Unprocessed: Granola

I have to admit, I've never been a huge fan of granola.  I know that might seem odd because it can be truly delicious, but my typical experience has been one of two things: 

1. I loved it and could eat my weight in it, but the fat content was so high I would've been mourning the expansion of my waistline at the same time.
2. It was dry and gross...no thank you!

So a few weeks ago when Adam started perusing cereal boxes at Trader Joe's I had to take a 2nd look.  Their granola was not only high in fat (as most are) it was also pretty expensive for a bunch of ingredients I have on hand a good portion of the time.  I was sold, it was time for an experiment.  I gathered my supplies (shown above) and got to work.  I will confess, I'm not always super great at measuring, but I did my best to come up with a recipe that is quite delicious.  I did a little research first and found a similar one at 100 Days of Real Food as Lisa does a great job of feeding her family of 4 unprocessed food.  I took her version and changed it to fit my personal style.

One of the great things about this recipe is the simplicity of it.  You grab a handful of ingredients, throw them together, and end up with something that is delicious!  I'm a big fan of throwing different things together, but I'm sure my husband and daughter would attest to the fact that they are not always delicious.  You can't win all the time right? 

This is my 2nd batch of granola, so I'm gonna say it's a hit.  I have used it each morning as a crunchy addition to my greek yogurt with honey.  It takes an already delicious breakfast to the next level of wonderfulness when you mix creamy, slightly sweet yogurt with the crunch of this goodness.  YUM!  Now, I have to be honest I'm not sure exactly where this falls in the realm of  clean eating because I don't do a good job of following rules.  What I do know is the ingredients in this recipe are all natural and organic.  That's good enough for me. 

Here's the skinny on this treat.  Mix together your dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, add honey mixture and stir until well coated.  Spread on a piece of parchment paper.  Mine makes about a 3/4" layer on a large baking sheet.  Bake for 1 hour at 250 degrees.  I let mine bake a little bit longer this time and the edges got a little too brown.  To be honest I like burnt stuff, so I liked it, but I think I've eaten the majority of the slightly dark parts.  When you finish let it cool completely, it will harden as it cools.  Then crumble and store in a ziploc bag in the pantry.  It most likely won't last more than a week if it makes it that far.  So far that's been my experience!  

Ingredients:4 cups rolled oats

• 1.5 cups unsweetened coconut (I promise even if you don't like coconut if you buy this kind you will change your mind)
• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 cup millet (small grain used in bird seed, quite delicious and can be used in place of rice in other recipes)
• 1/4 cup flax seeds
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (it's fall after all)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 4 tbsp butter
• 2 tsp almond extract
• 1 tsp vanilla

Mix first 9 ingredients in a large bowl.  Warm butter & honey in a sauce pan until butter is melted, stir to combine.  Remove from heat and add vanilla and almond extract.  Pour over dry ingredients and mix until well coated.  Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper, spread granola on parchment paper to form an even layer.  Bake at 250 for 1 hour.

What ingredients would you add/change to make this granola something your family will gobble up?

Pop-tarts

Yesterday I made pop-tarts ok fine toaster pastries?  Now seriously which one of you actually refers to the wal-mart brand as toaster pastries?  That's what I thought, as I was saying I made pop-tarts yesterday.  I had the sweetest little helper!  She loves being in the kitchen with me, and I love encouraging her appreciation for cooking and baking.  And how stinkin cute is she in that apron?!

First we mixed our dough...just a little tip, it is extremely greasy at first (with 8tbsp of butter who is surprised?) but if you continue to knead it will come together nicely.

roll the dough between 2 layers of parchment paper.

Use a pizza cutter or something similar to cut your dough into roughly 2x4 rectangles and move them to a baking sheet lined with parchment.

Spoon filling onto each rectangle and cover with another crimping the edges together

One satisfied little girl taking her snack on the road!

For the filling Alexa requested plums, but they were not ripe so we opted for nectarines instead.  I have to admit I wasn't optimistic as the filling was rather tart even after we added some honey & sugar, but when Alexa tasted the final product she liked it.  I simply sliced the nectarines, added a little butter, honey & sugar and cooked them down on the stove for a little over an hour.  I started this the day before while I was baking bread, muffins, and tortillas.  It was great to just pull it out of the fridge when it was time to fill the pop-tarts.

Pop-tart recipe:

• 3 cups freshly milled flour
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 cup honey
• 8 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
• seedless jam or other filling

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
2. In a large bowl, place the flour and salt, and whisk to combine well. Add the melted butter, honey, vanilla and milk, and mix to combine. The dough will be thick and a bit greasy. Knead the dough until it is smooth. It should hold together well.
3. Turn the dough out onto a large sheet of unbleached parchment paper, and cover with another sheet of parchment. Roll into a rectangle about 1/8 inch thick (the thickness of a nickel). With a pastry cutter or sharp knife, slice into 2-inch-by-4-inch rectangles. Gather, reroll and cut the scraps into rectangles.
4. Spread about 1 tablespoon of filling on top of half of the rectangles in an even layer, stopping about 1/4 inch from the edges. Cover each with another rectangle, and press along the edges to seal.
5. Transfer the tarts carefully to the prepared baking sheets and bake, rotating once, until very lightly golden brown all over, and a bit darker around the edges (about 16 minutes).
6. Allow to cool completely on the baking sheet. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 to 4 days. They can be toasted before serving, just like the original.
7. Freeze leftovers. Defrost in the toaster oven.

Baking: Day 1

So I promised some new recipes this weekend...and that truly was my intention, until I realized that none of those are my regular repertoire.  Ok fine, that was obvious as I said they were new recipes.  Anyway, I had to make sure I got my regular baking done while incorporating the new ones along the way.
Since we began this journey of milling our own wheat I have done my best to make all of the products we typically use from scratch.  This has proven to be challenging.   For the most part I am really good about making muffins each week, and in the beginning that was a good step.  Then Alexa started kindergarten.  I quickly realized two things: 1. I didn't want her eating lunch at school for health and budgetary reasons, and 2. muffins weren't going to cut it.

For the first 3 weeks of school she has mostly taken sandwiches and without complaint, but I want her to have variety...enter the tortilla!  Now, I will confess this is not my first try at tortillas...I've actually tried them twice corn & flour...neither of them were worth eating!  To be honest they were downright GROSS.  I would not be defeated, I love mexican food far too much to go the rest of my life without eating it.  I found a new recipe from the Bread Beckers; I get a good many of my recipes from them as everything is made with freshly milled wheat, it takes some of the guess work out of it.

One of the recommendations the Bread Beckers make is using everything in your kitchen to the fullest, so today I took that advice and used my bread machine to mix up the tortilla dough.  It made that part of the process super easy, just dump, set and go.  30 minutes later I came back to a lovely ball of dough.  I let my dough rest for a few minutes while I put some loaves of bread in the oven to proof and then I began the process of rolling out the tortillas.  **Side note, in a perfect world I would have a tortilla press, and a maid, and millions of dollars, but since it isn't a perfect world I will roll my tortillas by hand for now.  I'm also aware that the tortilla press is about the only thing on that list that I'm likely to have in any world.

Take your dough and separate into golf ball sized portions.

On a lightly floured surface flatten one ball at a time

Now roll into something resembling a circle. (*confession, I read in another recipe you can use a plate and parchment paper to make these into perfect circles and that was my original plan, but then I realized they will taste just as good (or bad) regardless of their shape, so I opted for the easy way out. 

Place each tortilla on a heated skillet for approximately 1 minute on each side.

Don't the look beautiful and delicious?

Quesadillas anyone?  BTW Alexa approved completely!

I also made 2 loaves of bread and muffins today, but the rest of my grand plans have been postponed until tomorrow.  One of the many benefits to a long holiday weekend!  Hope you are doing something fun with yours!

Tortilla Recipe

2 1/2 cups freshly milled flour (I used a mix of hard red, hard white, spelt, barley, and a few beans...not exactly Ezekiel mix, but close to it)

1 cup water

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tbsp lecithin

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

Throw all ingredients in a bread maker (on dough or pasta cycle) and allow to knead for approximately 30 minutes.  You may want to check after 15 minutes to be sure you have enough flour to make the mixture smooth.  Allow to rest upon completion.  Break into golf ball sized portions, roll out one at a time.  Transfer to griddle and cook for 1 min on each side.  Store in a storage bag in the fridge until ready to use.

Magic Muffins

muffins for the week ahead

When I started using freshly milled wheat I really struggledwith baking bread, largely because yeast scares me!  Are the ingredients in the right order, is ittouching my wet ingredients, is my water warm enough?  Then I learned that in the world of bakingall flour is not created equal.  This meantthe recipes I was trying to use were not compatible and as a result my bread was fallingeach and every time!  I was ready tothrow the mill out the window.  Then I founda recipe for muffins, and it worked without fail . This recipe is a family fave, and not because they are delicious (eventhough they are) but because they are quick, versatile, and are yeast free.

What I love about this recipe is that I can change the ingredientsand my family has something new each time, and yet my recipe hasn’tchanged.  First we will start with thebasics and then move on to the variations we love.

2 ¼ cups freshly milled flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup oil

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk

Mix all ingredients and scoop into 12-18 muffin cups(depending on how large you like your muffins) bake at 400 for 15-18 minutes.

Easy enough?  Now,this is where you need to think outside the box!  Here is what you need to know, you can addany spices, fruit, vegetables, and change out the grain used to make thesemuffins work for you.  A few of ourfavorites are corn muffins (made with freshly ground corn, a cup of cheese, and a cup of frozen corn), chocolate bananamuffins (using Ezekiel mix as the flour, chocolate chips, and 3 mashed bananas), and squash/zucchini muffins (hard red and white flour, grated squash or zucchini, your kids have no idea these yummy muffins contain veggies).  I love adding cinnamon and vanilla to thesweet versions, and one of these days when almond extract crosses my mind and I’m actually at the store (can anyone say list?) I would love to see what thatdoes to them.

What combinations can you come up with that would makefabulous muffins?  Give me somesuggestions and I’ll try them out and let you know what we think!