Homemade Breakfast Cereal

WP_20160401_012I’ve been trying for a while to come up with a non-oat granola bar for my oat sensitive kid. I finally came up with a good one (see previous post). In all my failed attempts however I accidentally created a delicious breakfast cereal. I uses a base of quiona, millet, spelt and buckwheat which is delicious.

Here’s how to make it….

1 cup quinoa (soaked and cooked)
2 cups puffed millet
1 cup spelt flakes
1/2 cup creamy buckwheat cereal
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. salt

Mix the dry ingredients. Then add…

1/2 cup olive oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup honey (more if you like it sweeter)

Stir until all the ingredients are combined and all the grains are well coated. Cook at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

This is delicious as a stand alone cereal. To make it even better add a little cream, bananas and chocolate chips. Then it’s almost dessert worthy. Yum!

Quick and Easy Apple Cobbler

 

apple  cobbler cast ironI’m making this tonight for our family visiting for the weekend.

 

Sugar-Free Apple Cobbler: 

This recipe is free of sugar, eggs, wheat, corn and nuts.

Ingredient List: apples, butter, white spelt flour, cinnamon, cloves, salt, heavy cream, baking powder.

First, grease a casserole dish, cake pan or pie plate with butter.

Peel, slice and chop 4 large apples. Choose a sweet, red variety like Fuji or Braeburn. No Granny Smith’s here please.

Sprinkle 2 tsp. cinnamon, a dash of cloves and 1/2 tsp. of salt over the apples and stir to coat.

Next, melt half a stick of butter in a large (cast-iron if you have it) skillet. Toss in the apple and begin to saute them over medium heat in the butter.

Sprinkle 2 tbls. of white spelt flour over the apples and stir until all the flour is combined with the butter and apple juices. This will make a roux which will thicken your cobber base.

After a few minutes of cooking pour 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream over the apples stirring and simmering until thickened. Remove from heat. The sweetness of the cream combined with the apple juices adds just enough sweet to make this naturally sweet and delicious without needing sugar. (Note: if you wanted it a little sweeter you could substitute 1/2 of apple juice for 1/2 cup of the cream.)

Now, for the topping. This is basically like making homemade biscuits.

In a large mixing bowl add 3 cups white spelt flour (you could use any flour of your choice here, but I think baked goods come out particularly well with this spelt flour), 2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. salt. Stir to combine and then cut in 1/2 stick of butter using a pastry blender. Pour in 1 cup of heavy cream and stir quickly until it all just starts to come together adding a dash more cream if the mixture is too dry. Try to avoid overmixing. The cream here too adds a touch of sweetness so that you don’t need to add sugar to the pastry.

140128_0000Spoon your apple mixture into your greased casserole dish. Now, using a large spoon or cookie scoop add dollops of the dough. Don’t worry about filling in every space with dough as it will rise as it cooks and all the nooks and crannies will get filled in.

Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes or until your biscuit topping is golden. Serve with whipped cream if desired. It’s delicious! Enjoy!

Note: If you are diabetic and trying to avoid sugar, the fat (cream and butter) in this recipe will help you metabolize the carbs from the apples and dough.

All Done.

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Alternative Granola Bars

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So I’ve been trying to come up with a working recipe for this for a while. And I finally got one that is yummy and doesn’t turn into crumbs. Here’s what you need:

1 cup quinoa (soaked and cooked)
2 cups puffed millet
1 cup spelt flakes
1/2 cup creamy buckwheat cereal
1 cup whole wheat or spelt flour
3/4 cup olive oil
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs or 4 egg yolks
3/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup heavy cream

Mix thee dry ingredients. Mix the wet and combine with the dry until there are no more clumps of peanut butter. Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper. Press the mixture into the pan up to the edges. Cook at 350 for 35 minutes. When just cool to the touch sprinkle chocolate chips on the top and press down with a rubber spatula. Cool completely before cutting. A pizza cutter works great for cutting. These freeze and travel well.

(For a dry cereal version of this recipe see this post.)

Life the last year….

I haven’t posted anything this past year. Life happened.

Home

We bought a house and moved.

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And we had a baby.

So, I’m hoping to get back to posting things now that life is feeling a little more like normal again. I’ve made some changes to the blog, so keep your eyes open and watch for more posts to come.

Essential Oil Remedy for Bumps and Bruises

IMG_0977Last summer my two-year old got a nasty bump on her cheek right along her cheekbone from running full force into the corner of a table. Even after forcing her to hold ice on it I could tell it was going to develop into a horrible bruise. We were out of town at the time, so I pulled out my travelling essential oil kit and essential oil quick reference chart to see what I had that might help. I immediately applied a bit of diluted lavender and cypress oil. Lavender is healing to the skin and cypress is good for circulatory issues so I thought it might help. I tell you, I was shocked! The bruise barely developed and after about 3-4 applications in the morning and at bedtime over the next two days it had healed so that it was hardly noticeable. This is my go-to remedy for bruises now. It’s the most effective remedy that I’ve found for healing a bruise. If you get a bad bump mix 2 drops of lavender and 1 drop of cypress in 1 tsp. of olive oil and apply directly to the affected area. Use wisely (read my full Disclaimer here).

57 Buckwheat Sourdough Pancackes

IMG_0915My friend gave me some sourdough starter so I’ve been experimenting. My favorite recipe so far are these buckwheat sourdough pancakes. If you don’t have any starter you follow the directions for making your own sourdough starter here. So make some starter or get some starter from a friend like I did and mix these up.

3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
2 cups milk
1 cup sourdough starter
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix these ingredients well.

To this add…
1 cup all purpose flour or white spelt
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda

Heat your cast iron skillet up, add a little bit of oil and spoon in with a cookie scoop. Cook until you can see bubbles coming up from the bottom. Flip to the other side. We like ours with butter, black strap molasses and maple syrup.

These pancakes are light but hearty. If you want a more pronounced sourdough flavor then mix up the first four ingredients (eggs, oil, milk and starter) with one cup of flour and let it sit overnight. Then add the remaining flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda in the morning and fry them up.

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All buttered up and ready to eat. All buttered up and ready to eat.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy your Thanksgiving Day celebrations!

Remember all your blessings and from whom they come.

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“And thus they found the Lord to be with them in all their ways, and to bless their outgoings and incomings, for which let His holy name have the praise forever, to all posterity.”
~
William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, Chapter XII

Thanksgiving in the City

We normally travel over Thanksgiving. But, this year we are planning on doing the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (pictures to follow) so we are staying in the city this year. I’ll be making the chicken and dressing that my “Nanny” always used to make us. So, as I cook this week I’ll be thinking of Maggie and other family far away. Enjoy your families this week and make some good memories.

My great-grandmother, Maggie Lane.

My great-grandmother, Maggie Lane.

Fall Recipes: Pumpkin Butter

Pumpkin Butter on homemade spelt biscuits

Pumpkin Butter on homemade spelt biscuits

I used to make pumpkin butter all the time. But I got out of the habit and even forgot about it until I was browsing back through recipes on my own blog. I think I’ll have to head to the kitchen to make some. Want to try it? You’ll find the directions under my Allergy-Friendly Recipes.

Fall Recipes: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Pumpkin Bread 001It’s my favorite thing to make all year long, but especially in the fall. You’ll find the regular version under Family Favorites as well as a modified version for those with food sensitivities under here Allergy-Friendly Recipes. The allergy-friendly version is  gluten, dairy, soy, nut and egg-white free. Enjoy!

Making Wild Sourdough Starter

My sourdough pot

My sourdough pot

Sourdough pancakes anyone? Try your hand at making your own wild starter. Sourdough was once a staple in every American kitchen. Visit the Pantry to learn how to make your own.