, in my mind, was for the spinach bisque. It was very good and really, could be a meal all on its own. I made it because the ham ended up being small and I was worried we wouldn't have enough. We did have plenty, of course, but this bisque was probably my favorite part of the meal. I combined a couple of recipes to come up with this one. I think it would also taste delicious with a little tobasco or a tablespoon of dijon mustard added for a little bit more bite. It can be diluted with more chicken broth to make it stretch, or one could add even more spinach. It's very rich. Just pretend like it doesn't have any calories and enjoy. :)

Spinach Bisque

1 med onion, minced

1 clove garlic, minced finely

2 T butter

1/4-1/2 cup white wine (can be omitted)

2 boxes of spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

2 pkgs cream cheese, softened and cut into smaller pieces

1 1/2 c. half and half

3 cups chicken broth

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

pepper to taste

Sautee onion and garlic in butter until transluscent. Deglaze pan with wine. Add spinach and cream cheese. Allow cheese to melt slightly. Add half and half slowly, stirring to make the mixture quite smooth. When cream cheese is entirely melted, add the chicken broth. Stir to make smooth again. Add cheddar cheese in batches, stirring until smooth. When cheddar is melted, add parmesan. Stir well. Season to taste. Heat through, but do not allow it to fully boil. Best when very warm.

Recipe: Easy, delicious pasta sauce

Sometimes I hate to cook. I admit it. We eat out more often than we should as a family and we are constantly trying to figure out ways to make tasty, simple meals in the easiest possible way, while cooking from scratch. I know that processed food is not great for us. So, for the most part, I've tried to get rid of processed shortcuts and use the real deal.

One processed product that I just will not give up, though, is jarred pasta sauce. I have tried to make my own from scratch and frankly, the work is too much. We generally buy Ragu on sale and I can get if for a few cents more than a can of similarly sized tomatoes. Ragu is pretty healthy, as processed foods go. But I will admit I don't like it straight from the jar. Here is how to doctor it up and make it really, really delicious. My mother taught me this secret which is to use wine. You boil the sauce so that the alcohol cooks out of it, but it will leave a wonderful flavor. I think one might be able to use white grape juice also, but I haven't tried it. I use the wine and it never fails to be delicious.

Delicious Pasta Sauce

1 lb bulk sausage

2 jars of pasta sauce -- I use Ragu Roasted Garlic and Mushroom and Sauteed Onion

2 large cans of crushed tomatoes

1 cup of red wine -- I usually use Chianti or Valpolicella

Brown the sausage in a large pot. Get it really brown. Drain the fat, if necessary.

Pour in some wine to deglaze the pan. Scrape up all the delicious brown stuff on the bottom. Pour the rest of the wine in and bring to a boil.

Pour in the jars of sauce and the cans of tomato.

Bring to a boil, then turn down and let simmer for a few minutes, or as long as you like.

I also like to cook 2 boxes of pasta to use with this and my favorite pasta to us is Rigatoni or Ziti. Combined, this makes two round casserole dishes of pasta. The first night, we eat one and save leftovers for lunch the next day. I pour the rest of the pasta in the other, top with mozzarella and freeze it for some day in the future. On that day, I'll pull it out of the freezer, put it in the oven, covered, at 350 and let it cook until the cheese is melted and bubbly. It's wonderful and still involves a minimum of pots to clean.

There you go -- easy, peasy, delicious pasta sauce to make two-for-one pasta. That's the kind of cooking I can bear.

Recipe: A really delicious Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookie

I have found that I really like Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies. I am not a big plain ol' chocolate chip cookie fan; they seem too sweet to me. In fact, I think my favorite cookie these days is oatmeal raisin and walnut made a little less sweet than usual. But Dennis is not a raisin fan and chocolate chip cookies are his favorite. So here's the compromise -- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip.

This is a very, very good recipe, I think. It makes cookies that are crisp outside and chewy inside. They are also just a tad salty, which I love and not TOO sweet because I don't use too many chocolate chips, though each cookie always has plenty in them.

This recipe makes A LOT. I make it in my stand mixer which is powerful and that's good because the dough is substantial. The recipe can be halved, but I like to make it all at once, bake a dozen or two, and then freeze the rest in logs. Then when we are all jonesing for cookies, a log can be removed from the freezer, cut into 12 pieces, popped into the oven while still frozen and a bit later we have nice, hot cookies. And I've still only washed the bowl once.

I'm going to try this recipe with raisins and walnuts instead of chocolate chips sometime. I just know I'll have to make a whole lot less, or find someone else who is a fan of shriveled grapes to share my cookies.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups brown sugar

2 cups white sugar

4 sticks butter

4 tablespoons milk

4 tablespoons vanilla

4 cups flour

2 t baking soda

2 t baking powder

2 t salt

5 cups rolled oats

1 12 oz. bag chocolate chips

Cream together the sugars, butter, milk and vanilla until fluffy. Mix flour, soda, powder and salt together and add into creamed mixture until incorporated. Mix in oats and chocolate chips at the end.

Drop rounded tablespoonfuls on cookie sheet. Bake 350 til lightly browned. Remove from oven, cool a little, remove from baking sheet, cool a bit more, and eat.

Makes about 6 dozen.

Oatmeal Banana Coffee Cake (the cheater version)

This was the cake I mentioned in my previous post. It's pretty good. It's not a very sweet cake, in my opinion and may be good with a cream cheese frosting/ glaze on top instead of oatmeal streusel. Or in addition to it.

Honestly, it would be a lot better with a homemade mix (like this one or preferably one that had a little whole wheat, I think. This is a hearty cake.) I think the industrial taste of boxed cake mix detracts from the mostly-wholesome ingredients. But, in a pinch, it will do!

Oatmeal Banana Coffee Cake
3 ripe bananas
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup yogurt
3/4 cup water
4 eggs
1 T vanilla
1 T cinnamon
1 box yellow cake mix (thanks, Becky!)

Dump all in a bowl and mix approximately 2 minutes on medium speed, or until well-combined. Cake will be lumpy due to oatmeal and bananas.

Pour into greased 9x11 cake pan.

If desired, top with streusel topping -- oatmeal, whole wheat flour, sugar, and butter mixed together -- and sliced bananas (beware--they will turn brown as they sit -- they still taste good, but look a little peaked).

Bake at 325 for about 40 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool a little, slice, eat.

Supah sistahs

I got to hang out with my sisters today!! I love it when I get to hang out with my sisters. They are so freaking hip. And they are hilarious. When I leave them, my stomach and throat always hurt from laughing. But that's a good thing.

We were pretty low-key today. We went to a couple thrift stores in Peoria, much to Kali's chagrin. My sistah, Roo, is a thrift-store pro. She is amazing. We went into one Goodwill and gave ourselves 10 minutes to get to the checkout counter. By about six minutes into it, Roo had found a pair of Born sandals, a pair of BCBG pants for Lil, a very cool lampshade and some other thing I've forgotten. I was amazed. I ended up with a stone baker at that store, and later found some overalls, a fleece snowsuit, and some shoes for Daniel, and a funky tablecloth that could be made into cool shopping bags, were I to be enterprising. And I also found a very cool maple dresser at a Salvation Army on my way home that I might try to buy next week, if it is still there.

Before we went thrifting, we had lunch at One World, a very funky and cool coffeehouse next to Bradley University. We have been going to One World since I was in high school and it is just a good place to go -- good food, good coffee, good drinks, good atmosphere. We each ordered different stuff and shared, so we had spinach and feta pizza, falafel, asian spring wraps, and grilled chicken. They were all delicious.

I got to introduce falafel to Lil, who is just born to eat it, and the experience reminded me that I have a great pita recipe and have made some really good falafel in the past. So here is that middle-eastern recipe, in honor of my middle-western sistahs.

Super easy falafel(-ish)

Hummus (chickpeas, garlic, tahini (see note below), lemon juice, salt) -- about two cups

egg or two

breadcrumbs or coarse flour

onions, finely chopped -- 1 or 2

fresh parsley, chopped -- half or whole bunch

cumin -- 1 T or more

coriander -- 2 t or more

more garlic, minced -- at least 2 cloves

Add garlic, parsley, onions and cumin to hummus (to make falafel green, finely chop parsley or mix in food processor). Taste for salt, etc. Add an egg or two (or don't -- see note below). Add flour, a tablespoon at a time until it is a thick mixture that can be formed into a patty. Form into a ball -- slightly larger than a golf ball and flatten slightly.

Heat coconut or olive oil until hot, but not smoking. Add falafel(-ish) patties and fry until brown and crispy.

Serve in aforementioned pitas with parsley, tahini sauce and yogurt sauce. Lettuce and tomato are nice accompaniments, too.

Yogurt sauce

Yogurt

mint

parsley

pepper

chopped tomato (optional)

Mix. Adjust. Eat.

Tahini sauce

4 cloves garlic
1/2 c. tahini

1/2 t. salt

1 T. water

juice of 3 lemons

Use food processor to chop garlic and mix tahini, salt, and water. Add lemon juice slowly into food processor until very creamy. Add a bit more water if necessary.

This is obviously not completely authentic falafel, but it IS delicious. And really easy. And delicious. Really delicious.

Edited to add: A purist has noted that these recipes may contain verbotten ingredients (i.e. egg and, apparently, tahini which should not be IN the falafel). If there's one thing I truly adore, it's a purist. Especially one who is insisitent upon removing time-saving adaptations to time-honored recipes. So, I've changed the name on this recipe to "falafel-ish". And if you are aghast at the idea of feeding your family a variation on the REAL, authentic falafel (which you can apparently find through the blog link left in my comment section or through a google search, using the words "authentic falafel" and then ignoring any that return egg in the ingredients), please, please, please -- DON'T use the above recipe. You are only setting yourself up for heartbreak and misery and a truly simplistic dining experience with ingredients you may have on hand. And I know you wouldn't want that.

Unless you do. In which case, grab the hummus in the fridge and make some falafel-ish. And enjoy. :)

Recipe: Super easy King Cake. Sorta.

I wanted to make King Cake for Epiphany this year, but with a funeral yesterday and a secretary in the hospital all week, when we came down to it all last evening, it was almost a no-go. Then I remembered these rolls and came up with this variation. It worked great! And we had a very easy, tasty King Cake-ish for breakfast this morning!

King Cake. Sorta
1 package frozen dinner rolls
1 small package vanilla pudding mix
1 cup white sugar
1 stick butter, cut into thirds
orange extract
food coloring

The night before, grease a bundt pan or tube pan of some sort.Throw rolls into it.
Sprinkle vanilla pudding on top.
Then sprinkle sugar on the rolls.
Melt butter in batches, mixing the butter with food coloring (yellow, green and purple are traditional representing both the kings and power, faith and justice, respectively). Also add 1/4 -1/2 teaspoon orange extract (more if you love it).
Pour the butter over 1/3 of the rolls so that when finished you have a pan of rolls with three different sections of three different colorings.
Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temp overnight.
The next morning, insert a nut such as a pecan (or a coin or a baby Jesus charm if you want to be more authentic) before cooking.
Cook at 325 for 25-30 minutes.
Cool slightly and invert.
The person who gets the nut gets a crown. And maybe in the future, they'll get the rest of the family to wait on them for meals.

Recipe: Does everyone else already know about these rolls?

This morning, we had some holy-cow-are-these-good cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I think everyone else in the world might already know about them, but I'm completely impressed by a.) their make-ahead ease and b.) their complete deliciousness and c.) their relative cheapness. I love homemade cinnamon rolls as much as the next person, but...ummm....that just doesn't happen very often 'round here. Thus I must share this great alternative. Which also won't happen much 'round here, but more for caloric reasons than anything else. :)

Note: I've seen this recipe for years and been afraid because of the pudding, but today we needed something to celebrate the first day of Christmas vacation when NONE of us have ANYTHING to do, so I decided to try them. I'm a convert. I'm going to start taking them to church on fellowship Sundays -- they're THAT easy.

1 package frozen dinner rolls (I used Kroger brand)
cinnamon
1 package vanilla pudding mix
1 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter, melted

The night before, grease a bundt pan or tube pan of some sort.
Throw rolls into it. Sprinkle very liberally with cinnamon. Then sprinkle vanilla pudding on top. Then sprinkle brown sugar on the rolls. Then pour butter over rolls. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temp overnight.
Cook at 325 for 25-30 minutes.
Cool slightly and invert.
Eat.
Marvel in easy deliciousness.

Recipe: Breakfast pumpkin

It's that season again when getting up in the morning seems as though it should be optional. A chilly house is not a very inviting welcome-to-the-day. It's much nicer to snuggle with little ones under the down comforter.
Little ones, however, do not seem to appreciate the opportunity to loaf around and snuggle. So we are still getting up, just like every day. But to make these cold mornings a little more bearable, we are eating warm cereals, hot muffins and these wonderful pumpkin bars that pair perfectly with a nice cup of tea.

Breakfast Pumpkin Bars
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 small can (3 1/2 cups) pumpkin
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp. soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 T. cinnamon

Mix eggs, sugar, oil, applesauce, and vanilla. Add pumpkin and mix well. Combine the dry ingredients and add to the pumpkin mixture. Bake on a greased jelly roll sheet at 350 degrees (or 325 in my oven) for about 20-25 minutes or until done.

Glaze with warmed icing shortly after removed from the oven. Cut into pieces and enjoy.

(The recipe has less sugar and oil than others and uses whole wheat flour and a very light icing glaze hence the "breakfast" label. But any favorite pumpkin bar recipe can be easily adapted. Also -- the pumpkin mixture and dry ingredients can be made up seperately (pumpkin refrigerated, of course) the night before and then it can be mixed together in the morning for a very quick yummy start to the day!)

In the meantime... vol. 3

Yesterday Dennis and Annalivia made the best brownies I've ever had in my whole entire life using this recipe from the Hillbilly Housewife (made with butter and 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour because that's what we had). Fudgy, delicious, chewy perfection.

I've had Nigella's.

They don't hold a candle to Miss Maggie's.

Seriously.

The. Best. Brownies.

E.V.E.R.

Recipe: Truly deliciously perfect banana bread

We had a glut of overripe bananas here recently because I've been buying huge bunches in hopes of making banana bread. I must have married a monkey, apparently, and then gave birth to a couple because bananas are often scarce around here. Even when I buy extra, they disappear quickly.
So last week I bought at least 25 bananas at different times throughout the week. And today I had a bunch that were sufficiently icky, so I made banana bread again. And today, it was perfect. This weekend I made a batch with much less sugar, and while good, was not great. This recipe is the best, I think. It has developed over trial and error and with enough adaptations that I think I can call it my own. Although if you make it and everyone loves it, you can call it your own, too.

Banana Bread

8-9 ripe bananas
2/3 cup olive oil
1 cup sugar (I've cut it down as low as 1/2 cup, I've also used sucanat, honey, agave nectar, etc. If you use a syrup, just add a bit more flour).
2 eggs
2 T vanilla
2 t baking soda
1/8 t. salt
2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1-2 cup walnuts, if desired

Mash bananas with potato masher until just small lumps remain. Add oil, sugar, egg and vanilla and mix well. Sprinkle baking soda and salt on the banana mixture and mix well. Add the flour and nuts, if desired (I like putting nuts in one loaf and making one without) and mix just until combined. Do not overmix.
Pour into two greased bread pans. Bake at 325-350 for one hour (if using honey or agave, or if using dark pans, bake at lower temp.)
When done, allow to cool about 15 minutes in pans, then turn out. Try to share with loved ones.

Recipe: Whole wheat pie crust

Here ya go, Jane-Anne. I haven't had occasion to use it for actual pie, but it works well for other pastry needs. I got this from Ruth, a lady at church, who makes wonderful pies. It is simple to remember because all of the ingredients are halved (1, 1/2, 1/4). For pies and for nostalgic reasons, I will always prefer my grandmother's recipe to this one, but I've yet to master it. This one is easy.

Whole Wheat Pastry Crust

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup butter (original recipe calls for shortening)

1/4 cup cold water

pinch salt

I make it in the food processor. Add cut up butter to flour and salt and process til it is cut into crumbly pieces. Add water slowly while processing til it makes a ball. Roll out on floured pastry cloth.

For double crust, double the recipe!

Recipe: Waffling about

Well, I have made a load of blueberry waffles and am posting the mix recipe I use for Liz. I hope it helps, Liz.
I adapted this from a recipe given at Saving Dinner. This one reflects my personal preference for a hearty pancake or waffle. It's not heavy, but is definitely not delicate. It's pretty forgiving if you'd like to play with it.

Waffle and Pancake Mix
8 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 cups coarser whole-wheat flour (I use Hodgson Mill stone-ground)
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (I use Montana Wheat Prairie Gold)
1/2 cup stone ground cornmeal
1 1/2 cups oat flour (or you can use oatmeal blended in the blender til powdery -- makes it a bit lighter)
2 cups buttermilk powder (I found this in the condensed/ dried milk section of Walmart)
5 tablespoons baking powder
2 tablespoons baking soda
1 cup sucanat or white or brown sugar
2 tablespoons salt

Mix all together. Makes 1 gallon. Store in freezer.

To make waffles or pancakes... Whisk together 1 cup water, 1/4 cup oil, 2 eggs and at least 2 teaspoons vanilla. Add 2 cups of mix and whisk til lumps are gone. If needed, add more water or mix. Can be halved or multiplied as necessary.

I folded in about 1 1/2 cups blueberries this morning. It made 12 waffles in my waffle-maker. I only remembered about 3/4 of the way through my batch that my waffle iron's ready light goes OFF when the waffles are ready as opposed to going ON. Once I got that figured out, the waffles were a whole lot prettier.
I spread the rest of mine out on a cooling rack and am going to freeze them individually. They can be toasted without thawing.
Have fun!

Menu Plan Monday for the week of June 24

This week because of surgery on Tuesday for me, almost every main dish we will be eating will be from the freezer (denoted with*). My little church is unpredictable at best, when it comes to providing food to a pastor, so this is the plan and if food arrives, we can rearrange easily.

Monday -- Black Bean Burritos* (adapted from this recipe) with salsa, sour cream, avocado, and tomato; homemade Mango Yogurt Popcicles*

Tuesday-- classic Tuna Noodle Casserole*; Salad; Applesauce

Wednesday -- Sausage and Pepper Hoagies*; Salad; Cinnamon Apples (This is one of my dad's favorite sandwiches and since he is coming up to help post-op, I thought we'd have it. I cooked the sausage and the banana peppers and juice and then added the other peppers and onions, leaving them uncooked. All is frozen together so it will be easy to reheat and place on crusty ciabatta rolls.)

Thursday -- Lasagna*; Garlic Bread*; Salad; Oranges for dessert

Friday -- Olive Cheese Bread*; Italian Beans and Greens Soup* (recipe follows); Salad

Saturday -- lunch -- baked Macaroni and Cheese*; dinner -- Brats* on the grill

Sunday -- lunch after church -- Grammy's Meatloaf* (recipe follows) and baked potatoes; dinner -- Cheese Ravioli with Sauce*

Italian Beans and Greens Soup

olive oil

2-5 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion chopped

2 bunches endive, escarole, kale or spinach (though I prefer the bitter greens), chopped to whatever size you prefer

4 cups chicken broth

2 cans white beans (great northern or cannellini are good)

Saute garlic and onions in olive oil. Add greens and wilt. Add broth and beans. Heat through. If freezing, do not wilt greens much and don't heat broth and beans. FYI -- I think I adapted this from Rachel Ray

Grammy's Meatloaf

This is my favorite meatloaf. It is well-seasoned, but not overpowering and never, ever, ever dry. I usually make 2 or 3 at the same time and put the extras in freezer bags, pressed flat. This allows the meatloaf to defrost quickly. It can then be shaped and baked or put in the crockpot.

1.5 lbs ground beef or beef/turkey mix

1 envelope Lipton's onion soup mix

1/2 c ketchup

1 egg

1/2 sleeve saltine crackers, crushed in your hands (not finely crushed)

1/4-1/2 c. water

Leaving water out, mix all together with hands. Add water slowly to facilitate mixing til it is quite moist, but still holds shape. Freeze or form into loaf for baking. If married to Dennis Stewart, put ketchup only on top. If Grammy, mix ketchup and brown sugar for top and slice green peppers and onions very thinly to decorate the top. Cook uncovered, basting occasionally, until browned and delicious outside and moist and yummy (and done) inside about 45 minutes. Use a thermometer if necessary.

Click here for more great menu ideas.

Recipe: Old-fashioned uber-delicious cake

I got this recipe from an online friend. She titled it Grandmother's Autumn Cake, but since it's not my Grammy or Ga's recipe, I wouldn't feel right about using that title. And it's really seasonless. So. Here it is.

Old-fashioned uber-delicious cake
1 1/2 c oil
1 3/4 c sugar
3 eggs

combine and beat 3 min.

3 c. flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinn
2 tsp vanilla

Mix with above and fold in 3 cups (3-4 apples) chopped apples and 1 c. nuts (opt).

Pour into loaf pans or cake pans or whatever. Bake 1 hour on 350 (and this will look done far before that, but it won't be. Don't be fooled).

Buttermilk Icing
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup buttermilk

Bring to full boil (you need a large saucepan for this...it doubles) and pour over hot cakes.

These ingredients can be easily interchanged by substituting honey, whole wheat flour, coconut oil or butter, etc. These cakes freeze and keep BEAUTIFULLY if you use the buttermilk icing. The author of the recipe said she took one out of the freezer a year later and heated it up and it still tasted fresh and delicious.

Menu Plan Monday for the week of June 17

So as part of my small goals toward more peaceful living, I am creating a weekly menu plan. I am trying to do this on Sunday evenings because I've decided to take Mondays as our errand day when we will be running over to Clinton, IA where gas is 30 cents cheaper per gallon, the grocery store is large and has carts shaped like trucks thereby entertaining Annalivia, and the goat's milk we use for Daniel's formula is two dollars cheaper. Plus I get to get out of town and they have a drive through espresso hut over there where I can get an iced latte. And a Target. So we all end up pretty happy.

Anyway -- I found a link to the Organizational Junkie's Menu Plan Mondays on one of my blog jogs (the only kind of jogging I'm apt to ever do) and decided to participate this week. If you click here, you can find a list of lots of participants and lots of good ideas.

So here is our menu plan, fully realizing that usually these things don't work out quite like this because we get too many leftovers piled up. I'm trying to be bettter about planning that, though, so hopefully this week we won't make too many adjustments.

These menus reflect a.) mainly what is already in our freezer or pantry, in terms of main ingredients b.) the desire to use the grill or crockpot rather than the oven because it is so bloody hot and humid right now. FYI -- the pastas are whole grain, and since apples are on sale this week, we'll be eating lots of those with everything.

Mon -- Grilled Talapia Filets with Lemon Garlic Sauce, grilled zucchini, apples. -- Grill fish. Saute garlic in butter. Add lemon juice, little frozen pesto (about 1/2 teaspoon) and reduce a bit. Pour over grilled fish.

Tues-- BBQ Pork Sandwiches, crudites and dip, apples -- the pork is in the freezer from a pork shoulder roast I got on reduced sale and cooked in my pressure cooker a couple weeks ago. I'll put it in the crockpot with some BBQ sauce and let it defrost and heat while we are at the doctor's in Rockford. I have meetings at church on Tues., so even if I don't get back in time to eat supper, Dennis can handle this easily.

Wed -- Cheesy Broccoli and Alfredo Calzones, apples -- an attempt to use some leftover ingredients based on this recipe, though substituting alfredo for marinara sauce, obviously, and using whole wheat for the flour. If we have too many leftovers of the above foods, I will just cook this and put it in the freezer for later.

Thurs -- Chicken in Foil Packets on the grill, and Apple Skewers. This is a Dennis request, so we'll use whatever veggies he'd like and do the classic foil packet dinner.

Fri -- Homemade Mac and Cheese, sweet peas, apples. Hopefully this will be in the crockpot.

Sat -- Spaghetti with Bolognese sauce and salad. And apples.