No Bake Granola Bars

This post is a part of Tuesday Twister at Gnowfglins and Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

I made the Soaked & Ready Oats from Just Making Noise blog and then I found this recipe for Chewy Granola Bars at Heavenly Homemakers blog.  I thought this would be a great thing to try out & perfect timing too because we have been sorely lacking in snack foods in this house!  I really like this recipe because it is so simple: only a few ingredients, only a few steps & you're done!

The original recipe calls for: 1/2 c. peanut butter, 1/3 c. honey, 1/4 c. coconut oil (melt all these together)- then add 1 c. oats & 1 c. add-ins (nuts, seeds, dried fruit, etc.)

The first time I made these I wanted to use raw honey & maintain it's natural enzymes, so I put my stove burner on the lowest setting and just warmed the peanut butter, honey, and coconut oil until the oil was partially melted.  I removed it from the burner and kept stirring until everything was completely combined.  I added my oats & for the add-ins I used 1/2 c. raisins, 1/4 c. unsweetened shredded coconut, 1/4 c. chopped "crispy" almonds, and about 2 tablespoons of finely chopped bittersweet chocolate.  Yes, I know that's more than 1 cup! :)

After refrigerating, cutting, and individually wrapping, here is what they looked like:

 
They were very yummy (I made them Saturday and they were gone by today).  Though these will hold their shape long enough to go in a lunch box, I would suggest keeping them in the refrigerator.  One thing I found with the Soaked & Ready Oats was they were very crunchy- a little too much for my taste.

So today I made these again ("Yeah!  Granola bars!" My 11 year old shouted).  I felt they were a little too sweet the first time so I reduced the honey to 1/4 c. and because I want to get more healthy coconut oil into my family I increased the oil to 1/3 c.  This time I decided to try & "cook" the oats a little, so I boiled the peanut butter/honey/oil mixture, turned off the burner, and then added the oats.  Because my mixture was so hot when I added the chopped bittersweet chocolate it all melted in together.  I omitted the chopped nuts this time, just using raisins and shredded coconut, but I think nuts help balance the sweetness.  If you're going to use dried fruit you could probably try decreasing the honey to 1/8 c. (= 2 tablespoons), which is what I'm going to try next time.  I also decided I didn't want to waste the plastic wrap on individual pieces- so I'm leaving the pan in the fridge.  Here's batch #2: a little more solid because of the different oil/honey ratio (and a little darker because of the chocolate), but still good!

By the way, my method of "cooking" the oats made only a little difference- they are still very crunchy!  Next time I will probably try grinding them finer & probably add more too.  I wonder if it's just me or if soaking/dehydrating oats just makes them super crunchy.  This would be a great snack for after-school or in the summertime when the kids want a treat & you don't want to use the oven.  Give it a try!

Blessings,
Lisa

Food, Inc & Food Revolution

I have been wanting to watch Food, Inc. for some time now, but I also wanted my husband and 11 year old daughter to watch it with me. So today was the day that we finally found a moment when we were all available, and I still had time left on my Netflix "watch instantly" account (the kids like to use that up since we don't have cable)!

I am pretty familiar with a lot of food/health issues, at least surface information, but I found myself repeatedly saying things like, "Wow!" or "What?" or "That's crazy!" while I watched this movie.  They covered so many topics, and I feel like there is so much more to say on all the subjects.  One thing that jumped out at me was when, I believe it was Michael Pollan, said that even grain fed cows who are put on grass for 5 days will shed 80% of the e-coli in their system- that's amazing!  Another point that came through crystal clear is how corn is used as feed (besides the fact that it is cheap) because it fattens the animals up- and corn products are what you find in most processed foods.  Now why do we have an obesity epidemic?

And how about when they're walking through the Natural Food Convention and the guy points to Tom's and says "Colgate", Kashi is "Kellog's", and there were several others I can't remember now.  Isn't it amazing to think why do we even have to use terms like "natural food" or "health food" - shouldn't food by definition be natural and healthy? Obviously not in the world we live in today- the world of "manufactured" food.  Or, as Michael Pollan says, "edible food-like substances".  Even many "health food" companies are now owned by huge corporations whose motivation is simply to make money. 

The absolute funniest part of the movie, in my opinion and my husband's, is when these organic farmers who supply Stonyfield Farm are meeting with representatives from the Wal-Mart corporation.  The farmer light-heartedly says, "I've never even been in there you know, Wal-Mart."  The rep. just has this big fake smile & his face seems to say "I have no idea what to say".  The farmer continues, "We started boycotting it years ago."  The rep. just keeps on smiling & says nothing.  We were cracking up!


Of course most of this movie is no laughing matter at all- it is a very serious place we have found ourselves in as a nation.  So many different action points, but I think we can say "enough is enough" by voting with our dollars.  Don't buy processed (poisoned) food.  Find local, or at least organic, suppliers for eggs, meat, poultry and dairy.  Find your local farmer's market & go there!  I love this quote from Joel Salatin (the traditional, organic farmer shown in this film) "If you think organic food is expensive, have you priced cancer lately?"  I also found an article here the goes into this a little more Real Cost of Cheap Food

Speaking of real food, did you watch Food Revolution on ABC on Friday night?  It's on my list of "must watch" shows now!  It is sad to me how many people just don't care about all the garbage in the food they eat, or in the food they feed to their kids (yes, lunch lady Alice I am talking to you!  If you saw it, you know what I'm saying...)  But I am so encouraged to know that ABC choosing to air a show like this means that more & more people DO care about real food & I just hope that we can see change come about.

I am also using this opportunity to enter the $75 give away of US Wellness Meats at She Looketh Well blog.  If you have a blog and want to enter too, go check it out (and don't forget to mention my name)!  :)

Blessings,
Lisa

Fight Back Fridays

I am linking up with "Fight Back Friday" at Food Renegade's blog
and sharing about the sourdough english muffins.

All this week my daughter has been sick, and now I have succumb to it too.  Ugh!  I still managed to make "soaked tortillas" for our steak fajitas tonight, and I also managed to soak/dehydrate some almonds ("crispy almonds"), I've got "Soaked & Ready Oats"  drying in my toaster oven (my new toaster oven is much better than the old one- did you see my post about my "Exploding Toaster Oven"?)  And I also saved some leftover oatmeal & made multi-grain sourdough bread.  My dough was probably too sticky (perhaps not enough oatmeal?)  When I poured the dough into the loaf pans the texture was somewhere between marshmellow fluff & taffy- really!  So no wonder my loaves didn't turn out so pretty.  I'm sure it was something I did- because go over to Sarah's blog & see how beautiful her loaves are...  (sigh...)
Yes, today turned out to be a baking day- but because of not feeling well (not really "feeling" like doing anything) I didn't get any pictures except this one I just took right now.  Funny cracked up bread, huh?

I'll do better next week...  Good thing about colds... you know eventually they will pass!
Blessings!
Lisa

Yogurt Pizza Dough at Gnowfglins

Wardeh over at Gnowfglins (God's Natural, Organic, Whole Foods, Grown Locally, In Season) let me guest post today my experience with trying out the Yogurt Pizza Dough from Nourishing Traditions cookbook.  Check it out here.

Thanks Wardeh!
Lisa  :)

Sourdough English Muffins

This post is a part of Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop
and Fight Back Fridays at Food Renegade

My latest experiment has been to make sourdough English muffins.  I've made sourdough bread (no winners in that yet), tortillas (so so), crackers (yum), pita breads (pretty good), and now English muffins from this recipe here.  They actually turned out pretty good!

I started them at night before I went to bed.  In the morning the dough hadn't risen very much so I left it & didn't get back to it til after lunch.  I added the remaining ingredients, covered them with oiled plastic wrap & a towel, and set them in the oven with the light on to rise.  The directions say let rise for 1 hour- well, mine never did rise!  I let them sit for about 6 hours & finally decided just to cook them.  They actually did rise some when I cooked them.  Here there are all snuggled up in my skillet:

This recipe makes quite a bit- I filled my skillet like this 3 times.  It does take a while to cook also, considering you have to cook each side for 4 to 5 minutes, add that up for 3 batches & that's at least 30 minutes.  The good news is you don't have to watch them.  Once you've flipped them the 1st time & seen how long it took, then you can just set the timer and do other things until they're ready to flip.  My temperature was a medium-low, warm enough to sizzle the butter but cool enough to allow the muffins to cook all the way through.

Here's one opened up- not too bad, eh?  As you can tell I made mine using whole wheat flour.
I should have put a big pat of melting butter on it for the picture...

Now for breakfast tomorrow we get to have homemade "Egg McMuffins"!  :)  I bet you could even cook & assemble extra "McMuffins", freeze them & then just reheat for an easy breakfast.  Brilliant!

*Update: the night before I had pulled a chub (thick roll) of ground pork sausage out of the freezer, so this morning it was not quite fully thawed.  I was able to slice off half inch circles (like you used to with refrigerated cookie dough) and cook.  Easy way to have round sausage for your own "Sausage McMuffins".

 Mmmm.  Am I making you hungry yet?  The only thing I forgot was cheese!

Blessings,
Lisa

Exploding Toaster Ovens & "Girl" Talk

This post is a part of the Tuesday Twister Blog Carnival at Gnowfglins

and Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers

Just so I'm not accused of being over-dramatic, I should say that my toaster oven did not explode with a "BOOM!".  What did happen was very strange though.  We've had this toaster oven since Christmas.  I asked for it so we could avoid microwave use.  The reasons why are listed out for you here.  So, on Friday I was cooking some hot dogs for my son in there (uncured hot dogs, thank you very much Trader Joe's for no nitrates!)  When I heard the "tinkeling" sound of a lot of glass shattering in the kitchen.  What I found was this

The entire glass door had spontaneously shattered into tiny pieces.  Every last bit.  There were a couple of pieces that were even all the way across the kitchen floor.  So bizarre!  Thankfully no one was near it when it happened.  A friend reminded me to check the CPSC website to see if it had been recalled- it hadn't but I did file a report on what happened.  Kind of ironic that I started using a toaster oven to be "safer" and then this happens!  We took it back to the store and got a different toaster oven- no more Black & Decker ones for me!

One thing I have been enjoying in my kitchen this week has been these oh-so-good Healthy Grain Free Brownies.  The first time I made these they were thin & dense, but still very good.  Then I saw another similar recipe at Just Making Noise.  The difference was more eggs, more coconut oil, more salt & vanilla, and 2 T. coffee substitute.  I decided to morph the two recipes (and not use coffee substitute in mine) and the result was a wonderful soft fudgy treat!  I used the Healthy Grain Free Brownie recipe and used 3 jumbo eggs (you could use 4), between 1/3 & 1/2 c. coconut oil, and the extra vanilla.  Now the bittersweet chocolate I'm using was strong- about 84-90% cacao bars from Theo.  The great thing about their bars, besides being fair traded and organic, is that they do not contain soy.  Just cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter, and vanilla beans.  The way it should be!  But because the flavor is so strong, and I wanted to make sure all the flavors blended together, I melted the coconut oil and chocolate together before adding to the batter.  It turned out great!

I feel good having this kind of treat because: lots of good for you ingredients & no grains (most of us consume way too many).  Both black beans and dark chocolate are high in magnesium.  Magnesium is helpful for women when we are PMSing- maybe that's why we crave chocolate?  I'm about to delve into some "Girl Talk" here- so guys beware.  :)  When I was a teenager I never had PMS.  No cramps, no irritability, nothing.  Then, when I got married at age 20, I went on hormonal birth control.  Suddenly I had headaches & all the other PMS stuff.  I was only on birth control for about 6 months, but my hormones never were right again after that.  Fast forward 18 years to 2010.  Every single cycle I have 2 weeks of PMS and then I have to take Ibuprofin to manage the painful cramps when my cycle begins, and this is how it has been for 18 years.  That is, up until last month.  Last month I had one day pre-cycle where I was feeling irritable, so I upped my intake of magnesium foods (black beans, dark chocolate, almonds) and felt better the next day.  During my cycle itself I felt light "twinges" but no cramping really.  Nothing that was enough to interrupt my day.  I could hardly believe it!  It was amazing!

We have made so many changes to our diet I can't tell you what I should attribute this too.  Soaking grains?  Raw milk?  Kefir?  Eliminating processed foods?  I have no idea.  But I am delighted & thankful!

Here's to your health journey too.

Blessings,
Lisa

Refined Sweetener Free Challenge

Cara over at Health, Home, Happiness is having a Refined Sweetener Free Challenge next month.  I would have to heartily agree with that challenge.

We don't have anything to eat in our house anymore that has white sugar or corn syrup in it :p.  The closest you might find would be the few things we buy in a box or package that have "evaporated cane juice crystals".  And, if you think about it, that is really close to what white sugar is, and yet, cane juice crystals, or turbinado sugar (also known as "raw" sugar, this is what I have in my cupboard) does not affect us like white/refined sugars do.

Yesterday I had something so small as a 1x1 inch square of a jam/oatmeal bar cookie.  I guess it was like taking a big tablespoon of sugar, because it made me feel so yuck!  My husband had the same and he said the same thing.  Just made me feel gross.  Another motivation to stay away from the refined sugars...  besides what they do in our bodies.

I still like sweet things, I haven't lost that, but I prefer my sweets made with honey, maple syrup or unrefined cane sugar.  These are so much gentler on my body.  I think I might try these "soaked" granola bars this week if I need something sweet.  Or maybe some tapioca- I'll let you know how it goes!  Of course my go-to for something sweet in the evening is a kefir smoothie made with frozen fruit and honey.  Yum!

Blessings,
Lisa

Mighty Meatloaf

This post is a part of the Pennywise Platter Thursday carnival at the Nourishing Gourmet.

A few months ago I made a very bad loaf of bread- epic fail!  Did I throw it out?  Nooo!  I sliced it & put in the freezer & have used it in my meatloaf!  The bread gets "assimilated" into the meatloaf & gets a new life!  When I was making my menu plan this week I knew I still had a few slices left, some shredded carrots (from the garden last summer- they've been sitting in the freezer waiting for a use) and ground beef.  Meatloaf was the easy answer to all that- but I could not find my meatloaf recipe... ugh!

It was in a blog, but I couldn't find it in my bookmarks... so of course I spent hours googling, to no avail.  Finally I just looked over several recipes at allrecipes.com and combined everything to make my Frankenstein meatloaf!  Actually, I'm calling it mighty meatloaf because it's a great way to get more veggies into dinner and to stretch a pound of ground beef.  So it's frugal too!  [note: I didn't want to dirty up my loaf pan, I might need to make bread soon, so I pressed it into a pie pan.  This also served to shorten the bake time for me.  So, mine was "meat pie" not loaf.]

My daughter (age 11) did say, "This is veggie loaf, not meat loaf!" but she had no problem cleaning her plate, except the little onion pieces she managed to fish out.  My husband said, "This is very good!"  I served it with mashed potatoes (boil 1 c. cauliflower, puree in blender, and add to mashed potatoes= nutrient bonus that nobody notices).

Mighty Meatloaf
8 servings

1 lb. ground beef
2 eggs
2 slices bread, cut in small pieces
1/2 c. milk or cream
1/2 c. diced onion
1/2 c. shredded carrot
1/2 c. diced celery
1/4 c. shredded parmesan
1 clove garlic
1 Tablespoon mustard
2 Tablespoons parsley (dried)
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon sage
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl & stir well.  Spread in loaf pan.
Spread 2 Tablespoons ketchup on top.
Bake at 375 for 45 minutes.  Optional: sprinkle additional cheese on top during last 5 minutes.

Blessings!
Lisa

Blender Pancakes

This post is a part of the Real Food Wednesday Blog Carnival here.

So, the other day I tried out & found my new favorite pancake recipe!  They're Blender Pancakes from the Sue Gregg Breakfast Cookbook.  If you go to the website you can get a print out of this recipe free.
Blender Pancakes, how do I love thee?  Let me count the ways...
*It uses whole grain (I used wheat berries) not flour = fresh!
*It soaks overnight = decreased phytates
*It is so easy to pour pancakes onto the pan from your blender!
*And they're tasty too!

I had bought some wheat berries from the bulk bins of the health food store a few weeks ago- my plan is to sprout them & make bread (not flour- I don't have a flour grinder) using this tutorial.  I haven't tried it yet, but I hope to soon!

This pancake recipe was also a good use for some of my "Cultured Bulgarian Buttermilk" that I talked about in my last post.  I prepared it at night, turned the light on in the oven til I was ready to go to bed & then turned it off & left the batter (in the blender) in the oven.  In the morning when I went to blend in the remaining ingredients it was a little stiff, so I added about a tablespoon or two of water.  We like thin pancakes, but if you prefer thick you might want to try just stirring it up to get it to blend.

This recipe made about 6 servings, which is perfect for our family of 4 because I always like to freeze extra pancakes for later (those are the extra ones there on the plate).  My 6 year old son is an eating machine & I need stuff like that to feed him at odd times during the day- just pop them in the toaster & they're ready!  To freeze, what I do is put a layer in a plastic storage container, then use plastic wrap between layers- that way they come apart easily while still frozen.  You could also try wax paper or parchment paper to reduce plastic.

Visit the Real Food Wednesday Blog Carnival to see lots of other real food ideas!

Enjoy!
Lisa

Fun with Cream!

This post is a part of the Tuesday Twister Blog Carnival

This week I bought some fresh lightly pasturized cream from a local farm & I have to share with you two great things that came out of it!  First was Creme Fraiche using the recipe from this website.  We were having taco salad & I wanted something sour cream-ish to go with it.

When I was looking for the buttermilk for this recipe I could not find organic, but I did find "Cultured Bulgarian Buttermilk" by Darigold and it actually has active live cultures!  Sure it is twice as much as the other buttermilks, but I'd rather have "live" food than fake food.  I made my creme fraiche according to the directions, setting out for 24 hours.  At first it did seem quite thin, but after a couple of days in the fridge it has a consistency identical to sour cream.  The flavor of mine is a little more mellow- more "cream" than "sour", but still went well on our taco salads.  Then tonight I wanted something to go with my fresh red peppers and lettuce, so I sprinkled all purpose seasoning on top & used it as a dip- very satisfying!

(Nice repurposed container for my creme fraiche, eh?  It's glass so you better believe I was reusing it!)  When made this way creme fraiche is another great way of getting more probiotics into your diet too!

Now, I had about a cup of cream left & after a few days I was afraid it was starting to turn, so I decided to try and make "Cheat's Ice Cream" that I learned about here.  I whipped up the cream, adding in about a teaspoon of vanilla, a packet of Stevia sweetener, and a tablespoon or two of coconut.  Instead of raking with a fork every 30 minutes, I re-whipped (3 times) til it seemed frozen enough.  It's not exactly ice cream, but it is yummy!

My daughter informed me today that we must have green shamrock pancakes tomorrow for St. Patrick's Day!  No problem, I've got my sourdough starter out & I will use this recipe for sourdough pancakes.  You know what I love about this recipe?  No soaking of grains!  You're turning your sourdough starter into pancakes (also a great way to use up some starter if you've got too much).  My daughter really liked these last time- she said, "They taste like bread!"  She's my carb lover.  I might throw on a dollop of our "Cheat's Ice Cream" just for fun too!

The other fun thing happening in my kitchen today was I got my first order from Azure Standard.  I found a local buying group & I was so excited to get a lot of staples for frugal amounts!  And I learned a few things from my first time buying from them.  Five pounds of beans is a lot!  One pound of almonds is not very much.  And when or how am I ever going to use all those bay leaves?!  LOL  That's a lot of shredded coconut there too, but I'm sure we'll find a way to use it- I already started tonight!

Check out the Tuesday Twister blog carnival to see what is twisting in other people's kitchens too-

Enjoy!
Lisa

P.S. Next post I am going to tell you about my new found *favorite* pancake recipe...

Bone Broth- gotta have it!

It feels so good to make bone broth!  You know you're making something tasty, nourishing, and practically free- trifecta!  We had a roasted whole chicken (farm fresh bird) last week & I had put the carcass,  skin, fat, & etc. with extra roasted vegetables in a baggie in the freezer.  I thawed it out a day ahead of time in the fridge & then yesterday I happened to be cooking up a bunch of pinto beans (I hate throwing out cooking water- seems so wasteful!) so I poured that bean water over the carcass/vegetables.  I added water to cover it all, plus some garlic, and then 2 Tablespoons of vinegar to make those bones leach out minerals.  Let it sit for 30 minutes, then bring to boil, cover & simmer for hours & hours & hours!  I use the recipe from Nourishing Traditions, which isn't much more than what I just told you.  If you don't have roasted vegetables just throw in some whole carrots, celery ribs, and an onion.

Last time (my first time making long cooked bone broth) I cooked it for 24 hours.  This time, when I woke up this morning I checked it and the skin & onion on the top of the broth were dark brown, almost looking burnt, so I turned it off.  It had cooked for about 18 hours, but it was a more active simmer this time than last time (I hope you know what I mean by that).  :)

Probably the easiest thing to do next would be to get another pot, put a colander in it, and pour the broth in so you can pick out the bones and things you don't want in there.  HOWEVER (this is where you find out, "yes, I am just that lazy") I avoid dirty dishes if at all possible, so what I do is- once it's cooled completely on the stove- just run my hands around in there & pick up whatever I run into!  I pick any remaining meat off the bones (if you're using a roasted bird remove as much as possible before boiling- put meat scraps in the freezer & use for chicken soup or enchiladas later).  I leave some of the fatty parts in the broth but take a lot out.  If you happen to have some gizzard, heart, etc I would leave that in there too.  I also leave the vegetables in.

Now, the broth got a lot of the minerals out of those bones- if you look at this picture you may be able to see the ends of the bones are gone- they were like crackers in my hand & I gave those to the lucky dog!  (I didn't give her any other parts of the bones, just in case, you know those warnings about chicken bones being splintery...)  You can also see from this picture that I am so determined *not* to dirty another dish that I put the pulled out pieces into the lid of the pot!

I wanted to show you what got left in the broth- bits of meat, fat, skin, celery, carrot and potato, but sorry this picture is blurry (my camera & my skill are probably both lacking- what can I say?)  The reason I can leave all that in there is because I then throw it all in the blender.  It would probably be better to make a little pile of the bits of meat to keep them whole, but, again, I was too lazy!

After running a few batches in my blender I put it all back in the pot again to make sure it's all the same consistency, then pour it into glass jars & freeze them (don't fill all the way to the top- remember about expansion).  This broth makes the best chicken soup ever.  I know chicken soup is supposed to be good for you, but when it's made with this broth it's really  good for you!  I also use it for cooking rice- yum!

By the way, that's froth at the top of the broth- LOL- in case you're wondering.  :)  Beautiful rich broth!
Here's another blogger's idea for adding immune boosting herbs to your broth (I keep forgetting to buy the herbs ahead of time, so I haven't tried it yet).

Enjoy!
Lisa

Don't Oversoak!

If you are following Nourishing Traditions & "soaking" your grains before you cook them, please learn one thing from me- don't oversoak your grains!  On Wednesday I was making Four Star Chili from this recipe here [note I changed it to make it more NT & frugal: I used my homemade beef broth*, used home cooked beans**, and instead of using 2 lbs. of stew meat cooked in bottled dressing I just used about a half lb. of shredded beef from the roast we had on Monday- cut way down on prep time this way to].  It was on my menu plan to have cornbread with the chili too, from this recipe at Kitchen Stewardship.  However, after cooking the rice (including extra for the porridge in my previous post) I realized we didn't need cornbread!

My flour/cornmeal was already soaking in yogurt in a glass container, so I thought I'd just put it in the fridge & make cornbread or maybe cornbread pancakes on a different day.  Tonight (2 days later- 3 days total including 24 hours of "soak") I peeled back the cover & the strong smell that hit my nose was like taking a big whiff of nail polish remover!  Yuck- it was bad & strong!  I momentarily wondered if I could still salvage this (my frugal side sometimes knows no bounds), but then I decided I would not make my family a guinea pig for this unknown chemical reaction & threw it out.

What I should have done was go ahead & cook up my cornbread & then put it in the freezer for another night.  So, take it from me- use it or lose it!

Blessings,
Lisa
*my bone broth was made from rib bones I saved when my husband & I went to a restaurant with friends, I also added in some roast vegetables not eaten when we had roast (it was all waiting for me in a baggie in the freezer).  Added frugal bonus: after cooking the bones for 24 hrs they ended up being crunchy like a dog biscuit (I could break off pieces with my hand) & have been nice treats for our dog!
**cook up a whole bag of beans at once- you're saving yourself prep time & energy (physical as well as electrical/gas)!  You can measure the extra into cups, put it in baggies or containers, label with the amount (like 2 cups), freeze & just thaw the night before when needed the next day

 This is our dog Layla & this is how she relaxes- she is so sweet & funny!

Mmm Rice Porridge

Rice Porridge is so yummy in the morning & it's an easy pleaser for most everybody!  So easy- this week I planned to cook rice for dinner one night & I just made sure to cook double so I could use the extra for breakfast.  Then I put it together the night before (in the stainless steel cooking pot I will use to cook it in the next morning) and put it in the fridge.  Easy, yummy breakfast!  To round it out you could serve it with yogurt fruit smoothies (add in some greens & no one will know) giving you added nutrients, fiber, protein & probiotics!

This recipe is from the Two Sisters Cookbook website.  Their cookbook is not NT (no soaking of grains) but I have found some good recipes there.

Winter Breakfast Rice Porridge
Serves about 6

5 c. cooked rice
4 c. milk (use whole, organic, non-homogenized if possible)
1 large apple (or 2 small) chopped (don't need to peel)
1/2 c. raisens (can use less, depending on preference)
1/4 c. honey
1 T. vanilla
1 T. cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a large pot (the night before).
Bring to a boil (stir so it doesn't stick to the bottom).  Continue boiling, stirring continuously for 3 minutes or until apples are soft or... after bringing the porridge to a boil the temperature can be turned down & left to simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Enjoy! 

Blessings,
Lisa

I linked this post up to the Get the Gluten Out Carnival

Brand new blog

so much to say- but so late at night... gotta go feed my sourdough starter baby, refresh my kefir grains with some fresh raw milk & go to bed!  I've got a lot on my mind though...  more to come!