Recipe: Whole Wheat Applesauce Muffins

February 18, 2012

Muffins make a filling, frugal and healthy breakfast or snack. I’ve been keeping a stock of freezer-friendly muffins for Joshua to grab on workday mornings or for us to enjoy with a bowl of homemade yogurt. 

These muffins are some of our family’s favorite—and they taste almost as good frozen and thawed as they do fresh.

The recipe makes two dozen but I usually do one dozen regular-sized (in muffin tins) and two dozen mini-muffins.

Whole Wheat Applesauce Muffins

Whole Wheat Applesauce Muffins Recipe

(Makes two dozen)

Ingredients: 

3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar or other sweetener (more if you want a sweet muffin!)
1 heaping Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup oil
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 cup applesauce
cinnamon sugar to sprinkle on top, optional

Instructions: 

  1. Preheat oven to 350F and grease two muffin tins (or line with cupcake holders!)
  2. Combine dry ingredients
  3. In separate bowl combine wet ingredients, then add to dry and mix well
  4. Spoon into muffin tins.
  5. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, if desired.
  6. Bake at 350F for 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
  7. Serve warm with milk, fruit or homemade yogurt. 
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Recipe: Health[ier] Red Lobster Biscuit Clone

February 11, 2012

Health[ified] Red Lobster Biscuits

On the incredibly rare instances when we’ve gone to Red Lobster for dinner, my favorite part is always the biscuits. I was thrilled when my sister-in-law pulled a pan of these clones out of the oven one day when we were visiting. They were even better than I remembered, for a fraction of the cost of going out for dinner!

While this recipe still won’t win any prize for healthiness, I have tweaked it to make it as healthy as possible, without entirely compromising the taste.

[Healthified] Red Lobster Biscuits Clone

Ingredients: 

2 cups flour (I use 2/3-1 cup freshly ground wheat flour)
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp. baking powder
3 T powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter
up to 2/3 cup milk
1/2-1 cup of grated cheddar cheese (or whatever cheese you have on hand)

Coating: 

1/4 cup butter (more if you want the biscuits dipped, not drizzled)
1 tsp parsley flakes
1/2 tsp garlic powder (or, for health benefits, one clove of minced garlic, lightly sautéed.)

Instructions: 

Combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter. Add just enough milk to help it form dough. Lightly mix in cheese. Shape into 12-18 balls. Place on pan and bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden.

Meanwhile, melt butter and add spices. Drizzle over the biscuits. Serve fresh and hot.

What’s your favorite biscuit recipe? 

 linked up at  Tasty Tuesday, Feasting in Fellowship & Grocery Cart Challenge 

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Smorkaka: Danish Breakfast Pastries

December 2, 2011

Both Joshua and I trace our ancestry to Denmark (or at least the tiny Faroe Islands they rule), so Danish foods are fun part of the holidays for me.

These breakfast pastries are one of my family’s favorites, but with a little deviance from the original. Thanks to my mom’s tweaking, the rich and decadent pastries are transformed into rich-and-somewhat-more-healthy pastries, but still so yummy.

Smor means butter in Danish, as you might guess from the recipe.

Smorkaka: Danish Breakfast Pastries

Ingredients:

  • scant cup milk
  • 1 ½ T yeast
  • 1 ½ T sugar
  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 egg
  • ¾ tsp salt
  • Approx. 3 ½ cups flour (I use 1 ½ wheat)
Fillings:
  • 1 cup pudding (use store bought or make your own.)
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • Raisins, optional
Frosting: 
  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 T butter
  • a few drops of milk

Instructions:

Prepare pudding, and refrigerate.

Combine milk yeast and sugar. Let sponge five minutes. Add butter, eggs and salt. Add flour ’til it stops sticking. Let rise 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix together powdered sugar, butter and cinnamon.

Press 1/3 of dough into well greased 10×15 pan. Spread with thin layer of powdered sugar mix, then one cup pudding. Sprinkle with raisins (if desired.) Roll out rest of dough. Spread with powdered sugar mix. Cut into 18-24 pieces and place on the pudding. Rise 30 minutes.

Bake at 400 for about 15 minutes or until lightly golden.

Cool slightly and drizzle with frosting.

Healthy? maybe not. But you should have seen the original recipe!

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Why Cook Your Own Beans?

November 10, 2011

Besides the fact that they taste good, beans are promoted for two main reasons: cost and health.

Beans are one of the cheapest sources of protein. “Eat more beans” makes it onto many lists of money-saving tactics. If the point is to save, it makes sense to save as much as possible, right? Canned beans easily cost double the amount of dried.

There’s another reason I find more compelling: health. Beans are a wonderful source of protein and fiber and all that. But as we all know, beans can be difficult to digest.

They are difficult to digest because they contain a significant amount of phytic acid. Phytic acid is a good thing for the plant. It protects the kernel and prevents it from loosing nutrients like zinc, calcium and iron until planting time. However, our bodies need those nutrients, and in order to use them we have to break down the phytic acid.

Cooking breaks phytic acid down a little, but to get the most nutrition (and have it be as easy on the digestive tract as possible) you need to soak your beans.

photo by marina nisi

Save yourself some time and cook up a big pot and freeze in smaller amounts. We love homemade bean dip and chili and Mexican foods, so try to always have soaked, cooked beans in the freezer to pull out.

How to soak your beans:

What you’ll need:

  • A big pot
  • Water
  • Beans
  • Lemon juice or vinegar (one of many uses for vinegar!)
  • Time for them to soak
  1. The night before you need them, rinse your beans really well. Even “triple washed” beans occasionally have a clump of dirt.
  2. Add beans to pot or crock pot and cover with lots of water. Add a couple tablespoons of vinegar or lemon juice.
  3. Let soak 12-24 hours.
  4. Drain, rinse and add more water.
  5. Bring to a boil and simmer until almost tender (anywhere from 1-8 hours, depending on the bean type and whether you’re using a crockpot)
  6. When nearly tender, add salt. (Why wait? Adding salt at the beginning makes the skins tough. Waiting ’til they’re completely cooked doesn’t let the flavor penetrate.) and finish cooking.

I usually use some for dinner and freeze the rest in glass jars or Tupperware. It doesn’t take much effort, but soaking and cooking beans saves time and adds nutrition (or at least makes what is already there more usable!)

Linked up at Frugal Friday

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Hearty Baked Beans Recipe

June 1, 2010

I hope you have had a wonderful extended weekend! After a restful couple days at home, we spent Memorial Day at a barbecue with good friends.

No barbecue is complete without baked beans but they used to be the one item I’d skip. Then I tasted Joshua’s Grandma’s recipe. I could eat these for dinner by themselves!

Hearty Baked Beans

1/4 pound hamburger
1/2 cup onion, diced
1/4 pound bacon

1 can butter beans
1 can (2 cups) kidney beans
2 cans (4 cups) pork and beans/pinto beans

2 T barbecue sauce
2 T ketchup
1 T mustard
1/4 cup sugar or honey
1 1/2 T molasses
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt

(If you have time) Soak pinto and kidney beans in water and 2 T vinegar overnight to break down the phytic acid. In the morning, drain water and rinse. Fill with fresh water and cook, unsalted, until nearly tender. Add salt and finish cooking.

Brown hamburger and onions; drain fat. Brown bacon, drain fat (and save them for frying eggs!) and crumble.

Combine all ingredients in a crockpot and cook on low for 3-4 hours or bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Makes 8-10 servings. Enjoy!

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