My favorite whole wheat pizza crust

My family loves pizza. Well, truthfully, I love pizza and my family loves it because they have no other choice. :)  I've always said it is the one food I could probably eat every day for the rest of my life and be perfectly happy. 

Several years ago we bought a nurtimill grain mill to grind our own wheat with. Friends, if you use whole wheat flour regularly, I highly recommend buying a grain mill. The quality of taste, nutrition, and texture is SO much better! It is important to note that freshly ground wheat flour will go rancid in 24 hours if let to sit at room temperature. So make sure you stick any leftover flour in the freezer to use at a later time. I will usually grind about 10 cups of wheat berries (which will equal about 20 cups of flour after grinding) at a time and then stick what I don't use in the freezer. 

I've been making my own whole wheat pizza crust for years.
It's cheaper, healthier, and very easy.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

~ 1 1/4 c. water

~1 tsp. sugar

~1 1/2 tsp. salt

~1 1/2 tbsp. olive oil

~ 3 c. wheat flour (freshly ground, if possible)

~ 2 1/2 tsp. yeast

Mix all ingredients together in a bread machine and turn on "dough" cycle. Once the cycle is finished preheat your oven to 425* and turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for a couple minutes. Grease a jelly roll pan with olive oil and roll out your dough to fit. Add your desired toppings and then bake for 15 minutes. Be sure to let it sit for just a couple minutes before you cut it or your cheese will start to slide off. 

If I am just making one batch of dough, I mix it in my bread machine but you could easily mix this the old fashioned way too. 

Once it comes out of the bread machine I knead it a little bit and then roll it out to fit my greased pan. This recipe will make 2 circle pizzas or 1 large rectangular pizza.  

Add your toppings. I always just use whatever I have around the kitchen. This time it was pasta sauce, grilled chicken, spinach, tomatoes, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, and some italian seasoning. 

Bake at 425* for 15 minutes and then let cool slightly before cutting. Serve with a nice salad and you have a great meal! I have made this crust with white flour as well but I much prefer the wheat. The texture and flavor is so good!

Have you made your own pizza crust before? What are your favorite toppings? I'm always looking for new ideas!

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie and Sugar free thoughts

I did something I never thought I would be able to do. For the past month I have been sugar free! As a whole our family sticks to a whole foods diet but, I have a weakness. At home I mostly use evaporated cane juice (still a form of processed sugar, albeit healthier) but I would occasionally sneak in a candy bar or soda (I can hear the collective gasp of the whole foodies out there now!). I felt like the Lord was really prompting me to do a fast from all processed sugars. I know white sugar is bad for my health and immune system, my energy was depleted, I couldn't lose weight, I suffer from migraines, and I crave sugar at times. I wondered, could all this be from eating white sugar?? So at the beginning of September I embarked on, yet another, 30 day challenge- no processed sugar. (Natural sweeteners were okie dokie in my book)

Today is my last day. I was anticipating this past month to be hard. To be honest, I wasn't sure if I could do it. But to my surprise, it wasn't that bad at all! There were maybe 2 or 3 times where I really wanted something sweet. My biggest temptations though weren't chocolate or baked goods but drinks. Yes, drinks. I wanted a soda, or a pumpkin spiced latte, or that lovely southern staple, sweet tea. To combat this I drank lots of water (which I got kind of tired of!), orange juice, and smoothies.

One of my major cravings this month was pumpkin. It is finally turning to fall weather and I wanted to partake in the muffins, lattes, and cakes with everyone else! So I came up with this pumpkin pie smoothie. I know there are loads of these recipes on the internet but each of them had at least one ingredient I wasn't very happy with. So here is my simple and tasty recipe:

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie (about 2 servings)

1 frozen banana

3/4 c. of milk

2 tbsp. honey

1/2 c. pumpkin puree

1/2 t. vanilla

1/4. t. cinnamon (or try pumpkin pie spice!)

a few ice cubes

Blend the banana and milk until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and blend. Enjoy!

My 2 year old daughter absolutely loved this and it gave me the pumpkin boost I needed to make it these last couple days.

As far as the results of my sugar fast...I'm still pondering. I have lost 5 lbs. but over the past month I have also been biking every day and eating smaller portion sizes. One thing I will say is that my energy level has been WAY up. I no longer get my usual 3 pm slump. Yay! So, I am still pondering whether I want to make this a lifestyle change or maybe just cut back.

Have you tried a sugar free diet? Any thoughts?

Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter "Milkshake"

The other day I was craving something sweet. I make it a habit not to keep sweets in the house because I may, perhaps, have a problem with self control at times...maybe. But as I spied a couple of bananas on the table I started planning what I could make with them. What I came up with was SO delicious. Here's my recipe:

Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter "Milkshake"

2 ripe bananas (or 3 if you want it more banana-y)

2 cups of milk

1 heaping tablespoon cocoa powder

2 heaping tablespoons smooth peanut butter

2 squirts of honey (I'm estimating about 2-3 tablespoons?)

4 handfuls of ice (you could omit this if you used frozen bananas)

Place bananas and milk in a blender and blend until smooth. Then add remaining ingredients and blend. Makes about 4 cups.

I may or may not have had this for dinner one night. I don't feel so guilty about it though considering it contains fruit, protein, dairy, and no sugar. At least that is what I tell myself! :)

We will definitely be making these regularly to beat this insane heat wave that is going on!

Enjoy!

My favorite muffins

Okay, technically, I have two muffin recipes that are tied for first in my book. One is Martha Stewart's blueberry muffins. They really are quite divine. Try it if you haven't already. You won't be disappointed. But this is a post about my other favorite muffin recipe...

Several years ago my mom and I were in a little junk store in my home town. They had tons of books at really great prices. Of course, I go right for the cookbooks. You did know I collect cookbooks, didn't you?? That is when I spied a cookbook whose cover was adorned with Amish people, quilts, and good ole country livin' pictures. I thought "This can't be bad!" and picked it up. It was worth my $3. Everything I have cooked out of this book has been delicious! One of the best parts about this muffin recipe is that you can make the batter and then put it in the fridge for up to 6 weeks. It makes breakfast a breeze in the morning. And we all know my obsession with quick and easy breakfasts!

Green Meadows six-week bran muffins

taken from Cooking from Quilt Country

5 cups all purpose flour

5 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons ground allspice

1 15 oz. box bran flakes with raisins (aka Raisin Bran)

3 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 quart buttermilk (I mix 1 part plain yogurt to 3 parts milk)

2 teaspoons vanilla

In a large bowl, mix first 6 ingredients. In a separate bowl beat eggs. Add oil, milk, and vanilla and blend. Pour egg mixture over flour mixture and mi

x well. Transfer batter to a large plastic container (I use a gallon sized pitcher) with a tight fitting lid, and store in the fridge until ready to use.

When ready to bake: do not stir the batter when dipping out to fill muffin tins. (I don't know why. That is just what Ms. Cookbook Lady says!) To bake, preheat oven to 375*. Fill paper lined muffin tins about 1/2 to 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes (or 15, if your oven runs hot like mine). Let sit about 5 minutes before eating.

This makes about 5 dozen muffins and will last about 6 weeks in the fridge.

Simple and delicious!

Homemade Vanilla Extract

Have you ever noticed how ridiculously expensive vanilla extract is?? You could easily pay $7 or $8 for an 8 oz. bottle. And since I bake so much, this adds up really fast. So, I am excited to say that I recently just started my first batch of homemade vanilla! It has been on my "to do" list for well over a year. A major "thank you" to my dad for going and buying me the vodka for the occasion. I just couldn't bring myself to do it! Somehow I thought it might look a bit...odd for a Amishy looking lady to be walking out of a store with a half gallon of vodka. Or is that just me??

What you will need:

- A half gallon jar
- half a gallon of vodka, mine was 1.75 liters, which didn't quite go all the way to the top. So if wanted to you could buy another smaller bottle. (the cheap stuff works just as well.)
- about 40 vanilla beans (I ordered a 1/2 lb. from Olive Nation. Which was a little more than I needed.)
-scissors

To start out cut each vanilla bean down the middle leaving about an inch still connected at the top. I got my 7 year old to help me with this process and it took no time at all.

Please ignore the super wrinkly hands in this picture. John has given me the affectionate nickname of "Gorilla Hands" because well, mayhaps, my hands are a little wrinkly....

Now stuff all those vanilla beans into your jar...


Pour in the vodka.

Slap a lid on it and put it in a dark place (I put mine in a cabinet I hardly use). Leave it there for 4-6 months. Your patience will be rewarded! I have seen some tutorials that say only one month but that is not long enough. It will be a much weaker dose than letting it soak longer. The longer it soaks = a stronger batch. You want to take it out every month or so and give it a good shake. Then place it back in it's spot to stew some more.

Once the six months is up, strain your extract through a coffee filter and colander, bottle it in dark amber bottles, and you've got yourself some vanilla extract!

I'm planning on buying my 8 oz. bottles from Mountain Rose Herbs. And John has told me he'd make me some cute little labels to go on them.

Label these with some personalized labels, tie a ribbon around the top and this would definitely be a really fun gift to give to a hostess or a new neighbor along with some cookies.

So, what do you think? Anyone else going to try it?

Make Ahead Breakfast:: Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal

I will openly admit that I am not an early riser. As much as I would love to be up at the crack of dawn getting lots of stuff done before the Littles get up...I've tried. And I've failed. Honestly, it isn't that bad getting up with the children. We have a system that works pretty well. The one thing that has given me trouble though, is breakfast. My children are the type who are ready to eat as soon as they get up. In fact the first thing they do when they get up is come knock on our door and say "Mommy? Can I have a banana? I'm huuuuuungry." And since turning over our new leaf a couple years ago it's really important that I either have something ready to go or something I can fix quickly.

Enter: Baked Oatmeal! I have been making this recipe for years now. It was given to me by a Mennonite friend and I have adapted it some over the years to make it a little more healthy. My whole family loves it. There are usually cheers of joy whenever I announce we are having it for breakfast. I usually bake it the night before and then warm it up, covered in foil, for about 15 minutes the next morning. It's easy to make and yummy to eat!

Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal

1 c. oil (for an extra boost of nutrition use coconut oil)

1 c. sucanat (or brown sugar)

4 eggs

6 c. rolled oats

4 t. baking powder

2 t. salt

2 c. apple juice

3 apples chopped

1-2 t. cinnamon

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and then pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350* for 40 minutes. Serve warm in a bowl with milk poured over it. Mmmm....

This recipe lasts my family of 6 about 2 days with a little left over. It's also super adaptable. Half it. Double it. Add some ground nutmeg or cloves. Instead of apples use blueberries or strawberries. Or my all time favorite way to eat baked oatmeal...with PEACHES! Oh, yum.

Enjoy!

Recipes I'm lovin'

I'm always on the look out for recipes that are 1. easy 2. healthy 3. cheap and 4. crowd pleasers (and by crowd I mean my children...and if John liked it, that would be okay too!) In the past couple weeks I have gotten two new cookbooks. They are wonderful! Yummy, healthy recipes! Here are 3 of my favorite recipes from the past couple weeks.

The first one comes from Healthy Choices: No sugar. No white flour. No artificial anything. Be still my heart!

Quick Beef and Noodles

1 lb hamburger

1/2 c. chopped onion

8 oz. noodles

4 cups tomato juice

1 cup water

1/2 cup sour cream

1/8 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. salt

In a 5 quart kettle brown beef and onion. Add the rest of the ingredients except sour cream and cover. Simmer 15-20 minutes until noodles are tender. Add sour cream and heat again.

Yes....that's it. This recipe reminds me of hamburger helper except SO much better. It's much richer and tastier. I also like the fact that it is a stove top meal so I don't have to turn on my oven during these hot summer days. And, hello! It's so quick and easy!

Another thing that I am always on the look out for are main dishes that are meatless. We only eat meat about 2-3 times a week. So I like to try new vegetarian recipes now and then to add to my collection. These next two are some of my new favorites

This next recipe is from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters. If you don't know who Alice Waters is, she is the real originator of the food revolution back in the 70's. She believes locally grown, organic food should be available to everyone and has been working hard to see it happen in the school system.

Spaghettini with Oil and Garlic

1 lb. spaghettini (fancy way of saying thin spaghetti)

1/3 cup olive oil

4 garlic cloves, chopped fine

3 parsley branches, leaves chopped

a pinch of hot pepper flakes (optional)

salt

Bring water to a boil in a large pot and cook pasta until al dente. Meanwhile, heat oil in a heavy pan over medium-low heat. When oil is just warm add remaining ingredients. Cook until garlic is soft, turning off hte heat just as the garlic starts to sizzle. Don't let it brown.

Drain pasta when cooked, reserving some of the cooking water. Add the noodles to the sauce in the pan with a pinch of salt and toss. Taste for seasoning and loosen with some cooking water if needed. Garnish with Parmesan cheese.

We added some halved grape tomatoes just after the garlic went in. Yum! Lilly said this was the best spaghetti she'd ever had. That puts it at the top of the list in my book. And I can't tell you how fast this was...like 15 minutes. You could add some olives or maybe even...ahem...bacon. :)

The last recipe is one I found on allrecipes.com as I was browsing their vegetarian recipes. Now, bare with me because it sounds a little weird but I have made it several times and it is delicious. I'm not going to bother typing it out but I'll give you the link and you can see for yourself!

Addictive Sweet Potato Burritos

Happy Cooking!

~A

Family Favorite

The other night I was taking inventory in my kitchen trying to decide what to make for dinner. I realized we had all the ingredients to make one of our favorite meals called Taco Rice. I had completely forgotten about it for a while. Everyone was very exicted to see it on the table that night! Sorry, I don't have a picture of it...

Taco Rice

1 lb. ground turkey (cooked and seasoned with taco seasoning)
3 c. rice (cooked)
1 jar salsa
I container sour cream (16 oz...maybe??)
2 c. shredded cheddar (maybe 3 cups....)
biscuit dough recipe (follows)

Mix turkey, rice and salsa and spread in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Sprinkle cheddar over the top and then spread sour cream on top of that. Spread biscuit dough over it all and then bake at 450* for 20 minutes.

Biscuit recipe

2 c. flour ( I use whole wheat but feel free to use all purpose)
3 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 c. milk

Mix dry ingredients. Add oil and cut in until it is course crumbs and then add milk. If you want to bake it into biscuits then back at 450* for 20 minutes.


Very yummy!

Thanks for reading!
~A

Top Secret Recipe :)

I have a recipe that is so yummy and delicious. It's one of those recipes that people don't really think of making themselves but when they have it at a restaurant they oooh and ahhh over it. Today, my faithful blog readers, we will make honey butter. SO EASY! And much healthier than putting butter and jam on bread like most Mennonites do here. It also makes a lovely little thank you gift!

1 lb. salted butter (4 sticks), softened*
1 cup honey

In a mixer, beat butter and add honey in a slow steady stream until blended. Pack into storage containers. Refridgerate. Enjoy!

*Please, don't substitute here. Use real butter. It's better for you than margarine any way. Did you know, that if you set margarine outside that absolutely NO bugs or animals will try to eat it. They're pretty smart.

That's it people! I make this every year for Thanksgiving and my company always thinks it's a pretty special treat. I've never tried freezing it before. Does butter freeze well? This recipe is very easy to cut in half, which I usually do.

Hope you enjoy!

Lentil Tacos = Yum!

Lentils and I have not been the best of friends. I know that they are good for you, but I had yet to find a recipe that actually made me want to eat them. Then Lentil Tacos entered into my life. Yum, yum, yum! I know a couple of you had asked for the recipe and I didn't want to share it until I knew whether it was good or not. So, now, I gladly give you the recipe! :) This recipe was created by my vegetarian, foodie friend Caela. Her culinary creativity always amazes me!

Lentil Tacos

1. Sort, rinse, and drain about a cup of dry lentils. We use brown lentils, but I'm sure any kind would be just fine. The brown ones look the most like meat, though!

2. Boil them in about 3-4 cups of water until they're done. It only takes about 20 minutes. Lentils are quick-cooking because they don't have to be soaked first.

3. As they're boiling, saute up some diced onions. Add a small can of diced green chilis and about a half a can of drained corn to the mix. (I used frozen corn and it worked just as well.)

4. Once the veggies are heated up, add about 1/2 cup water and a package of taco seasoning mix. If you want to make your own taco seasoning, I recommend a mix of cumin, chili powder, cayenne powder, garlic powder, and onion powder. (I made my own)

5. Drain the lentils. Dump them into the veggies. Stir and heat through.

Serve them up on regular taco shells or they are equally delicious as soft tacos with some salsa, cheese, and sour cream!

I also wanted to share my 2 favorite smoothie recipes. These are frequently served for breakfast at my house. It's quick, easy, and uses every day ingredients. And, of course, no sugar! :)

Fruit Smoothie

1-1 1/2 cups apple juice (depending on how thick you like your smoothie)
2 frozen bananas, broken into chunks
about 1 cup of an assortment of various fruit (frozen or fresh)

Put apple juice and bananas in blender and blend until relatively smooth. Add other fruit and blend. ~This usually serves the children (who use smaller cups) and me.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothies

Serves 2 (this works for me and my little ones to share, but if it's for the whole family, I double it)

1 cup milk (raw is preferably, and makes it that much more thick and creamy)
1/4 cup peanut butter (I stick to organic, as peanuts are highly sprayed. Other nut butters would also be delicious!)
1 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 1/2- 2 Tbsp honey
2 frozen bananas, broken into chunks

Combine all in the order given, and blend until smooth. Enjoy sipping on this indulgent treat! We don't have these very often but they are a nice change from the fruit ones. And they are really delicious!

Hope you enjoy them!

~A

A couple of yummy recipes

My meal plans the past couple weeks have been non existent. Two times a week someone from my sunday school class is bringing meals. The nights they aren't bringing food my mom has been making meals for us. It's been SO nice not to have to worry about that area of life. Since I haven't been able to share my meal plans for the past couple weeks I thought I'd share some of my new favorite recipes.

Giant Breakfast Cookies
1 cup butter, melted
¾ cup honey
2 eggs
1 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
1 t. vanilla
½ cup buttermilk
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups whole rolled oats
1 cup raisins or chocolate chips

Mix butter, honey, eggs, salt, cinnamon, soda, vanilla and buttermilk. Stir in flour and oats. Fold in raisins or chocolate chips. Scoop heaping tablespoons of dough onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Allow cookies to cool 3-4 minutes on cookie sheet before removing cookies to cool on a wire rack.

These are basically like healthy oatmeal cookies. My children love these. For a small family you could probably cut this recipe in half, as it feeds my crew for two days. Normally the second day we crumble the cookies and pour milk over it. Yum.

Caramel Corn
3 ¾ qts (15 cups) popped corn (no need to be exact with the measurements here!)
1/2 cup rapadura or sucanat (or brown sugar can be used, if desired)
1/4 cup honey
½ cup butter
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp vanilla

In small saucepan heat your sweetener choice, butter, salt & vanilla, stirring occasionally, until bubbly around edges, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in soda. Continue to stir as you pour over popped corn till coated.

This has been my sweet snack of choice recently. It's so easy to make and so delicious, it's pretty hard to pass up. I had been looking for a caramel corn recipe for a long time but every one I came across had corn syrup and way too much sugar. Needless to say, I was pretty excited when I found this one!

On a totally unrelated (but exciting!) note, I ordered a grain mill yesterday. We have been wanting to get one for almost a year now and we finally did it! We've heard the best things about the nutrimill. If you don't know the benifits to grinding your own flour, read about it here . It should be arriving sometime next week. Now, to find a good source of wheat. Any sugggestions?? I'll let you know how it goes!

Life is pretty crazy right now on the homefront. Kate is, by far, the easist baby I've ever had. It's the other ones I'm having a problem with. Between having a new baby, moving to a new house, having the grandparents visit, and being down with colds and flu's, they are a little...worked up. It's been a challenge.

Anyway, thanks for reading! Hope your day is blessed!

Running the race,

~A