New York Times Veggie Burgers

15 oz of black or navy beans, drained

  (soak dry ones yourself to use)

1 can tomatoes

1 garlic clove, minced or pressed, or 1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

2 green onions, chopped

1 cup carrots, chopped

1 cup parsley or cilantro

2 cups quick rolled oats

8 homemade wheat hamburger buns

Fresh veggie toppings and healthy condiments

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Process the first seven ingredients using a food processor.   

Remove contents into a large bowl, and stir in oats. 

Form into patties, place on sprayed baking sheet. 

uncooked

 Bake for 8 minutes.  Turn oven up to broil and cook for 2 more minutes, until the tops are nicely browned.

cooked

 Toast the buns and pile on favorite toppings.

Variation:  Saute the burgers on medium heat in a sprayed cast iron or stainless steel skillet for 5 minutes on each side, until both sides are browned.

*Recipe from Vibrant Life magazine.

They are a nice variation from a regular beef burger.  Give them a try!

Oats, Honey, Peanut Butter and Yumminess

This super easy dessert is sooo good and good for you!  Here's how you do it:

Melt together 1/2c peanut butter, 1/3c honey and 1/4c coconut oil.
Like this:

Then stir in 1c oats.  Like this:

After that is complete, spread it into an 8x8 pan to chill.  (or a 9x11 or a pie plate or whatever you want.  It's your dessert.  Don't let anyone tell you how to spread it.)

I'm a rebel spreader.

Chill for 2 hours.

If you like variation, add some nuts, coconut, celery (not really)...

Enjoy!

The Skinny on Flour Types

I've heard of different kinds of flour like rye, spelt, etc but I didn't know what they were.  So, I looked it up.  Here's the skinny:

All-purpose Flour

All purpose flour has a medium protein content that makes it suitable for most baking uses.

Arrowroot Flour

This flour is made from the fleshy root stock of the tropical arrowroot plant. Its white, fine, and powdery texture is very similar to cornstarch but it has no flavor at all. It is typically used as a thickener for puddings, sauces and other cooked foods.

Barley Flour

Barley flour is made from barley ground very finely.  It is rich in protein, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, iron, and B vitamins.  

Bean/Legume Flours

Made easily by grinding all types of beans, this flour can be used to enhance the flavor and health benefits of your breads, and they also make easy soups and dips.

Bread Flour

The best flour for bread making, it is ground from hard wheat. It has a high protein (gluten) and low starch content.

Brown Rice Flour

Ground from brown rice, this flour has a slightly sweet flavor. It is used alone or combined with wheat flour in breads and batters.

Buckwheat Flour

Buckwheat flour is ground from the seeds of a plant originating in Asia, has an earthy, slightly sour flavor that is usually tempered in commercial products by the addition of a little wheat flour.

Corn Flour

A yellow, finely ground version of cornmeal, corn flour is used to add a mild corn taste and a pleasing texture to baked goods.

Millet Flour

Made from a small round grain resembling mustard seed, this flour has a slight nutty flavor.

Oat Flour

Oat flour is a fine flour ground from dried oats, has a characteristic nutlike flavor. It is used in combination with wheat flour.

Pastry and Cake Flours

Pastry flour is lighter and has a lower protein level of ~9-10% as opposed to ~ 12-13% found in bread flour. The soft, flakiness of pie crust is attributable to the softer flour. Cake flour is lighter than all purpose flour.

Potato Flour

This is a gluten-free flour made from cooked, dried and ground potatoes. It is mostly used as a thickener. It is also known as potato starch.

Rice Flour

This very fine powdery flour is made from pulverized long-grain or glutinous rice, used to thicken cakes and puddings as well as to make noodles and very fluffy breads.

Rye Flour

Rye flour is a fine flour ground from grains of rye grass, a close relative of wheat. It has a slightly sweet-sour flavor.

Self Rising Flour

Self-rising flour contains 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt for each cup of flour.

Semolina Flour

Semolina flour is made from the finely ground endosperm of Durum wheat.  Usually used in pasta making, it is a tasty, high protein addition to breads.

Seven-grain (or nine-grain) Flour

Seven-grain flour is a commercial blend commonly made up of millet, rye, corn, wheat, barley, oats, and flax or triticale. It is found in health-food stores and well-stocked markets.

Spelt Flour

This flour is lighter in protein and more easily digested than regular wheat flours.  This flour is sometimes known as Farro.

Whole Wheat Flour

Whole wheat four is made from milling the entire wheat berry.  it is brownish in color.

This was slightly adapted from here. 

Now you know!  So the next time someone tries to get fancy and talk about spelt flour you can join in.

Cheater French Toast

I know there is a proper way to make French toast but I like to cheat.

After you make those ooohhh sooo yummy homemade hamburger buns, cut one open, butter it, add some cinnamon and sucanat then toast it.  Ah.  Now, that's beautiful in the morning.

Making Sour Dough Bread

The original recipe came from Above Rubies but I've modified it for a smaller army. (This recipe makes one loaf.)
You'll need:
2c home grown starter
3 1/4c whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
1 1/2c filtered water

Add all ingredients to a big bowl.  "Knead" with a wooden spoon.  This dough is much wetter than any dough you're accustomed to so it can't be kneaded on the counter top.  Knead for 5-10 minutes.  It will look gooey.  It's supposed to have an oatmeal, goo consistency. 

Put the dough in a buttered pan to rise.  I let mine rise for seven hours.  If yours gets big before that, then bake it sooner.  However, seven hours is a good rise.  Keep in mind when you're mixing it that you'll be baking in seven hours so make sure it's not ready to bake in the middle of the night!  I usually mix mine in the morning and bake in the afternoon. 

Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.  That seems like a long time for one loaf of bread so I kept checking it.  Sure enough, it took one hour.  However, I did cover it with foil after 30 minutes so the top wouldn't get too brown.

After 7 hours of rising

All done!  I made that hole as I was checking it during baking.

Cooling as Mr. Right waits impatiently...

Ready to eat.  It was sooo delicious.

Our Family "Pet" (Part III) -It Worked!

I'm impressed.  Who would have thought you could catch wild yeast from the air to make bread?  Not me!  But you can.  I did it and it made beautiful, sour dough bread.  Here's what you do- sterilize a non metal bowl by pouring boiling water over it.  Then mix a 1/4 cup flour (I use whole wheat) and a 1/4 cup water (filtered if possible).  Cover with a breathable cloth and leave it sitting on your counter.  Each day for seven days, switch it to a new, sterilized, non metal bowl and add a 1/4 cup flour and a 1/4 cup water.  After seven days, you should have caught your yeast and your starter will be done.

Note: NEVER use metal bowls or utensils with your starter.  Also, wild yeast is more prolific in some areas than others.  So, you'll just have to give it a try to see if you can catch some.

My starter now lives in this home.  Now that it's started, feed it each day and give it a new, sterilized home once a month.  I wrote a date on mine so I wouldn't forget to give it a new home.

You can also check out Part I & Part II.

Start yours today!

Note:  You're ready to bake when you have 2 1/4 total cups of starter.  You'll need 2 cups for the recipe and 1/4 left over to continue growing.

Whole Wheat Bread

Diving into the world of natural food can sometimes be overwhelming because there is so much to learn.  So, I have designed a section titled "Baby Steps" where you can learn and apply one element at a time.  I'll list a new one each week.  If you already practice something listed then you're just ahead of the game!  If you skip a week then just pick up whenever you can. 

The first baby step is to buy whole wheat bread.  Whether you're buying sandwich bread or hamburger buns, choose the whole wheat option.  Also, choose a brand with as little ingredients as possible.  Just because the bread is brown in color doesn't mean it's the best.  Read labels!  If the ingredients have a lot of words you don't know and the list is loooong then look for another brand.  Keep in mind that it really only takes a few ingredients to make bread so you shouldn't buy a brand with twenty ingredients if you can help it.

Gone are the days of buying white bread.  I remember all the commercials when I was growing up about "good moms buying white bread."  White bread seems good because a lot of the time it's fortified with nutrients.   Well, it's fortified because they bleach the wheat with chemicals which kill the nutrients so it will be white and fluffy.  Bleached bread then has to be fortified.  Most of the time, whole wheat bread will not read "fortified" across the package because the nutrients were never killed in the first place. 

This is a small step that can make a huge difference in your health.  After you have found a good brand, write it down (if your memory is as short as mine) so you'll remember the next time you go to the grocery store.  However, make an effort to recheck every few months to make sure the brand you're buying is still the best option.

I'm proud of you for choosing to make one small step!

My New Best Friend- Pita Bites

Ok, not really.  My husband is my best friend but these Pita Bites are sooo good!  They are made by Sensible Portions (World Gourmet Marketing) and are all natural with no saturated fat, no trans fat and cholesterol free.  However, the "all natural" part is my favorite.

It's hard to find crackers that don't contain BHT, bleached flour, soybean oil or canola oil.  These don't have any of those!  Here is the ingredient list for these Pita Bites:
Enriched flour (unbleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, vitamin B1, riboflavin, vitamin B2, folic acid)
Water
Yeast
Sunflower oil
Sea Salt

Whoo!  One of my husband's coworkers sent a portion of this box home for me.  They were slightly stale and they were still good!  So, you can guess what I'm getting the next time we go to the supermarket!
They come in two other flavors...Garlic 'n Chive and Black Olive Feta.  I haven't read the ingredients on those boxes so I don't know if they're as natural but I'll be checking it out!

Man...now I wish I had some.  I just can't look at this empty box any longer!

Soaking and Cooking Pinto Beans

Beans are a fun topic because they are so versatile and cheap!  I like cheap.  One thing you’ll learn is I like frugalness just as much as I like natural food.  Sure, canned beans are convenient but they cost considerably more than dry beans and they tend to have a lot of sodium.  Plus, you don’t get the satisfaction of soaking them yourself.

I like to cook a big pot of beans then use them for various things throughout the week.  We like beans and cornbread, of course, (we do live in the south) but I also like to use them in chili, Mexican dishes, etc.  So, what you do is, buy a bag of pinto beans (we’ll start with them because they can be used in a wide variety of ways).  The best value I have found at our supermarket is  a 4lb bag.  (I try to support brands other than the “big names” sometimes but that’s a topic for another post!) 

1.       To start, dump out the desired amount of beans onto your counter.  Four cups is a good amount to start with.  Now, you want to sort the beans.  My husbands grand-mother used to say you need to “look” the beans.  This simply means to make sure there aren’t any rocks mixed in with them.  Rocks aren’t easily digestible no matter how long you soak them.  Once you’ve “looked” your beans, gather them up and put them in a slow cooker (that’s my favorite mode of cooking beans).  Run some water over them, swish them around a couple times and drain the water.  This gets dust and dirt off them.

2.       For four cups of beans, you’ll cover them with 12-16 cups of water.  I usually just put a lot in there so each bean will have enough water.  I don’t care for measuring if I don’t have to!  You want to soak them overnight.  This is best because this method makes the beans more easily digestible.  So, pour in the water, put the lid on and leave them alone to soak overnight.  (Leave the slow cooker off, of course.)

3.       When you get up in the morning, drain the soaking water off and fill up with new water.  I put enough water to cover the beans by about 2 inches.  Since I’m home all day I turn my slow cooker on high around 8:00a.m. and I turn it off around 3p.m.  If you’re going to be gone for a longer period of time you might try putting them on low all day instead.

4.       Once the beans are cooked, I skim the foam off the top then they’re ready to eat!  Season them how you like (I just use salt).  Put them over cornbread, add them to chili, mix them with some salsa and sautéed onions and eat them with chips, add them to a casserole, etc.  I even like to divide them up and freeze them so I’ll have them for later use. 

More than just being versatile, pinto beans have many healthy benefits.  (Thanks to my C-U-T-E hubby for researching them).  Pinto beans in particular are packed with molybdenum (200% daily value in 1 cup of beans). They are also a good source of folate (great for pregnancy), dietary fiber, tryptophan, manganese, protein, phosphorus, iron, magnesium, potassium, copper, and vitamin B1 (thiamin).  Fiber is good for lowering cholesterol and prevents sugar levels from rising after your meal and lowers your heart disease risk.  Fiber (as well as antioxidants) found in pinto beans can reduce your cancer risk.  Besides all that, pinto beans have lots of protein and are a good source of iron!

Note:  Don't add salt until AFTER the beans are cooked or they will be tough.

What are you waiting for?  Get those beans soaking!