whole wheat

Part two: the waffles

~ nancyruth ~ 2 Comments

I made Betty Crocker’s Cookbook Crisp Waffles (page 196). I have made this recipe before because my grandchildren like for me to make them waffles when they come to my home. The youngest cracks the eggs and the older one measures the ingredients. I did not have them here to help me with these..

I made the whole wheat variation. I used a non-dairy milk because that is all we had in the house. I did not want to use up the half-and-half that we use for coffee. I have used that in a diluted form in the past as a sub in for milk.

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 3/4 cups milk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • a little bit of wheat germ
  • a little bit of chopped walnuts

I mixed the ingredients in my blender. I do not have the world’s most powerful blender. It is an old Oster with two speeds. Hubby likes it that way. I think I would like one of the newer high-tech, lots of speeds one. But I am working hard at not buying replacements for things that are not broken. There is too much stuff in this house as it is.

Heat waffle iron as directed by manufacturer. Make waffles. The added nutrition to these is sprinkling a tablespoon of wheat germ (yes, I have this in my fridge) and a sprinkling of walnuts over batter immediately after pouring it onto the iron. Serve with butter and syrup.

  • I forgot the nuts on this one.

Thus far this plan of cooking from the Betty Crocker’s Cookbook is working out quite well. I wonder what I’ll make next?

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Glorious Morning Glory Muffins

~ nancyruth ~ 4 Comments

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I haven’t written for a few weeks. It’s not that I’m not cooking, I’m just not creatively cooking. Or I make standard fare that I have already written about, such as chicken pot pie and chocolate cake. We had a fabulous post New Year Thanksgiving dinner with a roast turkey and all the trimmings including sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and apple pie. Sometimes I just throw chicken in the oven to bake with barbecue sauce or pan sear steaks or pork chops. Frozen vegetables, in a multiple of varieties, round out the meal. And I confess, sometimes dinner is sandwiches made with frozen breaded fish fillets!

And then there is the impetus for weight loss and heart healthy cooking. Hubby and I are not getting any younger and the medical folk have been looking at our hearts regarding cholesterol levels and hypertension, and our sedentary lifestyle, a little more closely lately. So how can I bake yummy desserts with these issues in the front of my mind?

I wanted to bake something. I used to bake muffins every week so that Hubby and the Girls would have something to take along for the commute to school. The Girls are now all grown up with boyfriends and fiances and such. But a healthy muffin might take the place of cupcakes, right? I have an entire section of my recipe notebook devoted to muffins. Most of them claim to be low-fat and have whole wheat and/or oatmeal in the list of ingredients. I chose this one because it has apple butter as an ingredient and I found half a jar of good apple butter when I did a recent fridge cleaning and inventory.

Morning Glory Muffins: this is an adaptation of a recipe submitted to All Recipes.com 2005 by a Jack D. I adjusted the eggs and the amount of sugar and the raisins.

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (in future I would use 1 cup all-purpose)
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (in future I would use 1 cup)
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups grated carrots
  • 1 apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
  • 1 cup Craisins
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup apple butter
  • 1/4 cup canola oil
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
  • 2 tablespoons toasted wheatgerm (I did not remember if the wheatgerm I have is toasted already so I dry toasted it in a small skillet over high heat on top of the stove)

Oven to 375 degrees F. Spray 18 muffin cups or line with papers. I was able to make 20 muffins.

Whisk eggs, apple butter, oil, and vanilla together in a medium bowl

Whisk all dry ingredients together in a larger bowl. These are the first 7 ingredients.

Add the goodies, carrots, apple, Craisins, to the dry ingredients. Then stir in the apple butter mixture just until all is moist.

Mix the wheat germ and the walnuts together in a small bowl.

Spoon into the muffin pans, sprinkle each with the wheatgerm mixture, and bake for 20 minutes. The tops will spring back when lightly pressed.

These were fabulous. I don’t remember baking these before even after printing out the recipe back in 2006. They are enjoyable warm right out of the oven, in the middle of the morning as a snack, and also the next day, and evening, and then for morning again…

Everyday Table Bread…

~ nancyruth ~ 4 Comments

On this cold New England winter-ish day, I bake bread. I also made a nice supper in the crock pot. Tomorrow I may even bake cookies.

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I sat at my kitchen table early this morning and wrote out my Christmas cards. Hubby has put the wreath on the front door and we play Christmas music. I have been looking at my cookbooks, not in them, just at them wondering about doing any Christmas baking. We did purchase Red and Green M&Ms so that is Christmas-y! We take the dog to a dog park. It is not crowded and is in a wooded area. Leo (our new old dog) is great. There was one other dog and Leo put up with the puppy’s antics. We also stopped at the Home Depot to buy a kitchen trash can with a lid because “you know who” thinks “dumpster diving” is productive daytime activity!

Back to bread. I have made this bread before but don’t remember how long ago. It has good stuff in it like cornmeal and oats. It is from the Soulard Market cookbook.

  • 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 1/4 cups cornmeal
  • 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 packages active dry yeast; I use 4 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 2 1/2 cups warm water
  • 2/3 cup molasses
  • 2-3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • rolled oats

In the large mixer bowl, I combine the first five ingredients. In a glass quart measuring bowl I put the water, butter, and molasses. I microwave for about 1 1/2 minutes, 30 seconds at a time, until the mixture is about 125 degrees F. Between 120 and 125 was close enough for me. Stir that into the flour mixture. Add enough of the all-purpose flour to make a stiff dough. I then kneaded this with my bread hook for 5 minutes.The dough was not very stiff so I kneaded in about 1/2 cup more white flour. Still none to stiff but I did not want it to be too dry so I pushed the dough around the bowl while I sprayed with cooking spray so it would rise in a greased bowl. Cover this with a tea towel and let rise until double. In just one hour it had reached the top of the mixing bowl.

In reading the recipe it says to punch dough down and shape into round loaves. I don’t remember  these as being free form loaves, so I spray my two loaf pans and shape into loaves. Now let these rise for another hour or so.

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These have risen above the rims.

These are nicely risen. Make an egg wash with the egg and tablespoon of water. Brush this on top and sprinkle oats on top. Bake in 375 degree F oven for 45 minutes. If making round loaves check after 35 minutes for doneness (is that a word?).

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A good and hearty bread.

Questions:

  • Why does my bread not stay as high and risen as before baking?
  • Do I use too much yeast?
  • Did brushing on the egg wash deflate them?

I suppose I could call the baking hotline or I’ll just internet search it. I could even look in some of my bread-baking cookbooks. Meanwhile we enjoyed this bread with supper and then for toast at breakfast.

 

 

Sunday in my Kitchen

~ nancyruth ~ 7 Comments

It’s a rainy Sunday and I feel inspired to do all sorts of things. First I started with my closet. I set up ten “outfits” so I could just grab something out of the closet first thing in the morning for work. I have too many clothes so sometimes the decision making stumps me. It’s just clothes! But still!

We are in need of more ketchup and the homemade stuff is so good. I pull out the crock pot and throw in the ingredients, Special Sauce. Here is the recipe that I posted earlier.

It occurs to me that I have a container of neglected Sourdough Starter in the fridge that needs feeding. I hope it is still good. What to do with the “pour off”? Ha! I saved a fellow blogger Kristina’s post on country bread, Classic Country Bread. Her recipe is made with a poolish; I’ll substitute the starter for the poolish. I also don’t have a bread machine so I’ll just knead it in my KitchenAid with the bread hook. I have more whole wheat flour than all-purpose so I use 1 cup wheat flour and 1/1/2 cups all-purpose and two teaspoons instant yeast.  I just mix it all in the mixer, knead it for 5 minutes and place in a greased bread pan to rise.Here’s hoping it turns out okay!

I have fresh herbs that are growing nicely. I was looking through a Food magazine last week while walking on the treadmill (I have got to lose some weight!) and saw a recipe for Green Goddess dressing. I remember that from way back. So I look around on the internet for a recipe. There are plenty. This is my modification of the one from Epicurious, Buttermilk Green Goddess Dressing. I do not have anchovy paste, nor fresh tarragon. I leave the former out and use 1 teaspoon dried tarragon. I mix it all in a blender instead of the food processor.

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Not everything has to be from scratch. I put together a tray of cheese and crackers to take to the Refugee Coalition reception. And I feel so honored, the wife wants me to show her how I made the Baharat spice mixture: Timman Z’affaran. Its not about me but I am so pleased that it was so well received!

So at the end of the day here’s what I have added to my kitchen:

A wonderful artisan bread that served as our supper!

Green goddess dressing and homemade ketchup. This means I need to eat more salads this week. And some of the ketchup will be taken on our next camping trip to have on or cheeseburgers. Good eating!

Sourdough Waffles

~ nancyruth ~ Leave a comment

Winter has arrived with the first major snowstorm. Hubby estimates there is about 12 inches of snow in the yard and three foot drifts where the plows cleared the roads. That was more snow than we expected. There are areas of our state that got more than that as well as less: nothing to a dusting to 4 inches to 16 inches. But living in the Northeast means snow for winter. Although we had become spoiled by the mild temperatures thus far. I’ve done as much as I can about the weather, how about you?

Knowing that the snow would continue through the night I planned that we would have a Sunday morning in while hubby cleared the walks and driveway and cars. Knowing that I have a somewhat neglected sourdough starter in the fridge that needed feeding I planned to make waffles for breakfast. Knowing that the recipe calls for buttermilk I created “sour milk” with the age old technique used by my Mom, add Tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to measuring cup for each one cup of buttermilk needed. Knowing the sourdough batters often need time to “ripen” I got out my cookbook and prepared the “sponge” the night before.

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this has some nice sourdough recipes

I am using the recipe on page 542 of the book. The batter is for pancakes but can be used to make “the lightest, tastiest waffles you’ll ever eat.” The sponge is made by combining the flour, the sugar, and tfirst snow storm 008he buttermilk and then adding the starter. Blend well and let rest for two hours or overnight.

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar
  • 2 cups buttermilk, slightly warmed
  • 1 cup sourdough starter

In the morning the rest of the ingredients are added.

  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup butter, melted
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

These are beaten separately until light and then blended into the sponge. “(watch the batter begin to bubble and foam)”

This makes a lot of batter! Now make the waffles using the directions for your waffle iron. I have a nice waffle maker given to me by my wonderful daughter and son-in-law.

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Breakfast is served!

These turned out crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. Definitely a keeper recipe!