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Thursday, March 26, 2020

I have a store!!



I just opened an online store through Your Farm Foods!! Your Farm Foods connects consumers directly to farmers through events and an our online marketplace. We educate, inspire, and lead people directly to nutritious and healthy food sources that can be found, purchased, and even delivered. I am so excited! My "store" is still under construction but it is open and I already got my first order!

Monday, March 9, 2020

Sourdough Oat & Protein Biscuits

As I mentioned I have a camping trip coming up and I am planning a menu...One of my favorite things while camping is dutch oven biscuits. Oh I want to drool just thinking about fresh, warm biscuits... Oh yum!! I am still on a sourdough kick so I figured why not make biscuits?

I found a recipe from A Better Way to Thrive to work with and began my experimenting! These are more dense than normal biscuits but I don't mind! They are perfect for me to mix before I leave on my trip so I will only have to scoop into the dutch oven in the morning! I cooked mine in a stoneware pan that was preheated to mimic the dutch oven conditions.

Little man loves these with honey, peanut butter, jam, ham or even just butter so I call it a win!!

Tips:
-The longer they are left to ferment the more sour they will taste but if you feed the starter twice in a row (no refrigeration in between) they will not be as sour.
-If the dough is too runny it is possibly because the butter is too warm so pop it in the fridge for 30 minutes-1 hour before baking.
-Any type of solid fat will work.
-Any form of liquid will do - kefir, runny yogurt, milk, etc

Sourdough Oat & Protein Biscuits

makes about 18 biscuits
2 cups oat flour
1 cup unflavored whey protein powder
1/4 cup ground flax
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed
1 cup sourdough starter (fed the day before)
1 cup liquid whey 

Instructions
Combine starter and liquid in a large glass bowl and set aside.
Mix flour, protein powder, flax and salt in a food processor.
Pulse in butter until pea sized chunks remain.
Pour flour mixture into liquid and combine until no dry flour is left.
Cover the bowl and allow to rest for 8-24 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare desired baking dish (about 9x13 size).
Use a large scoop to portion biscuits (slightly larger than a golf ball) in baking dish. 
Place them so they are touching.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Honey Nut Crackers - Graham style

Little man has been talking about going camping for a long time and we finally set a date! Of course the first thing I plan is the food and guess it runs in the family because as soon as I told him the plan he told me that s'mores are a must! I asked if he had ever had s'mores or even knew what they were and was told that he had seen it on Paw Patrol before. I was then told that we also needed to cook hot dogs over the fire. (Gross!) I am not one to disappoint my LM so I told him we would cook sausage over the first and have s'mores.
I know I can buy organic graham crackers but since I always look for a chance to try something new I went searching for a recipe that didn't use brown sugar. I found this version from butterforall which is grain free but since I actually want grain in them I tweaked the recipe for my own desires. What I ended up with was delicious so I wanted to share it with all of you!!
This picture is from the first batch I made which I made into a rectangle log before cutting. I decided I didn't like that method and changed it as stated in my recipe. They are delicious either way.

A few tips:
-You can form the dough into a 12" rectangle wrapped in parchment before the 3 hour chill but I found it hard to have even thickness of slices and I ended up with finger dents on the sides for holding the rectangle as I cut.
-Really any flour mixture that is a 1:1 replacement ratio for all purpose flour can be used in place of the quinoa/oat flours.
-Do not replace the coconut flour with those types of flours because they do not absorb liquid the same.

Honey Nut Crackers - Graham style
makes about 48 cookies
Ingredients
1 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 cup whole crunchy almonds*
1 cup whole crunchy pecans*
1/2 tsp salt
1 tap baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 cup honey
1 egg
1.5 tsp vanilla

Instructions
Combine flour, nuts, salt and baking powder in a food processor and run until everything is a 
sandy consistency. 
Add butter and pulse in the food processor until butter is mixed well.
Add the honey, egg and vanilla and mix until just combined. 
Place mixture in the refrigerator for 30 minutes-1 hour.

Split dough in 2. Put one half back in the refrigerator. 
Shape the first half into a rectangle and place in the middle of a sheet of parchment paper. 
Roll the dough keeping it as much of a rectangle as you can to 1/8" thick. 
You can cut to desired size now and add leftover to dough ball #2 if you want or cut it later.
Carefully slide paper with dough onto a cookie sheet and place in the refrigerator. 
Repeat with second half of the dough. 
Allow dough to chill at least 3 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. 
Remove rolled dough from the refrigerator and cut into desired sized crackers. 
Bake 18-20 min checking after 15 min to see if you are able to flip them to ensure uniform 
browning on both sides. (Flipping isn't necessary but I prefer to do it)
Allow crackers to cool on the pan.

*To make your nuts crunchy soak them overnight in salt water and then dry them in a dehydrator 
or oven.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Wheat crackers

I love Wheat Thins but am trying really hard to eat more organic, non-gmo foods and of course less sugar. Wheat Thins do not fit in that category at all so I decided to make my own. This is the recipe I found:Homemade wheat crackers I have used a few different flours but my favorite so far is oat flour. I just used instant oats that I ground myself. They taste pretty much like the real thing but I think I will took them out a little thinner next time to get the crunch. One of my favorite things about making these crackers is that Little Man can help! He loved rolling the dough and cutting the crackers using the plastic pizza cutter! Since the crackers were just for us I didn't worry about the different sizes.







Thursday, January 2, 2020

S'more of what?

One of my co-workers was born on New Years Day so I got to take him a treat at work today! He requested something S'mores like. Graham crackers, chocolate, marshmallow. Pretty simple, but this is my s'more stuff!! 

The layers:
1. chocolate cookie base baked into a bar shape
2. 1/2 Hersheys chocolate bars, 1/2 Krackel bars  (they were leftover from halloween)
3. Mini Marshmallows 
4. Chopped up Hersheys and crumbled graham crackers

Layer 4 was put on after I broiled the bars for about 2-3 min to toast the mallows. So easy but it came out so good!! These bars didn't survive long!



Healthyish twists: I used sprouted rice flour and allulose in the cookie layer and 1/2 keto marshmallows. The keto marshmallows I used don't toast - they melt, so if you want the toasted look you have to use some regular ones.

Friday, December 20, 2019

Peanut Butter Bread

So the chocolate bread I made before was fabulous for french toast but it was pretty dense and I really wanted a little bit lighter version to give to friends for the holidays so I altered the recipe a little. I also wanted to make a peanut butter version which turned out AMAZING!!!

Lower Carbed Chocolate Bread (Version 2)

5 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
3 TBSP water
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C coconut flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup whey protein powder
1/2 TBSP ground flax seed
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Whisk sugar and eggs until light and fluffy, about 1 min.
Add butter, water and vanilla to egg mixture.
Combine dry ingredient with wet ingredients.

Pour into 9x6 in loaf pan lined with parchment paper and bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 min.
Allow bread to cool completely before slicing.

Lower Carbed Peanut Butter Bread

4 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
3 TBSP peanut butter
3 TBPS water
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup protein flour
1/3 cup peanut butter powder
1 TBSP ground flax seed
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Whisk sugar and eggs until light and fluffy, about 1 min.
Add butter, peanut butter, water and vanilla to egg mixture.
Combine dry ingredient with wet ingredients.

Pour into 9x6 in loaf pan lined with parchment paper and bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 min.
Allow bread to cool completely before slicing.

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Hot cocoa cupcakes

I volunteered to bring cupcakes or cookies to the church Christmas party so I started thinking about good holiday flavors...hot cocoa is my favorite thing when it is cold outside and of course you have to have marshmallows...and candy canes! What is a more holiday flavor than candy canes?!  I also have a lot of dark hot cocoa packets that I want to use up because I don't drink the sugary kind anymore so I looked for a recipe that actually uses hot cocoa packets...can you believe I actually found one? I was in slight shock but thankful someone else did the work so I didn't have to! Well, to tell the truth the recipe I found was actually for muffins, but a muffin is really just a cupcake minus the frosting so I wasn't worried. I added cream cheese to my marshmallow frosting because that I what I had on hand and I think it made it so much better than plain marshmallow frosting!

My co-workers were my guinea pigs and they loved them but I didn't actually go to the party so I have no idea how they were received by the church members. Hopefully they didn't disappoint!



Hot Cocoa Cupcake w/ Marshmallow Frosting

  • Cupcake:


  • 3/4 cup dark hot cocoa mix
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup almond flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

  • In a large bowl, combine hot cocoa mix, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, milk, butter, and vanilla. 
  • Fold egg mixture into flour mixture just until mixed. 
  • Stir chocolate chips into batter and pour into cupcake liners.
  • Bake at 375 degrees F for 18 to 20 minutes.


Marshmallow Frosting:

2 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
7oz marshmallow fluff
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
Beat cream cheese and butter.
Add Marshmallow, vanilla and salt.
once well combined slowly add powdered sugar until desired consistency.
Add crushed candy cane on top for a festive twist.

Based on: https://www.mrfood.com/Bread/Hot-Chocolate-Muffins