Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Where to Find Local Farms
Use this website to find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of
sustainably grown food in your area, where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats,
and many other goodies.
Organic Dog Biscuits
1 cup organic flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup ground peanuts
1/4 cup sesame seeds
2 tbls toasted wheat germ
------------- (Mix together)
3/4 cup butter
------------(Mix together with pastry blender)
1 egg
2 - 3 tbls water
Knead dough for 4-6 strokes. Make dough into balls.
325 degrees on ungreased cookie sheet. Cook for 25 minutes.
Let cookies cool for 2 hours.
Next time I would make a double batch though. This recipe didn't make enough.
Heidi loved them! She would sit by her dog treat container and stare at them until someone would give her one.
Organic Whole Wheat Christmas Cookies Part 2
Repeat from post 1:
I am in the middle of a giant, week long Christmas cookie extravaganza. I made all the cookies with organics products - evaporated cane juice sugar, organic brown sugars, organic eggs, Celtic sea salt, organic baking powder and soda, organic cocoa, agave nectar (in place of corn syrup), absolutely everything except for the chocolate chips. I am not to the point of using carob chips yet for chocolate chips (they are too expensive, $5 a bag!), so I went with Ghirardelli chocolate chips.
George W. Bush's Cowboy Cookies
This is one of my son's favorite cookies I made this year.
3/4 cup butter
------------------(Mix together)
3/4 sugar
3/4 brown sugar
--------------------(Mix together)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking soda
--------------------(Mix together)
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
--------------------(Mix together)
1 1/2 cups flour
--------------------(Mix together)
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
-------------------(Mix together)
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped toasted pecans
350 degrees for 13 minutes. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Cherry Rum Biscotti
1 1/4 cups dried tart red cherries, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup spiced rum
---------
In a saucepan, combine cherries and rum. Bring to simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat and let stand for 15 minutes. Pat dry cherries with a paper towel.
1/2 cup butter
--------------(Mix together)
1 cup sugar
1 tbls baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
-------------(Mix together)
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
-------------(Mix together)
3 1/4 cups flour
-------------(Mix together)
3/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
Divide dough in thirds. Shape each portion into a 9 inch long loaf. Flatten each loaf to a 2-1/2 inch thickness. The loaves should be 3 inches apart on the cookie sheets.
This dough is thick! I broke a spatula just trying to work with it.
350 degrees, on parchment paper on a large cookie sheet, 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool completely on wire rack, about 1 hour. Then take a very sharp serrated knife and cut diagonally into 1/2 inch thick slices. Bake 10 minutes, turn slices over and bake another 10-15 minutes to dry the cookie out. Cool on a cooling rack.
Rum Icing
1 1/2 cups sifted powder sugar and 1 tablespoon rum. Add enough additional rum to make a drizzling consistency. Drizzle on cooled cookies.
I am in the middle of a giant, week long Christmas cookie extravaganza. I made all the cookies with organics products - evaporated cane juice sugar, organic brown sugars, organic eggs, Celtic sea salt, organic baking powder and soda, organic cocoa, agave nectar (in place of corn syrup), absolutely everything except for the chocolate chips. I am not to the point of using carob chips yet for chocolate chips (they are too expensive, $5 a bag!), so I went with Ghirardelli chocolate chips.
The part that I am most
excited about is that I used whole wheat pastry flour in all of the cookies. And
let me tell you, the results are amazing! No one would every know they are whole
wheat cookies unless you told them. My taste testers said they felt the cookie
had a slightly heartier taste, but that it a good thing. In all the recipes I
used half whole wheat flour and half organic all-purpose flour. If I would have
been making them only for my family, I would have used all whole wheat flour,
but I planned on giving some away, and serving them to company, and I didn't
want to risk any comments.
I have a lot of recipes to share, so I will do it in multiple posts. My goal this year was to make all sorts of different cookies that I had never made before. Every year I make the same cookies and this year I wanted to change things up.
WHOLE WHEAT COOKIES NOTE: I found that I needed to cook the cookies longer than I normally would if I only used regular flour. Usually I am at the low end of the time bracket. With whole wheat cookies, I was at the high end of the bracket. Wheat makes a darker cookie too so it can be hard to tell when they are done. Use your best judgement. It worked every time for me.
Also, whenever you see a -------, this means to mix the batter.
I have a lot of recipes to share, so I will do it in multiple posts. My goal this year was to make all sorts of different cookies that I had never made before. Every year I make the same cookies and this year I wanted to change things up.
WHOLE WHEAT COOKIES NOTE: I found that I needed to cook the cookies longer than I normally would if I only used regular flour. Usually I am at the low end of the time bracket. With whole wheat cookies, I was at the high end of the bracket. Wheat makes a darker cookie too so it can be hard to tell when they are done. Use your best judgement. It worked every time for me.
Also, whenever you see a -------, this means to mix the batter.
George W. Bush's Cowboy Cookies
This is one of my son's favorite cookies I made this year.
3/4 cup butter
------------------(Mix together)
3/4 sugar
3/4 brown sugar
--------------------(Mix together)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking soda
--------------------(Mix together)
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
--------------------(Mix together)
1 1/2 cups flour
--------------------(Mix together)
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
-------------------(Mix together)
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped toasted pecans
350 degrees for 13 minutes. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Cherry Rum Biscotti
1 1/4 cups dried tart red cherries, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup spiced rum
---------
In a saucepan, combine cherries and rum. Bring to simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat and let stand for 15 minutes. Pat dry cherries with a paper towel.
1/2 cup butter
--------------(Mix together)
1 cup sugar
1 tbls baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
-------------(Mix together)
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
-------------(Mix together)
3 1/4 cups flour
-------------(Mix together)
3/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
Divide dough in thirds. Shape each portion into a 9 inch long loaf. Flatten each loaf to a 2-1/2 inch thickness. The loaves should be 3 inches apart on the cookie sheets.
This dough is thick! I broke a spatula just trying to work with it.
350 degrees, on parchment paper on a large cookie sheet, 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
Biscotti in the oven
Rum Icing
1 1/2 cups sifted powder sugar and 1 tablespoon rum. Add enough additional rum to make a drizzling consistency. Drizzle on cooled cookies.
They turned out excellent! They are the perfect cookie for coffee.
Sprouted Corn Tortillas
While at Whole Foods yesterday, I found organic sprouted corn tortillas. I had tried the sprouted wheat bread the other day and it was fantastic, so I wanted to try the other products.
This company, Food for Life, knows what it is doing when it comes to sprouting grains and making them delicious.
I made a steak taco with the tortillas.
I made a steak taco with the tortillas.
Spectacular!
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Organic Sprouted Wheat Buns
Let me tell you about my new found love affair with sprouted wheat. I was in the natural section in the grocery store and I saw sprouted wheat hot dog buns. I have never heard of sprouted wheat before. I picked them up expecting something that would be extremely tough without much flavor. Boy, was I wrong. Delicious! The brand I purchased was Food for Life.
I purchased the hot dog buns. They came frozen and my goodness are they as hard as a rock in the package. Take them out before you plan on using them. I took mine from the freezer to the fry pan. It takes quite a bit longer to dethaw them when they are completely frozen. I warmed them in a pan on low until I was able to split them apart from each other. I then flipped them on their sides and kept rotating them to evenly dethaw. The trick to fabulous flavor was that I added some cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil to the pan. Just a little bit. Enough to give it some flavor. This made the outsides come out nice and crispy. I then made some natural, kosher hot dogs in a pan - these are spectacular too! They taste completely different, yet way better.
So what is sprouted wheat? This is a section from the Food for Life website explaining the nutritional benefits:
The process of germination changes the composition of grain and seeds in numerous ways. Sprouting increases vitamin content. Sprouting neutralizes phytic acid – a substance present in grains – that inhibits absorption of nutrients and more important Sprouting neutralizes or "predigests" if you will, grains through enzymatic activity. The enzymes produced during our natural sprouting process "in effect" breaks down amino acid protein bonds to promote digestibility of the entire grain.
Sprouted grain bread has numerous advantages over "enriched" wheat flour breads. These breads are made from the endosperm of the wheat kernel (the inside portion), which contains primarily carbohydrates and few vitamins and minerals. The milling of grain into white flour requires the removal of the bran and the germ. This results in the loss of natural fiber, bran and 22 vitamins and minerals. To compensate, five vitamins and minerals (thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, iron and folic acid) are added back in, "enriching" the flour. Sometimes calcium is added back as well.
Food For Life is inspired by the Holy Scripture verse Ezekiel 4:9. Our 2,500 year old prodigy is made from six certified organic grains and legumes, sprouted in filtered water with a touch of organic malted barley and sea salt. This bread is truly the staff of life.
As well, Organic Sprouted Whole Grain Products have increased vitamin content generated by the sprouting process and contain a superior quality protein that closely parallels the protein found in milk and eggs, containing all 9 essential amino acids. In total, there are 18 amino acids present in this unique bread.
Food for Life Website
I purchased the hot dog buns. They came frozen and my goodness are they as hard as a rock in the package. Take them out before you plan on using them. I took mine from the freezer to the fry pan. It takes quite a bit longer to dethaw them when they are completely frozen. I warmed them in a pan on low until I was able to split them apart from each other. I then flipped them on their sides and kept rotating them to evenly dethaw. The trick to fabulous flavor was that I added some cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil to the pan. Just a little bit. Enough to give it some flavor. This made the outsides come out nice and crispy. I then made some natural, kosher hot dogs in a pan - these are spectacular too! They taste completely different, yet way better.
If you are concerned about losing flavor with sprouted wheat, I would say it is exactly the opposite - more flavor and a better product.
The process of germination changes the composition of grain and seeds in numerous ways. Sprouting increases vitamin content. Sprouting neutralizes phytic acid – a substance present in grains – that inhibits absorption of nutrients and more important Sprouting neutralizes or "predigests" if you will, grains through enzymatic activity. The enzymes produced during our natural sprouting process "in effect" breaks down amino acid protein bonds to promote digestibility of the entire grain.
Sprouted grain bread has numerous advantages over "enriched" wheat flour breads. These breads are made from the endosperm of the wheat kernel (the inside portion), which contains primarily carbohydrates and few vitamins and minerals. The milling of grain into white flour requires the removal of the bran and the germ. This results in the loss of natural fiber, bran and 22 vitamins and minerals. To compensate, five vitamins and minerals (thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, iron and folic acid) are added back in, "enriching" the flour. Sometimes calcium is added back as well.
Food For Life is inspired by the Holy Scripture verse Ezekiel 4:9. Our 2,500 year old prodigy is made from six certified organic grains and legumes, sprouted in filtered water with a touch of organic malted barley and sea salt. This bread is truly the staff of life.
As well, Organic Sprouted Whole Grain Products have increased vitamin content generated by the sprouting process and contain a superior quality protein that closely parallels the protein found in milk and eggs, containing all 9 essential amino acids. In total, there are 18 amino acids present in this unique bread.
Food for Life Website
Monday, December 26, 2011
King Arthur Flour
Some great videos on the various techniques needed to make bread at home.
King Arthur Bakery Techniques
King Arthur Bakery Techniques
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