Pear Heaven

It's that time of year!  Pear Season!  Neither my pear tree, nor my dad's, produced much this year, BUT my dad's neighbors', The Moore's, tree produced hundreds and hundreds. They were kind enough to let me have a lot of them.  

A few years ago I made pear pies and froze them.  We then had pear pie at every holiday and occasion that came up.  When they were gone I was so sad…so sad.  So when the opportunity to restock the freezer arose, I jumped at it!

I also tried my hand at making pear jam and pear preserves.  YUM!  I'll have the recipes for all coming up soon.  

Homemade "Lunchables" A Nice Way to Keep the Peace!

If your child goes to public school and is anything like mine, he/she wants Lunchables.  

Apple Cinnamon Delight aka Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oats

There are about a zillion Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oats recipes out there, all delicious and moderately healthy.  The only trouble is, my kids WON'T eat Steel Cut Oats, but they WILL eat Apple Cinnamon Delight.  A rose by any other name might smell as sweet, but if it's called OATMEAL, my kids want nothing to do with it.

I love waking up to the smell of cinnamon and vanilla in the mornings.  I also love waking up and not having to think about what I'm going to make my family for breakfast!  

Our Apple Cinnamon Delight recipe calls for more cinnamon and vanilla than others, but that's the way we like it.  If you prefer less, just adjust the measurements for your taste.  Also, we don't peel the apples.  The extra texture and fiber of the apple peels give the oats a nice complexity. 

Ingredients

1 c steel cut oats
2 1/2 c milk
1 c water
2 apples
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp flax meal
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 tsp salt

Optional toppings:
Shredded coconut 
Dried fruit/nuts 
Honey/Maple syrup 


Directions

1.  Rub the inside of your slow cooker with butter.  This will help prevent oat-stickage.
2.  Core the apples and cut them into 1 inch chunks
3.  Combine all of the ingredients (except the optional toppings) into the slow cooker
4.  Give it a stir or two to mix
5.  Cover and turn on low for 6-8 hours (overnight)
6.  Stir and serve with toppings and sweeteners of your choice

Randy will sometimes stir baking cocoa into his.  He's from the tribe that holds chocolate as a main portion of the food pyramid! 

There you have it!  Apple Cinnamon Delight!

FART-FREE Beans

RELEASE the Nutrients! Not the gas! 

Dedicated to : My dad....

Cook-y should've used Elaine's Fart-Free Bean Recipe!

"Put that in your book!"

I love the simplicity & versatility of beans....the fact that beans can take on any flavor combination you desire and be incorporated into so many styles of cuisines makes these little powerful pellets worth the time & effort to prepare. They're hardy, fulfilling, and I believe can be added to the list of 'Comfort Food'. 

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

We had a snow day here in Texas.  I think we might have seen half a dozen little flakes fluttering around the sleet and rain throughout the day!  My boys were excited to get to stay home and hope for more icicles.  As an after dinner treat we made Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, which turned out to be the perfect chilly day treat! 

Homemade Dilly Mayonaise

We are slowly moving our family to a more homemade pantry.  This includes making our own condiments.   We didn't want to waste what we had already bought, so as we finish up the store bought brands, we will make our own.  The first to go was the mayonnaise.  

Ghee Sauteed Mushrooms

I'm only just learning the joys of cooking with ghee.  Honestly I didn't know what it was until a few months ago.  

I knew it existed, but usually when I read or heard 'ghee' I thought of the line from the TV show, Up All Night, when the mom asks, "Where do you keep you ghee?"  

"Mom, you know I don't have ghee. Nobody has ghee," the daughter answers. Ghee was something odd for comedic effect. 

Honey Oat Bread

One of the goals we are working towards in our family is to make and eat more real food.  We want to buy less processed food until we are down to buying none.  When I found this recipe for Soaked Whole Wheat Bread on The Elliot Homestead, it seemed to fit the bill.  

This picture is from The Elliott Homestead

I've been soaking our grains, beans, and nuts to make them more digestible.  This recipe took time, but it was well worth it.  As you will notice, there isn't a picture of MY bread because...well...Imagine 3 loaves of warm, freshly baked bread and 3 boys (big and little) attacking.  So.  I did manage to save one which I have tucked away in the freezer.

The dough alone smelled amazing.  The recipe asks you to combine the dough in your mixer, but it was too much to fit without flinging ingredients all over the place.  I mixed by hand.

Here's the yeast, "proofing"  I might let it go a little longer next time.

The dough rose and rose and rose.  It was amazing.

Me and my dough baby!

This recipe makes three loaves.  I had a lot of fun kneading and rolling them out.  It was really satisfying.  I'm not quite sure why.  Crazy, maybe.

All rolled out in a rectangular-ish shape.

Roll it up.

I saw a method somewhere, maybe Pinterest, where the loaf pan was placed inside another dish.  This method worked okay, but I don't think I'll do it again.  I only had 1 loaf pan at the time, so it worked.  I've been scouring garage sales for more.  I found a nice Pyrex one the other day.  

Anyway.  No final picture.  Boys ate it.  

Here's another bread recipe from The Elliot Homestead that I think I'll try next time:

Traditional Soaked Whole Wheat Bread-The Elliott Homestead

Tasty Homemade Refried Beans

If your family is anything like mine then rice, beans, and taco night are common fare.  We go through a lot of refried beans.

It has taken a while but I think I have finally perfected my refried beans recipe.  It took a few times to get it creamy and flavorful.  The previous attempts were either too dry or lacking in flavor.  

I found that soaking the beans in two changes of filtered water with a pinch of baking soda in each soak helped a lot.  The baking soda helps the beans release the phytic acid which can be skimmed off during cooking.  The phytic acid and other enzyme inhibitors give beans a lot of their *negative* side effects, removing these make beans more digestible.

Soak beans on your counter for 18-24 hours, changing the water 1/2 way through.

Beans with onions, garlic, and kombu

Skim off that foam!

I froze the pastured ham bones after the last batch of beans I made.  I figured I could get one more batch of beans out of them.

Refried Beans

bag of pinto beans

2 large onions

5+ garlic cloves

2 tsp baking soda divided

1 T salt

1/2 T ground cumin

1/2 T chili powder
piece of kombu

1 small ham hock or piece of bacon (optional)

1.  Rinse beans and remove stones or debris 

2. Soak beans on the counter with pinch of baking soda for 12-24 hours-change water ½ way through soaking

3.  Drain beans

4. Add onions and garlic

5. Add strip of kombu

6. Add ham hock or bacon (optional)

7. Add water to cover 2-3”
8. Bring to a boil and skim off foam that rises

9. Cover pot leaving a small gap for steam to escape

10. Simmer and 1 ½ hours until beans are tender

11. Remove kombu (mine totally disintegrated, so no worries)
12. Remove ham hock

13. Scoop beans, onion and garlic into a blender or food processor

14. Blend in the spices

I made a really big batch and then froze 3-4 cups per bag.

Zucchini Mini Pizzas

Jennifer at work shared this recipe with me!  

1. Slice up a zucchini

2.  Spray cookie sheet lightly with olive oil

3.  Put a dollop of tomato sauce on top.

4.  Place a piece of cheese on that.  I used string cheese cut up.

5.  Bake at 350 F for 15-20 minutes.

OOPS!!  I forgot to take pictures before my guys went at them!

6.  Yummy!

The string cheese was a bit tough.  I might just cut cubes of regular mozzarella next time.

My 1 1/2 and 4 year old LOVED them!!

Enjoy!

Sauerkraut - Basics

A Visual 'How-To' With a Step-by-Step Guide
for Beginners

Don't be intimidated by 'fermented' foods. There is no secret to this traditional culture of culturing. Once you learn & are confident in the basics there is nothing your heart cannot capture, especially when we talk about lactic acid.....which is my gut's calling! After you master the basics there is a whole world of creative flavor possibilities to explore!

Grain Free-GAPS Friendly Chocolate Chip Cookie Review

Because I love a challenge and will do just about anything for science, I'm testing 2 versions of a cookie recipe.

Mommypotomus shared a recipe for GAPS-Friendly Cholocoate Chip Cookies.  The recipe read that either coconut oil or butter could be used.  I read this as a challenge.  Which cookie would taste better?  I decided to try the coconut oil first.

The dough never really came together as I imagine cookie dough.  It was pretty crumbly.  Check out the coconut oil sheen on those chocolate chips!

I had to keep pressing and pressing to get the cookies to from a ball-ish shape.  I have to admit, I was beginning to have my doubts.  

I expected the cookies to spread a lot because the recipe said to place them 3 inches apart.  These cookies didn't spread at all.

Also, I only made 12 cookies and saved the rest of the dough.  The recipe said the dough could be refrigerated for 2 weeks.  I thought I'd try them again after chilling the dough, sometimes that makes a difference.

They look really good, though.  

Next, I made the recipe again with butter.  It was more dough-like, but VERY buttery.

The butter recipe did spread.  I was thankful for the 3 inches.  These crisped up along the edges and bottom the way I like.  Still, they were pretty buttery.  

I liked the crispy edges and bottom of the butter batter, but the flavor of the coconut oil.  I needed to find a way to split the difference.

Here are the two, side by side.   

And then I started thinking, "If I like the flavor of the coconut oil and the crisp of the butter, why not combine the two?"

I mixed the two sets of batter that I was planning on chilling and making later together.

This batter was ideal.  The cookies spread a teeny bit and got a nice brown and crisp on them. 

Finally, I lined the 3 cookies up and fed them to my family.  They are scientist at heart.

The results were varied.  Both boys LOVED #3, the coconut oil-butter batter mixture.  Ran couldn't get enough of #1, he loved the taste of the coconut and the uniqueness of the texture. I was with the boys.  The butter/coconut oil cookie was my favorite.

The cookies all tasted better the next day.  So, next time I think I'll make the batter with half coconut oil-half butter.

However, I think for an experiment's findings to be valid it must be tested at least 3 times.  I'd better get busy!  

Wink-Wink!