Pretty good granola!

Finally! We've been searching for one that we liked, and found this one via the How Does She site, although, as usual, it's been pretty alterred since.

Pretty Good Granola

Ingredients:
  ● 6 C Quick Cooking Oats
  ● 1/4 C Flour (I use whole wheat)
  ● 1/2 T  Cinnamon
  ● ~2-1/2 C Random dry ingredients (nuts, coconut, dried fruit, etc.)
  ● 1/2 C Vegetable Oil
  ● 1/2 C Honey

Directions:
Mix together all the dry ingredients (I used coconut, almonds, pecans, raisins, and cranberries). Combine oil and honey in a small pot and warm until honey is melted. Pour oil and honey mixture over dry ingredients and mix well. Spread mix over 2 lipped baking sheets (the baking elite call these jelly roll pans, I think) and bake for 20 minutes or until brown on top. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pans before breakng up into pieces and removing to a storage container.

Pumpkin pancakes

With all the baked pumpkin in the house this just seemed like a great idea. In the end there wasn't quite enough flavor, so next time I think I'll add a little more cinnamon. Here, though, is the recipe as I used it today. As usual it's an online recipe search hybrid.

Pumpkin pancakes

Ingredients:
  ● 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 white, 1 whole wheat
  ● 4 tbsp. brown sugar
  ● 2 tbsp baking powder
  ● 1 tsp. ground allspice
  ● 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
  ● 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  ● 1-2 tsp. ground ginger
  ● 1/2 tsp. salt
  ● 1 1/2 cups milk
  ● 1 cup pumpkin puree
  ● 2 eggs
  ● 3 tbsp. vegetable oil
  ● 2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
  ● chopped pecans or walnuts, optional

Directions:
 1. In a separate bowl, mix together 1 cup of milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt, stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine, then allow to sit for a few minutes to fully absorb dry mixture before adding the remaining 1/2 cup milk. Stir just enough to mix in. Add nuts directly to batter and fold in gently.
 2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Bagels!

I finally did it. After weeks of saying I'd give it a try, and weeks of my chickening out because there were too many other things to do in a week, we finally made bagels today. Now that I've done it I have to wonder why on earth we waited this long. They were incredibly easier to make, and so, so yummy—soft on the inside with just the right combination of crunchy and chewy on the outside. These are even easier than english muffins, since you don't have to stand over a hot griddle cooking each one for several minutes, taste much better than your store variety bagel, and are probably a lot healthier than your bakery or Panera bagel (I haven't done any research here, but when making them at home you have control over what goes in, so...).

I looked at several different recipes online and combined them to come up with the one I give here. These are definitely going in my bread roatation.

Homemade bagels

Yield: 8-12
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 35 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 60 minutes rising time

Ingredients:
  ● 1 1/2 cups warm water (112-115 degrees F)
  ● 2 tbsp. dry yeast
  ● 3 tbsp. sugar
  ● 1 tbsp. salt
  ● 4 1/4 cups flour, (I used 2 1/4 whole wheat)
  ● 2 qt. water, for boiling
  ● 1 egg white, lightly beaten
  ● 1 tbsp. water
  ● Toppings/flavors, optional (think raisins, garlic, poppy seeds, etc.)

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, mix yeast, sugar and warm water together and let stand until foamy (several minutes).

2. Mix 2 cups of flour with the salt in mixing bowl; add yeast mixture slowly with machine on 2. Mix until combined, then slowly mix in two more cups of flour.

3. Remove dough from mixing bowl and knead on a floured surface for 5 minutes, adding additional 1/4 cup flour (or more) if necessary (I recommend hand kneading as opposed to mixer kneading with these). Place dough in oiled bowl, turning to coat, cover and let rise until double (about 1 hour).

4. Remove dough from bowl. If you are adding mixed in ingredients (like cinnamon and raisins) this is the time to do it—make a well in the dough and add ingredients, then knead just enough to mix throughout, being careful not to over-knead.  Divide and shape into 8-12 balls, depending on the size of bagel you want. Place balls on baking sheets, cover, and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

5. After 5 minutes rest, make a hole in each ball of dough and pull open about 2 inches, making a bagel shape. Place bagels back on baking sheets, cover, and allow to rest for an additional 10 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, bring 2 quarts of water to a boil and preheat the oven to 350, and make your coating by mixing the egg white and water. After bagels have rested, use a pair of soft tongs drop them, 2 or 3 at a time, into the boiling water for about 45 seconds, turning each once. Remove to wire racks to drain.

7. Brush tops of bagels with egg white mixture and sprinkle with any additional toppings if using. Place bagels on greased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, turning once half-way through baking (if making topped bagels, rotate). Bagels will be lightly browned and shiny when done. Remove to cooling racks.

here they are pre-boiling

The boiling process—you don't want them layered in the pot, and they only stay in for 45 seconds, so stick to boiling just a few at a time.

The final product! I made some plain, some "everything" (poppy seed, sesame seed, garlic, and course salt), and some cinnamon raisin (After the rise, I divided my dough into three parts, mixing cinnamon and raisins into just one part). These were incredibly good right out of the oven, of course!

Quick, easy, healthy breakfast every day

While most of our culture places the greatest weight on the final meal of the day, dinner, we think breakfast needs far more attention than it gets.  Weekday mornings can be hectic, but that doesn't make breakfast any less important.  For a while we were buying frozen breakfast foods, but not only is this expensive, it also exposes the family to those dreaded pre-prepared meals we try so hard to avoid, meals that tend to be higher in salts and/or sugars than their homemade equivalents, and run through a variety hands and machines before landing in our homes, making them more susceptible to contaminents, such as BPA.  You've heard me rant about it before, but this isn't just a rant, it's a simple solution for at least one problem area.  Taking time to make a fresh breakfast every morning is out of the question in our house, so one day every weekend we make a big breakfast of either pancakes or waffles and foil up the extras (foil, remember, can be recycled and is devoid of the concerns associated with plastic wrap) to be dropped in the toaster throughout the coming week.  Make those pancakes or waffles whole wheat for an added health benefit, and add pecans for additional protein.  We top them with fresh fruit for added nutrition!

Whole Wheat Pancakes

Ingredients:
  ● 2 c. whole wheat flour
  ● 3 tbsp. sugar
  ● 1 tsp. salt
  ● 3-4 tsp. baking powder
  ● 1 1/2 - 2 c. milk (depending on how thick you like your pancakes)
  ● 2 eggs
  ● 5 tbsp. oil

Directions:
Mix dry ingredients together. Beat eggs well. Add milk, oil and eggs to dry ingredients. Mix well.  Pour 1/4 cup onto a preheated griddle and flip when bubbles start to pop and surface begins to appear dry around the edges.  Add chopped pecans, blueberries, or other fillers by sprinkling onto wet surface a few seconds after pouring pancake onto griddle.  You can spoon a little extra batter over top of the fillers if desired.  Undercook slightly any pancakes that you wish to keep for plopping in the toaster later in the week.  This recipe makes enough for us to eat on the weekend and have letovers for Calvin during the week, so double it if you need more extras than that.