Christmas Baking

It just doesn't feel like Christmas around here without a week spent baking up all sorts of goodies. I may have gotten a bit overly ambitious this year and done a few too many types of goodies, but it was fun and they have been super yummy. I will say that yesterday I bagged up all the rest and sent them to work with Matt because I just kept eating them. Too much snow and too many Christmas cookies can just be, well, too much sitting and eating. :-)

My grand experiment for this year was to make all my cookies using absolutely no white flour. I recently discovered white spring wheat and have been grinding it and I'm finding that it's great for substituting in just about anything that calls for white flour. White whole wheat flour can also be found preground in most grocery stores. Still has all the benefits of being whole wheat, but it's a bit milder than the more traditional red wheat. We gave them away to neighbors and Matt's coworkers and I don't think anyone even knew their cookies were whole wheat.

One of my favorite recipes was out of a Taste of Home cookbook I have. I followed the directions exactly except that I subbed whole wheat flour for all purpose flour. They turned out great and were super cute. You can find the recipe here.


My other favorite recipe for this year was a sugar cookie recipe passed on to me by one of my Bible Study leaders from San Antonio. Once again I subbed whole wheat flour for the all purpose flour and I also used sucanat instead of refined sugar. Of course they look a lot darker that your typical sugar cookie, but they tasted fantastic!

Here's the recipe:

Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies

1 c. butter, softened

1 c. sucanat

1 large egg

1/2 t. vanilla extract

1 t. almond extract

2 t. baking powder

3 c. white whole wheat flour

Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl. This takes a little extra creaming when using sucanat. Add the egg and extracts and beat well. Mix in the baking powder and then add in the flour one cup at a time. Divide your dough in half and roll into two logs. Slice cookies and place on cookie sheet. bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes or until barely browned.

For the icing, combine 1/4 cup butter with 1/2 t vanilla extract and 1/2 t almond extract. Beat in 2 cups powdered sugar and 1-2 T. milk. Adjust the amount of sugar and milk until you reach your desired consistency. If using colored sugars for decorating, sprinkle them on immediately after frosting the cookies as the icing will quickly form a crust.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

Well I haven't been great about keeping up this blog, and now I'm being lazy and just repeating an old recipe that's on our family blog, but perhaps I'll have some new recipes to share in the future. I'm finding that because I'm so non regimented in my cooking, I don't always do a very good job of measuring the things I add or subtract from a recipe. The result of that is that I often make things that turn out yummy, but I can never repeat them exactly because I just dumped in a little of this and a little of that. So, I have several recipes that I'm needing to keep better track of so I can post them. Hopefully soon. But for now, enjoy some pizza!

Whole Wheat Pizza - Makes one large pizza or 4-5 personal size pizzas


1 1/2 Tbsp yeast
1 c warm water
3 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 T wheat gluten
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 c olive oil


Combine yeast and water with a drizzle of honey to activate. In a mixer, combine flour, gluten, spices, salt, and Parmesan cheese. Mix well. Combine oil and yeast mixture, then add to flour mixture. Knead in mixer until dough forms and is soft and pliable. Remove from mixer and let stand 30 minutes.

Roll out and shape as desired. Lately I've been dividing it into four or five personal sized pizzas just for fun. Bake in the oven at 425 for 7-10 minutes (time depends on pizza size). Remove from oven and add sauce, toppings, and cheese. Place back in the oven and cook until the cheese is melty and slightly browned.

More Fall Goodness

Yesterday I made a trip to the local apple orchard. There is just nothing like a good crisp apple straight from the orchard. I've always associated apples with fall, but for the past 7 years, I have not had a good apple in the fall. I was never able to find that orchard fresh crisp tart/sweet combo in an apple while we were in Texas. So yesterday and today have been major apple eating days. I bought a ton, but I may have to head back up and get some more at the rate we all I have been eating them.

So today's cooking experiment included finding a good caramel apple dip for all these yummy apples. Not that they need dip, but I just love apples and caramel. I have this memory from growing up of combining caramel ice cream topping with cream cheese and it was amazing, so I was looking to recreate that. Unfortunately caramel ice cream topping in the store is really nothing but corn syrup and hydrogenated oil, so I did a hunt and came up with a recipe to make my own. I think it's even better than what I remembered from growing up. Now if I can restrain myself from eating it too quickly.

Caramel Cream Cheese Apple Dip

1/2 cup sucanat or brown sugar

2 1/2 Tablespoons water (omit 1/2 T if using brown sugar)

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 Tablespoon salted butter

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

In a heavy sauce pan, combine sucanat, water, and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it is bubbly and beginning to thicken. (About 6 minutes total cook time.) Remove from heat and stir in cream and butter. Stir until the mixture is smooth. Pour into a bowl and stir in the vanilla. Let mixture cool for about an hour. Place cream cheese block in the caramel mixture and beat with hand mixer until smooth. Serve with your favorite apples.

Pumpkin Pancakes

It has been seven years since I've experienced the cool crisp mornings and cool evenings that come with Indiana fall. It feels to me like this has been an unusually warm fall with many days still in the 80's, but the nights have been cool and we've had several cool days as well, so fall food has been calling to me. I got a huge pumpkin at the farmer's market last week and cooked it up. It actually turned out not to be that great for cooking as my huge pumpkin only yielded 4 cups of pumpkin puree, but it's still very tasty, so it's time for some pumpkin pancakes. This recipe is a repost from my family blog, but it's so yummy I thought it was worth reposting here. If you prefer not to use 100% whole wheat, you can substitute some white flour and cut the eggs and oil in half.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Griddle Cakes

1 3/4 Cups + 1 heaping Tablespoon whole wheat flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 Tablespoon Sucanat or brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 Cup milk
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons olive oil or melted butter
3/4 Cup pureed pumpkin

Mix dry ingredients together. Mix wet ingredients together and stir into dry ingredients just until all is moist. Drop by spoonful onto hot griddle. Serve with butter, unsweetened whipped cream, chopped pecans, honey, peanut butter, or real maple syrup and enjoy!

Rustic No Knead Whole Wheat Bread

I'm pretty sure I've been making bread off and on since getting married. I started off using a recipe that was 2/3 white flour and 1/3 wheat. It was a delicious recipe, but as I've learned more about healthy eating, I've been trying to find a good recipe that uses 100% whole wheat flour. It's been a bit of a frustrating process. I had a recipe that we all liked, but it usually got crumbly if it wasn't used very quickly. Then another recipe was never consistent and often came out with huge holes in the middle. I tried my hand at sour dough for a while and while it was delicious bread, the time it took to care for my starter and then make the actual bread was just too much. I mean making bread in and of itself is a time commitment. If it weren't for the hefty price tag of over $3 a loaf (and that's cheap for good bread), I would just buy bread from a local bakery here, but I just can't justify that long term. And well, I just don't really like the bread off the shelf from the store. So, it was simply necessary for me to find a good recipe. And I did! Everyone has different desires for their bread. We like ours to be fairly dense and hearty, but not crumbling apart. This recipe is just that. It reminds me of those delicious whole grain baguettes you can get with your meal from Panera Bread. It's perfect for toast, sandwiches, and even makes great bread crumbs. And the best part, (aside from the taste) is that it requires no needing or double rising. It goes directly from being mixed to the bread pan with no rising needed in between. Delicious and fast. What more could you want?

Rustic No Knead Whole Wheat Bread

5 1/3 cups water
4 teaspoons honey
8 teaspoons yeast
1/3 cup + 1 Tablespoon honey
10 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
5 Tablespoons ground flax meal
1/4 cup millet (optional, but it gives it more of that rustic crunch)
2 Tablespoons oats

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.Combine water, yeast, and 4 teaspoons honey and let sit until the yeast is dissolved and the mixture is foamy. Stir remaining honey into yeast mixture and stir until dissolved. In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, combine 5 cups flour with salt, flax, and millet. Pour in a little more than half the water mixture and mix until well combined. Alternate remaining water with remaining 5 cups of flour and mix well until dough is evenly mixed. The dough will be very wet and elastic like. Grease three 9x5 bread pans well and divide the bread dough between them. Let dough sit in a warm place until just more than doubled in size. Carefully place bread in the oven and cook for 30-35 minutes. I usually cover the loaves lightly with foil after 20 minutes to avoid over darkening. Bread is done when it has a hollow sound when tapped. Cool completely before storing.

Moroccan Curried Lentil Soup

One of my favorite things about living where we do is the weekly farmers market and the fresh vegetable stands. Since moving here, we have had raw milk cheese, fresh green beans and potatoes, to die for peaches, my favorite flat leaf kale (which is unavailable at any grocery store here), range fed chicken, and grass fed beef. I love eating healthy (not all the time of course) and I love the idea of purchasing most of our food from locally grown and raised sources. Both because I like the idea of supporting local farmers, and because most of them use little or no pesticides in their growing process. However, this is a very expensive way to eat and my frugal side just can't justify it. I do not want to have to have only the best and I don't want healthy eating to become an idol, so I'm looking for what that balance is. I haven't found it yet, but in the search, and in trying to justify spending $2.69 a pound for free range whole chicken, I have been looking for yummy but nourishing meat free meals to have several times throughout the month. I have this theory that it would be better for us to eat less meat and have that meat be good quality, than to eat meat at every meal. So, all that rambling to say that I discovered a delicious and frugal lentil soup recipe yesterday and thought I'd share it. It came from the Schwarzbein Principle Cookbook, but I did lot of tweaking, so I'm sharing my tweaked version. It's a little bit spicy with hints of fresh ginger and cilantro.

I didn't feel like a salad last night, so instead I chopped up some fresh spinach and stirred it into my soup. It was delicious!

Moroccan Curried Lentil Soup
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large red onion, diced
2 minced garlic cloves
2 stalks celery diced
2 large carrots, diced
2 zucchini diced
3-4 teaspoons cumin
3-4 teaspoons curry powder - this depends on the hotness of your curry and how spicy you want your soup
2 cups dry lentils
8 cups chicken broth
1 bay leaf
2 Tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled and finely minced - this is a key flavor, so dried ginger just won't work
1 cup medium salsa
1/2 - 2/3 cup finely chopped cilantro
1 1/2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
fresh ground black pepper to taste
1-2 teaspoons salt (omit if using canned broth with salt in it)

In a large soup pot, heat butter until melted. Add onion, garlic, and celery and saute until softened. Add carrots, zucchini, cumin, curry powder, and salt and saute another five minutes. Add the lentils, chicken broth, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and let cook over low to medium heat for 40 minutes or until lentils are tender. Add ginger, salsa, cilantro, and pepper. Stir to incorporate the flavors and then add lemon juice. Let stand 5 minutes and then taste and adjust seasonings as desired. This soup is delicious served with buttered whole wheat toast (recipe for that coming soon).

A Little Brussels Sprout Bragging

I just have to brag a little on my son. He LOVES brussels sprouts. For months the only cooked veggies he would eat were broccoli, green beans, and spinach if I hid it in eggs. Then one day, I decided to try roasting brussels sprouts for Matt and myself for dinner, thinking he wouldn't even touch them. I made him green beans. When he saw those sprouts, he wanted to try them (unusual for him with veggies) and ended up eating most of what I had made for us. Now when I pull them out of the freezer, he gets all excited and says "brunsel sprits!!" I have recently discovered roasted veggies and let me tell you, they will change your life. Hehehe! So, here's how I make my sprouts:

18-20 baby brussels sprouts straight out of the freezer.
2-3 teaspoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

I like my veggies in smaller pieces, so I let the sprouts sit out a few minutes until they are soft enough to cut in half. Then I throw them in a bowl with olive oil and salt and pepper and mix it well. Heat the oven to 450 and put your sprouts in a greased glass baking dish. Cook them for 30-40 minutes or until they are brown and slightly crispy and caramelized around the edges. I usually stir them after 15 minutes and again after 30. I don't have pictures, but take my word on it, these are yummy. And you can do the same thing with broccoli too.

Sky High Whey Biscuits

Well, I'm a little slow in getting this posted, but it's finally here. After I made my yummy Greek style yogurt, I had a quart of whey leftover and needed something to do with it. So, I've been using it for biscuits and we've been loving them. The whey gives the biscuits just a little bit of a tang that makes me think of sour dough. Not nearly as strong as a good sour dough and not with the fermentation that occurs in sour dough, but still very yummy. Growing up, we called these sky high biscuits. I've since varied the recipe to include 100% whole wheat and they are our very favorite biscuit. With the added whey, I think we like them even more.

Sky High Whey Biscuits

3c whole wheat flour ( 2c unbleached, 1 c whole wheat if preferred)

4 1/2 t. baking powder

2 T sucanat (or sugar)

1/2 t salt

3/4 t cream of tartar

3/4c +2 T butter (omit extra 2T butter if using part white flour)

1 egg beaten

1c + 2 T whey (omit extra 2T whey if using part white flour)

In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sucanat, salt, and cream of tartar. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter until mixture resembles very course cornmeal. In a separate bowl, mix together the egg and whey. Pour into flour mixture and kneed just until it forms a dough. Do not over handle or the biscuits will be tough. Roll to 1 inch thickness and cut out with a biscuit cutter. Or, if you prefer to simplify, roll the dough out and cut it into squares with a pizza cutter. Place biscuits on a cookie sheet so that they are touching each other. Bake at 450 for 12 - 15 minutes.

Father's Day Deliciousness

I love having an excuse to come up with a gourmet meal and Father's Day was a perfect one. We had salmon with veggie slaw and followed it up with this yummy and amazing dessert. I can't claim the recipe because I pretty much followed it exactly, but if you enjoy chocolate and espresso, you will love this! I did substitute Sucanat for white sugar in the ice cream and I think it gave it a more caramely flavor which was delicious, but not necessary if you only have white sugar on hand. You can find the recipe here. The only recommendation I have is to use smaller ramekins and make more cakes. These were extremely rich and neither of us were able to finish ours.

Thick and Creamy Yogurt

I can't remember exactly when I first started making yogurt. I remember getting tired of paying more than $2 for a quart of yogurt that lasted us less than a week. I looked into yogurt makers, but really didn't want yet another kitchen appliance taking up space in my already full cabinets. So, I did a little research and discovered that yogurt making is ridiculously easy. I confess that since our move, I had not gotten back into making it, but last week, I finally got sick of paying so much and made my own. This time I decided to try straining it though, to make it a bit more like that yummy creamy Greek yogurt that my frugal self will not even consider buying. Since I've only sampled Greek yogurt at the store and can't bring myself to buy it, I don't have anything to compare this to, but we really like it. Especially with a swirl of vanilla extract and a sprinkling of a new nutty granola I've been making.

Thick and Creamy Yogurt

1 - 2 quarts milk
2 T plain yogurt with no added fruit or sweeteners
a large double boiler, or two pans that will give you the same effect
a digital read food thermometer
a cooler large enough to hold 1-2 quarts of yogurt surrounded by water
a sink full of ice water
wide mouth canning jars
cheesecloth or other similar material (I use an old super thin pillow case that I cut in half and it works great)
strainer

Begin by placing your milk in a double boiler and bringing the temperature to 180 degrees. Remove the pan that's holding your milk and place it in the sink full of ice water until the temperature falls to 115 degrees. Remove from the ice water and whisk in 2 T yogurt until thoroughly mixed in. Pour into wide mouth canning jars and place the lids on. Fill your cooler with enough hot water to come up to the edge of the glass part of your jar. Water temperature should start off around 118-120 degrees, but absolutely no hotter or it will kill your yogurt culture. Place your jars into the water and put the lid on the cooler. Set your timer for 5-6 hours depending on how sour you want your yogurt. After 5-6 hours, you can remove your jars and refrigerate. That's it! SO easy.

But, if you want your yogurt to be thick and creamy, after it has been allowed to culture for 5-6 hours, pour it into a cheesecloth lined strainer. Make sure you keep the strainer over a bowl because what's straining out is the whey and it can be used to make some super yummy biscuits. (recipe to come) Allow the yogurt to strain about 45 minutes, stirring once to allow the whey to strain well. Scrape the yogurt out of the cheesecloth and back into your jar, stir it up, and refrigerate. Enjoy with your favorite toppings!

Popped Amaranth Muffin Tops

Last year when we were experimenting with gluten free foods for Ben, I bought a can of amaranth to try. It seemed more nutritious than so many of the gluten free flours found in the recipes I had, so I ground some up and used it in his breads. But, the days of gluten free are over for us, so now I'm left with quite a bit of amaranth. And seriously, who's even heard of it, let alone created recipes for it? Yay Google!!! I did some searching and came across this recipe. As is typical for me, I couldn't just leave the recipe alone, so here's my version:

This was supposed to be a cookie recipe, but due to the changes I made, mine came out with more of a sweet bread consistency that reminded me of my favorite part of a muffin. Thus the name.

Popped Amaranth Muffin Tops

1/2 c pure maple syrup
1/4 c softened butter
1 mashed banana
1 egg
1 T vanilla
1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 1/2 c popped amaranth
1/4 c finely chopped walnuts

First, heat a heavy bottomed pan until hot. Then drop in just enough amaranth to make a single layer on the bottom of the pan. (amount varies by the size of the pan). Place the lid on and shake the pan over the heat until the popping has almost stopped. Remove from heat and keep shaking until all the popping stops. Pour popped amaranth into a bowl and repeat until you have about 1 1/2 cups popped (about 6 tablespoons unpopped amaranth) It's better to have a little unpopped amaranth in with the popped then to scorch it, so be careful. :)

Next, cream butter, maple syrup, banana, egg, and vanilla together until well blended. Add in the baking powder and soda and mix again. Mix in the flour and continue beating on low. Finally, add in the popped amaranth and the chopped walnuts and beat until well combined. Use a large cookie scoop or ice cream scoop to scoop dough out onto greased cookie sheets. Dough will be fairly wet, but will hold together without flattening. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes about 8 large muffin tops.

We had kind of a mixture of breakfast and lunch at lunch time today and had eggs with tons of veggies, salads, and these cookies. My husband and son both agreed that they needed to be made again in the near future.

Spicy Cajun Fish

When I got married, I never imagined that fish would ever be a regular part of our eating. I was pretty sure I hated all types of seafood except shrimp and I think we were well over a year into our marriage before I even attempted fish. I don't actually remember if this was my first fish recipe or not, but it was definitely the one that made me begin loving fish. I clipped it from a mailing we received, and, since I can't ever seem to just follow a recipe the way it's written, I made a couple of changes and it's been a regular menu item for us ever since. It's very light and perfect for these hotter days.

Spicy Cajun Fish
1/2 c each chopped red onion, green pepper, and celery
1 heaping tsp minced garlic
1 T olive oil
1 1/4 c chicken broth
1 t sea salt
1 t basil
1 t oregano
1 t thyme
1/4 t fresh ground black pepper
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1 cup petite diced tomatoes, well drained
1 lb mild fish of choice. I've used tilapia and perch with great results
hot cooked brown rice

In a large skillet, saute the onion, pepper, celery and garlic in oil until onions are clear. Add broth, salt, tomatoes, and spices. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat. Let simmer until liquid is reduced by about one third. Place fish in a 9x13 baking dish and pour vegetable mixture over top. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until fish flakes with a fork. Serve over brown rice.

Sweet Chili Glazed Salmon

I debated whether or not to even post a picture of this here because my pictures turned out horrible and honestly that picture doesn't make me want to try this recipe. But I always like recipes that have pictures, so I'm going with it. You will just have to take my word on it that it was delish!!

Last night I had salmon on the menu, but decided at the last minute that I was tired of cooking it the usual way, which is to put a little olive oil in the pan, generously coat the salmon in cajun seasoning, sprinkle on a little salt, and cook it in the pan until done. We love it this way, but I wanted something new. Not sure why, but sweet chili glaze came to mind. I've never made anything like this and didn't even know what would be in such a thing, but I did a search and came up with several recipes. Unfortunately all of them called for sweet chili sauce. Not helpful for the last minute girl who wants to do something different 30 minutes before dinner needs to be ready. So, I decided to get creative and use what I had on hand. The result was fantastic and definitely something we will repeat. It does have quite a bit of sweetener in it, so it doesn't make it into my list of healthy meals, but for a treat, this is a keeper.

Sweet Chili Glazed Salmon

2 T water
1 T Olive Oil
1 1/2 T Sucanat (or brown sugar if you don't have sucanat)
1 T honey
juice from 3/4 of a lime
1/2 t minced garlic
1/4 t salt
1/2 t cajun seasoning
1/8 t cayenne pepper
1/8 t red pepper flakes
1/2 t ginger

3 4oz salmon filets

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk together until well blended and the sugar has dissolved. Place salmon in a broiler safe dish lined with aluminum foil (for easy clean up) and spoon about half the sauce over the salmon. Place in the oven on broil for 3 minutes. Turn filets and spoon remaining sauce over them before returning them to the broiler. Broil another 4 minutes or until the salmon flakes with a fork. Spoon the sauce over the salmon again before serving. We had this with wild rice and roasted brussel sprouts. Mmmm.

Fudgey Brownie Pecan Treats

I love finding new ideas for healthy recipes. It's so satisfying to know exactly what's in my food and to know that it's all good for me. But coming up with healthy and sugar free dessert recipes that taste good can be a challenge for me. I recently got a book from the library on raw snacks. I love the idea of raw food, although I think it would totally break our budget. But in reading through it, I saw several recipes that included soaked raisins. I was intrigued. I didn't have ingredients for making any of the snacks in the book, so I decided to experiment on my own. Sweets are my weakness and I wanted something that tasted chocolaty and fudgey, but was healthy too. The result of my experimentation was a cross between a brownie and a piece of fudge. Kind of like an underdone brownie. Mmmmm. Deliciousness!

Fudgey Brownie Pecan Treats
1/2 c raisins
1/2 c walnuts
1/2 c + 2-3 T nut butter of choice. I've used both almond and peanut butter with good results
1/4 c cocoa powder
1/4 c carob powder (you could do all cocoa or all carob if desired. I just wanted to cut back the caffeine but still wanted that chocolate flavor)
2 T virgin coconut oil
1/4 c chopped pecans
1/4 - 1/3 c shredded unsweetened coconut

Place raisins in a bowl and cover with water. Soak 3-4 hours. Drain. Place soaked raisins in a food processor and process until roughly chopped. Add walnuts and process until combined. Add nut butter and coconut oil and process again. Mixture should begin to stick together and be a little bit wet. Finally add cocoa and carob powders and process until well combined. Press mixture into wax paper lined 8x8 pan and top with pecans and coconut if desired. Freeze about an hour before cutting into 1 inch squares. These are a bit crumbly, but the flavor makes up for it. Yield: about 24 squares. Best if stored in the fridge or freezer.

Beginning a Food Blog

I've been debating this for quite some time and have finally decided that despite the fact that my food pictures don't come out looking amazing and that my creative food ideas are not always prolific, I do have some yummy things I've tried or created that sometimes I just want to put out there for others (if anyone reads this) to try too. So, here goes...