Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

Recipe Status: It's nice to have a peanut butter cookie that isn't hard and crumbly. And the wheat is a tasty compliment to the peanut butter. Yes, this recipe is a keeper.

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup peanut butter (we recommend extra chunky)

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups white flour

Cream peanut butter, butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Add dry ingredients until completely mixed. Roll (or use a cookie scoop) into walnut sized balls and place on a sprayed baking sheet.

Bake at 350 until the edges are slightly browned, about 7-10 minutes. A little bit longer if baking on a stone, mine took about 12 minutes. Store in an airtight container and they'll stay soft!

Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes

Recipe Status: The BEST pancakes EVER! ;) Excellent flavor and texture.

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups white flour

3 tbsp sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

3 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup milk

3 eggs

1/4 cup butter, melted.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over med/high heat. (Or if you have an electric griddle, heat to 350.)

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, melt the butter, then beat together wet ingredients.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, and stir with a spoon until it's just blended. Don't over stir. Scoop batter onto the griddle (1/3 cup is prefect size). Cook about 4-5 minutes (or until one side is golden brown) and flip and finish browning the other side. This recipe makes roughly 2 dozen pancakes.

12-Grain Bread

Recipe Status: The first time I had this bread, it was the most amazing thing I had ever tasted. Now either I've since made better bread, or it didn't turn out as well as it could have. Or, I just plain wasn't feeling good and it didn't agree with me. Also, since making amazing bread without dough enhancer and extra gluten, I don't see the necessity for either of them. But I'm not knocking the recipe, I'll try again. Perhaps I'll be more impressed next time.

The original recipe made a lot of dough, so I've cut it in half. However, if you have a Bosch, it'll handle the full recipe, so knock yourself out if you so choose.

The altered recipe makes 3 loaves.

3 cups hot water

1 cup 9-grain cracked cereal, uncooked

1/4 cup millet

1/2 cup sunflower seeds (cracked if desired)

1 cup high gluten flour or vital gluten

1/3 honey or molasses

1/3 cup oil

1 tbsp salt

1 heaping tbsp yeast

1 1/2 tbsp dough enhancer

6-7 cups whole wheat flour

Measure first 5 ingredients into bowl and let sit for 5 minutes. Add honey, oil, salt & 5 cups flour and mix to a paste. Stir in yeast and remaining flour, a bit at a time, until mixture cleans sides of the bowl. Knead for 5-7 minutes. Add dough enhancer and knead until mixed through. Form into 3 loaves. Let rise in greased loaf pans until about 2 inches above pan. Bake @ 350° for 30 minutes.

One Hour Bread

Recipe Status: I found this recipe, and made the bread for a lesson I taught about food storage. The bread is incredibly painless to make. The nice thing is from the time you start putting ingredients in the bowl, an hour later you have four loaves of bread coming out of the oven. I admit it's not the best tasting bread on its own, especially compared to my Honey Whole Wheat bread, but when it comes to slicing it for sandwiches, there's no comparison to store bread. Not to mention it makes amazing french toast.

10.5 c bread flour or wheat flour (not All-Purpose Flour)

*I prefer 3.5 cups whole wheat & 7 cups bread flour. Nice blend.

1/2 c sugar

1 heaping tbsp salt

3 rounded tbsp instant yeast

3 tbsp liquid lecithin

4 c hot tap water

Mix dry ingredients. Add lecithin and water. Mix for one minute and check consistency. If dough is too dry add more water. Dough should be slightly sticky. Mix for five minutes. Do not add flour to the dough after it has finished mixing. Spray counter and pans and hands well with Pam. Shape loaves and cover with a dish towel or Saran wrap. Let rise 20-25 minutes. Bake on 350 for 25 minutes. Recipe makes four loaves of bread.

Notes:

*Do not measure lecithin. Pour quarter sized dollops directly into the bowl. You'll thank me when you get some on your fingers.

*For whole wheat bread, use the same recipe but add one cup of applesauce as part of the hot tap water and an additional tbsp of lecithin. Mix for ten minutes.

*I make this in my Bosch. I put all the water in the bottom, add the yeast on top. Then just add all the dry ingredients, THEN the lecithin on top of the flour, etc.

To make into cinnamon rolls:

Just roll 1/4th of your total unrisen dough into a rectangle on your greased up surface. Spread a nice thick layer of butter, then spread a lovely layer of brown sugar, then sprinkle with cinnamon liberally. Roll it up. Then use floss or whatever your preferred method is. Let rise 15-20 minutes. Bake 20 minutes or until tops are browned. Spread with your preferred icing.

This dough could easily be used for:

Pizza (just don't let it rise ), Breadsticks, Braided or filled Loaf, Cinnamon swirl bread...

Sweet Zucchini Bread

Recipe Status: Best Zucchini bread EVER! Oh my heavens! Because it's not masked by cinnamon like most breads are, the wheat flavor is present, light and sweet. The orange gives it a beautiful complimenting element to the wheat. (And when I make it, I always double the recipe and bake 4 loaves at the same time.)

Song: Northern Lights - BNL

2 cups flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups grated zucchini
Peel of 1 washed orange, minced (or try this with lemon peel)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter two 9-inch loaf pans and dust with sugar, flour or wheat germ. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk the eggs, then add the oil and blend. Use a spatula to mix the dry ingredients with the egg mixture in several additions, then fold in the zucchini and the orange peel.

Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the top springs back when pressed lightly. Cool in the pans for 5 to 15 minutes before being turned out onto a rack or plate. Makes two incredibly tasty loaves, or 24 muffins. (Bake muffins for 30 minutes.)

Healthy Sausage Egg McMuffins

These are very quick and easy and taste wonderful! It's better than going through the drive through, in my opinion, and is SO much healthier.

One egg, well beaten
1 turkey sausage patty or 1 slice of Canadian Bacon (precooked)
1 whole wheat English Muffin, toasted and plain.

Cook egg without stirring. Have it cook flat and then flip it, kind of like a tortilla. While the egg is cooking, toast the English Muffin but do not butter it. Once the egg is done, fold it up and place on the English Muffin. Heat up the sausage or Canadian Bacon for a couple of minutes in the same pan the eggs were cooked in. Place on top of the eggs, put the top on the English Muffin, and bite into it. Chew. Try it again. Chew. You know you like it!

With the Turkey Sausage:

With the Canadian Bacon:

Puff Pancake

1/2 Tbp real butter
6 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour (I do 3/4 whole wheat, 1/4 all purpose)
1/2 tsp salt

Melt butter in microwave and pour into a 9x13 casserole dish. Put dish in oven while preheating to 375. Mix eggs and milk in a medium bowl. Sift flour and salt in small bowl. Combine flour mixture in with eggs and milk. Take casserole dish out of oven and make sure the melted butter is coating the bottom of the whole dish. Pour batter into pan and cook for 22-25 minutes, or until golden brown and "puffy." The more all-purpose flour you use, the higher it will puff up. It will deflate after it cools down.

Serve by itself, with maple syrup, or a little bit of powdered sugar. (The last two are for my kids.) It's portable and a quick fix for a rushed morning.

Broccoli Chicken Pitas

Hi, it's Lori-ann. I haven't contributed to this blog at all, but that's going to change. We're working on writing down all of our recipes and I figured as I make them, I might as well take a picture and post it on the blog! I normally cook very healthy and alter recipes to make them as such. So here we go!!!

Recipe: Broccoli Chicken Pitas



Combine:
Cubed, cut chicken breasts
Steamed broccoli
Fresh or 1 can mushrooms (I steamed the mushrooms with the broccoli, placing them on top so they didn't get too squishy)
Alfredo sauce from a packet or homemade white sauce (slightly coated)

Serve in a pita pocket. To make it even healthier, try it in a whole wheat pita. I couldn't find any for this meal, so the picture is not of a whole wheat pita.

Homemade white/Alfredo sauce:
2 Tbs real butter (normally I tend to not use this much butter)
2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
1\4 tsp salt
dash black pepper
1 1/2 cups milk (sometimes I do half of the milk skim milk and the other half 2%)
minced garlic
grated Parmesan and mozzarella cheese

Melt butter in pan with about 1 tsp or so of freshly minced garlic. Add flour,salt, and pepper making a roux so it mixes evenly. Stir in milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until it's thick and bubbly. Add a few pinches of both kinds of cheese.

You can also make the sauce without the garlic or cheese. That is just a plain white sauce.

If you use this sauce sparingly, then you will have leftovers for other meals. Freeze it or plan other meals that use the same sauce. It goes great on thin crust Chicken and Tomato pizza and Chicken Enchiladas.

Honey whole wheat bread

Recipe Status: WOW! Okay, this is an absolute favorite! Not only is it amazingly tasty when warm, it still is soft and flavorful the next day. I LOVE this recipe!
Song: Flowers become screens - Delerium

*This is a recipe specifically for the Bosch mixer, but that doesn't mean you can't do it by hand.
**Also, the original recipe will make 4 huge loaves of bread, so I'd suggest cutting the recipe in half, unless you want an abundance of bread.

Place in Bosch bowl:
6 1/2 cups hot steaming water
11 cups fresh ground wheat flour

Turn on Bosch and add:
3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
3 tbsp salt
3 heaping tbsp yeast
2 eggs

Continue adding flour (I added white flour for this step) until the dough pulls away from the bowl, and it is not sticky. Knead in Bosch for about 5 minutes (20 minutes by hand?) Form into loaves. Place dough in warm greased pans, cover, and allow dough to rise until doubled.
Bake @ 400 for 2 minutes. Turn down temp to 350, and continue baking for 35 minutes.

This recipe yields 4 massive mushroom shaped loaves of bread.



Above: Honey wheat bread.
Below: Honey wheat bread in comparison to the Buttermilk bread.

Buttermilk bread

Recipe status: Excellent flavor when warm, but left a lot to be desired when cooled.
This recipe might be better if used for rolls which will be eaten quickly.
Song: Ordinary World - Duran Duran

This recipe calls for hand kneading, but there's no reason why you couldn't use your Bosch or KitchenAid.

2 tsp yeast
1/2 cup warm water
3/4 cup very hot water
1/4 cup honey
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
5 to 6 cups wheat flour (Or some wheat & white mixed, based on personal preference.)
2 tsp salt
2 to 4 tbsp butter

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Mix the honey in the hot water, add buttermilk. Stir the salt & flour together making a well in the center. Pour the yeast & buttermilk mixture in from the center outwards, incorporating all the flour. Knead the dough about 20 minutes, adding the butter in little bits at a time. Add flour as needed until dough is no longer sticky, but still soft. Place dough in a bowl, and cover. Let rise in a warm draft free place. after about an hour and a half, punch down dough and allow to rise once again. Punch down dough again and divide into two. Place in greased bread pans and allow to rise until double their size. Bake @ 325 for about an hour.