Gingerbread Biscotti

I finally decided to try this recipe that I have had saved for a while now. I am not sure why I felt intimidated by it, but I did. Needless to say it was so simple to make. I am a huge over thinker and I fidgeted with the shaping of the dough for much longer then I should have but I couldn't visualise the end result before it was baked.

I made up my own glaze recipe and my liquid measurements are not exact so if you make it just add small amounts of liquid till you get the consistency you want.

Gingerbread Biscotti

Ingredients

1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/4 cup molasses
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoons ground ginger
3/4 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a cookie sheet.
In a large bowl, mix together oil, sugar, eggs, and molasses. In another bowl, combine flours, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg; mix into egg mixture to form a stiff dough.

Divide dough in half, and shape each half into a roll the length of the cookie. Place rolls on cookie sheet, and pat down to flatten the dough to 1/2 inch thickness.
Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, and set aside to cool.
When cool enough to touch, cut into 1/2 inch thick diagonal slices. Place sliced biscotti on cookie sheet, and bake an additional 5 to 7 minutes on each side, or until toasted and crispy.

My Chocolate Glaze

3/4 cup icing sugar

1 Tbsp water

1 Tbsp butter(room temp.)

1 tsp Vanilla

1oz semi-sweet bakers chocolate square

Buttermilk to thin

In a bowl mix the icing sugar and butter with water and vanilla until smooth.

With a double boiler, or using a metal bowl over a pot of boiling water, melt your 1oz of chocolate. I used 1 baker's Square. You can use chocolate chips if you don't have any baker's squares. Just make sure they are semi-sweet, not milk chocolate, or your glaze will be much too sweet.

Once the chocolate is melted add it to your sugar mix and combine. Once it is combined add enough buttermilk until you have a nice smooth and somewhat runny consistency for drizzling it on your Biscotti.

If you don't have buttermilk just use cows milk, rice milk, soy milk or almond milk.

Eggless wholewheat chocolate chip muffins

I made these for my son's little friend who LOVES anything with chocolate. He also has an egg allergy and these turned out wonderful and moist even without the egg. If you or anyone you know also has a dairy allergy try using Rice milk or a really thick Soy milk.

I tweaked my recipe from one I found on allrecipes.com

Ingredients

2 cups wholewheat flour

1/2 cup white sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk(don't use low fat)

1/3 cup veg oil

1 egg replacer (or try any of these substitutes)

3/4 cups semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F . Grease bottoms only of 12 muffin cups or line with baking cups.

2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, chocolate chips, and salt; mix well. In a small bowl, combine milk, oil and egg; blend well. Add dry ingredients all at once; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened (batter will be lumpy.)

3. Fill cups 2/3 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 1 minute before removing from pan. Serve warm.

Magnetic Chalkboard

I had this wall space in the kitchen, and just for fun I thought I would make a chalkboard for the kids and for a grocery and to-do list.

When I was looking around for chalkboard paint I discovered that you can make a magnetic chalkboard. So I thought, why not, I will give it a try.

The magnetic primer was being rather fussy and I ended up having to do 6 coats of the stuff to make any magnet stick. I was worried that once I got the chalkboard paint on top of it nothing would stick. Thankfully, everything but the kids VTech letters stick.

There are many places you can make a chalkboard wall. In the Kitchen, on the inside of your pantry door, a child's room or even on top of a desk or table.

before you paint, tape off the area with painters table and make sure your lines are level by using a leveler.

Your best application option is a foam roller for both the magnetic primer and the chalkboard paint.

The magnetic primer can be bought at Home Depot and comes in 1/4 gallon size cans. I was able to do my space with 6 coats and I still have about 1/2 the can left, so it does go a long way.

This primer dries fast so you may be able to get the project done in one day if you had the time.

Once the primer is dried and you are ready for the chalkboard paint you now have to decide on the colour. The brand Home depot sells has many different colours, from pink and brown to red and yellow. But if you just want to use black and don't have a huge wall to cover Benjamin Moore sells small size cans to save you a few bucks. I didn't need 1/4 of a gallon and found the small can at Benjamin Moore. I painted on 3 coats and still have enough paint for another project if needed.

Once your 3 coats of the paint has been put on, let it dry for 3 days before you cure the chalkboard. To cure the chalkboard just rub chalk all over the painted area and wipe off with your brush. Your chalkboard is now ready to use.

Oh, and before I forget, you can even buy whiteboard(dry eraser) paint!! how cool is that.

Hamburger and Hotdog Buns

100% Whole Wheat Hamburger and Hotdog Buns.

Ingredients

1 cup water
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 egg
3 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon instant yeast or active dry yeast

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in order according to your bread machine.
2. Select ‘dough’ cycle.
3. Allow cycle to run.
4. Dump out onto lightly floured surface. Divide into 8-10 pieces(I make 8 hamburger,10 hot dog).
5. Shape each piece into a hot dog or hamburger bun.
6. Place on greased cookie sheets (or bun pans), cover; let rise 30 to 40 minutes.
7. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes until golden.
8. Cool on wire racks.

I found this recipe a while back and I have no idea why I haven't posted it hear sooner. It is simple and very easy. Sadly my hotdog buns are not photo worthy. I am still trying to get the prefect shape and size.

My only tips are to not make them too big. The dough has a second rising stage and the buns will get larger before and as you are cooking them. There is an art to making them just the right size and I am still trying to master it. Some days I make them great for smokies, other days I make them great for kids size dogs.

Hamburger buns on the other hand are rather easy. You can make mini ones for the kids and big giant sized ones if you want to.

Enjoy!

Canned Beans

I decided to try an experiment in making my own canned beans.

I have tried to eliminate as much canned foods from our pantry as I could, but canned beans are so much nicer then dried beans just boiled. Canned beans have a nice creamy texture to them.



I started out by soaking white beans over night in a large bowl with water.

In the morning I drained the beans from the water, picked out any brown ones and had a handy helper help me place all the beans in canning jars.

Once the all the beans were in jars I poured boiling water into each jar leaving about 1/4 of an inch from the top. At this point you can add a little salt if desired. Place seals and lids onto jars and tightening loosely. If you tighten them too tight you wont be able to open the jars when you want the beans.

I used the waterbath method to seal the lids.

To seal the lids with this method you carefully place the sealed jars into a hot pot with the water just covering the tops of the jars. Let the water come to a safe gentle boil for about 10-15 minutes.

When the jars are ready to come out carefully lift them out and leave them standing upright till cool. At this point you start to hear all the jars pop as the seals start to set.

I plan to let these rest for 3-6 months before I open a jar to see if it worked. I am really hoping it does. This is a very economical way of eating organic canned beans. Plus it is so much healthier for you. I find it hard to buy canned beans that don't have calcium disodium EDTA(a colour preservative) in them aside from organic beans, which cost up to $2+ per can.

If you are scared to try any canning just do some google searches for tips. I don't have a proper canning pot and you honestly don't need one if you don't can very often.

I will post back on my bean adventure when I crack open a jar.

Homemade Meat Coating

Homemade Meat Coating(Shake n' Bake) is so simple you would have wished you thought of it sooner.

You can make a huge batch of this stuff and store it in your freezer to keep it fresh. No need to run to the store for those last minute dinners and you have no idea what you are going to put on your chicken or pork.

You can use a high fiber cereal like Fiber 1 or any other type of brand that you would rather feed to the birds then eat. You can also use dried bread crumbs or even fresh bread will work too. If you have fresh bread and want to use dried bread crumbs, just cut up your bread into small squares and place it in your oven on 400 degrees for about 10-20 minutes to dry the bread out.

After you have decided what base you want to use you now add the spices. And again, this really is a no brainer. Just add whatever spices you like.
I added garlic, salt, pepper, paprika, oregano, onion powder, sage, thyme and basil.

The best way to blend everything is in a coffee grinder, but if you don't have a coffee grinder you can use a food processor or by placing the ingredients in a plastic bag and smashing it with a meat clever. If you do either of those two methods you might want to sift it through a fine sifter to get the fine granules out so you can continue to break up the large bits.

The best results are from a coffee grinder though. As you can see the constancy is exactly like the Shake n' Bake brand which is like a smooth powder.

When I use the coating I don't add any egg or water to the meat. I just place the meat onto the powder and pat it to coat the entire slice. Once both sides are covered the meat is ready to be baked.

All baked and ready to eat. I love being able to make my family a healthier alternative to packaged Shake n' Bake. My children love their meat with mild flavoring. But you can make this hot or sweet to every one's taste. enjoy!

Wheat Tortillas

Dough in the Tortilla Press

Tortilla pressed out


baked on iron skillet

completed Tortillas

Tortilla shells are another very overly processed bread product. A true Tortilla will only stay fresh for a couple hours at the most. After a period of time they get hard and not very easy to use. Store bought Tortilla's are packed with preservatives and softening agents to keep the Tortilla soft.

Wheat Tortillas are relatively easy to make, but they are very time consuming. You need to make sure you have at least 1 hour set aside to make the entire batch. If you are pressed for time cut the recipe in half, the original recipe does makes quite a few. I also suggest using whole wheat flour since it is a lot healthier for you.

You do not have to have a Tortilla Press to make these. I just find it helps to make them round, otherwise my Tortillas end up into a shape that isn't a shape. They also can not be rolled out too thin, the thinner the better imo.

Having two baking pans going will speed up the process. The work is definitely worth the effort. These taste so much better then store bought Tortilla's. The only down side is they don't freeze so well. Within a couple days they seem to take on the freezer taste. I suggest wrapping them in wax or parchment paper, then in tinfoil and then a freezer bag. This might be the only way to keep them from absorbing any smells. But they do defrost quickly and you can place them in the microwave for about 10 seconds to make them soft for wrapping.

In the past I have made Corn Tortilla shells using masa harina. These too are very good, but they have a much different taste then the wheat tortilla.