Good Morning Bread Pudding

I shared with you how I recently tried out the recipe for Multi-Grain Sourdough Bread.  There was a problem though: this bread is made with leftover oatmeal and the leftover oatmeal I had contained chai spices (cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, etc.)  Somehow, the combination of sourdough flavor and chai flavor just did not work!  As I looked at that loaf of bread last night, I thought, "What do I do with this?"  And then I decided it would work perfectly in bread pudding for breakfast- and very convenient since I had no idea what we were going to eat for breakfast either!

I originally found this recipe for Bread Pudding shortly after I first tried to make the "soaked" muffins from Nourishing Traditions.  They were a huge failure- dry & tasteless.  Rather than throw them out (which I was tempted to do) I made them into bread pudding & the resulting breakfast was wonderful!  Now, as I experiment with sourdough baking I have had a few more occasions to turn a failed loaf of bread into a delicious breakfast.  I have adjusted the recipe a little bit & I put it together the night before so when I get up in the morning I can just put it in the oven to bake.

The recipe calls for sugar- what I use is turbinado sugar because our family seems to tolerate it well.  You could also try Sucanat.  Normally I use raisins in this recipe, but because I've been eating raisins all week in my No Bake Granola Bars I decided to use blueberries instead.  I pulled the blueberries straight out of the freezer & they thawed overnight in the pudding.  I also saw I had some sliced almonds & decided they would be nice sprinkled on top. 

Good Morning Bread Pudding  :  Serves about 6

6 slices day old bread, cubed
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup raisins or blueberries (fresh or frozen)
4 eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 c. sugar (scant- could go closer to 1/3)
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla

Optional: sliced almonds, whipping cream

Place bread in 8x8 inch pan (mine was being used for granola bars so I used an oval casserole dish instead).  Drizzle melted butter over the top of all the pieces of bread.  Sprinkle with raisins or blueberries.

In a mixing bowl combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla.  Beat until well mixed.  Pour slowly & evenly over the bread.  Lightly push down on bread to make sure it is covered & soaking in the egg mixture. 

If using almonds, sprinkle these on top.  Cover and place in refrigerator.
In the morning uncover dish & place directly in oven.  Turn oven on to 360 (do not preheat) and bake for approximately 50-60 minutes.  Middle of the dish will rise from the steam coming up from underneath & then go back down as it cools.

Here is our finished dish.  When I pulled it out this morning it smelled wonderful.  Then I thought, "This would be great with some whipped cream!"  I just happened to have some cream & whipped up about 1 c. of cream with some stevia to sweeten (alternately you could use maple syrup to sweeten the whipped cream).  My husband gave it a thumbs up & my daughter said it tasted like blueberry pie!

If you make this in the morning instead of the night before, I would suggest preheating your oven to 350 and baking for 45 - 60 minutes.  This post is a part of Pennywise Platter Thursday because you are making a meal out of something (stale or failed bread) you might otherwise throw away.  And it's sooo good!  Enjoy!

Blessings,
Lisa

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