Sunday, March 22, 2009

(Mom's) Breakfast Cookies

I used to call these Mom's Breakfast cookies because I made them for myself and made the kids another version that was higher in fat and lower in fiber. Well, as it usually goes with kids, they want what's yours! So now they are just Breakfast Cookies.

1 3/4 cup date sugar*
1 1/4 cup brown rice syrup*
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 - 15oz can of pumpkin
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
4 1/2 cups of rolled oats
2 cups of wheat or oat bran
1 cup of flax meal
3 cups of whole wheat flour*
1/2 cup whey protein powder (optional)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 - 12oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Beat together sugar, syrup, oil, pumpkin, eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Scoop onto lightly greased cookie sheet. With damp hands; flatten cookies slightly before putting into the oven. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Don't over bake or they will be like hokey pucks! Makes about 60 cookies. If you are doing weight watchers it comes out to 2pts per cookie.

* I don't always have date sugar so I use a combo of xylitol and sucanat. If I don't have brown rice syrup I use agave or honey with a bit of molasses. You can use any oil you like. For the whole wheat flour sometimes I grind rice, barley, oats, or ezekiel mix and use that.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Hot Dog Buns


Homemade Hot Dog or Hamburger Buns

1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup unsalted butter
4 1/2 cups flour (unbleached, whole wheat, or a mix)
1 package instant yeast
1 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 egg, room temperature

Heat the milk, water, honey and butter until butter is melted. Check temperature. Depending on the temperature, let cool to 120F. Carefully beat in egg.

Mix 2 cups of the flour, yeast, and salt into the liquid mixture. Add the rest of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time. Beat well after each addition.

When the dough pulls together, turn it out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. This should take about 5 minutes. **I don't do this, I just let my bosch do all the work. Five minutes in the bosch on #2 power.**

Divide dough into 12 -16 equal pieces. This will depend on the size you want for the finished bun. Shape into smooth balls, flatten slightly, and place on a parchment paper covered baking sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal.

Let rise for 30 to 35 minutes. When buns have almost doubled bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.

If you are making hot dog buns I find it easiest to roll the dough out into a large rectangle and cut into smaller rectangles. Let rise with sides touching. You can brush the tops with egg wash and sprinkle with poppy seeds, sesame seeds, coarse sea salt, or whatever you like. You can add dry onion soup mix for onion rolls. These are very versatile!

Re-purposed Roast Beef

In case you haven't heard, times are tough! Everything costs more and but most of us aren't getting paid more. Some of us are getting paid less and many are no longer being paid! I don't know about you but around here it is becoming even more important to reduce, reuse, recycle.

I recently heard someone say 're-purpose' and I thought that sounded better than leftovers. It still catches the kids off guard so they don't moan at the thought of leftovers. Leftover seems to conjure up feelings of dread at being served last weeks over cooked meatloaf and soggy veggies even though we loves meatloaf and I don't make soggy veggies! So after having a pressure cooked pot roast that came out delicious Tuesday I needed a way to use the remaining beef for Wednesday's dinner. I have a family of 6 and only about 2 cups of chopped roast beef. I needed away to turn that into a filling meal for all of us. So I Googled leftover roast beef.

Leftover Roast Beef Casserole Recipe

When you make your roast, save about 1/2 cup of Au Jus for this casserole.
by Chef Carole in South Florida

40 min | 10 min prep

SERVES 4

  1. In a sprayed or buttered casserole dish mix the roast beef, au jus, soup, cooked rice, 1/2 cup of shredded cheese and milk.
  2. melt the butter. Add the bread crumbs to the butter and mix together.
  3. Spoon the topping over the roast beef mixture and add 1/2 cup of cheese over the topping.
  4. Bake in 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.
As anyone that knows me knows, I don't follow recipes. I use them as a suggestion, inspiration if you will. So I am including my adjustments to this recipe. Normally I don't use canned soups because they are full of all kinds of scary things I can't pronounce. We try to abide by the 5 ingredients or less on the label rules but desperate times all for desperate measures! I keep a few cans on the shelf for desperate times. Our desperate time was trying to get everyone fed and to church on time!

I used a can of cheddar cheese soup and 2c of frozen chopped broccoli. I didn't have seasoned bread crumbs so I used panko and added some Tony Chachere's seasoning to the butter when I browned the panko. I used two cups of cooked rice to stretch the meal. We had plenty and it turned out very good. Even Bubba, my picky little dude had two servings.

I will add this one to the recipe binder and next time try to make my own cream of broccoli soup with 5 ingredients or less!
Related Posts with Thumbnails

Backwoods Home

Backwoods Home Magazine - practical ideas for self-reliant living

BBQ

BBQ
a glimpse of things to come