Easy Whole Wheat Biscuits

Easy Whole Wheat biscuits

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups whole wheat flour (I used King Arthur’s white whole wheat organic flour)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
• 1 cup milk (any kind)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a medium sized bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well with whisk or fork.
2. Cut the ½ stick butter into little pea sized pieces and then mix the pieces into the flour mixture.
3. Using a fork, try to mash the butter pieces as you mix it together with the flour until it resembles coarse crumbs. It is okay if the outcome just looks like the same pea sized pieces of butter covered with flour.
4. Then pour in the milk and mix it all together. Knead the dough with your hands 8 to 10 times and then turn out onto a counter or cutting board.
5. Pat it out flat with your hands until the dough is a somewhat even ¾-inch thickness (sprinkle with a little flour if necessary).
6. Turn a drinking glass upside down and cut out biscuit rounds. I have also used shaped cookie cutters (like a heart or star) if you have little ones helping you!
7. Then put them on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 450 degrees for 10 – 12 minutes or until lightly browned.
   Enjoy!
8. 
   

By Lisa at 100daysofrealfood.com 

The best bread ever! Mmmm Mmmm

I've been working on making soaked bread that you can make sandwiches out of. This is the BEST bread I have ever tasted. I have made bread, french bread, cinnamon raisin bread, hot dog buns, etc and It has been awesome! It has yeast in it though so if you can't do yeast this won't work for you. It'll also have about 1-2 cups of flour that is not soaked.

Helpful Hints on Successful Bread Making:

1. When possible, use fresh home-milled flour. This will have the highest nutritional content, and the best baking characteristics for higher rising loaves. If this is not possible, store good quality flour in your freezer, but bring it to room temperature before using for the best results.

2. Use high quality yeast such as SAF Instant Dry Yeast. This is available in quantity at Costco for a good price. Store in the freezer. It will last 2 years or more. If your yeast does not proof, then it is too old!

3. Remember to proof your yeast! Add your yeast to warm water (between 100-115 degrees) with 1 tsp of honey. This will prepare it for action!

4. Remember that less flour is best! You should only add just enough flour until the beaters in your mixing bowl are scraping the sides of the bowl clean. If you add too much flour, your bread will be crumbly. Dough should still be slightly sticky before kneading.

5 . Develop the gluten thoroughly. When dough is properly kneaded it will be smooth and elastic. A quick test for sufficient kneading is to take a golfball-sized portion of dough; stretch it between the thumb and index finger of both hands to determine if the gluten is fully developed. The dough should stretch out thin and not tear readily.

6. Make sure to give your dough two risings! The additional rising will develop flavor, gluten framework and make more fluffy loaves. It is optional, if you are in a hurry.

7 Only let rise till doubled before baking! This is the mistake I make too often. 30 minutes is a good length of time. If they rise too long the structure of the loaf will become weak and it will sink or fall completely during baking.

Homemade Whole Grain Soaked Bread

Learn more about the benefits of soaking here.

9-11 cups of ground whole wheat flour (you can replace 1 or 2 cups with unbleached white flour for a lighter end result)
1 cup acid medium - (1/4 cup raw apple cider vinegar and 3/4 cup water)
3 cups of warm filtered water
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup butter or oil
1/2 cup water
1 tsp honey
2 1/2 Tbsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp sea salt

Directions:

1. Combine the flour (as much as you can without it getting too stiff. I can get about 8 cups for a good constancy), acid medium, honey, melted butter (or oil), and 3 cups of warm filtered water. Cover and soak at room temperature for 12-24 hours.

2. After soaking, in a separate small bowl, combine yeast, 1 tsp of honey, and 1/2 cup warm filtered water. Let sit for 5 minutes or so, until fully proofed.

3. Combine the yeast mixture, soaked flour mixture, and Sea Salt in your mixer (or hand knead). You may need to add an additional 1-2 cups of flour. Dough should clean the sides of the mixer.

4. Knead the dough for 10 minutes until the gluten is fully developed.

5. Remove to a greased bowl and cover with a towel. Let sit until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours. (rising is what makes the bread so good. It brings out the flavor)

6. Punch down, turn dough over, and allow to rise until doubled again, about 45 minutes. (OPTIONAL, but preferred for best results)

7. Punch down dough and divide into 4 loaves. Roll out with a rolling pin into a rectangle and roll up into a loaf (this makes the perfectly shaped loaves).

8. Place in greased bread bans and rise again until doubled, about 30-45 minutes minutes (the best place is the oven! Just turn it on low 150-170 degrees till heated and then turn it off, prior to putting the loaves in).

9. Turn the oven on to 350 degrees and bake for 30-45 minutes. Bread is done when it is fully browned on all sides! Remove from oven, rest in pans for 10 minutes before removing from pans.Yield: 4 loaves.

Cinnamon Rolls Oh YA!

MY family LOVES cinnamon rolls and after trying many recipes, and changing things around, I think we like this best. It takes a lot of time so I don't make them very often. We've been eating entirely too much unsoaked grain lately. Someday I'll work on more soaked recipes but until then here it is.

Cinnamon Rolls

4 1/2 to 5 c. flour (You can do white or whole wheat or a mixture of both)

The ones above have 1 cup of unbleached white flour and the rest is wheat.

1 c. milk

1/4 c. honey

1 pkg. active dry yeast

1/3 c. butter

1/2 tsp. salt

3 eggs

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 1/4 cups of flour and yeast. In a small saucepan, heat the milk, 1/3 cup butter, 1/4 cup honey, and 1/2 teaspoon salt until warm. Stir constantly and when butter is almost melted, add all to flour and yeast. Add eggs and mix well, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough that is smooth and elastic, 3 to 5 minutes total. Shape into a ball. Place in a greased bowl, turning once. Cover, let rise in a warm place until double, about 1 hour.

After the hour, punch dough down. Turn onto lightly floured surface. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Roll the dough into a 12-inch square or larger.

Sprinkle filling over dough.

Filling:

1/3 cup of butter softened. Spread this all over the rolled out dough.

drizzle honey all over (as much a you want)

Sprinkle cinnamon liberally

Sprinkle a little nutmeg and cloves

Add nuts and raisins

Roll the dough up and cut into 12 large cinnamon rolls. Butter and flour a large pan. Put in the rolls and let rise for 45 min. Cook at 375 for 25-30 min. Take out and let cool an put on the frosting.

Frosting:

One cube of cream cheese

Honey to taste

1 tsp vanilla

Blend in blender until smooth.

crepes

This is a favorite around our house and filled with raw berries and whipped cream makes it an especially good treat.

This recipe is tripled to feed our family of 7. You can cut it accordingly.

9 eggs

3 cups milk

2 cups water

3 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp. salt

Blend all these together really well. It should between a pancake and milk constancy.

Coat the pan with melted butter for each crepe (heat the pan until butter is sizzling). Put about 1/4 cup (or more or less depending on size of pan) in a round frying pan. Swirl the pan around to coat the bottom with a thin layer. Turn and cook other side.

Sausage

My friend gave me this recipe. Before I got this recipe, I hadn't eaten sausage since I worked at a turkey plant when I was 17. I learned how they made it and couldn't eat it ever since. I'll spare you the description but I can tell you it's really gross and they don't waste ANYTHNG from those turkeys (even bones). Not that I'm against bones. They're great for making broth or for giving to your dogs but I really don't want to eat them. This recipe makes some good sausage and you won't need to wonder what you are eating : )

Homemade Breakfast Sausage

1 lb ground turkey or grass fed hamburger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp sage

1/2 tsp thyme

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp salt

Form into breakfast patties (about 1.5-2" in diameter.) This should make about 12 sausage patties. Fry in skillet or bake 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes until cooked through.

That's it and so good! If you like even like sausage.

Creamy Italian Chicken

We loved this meal before we started making everything from scratch. Yesterday I tried to make a healthier version. It turned out really well so here it is. I'll probably add more spices as I go but for now this is what I did.

1-2 chicken breast cooked and cut into pieces
4 cups of homemade chicken broth
2 cups of milk
2 -8oz cream cheese softened and cut in small cubes (sorry, I don't make this from scratch. I know how but choose not to. Just knowing it's not made in a lab is good enough for me : )
4 tablespoons arrowroot (for thickening)
2-3 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic salt
2 tsp oregano

Mix all in a crock-pot and cook on high for two hours. After cooking for two hours, mix everything well until creamy (it'll be a little lumpy). Keep cooking on low unit ready to eat. Poor on brown rice. YUM! Serve with a big green salad.

Brownies

Today I made these brownies for FHE. Patrick can't eat the whole unprocessed sugars (repadura or sucanut) so I've tried many brownie recipes with honey with no luck.

I finally found a recipe worth keeping. These are really good. I also made frosting by beating together a little honey, butter, vanilla, and cocoa powder.

Honey Brownies

Ingredients

* 1/3 C. butter * 3/4 C. honey * 2 teaspoon vanilla
* 2 eggs * 1/2 C. whole grain flour * 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/3 C. coco powder * 1 C. chopped walnuts

Directions

Cream butter in a smaller mixer bowl; blend in honey and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour, salt and carob, gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in nuts. Pour into a greased 9x9x2-inch pan. Bake @ 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Cool. Frost with Creamy Brownie Frosting. Yield: 16 brownies.

Chocolate Milk - Mmm Mmm

4 cups of milk

2 -3 ripe banannas (depending on how sweet you like it)

3-4 Tablespoons of non sweetened cocoa

Makes 6 cups.

Blend up and enjoy!

Sour Dough and Whole Grains

Grain....The closer to whole the better? Well some people really have a hard time eating whole grains. For hundreds of years people only ate their grain fermented, sprouted, or soaked. It's only been in the last 100 years that we've used quick rise yeast and stopped soaking our grains.

While many of my treat recipes have un-soaked grains, we only eat these one or twice a week. Our main grains that we eat are fermented, sprouted or soaked. Why? Well to protect itself from bugs, the grain forms phytic acid on the outer shell when it dries. This acid is very hard for us to digest. If you soak or ferment the grain, it neutralizes the phytic acid and releases the nutrition and it is much easier to digest. This goes for nuts and legumes also.

For a better and longer explanation go here:
http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/be_kind.html

So our main bread we eat is sour dough bread. I have a start made from natural yeast from grapes. It's slower then the yeast most people use but it is much better for you. It's like a family member. I feed it once a week and it helps keep us healthy : ) This bread isn't really a good sandwich bread like you're use to : ) It's very dense and filling and when you get use to it very good. We just use one slice and put our sandwich goods on top of that. You can make many things with this dough. Our favorites are scones, pizza, Navajo tacos, pancakes, and crackers. I can't give you my recipe because it has a copy right on it but here is where I got my start and learned to make it. http://purebreadsourdough.com/zen/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3 Gwen lives close to me and has been very inspiring. She has a great DVD out showing how to make these great many things with the dough. I highly recommend buying it. (no I don't get paid to say that).

Patrick also soaks all our breakfast grains, including oatmeal, pancakes, 9 grain, etc. I'll have him post his recipes. When you soak you need to use a sour dough start, lemons, kefir, yogurt, or apple cider vinegar. These brake down the phytic acid. It depends on what we're soaking to what we use to break down the acid. This all may seem overwhelming (and it is at first) but soon it becomes second nature.

Here's the dough after fermenting for about 6 hours. It still needs about 2 more hours. It will get pretty big and bubbly.

Here's the pizza crust we make with it. You put olive oil on the bottom and spread the dough all out and put oil on top with some oregano. You always have to keep your hands wet when you work with sour dough.

Our neighbor brought us over some beautiful peppers of every color (thanks Debany!!) and we put them on the pizza along with our goat cheese....YUM!!

Here are some scones cooked in coconut oil. These really needed a little more time for the dough to ferment but we were having scones with dinner and didn't want to wait until 9:00. If you wait until it's ready they get really fluffy and are so good. If you add honey butter it's better then any kind of sugar treat you could eat.

Here are the bread loaves. Not what most people are use to but exactly what they looked like when people used a sour dough start and cooked in an outdoor stone oven.

Mozzerella in 30 Minutes

Mozzarella in 30 minutes? It doesn't sound real. Well if you get things ready at the beginning, you can do it. It is very good and fun. The kids like to watch and participate.

This picture doesn't show everything, but most of it. First get the following items ready.

1. Colander
2. Large Pot
3. Another large pot
4. Smaller pot
   
5. Thermometer
6. Large serrated knife
7. Large spoon
8. Whisk
   

You will also need a good citric acid. We tried another brand from the store and it didn't work. This one is from cheesmaking.com.


Start heating up water in the small pot to 175 degrees. This is for a step further in the process.


Put 1 gallon of cold milk in the large pot. Add 1 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid in a 1/2 cup of water. Dissolve it and put it in the milk. Stir it up with the whisk. Warm the milk up to 90 degrees. Don't do it too fast that you accidentally burn it. Once it is up to 90, add rennet dissolved in a 1/4 cup of water. You use 1/4 tablet or the equivalent of liquid rennet. Pour the rennet in to the pot and use the whisk to stir it in.


After 5 minutes the milk will become jello like. Cut it with the serrated knife into 1 inch cubes. Cut diagnoly as well. You want the cubes to be small so the whey can come out of it.


Now cook the curd or heat it up until it is at 110 degrees. This will help the whey to separate from the curd.


As it cooks, the cheese will become stretchy.


Now pour the whey and curds into the other large pot with the colander on top. You want to separate the curds and the whey.


Rotate the colander around so the whey can be drained as much as possible.


I use a metal colander. A plastic one is in the previous pictures.

Dip the curds into the small pot of water. Make sure it is at 175 degrees. This step melts the curds so you can stretch it. Leave the curds in the water for 2 minutes. After 2 minutes drain the water by rotating the colander in circles.


Put the curd on your sterilized counter. You now need to knead and stretch the mozzarella. This helps get rid of the remaining whey. You determine how much moisture the cheese will have by the amount of kneading and stretching. Sprinkle 1 and 1/2 table spoon of sea salt on the cheese as you knead it.



The cheese will start looking shinny.




Ok, you are done. Put it in a storage bag.



Cool the cheese in cold water. If you don't it will turn out like a pancake. Try a little bit of it. It is really good just after putting the salt on it.

The next day you will be ready to grate or cut it. We made our first pizza with our own mozzarella.

Enjoy!

Honey Caramel Apples

These turned out really well. Very yummy! After stirring for 20 min. with the temp not moving above 215, I did end up having to turn it to a higher temp when bringing it to 255. Make sure you let it thicken enough or the caramel with melt off on to the wax paper. Twist each apple (after dipping it into the caramel) for a while until it cools enough to not melt off. You could have an older child help twist while you dip another.

Caramel Apple Recipe

Please be careful when making caramel apples, you will be working with dangerously hot, sticky, ingredients - I always put on an apron and make sure I have a closed-toed pair of shoes on when making candy. Be extra, extra careful if you have kids around. On the ingredient front, I typically go for a mild clover honey when making caramels.

6 - 8 small apples, unwaxed, cold


1 cup heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon sea salt


1 cup honey

Special equipment: candy thermometer, and lollipop sticks

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Push a lollipop or popsicle stick deep into each apple - in through the stem.
Fill a large bowl 1/2 full with ice water and set aside.

In a medium, thick-bottomed saucepan heat the cream and salt until tiny bubbles start forming where the milk touches the pan - just before a simmer. Stir in the honey. Bring the mixture to a boil. Now reduce the heat to an active simmer and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for about 15-20 minutes minutes or until the mixture reaches about 255-260F degrees. To stop the caramel from cooking, very, very carefully set the bottom of the saucepan in the bowl of cold water you prepared earlier - taking special care not to get any of the water in the caramel mixture. Stir until caramel begins to thicken up - you want the caramel to be thin enough that it will easily coat your apples, but not so thin that it will run right off. If the caramel thickens too much simply put the pot back over the burner for 10 seconds or so to heat it up a bit.

I tilt my sauce pan so all the caramel forms a pool on one side, and use my other hand to dunk and twirl each apple until it is thoroughly coated with caramel. Place each apple on the parchment lined baking sheets and allow the caramel to cool and set.

Makes 6 - 8 caramel apples.

Big Soft Ginger Cookies

Big Soft Ginger Cookies- Sabrina Cleverley

2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour 1/2 c. butter or coconut oil
1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger 3/4 c. honey
1 tsp. baking soda 1 egg
1/2 tsp. ground cloves 1/4 c. molasses
1/4 tsp. salt
Combine dry ingredients, mix well and set aside. Cream the butter and honey. Beat in eggs and molasses. Add to dry ingredients. Roll into 1** balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet 2** apart. Bake at 350* for 9 min.
Do not over bake.

Lemonade

Yummy Lemonade

Squeeze the juice out of 2-3 lemons into a pitcher (I think a pitcher is 2 quarts) Or you can use real lemon juice about 3-4 oz
Then add about 1/2 cup Agave (more if you like it sweeter).
Then fill the pitcher up the rest of the way with ice and water. You can also blend it all up in a blender for an icee.

Ice Cream!

We love ice cream in our family!! We have our own chicken so we don't worry about pasteurizing the eggs. If you'd like to pasteurize, mix the cream and eggs together on stove and bring it to 180 degrees. Cool and then follow the rest of the instructions.

French Vanilla Ice cream
2 cups of cream
1 cup of whole milk
1/2 cup agave or honey
1 tsp of vanilla
3 whole eggs

Pulse all ingredients into a blender and freeze in an ice cream maker

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
2 cups of cream
1 cup of whole milk
1/2 cup agave or honey
1 tsp of mint
2 whole eggs
1 bar of dagoba mint chocolate candy bar or 1 cup of dagoba chocolate chips

Pulse all ingredients (except chocolate bar) into a blender, break the bar into pieces and poor all into an ice cream maker.

Banana or Strawberry Ice cream
2 cups of cream
1 cup of whole milk
1/2 cup agave or honey
2 whole bananas or two cups strawberries
2 whole eggs

Pulse all ingredients into a blender and freeze in an ice cream maker

Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies - Mary Liechty

3/4 c. Butter (or half butter, half unrefined coconut oil)
3/4 cup honey 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg 1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon 3/4 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs 1 c. raisins
2 c. oatmeal 1 1/2 to 2 c. whole grain flour
Cream butter and honey together. Add salt, nutmeg, vanilla, cinnamon, and baking soda; mix well. Mix in eggs. Add raisins, oatmeal, and flour. Mix well. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Easy Homemade Tuna Casserole

Easy Homemade Tuna Casserole - Mary Liechty

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons Arrowroot powder
1-2 tsp Oregano (sometimes I use fresh parsley instead)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1-2 tsp sea salt
2 cups milk (you can also use half milk and half chicken broth)
2 lbs wide egg noodles or spaghetti noodles broke in half and cooked. (I use Tinkyada brown rice noodles)
2 (6 ounce) cans tuna, drained
2 eggs
1 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat.
3. Add Arrowroot, salt, pepper, and Oregano, mixing well.
4. Slowly stir in milk.
5. Heat to almost boiling, stirring constantly, until thickened and take off burner (it will turn slimy if you're not careful)
6. Combine cooked noodles, white sauce, tuna and eggs in casserole dish.
7. Top with Cheddar cheese. Put the lid on (or tinfoil).
8. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

Mary's Garden Salsa

Mary's Garden Salsa

I-28 oz can of Tomatoes (I use diced but you can use whole
peeled or raw tomatoes that have been blanched for
10 seconds and peeled and seeded.)
1 whole green bell pepper seeded and diced
1/2 an onion diced
1/2 bunch cilantro chopped (I love cilantro so I use a lot. You can use less if you don't like it)
2-3 tsp sea salt (salt to your taste)
2-3 cloves garlic (optional - put through a garlic press. If I'm in a garlic mood I'll put it in.)
1/2 Jalapeno Pepper if you like hot salsa (optional - I don't use these in mine)
Pulse all ingredients in a blender until well mixed and chopped.

Baked Beans

Baked Beans

3 cups dry navy beans
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup molasses
2 TBS honey
1 1/2 tsp. ground mustard
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground ginger
1 cup water

Place beans in a pot to soak over night adding 3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar per cup beans (this makes so you don't get gas). Add water to cover by 2 inches. The next day cook beans on high until bean are tender (3-4 hours). Drain beans and discard liquid. Place beans in a crock pot. Add ingredients, cover and cook on medium. for about 1 hour.
Yield: 10-12 servings

BEEF & BROCCOLI STIR FRY

BEEF & BROCCOLI STIR FRY

1 tbsp. arrowroot
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 lb. beef stir fry
5 tbsp. oil
1/4 c. onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. red pepper, crushed, dried
1/2 c. sliced mushrooms
1/2 c. carrot strips
2 c. broccoli flowerets
1/2 c. beef broth

In bowl stir first 2 ingredients. Add beef to coat. Cover and refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Drain, reserve marinade.

In large skillet or wok, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium high heat. Add onion, garlic and red pepper. Stir fry 2 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon to large bowl. Add mushrooms to skillet. Stir fry 1 minute. Remove to bowl. Add 2 tablespoons oil. Add carrots and broccoli. Stir fry 2 minutes or until tender crisp. Remove to bowl. Add 1 tablespoon oil. Add beef. Stir fry 3 minutes or until lightly browned. Add broth and reserved marinade. Stir constantly bring to boil over medium heat and boil 1 minute. Add vegetables. Cook 2-3 minutes until heated. Serve over rice. Serves 4-6.

Tomato Lentil Soup

Tomato-Lentil Soup Based on recipe in Woman’s Day - Soooo good!

Dice half a yellow onion and sauté with 1 clove crushed garlic in 1 Tbs. olive oil. In a pot, add 4 cups water and 1 cup rinsed sorted lentils, 1 bay leaf, 1 tsp. dried thyme, 1 tsp. salt, and ¼ tsp. pepper, onions, and garlic (I like to add chopped carrots and celery too). Bring this to a boil and then simmer for about 30 min. Add 3 c. crushed or diced tomatoes and juice (I blend my diced tomatoes before adding or my younger boys will pick them out). Add ½ c. sliced black olives (optional). Simmer for 30 min. or more to blend flavors. Remove the bay leaf and serve.

Lentils are very nutritious. They are especially high in B vitamins, which I call the stress vitamins. This is a hardy soup and very filling. It doesn't have meat or dairy for those who avoid these.

I triple this recipe for my family so there will enough for lunch the next day.