This week's challenge is focusing on Home Storage again- especially grains and rice.
It is easy to incorporate more whole grains in your diet by adding some whole wheat flour in place of white flour in your favorite recipes- muffins, cookies, bread, etc.
Rice is another staple that is easy to make and a family friendly food. Use different types of rice to add variety to your cooking.
Arborio rice is a yummy addition- make a risotto
brown rice
wild rice
Spinach Risotto
1 - 10 oz. pkg. frozen chopped spinach
4 c. fat-free chicken broth
1 1/2 tsp olive oil
1 T. butter
1 c. chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 c. Arborio rice
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
Cook spinach, drain and squeeze out as much water as possible. Heat the broth. In large, heavy pot, heat the oil
and butter; cook onions and garlic until golden. Add rice and cook stirring constantly until grains are shiny with
oil. Add broth by cupfuls until absorbed after each addition, stirring constantly (this will take 20 minutes). Stir
in the cheese, seasonings and spinach.
other grains to remember-
popcorn- that's right! You can grind it to make your own cornmeal for cornbread and keep all the nutrients!
No Crumb Cornbread
1/4 c canola oil
4 eggs
4 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup plain, nonfat yogurt
2 c corn meal
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 c sugar
3 c flour
3 c milk
Powdered milk and eggs work great in this recipe and homemade yogurt. Mix oil and sugar, add eggs, and cornmeal. In another bowl, mix remaining dry ingredients including 3/4 c powdered milk (unless using normal milk than omit). Alternate dry mix and 3 cups liquid ( water if using powdered milk, milk if not). Mix well. grease 9 x 13 pan and pour in mixture. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.
Have any great grain recipes? We would love to hear them! Lets all work together, combine our knowledge and experience to prepare!
"If we approach adversities wisely, our hardest times can be times of greatest growth, which in turn can lead toward times of greatest happiness." -Elder Joseph B Wirthlin- Oct 08 ensign
Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts
Monday, March 23, 2009
Friday, January 09, 2009
Use Your Powdered Milk to Make Yogurt!
I got myself a little after-Christmas present: a yogurt-maker!
I used 4 cups of water and 1 cup of powdered milk, plus 1/2 cup of yogurt starter (plain yogurt with active cultures). I stuck it in the little machine and it kept it warm all night. Woke up to a quart of perfect plain yogurt. That very day, I was so excited that I made strawberry-flavored yogurt, veggie dip, yogurt chicken, and tried to make a drinkable strawberry yogurt for the kids (most of them wouldn't even try it--ingrates!).
It's actually kind of a silly appliance for the price (I paid $15.30 on Amazon, but now it's up to $23.30!). But you don't need a fancy, or even a simple machine to make yogurt. There are other ways to keep it warm. I remember a really cool middle-aged teacher guy I would chat with in the teacher's lounge in DC when I was student teaching who told me in excruciating detail about how to make yogurt by putting your concoction on top of the fridge for a few days. Apparently, all you need is a temperature where the "good" bacteria will multiply and turn the rest of the milk into yogurt. And everything needs to be really clean so you don't introduce "bad" bacteria into the mix. Here's some instructions for doing it in your oven (got these from a reviewer on amazon.com):
"Get a quart-size carton of milk and some yogurt, both at room temperature. Open the milk carton, pour some out to make room in the carton, and add 1/2 c. of plain yogurt with live cultures (like Stonyfield Farms or Dannon plain yogurt). Close up the carton again, clip shut, and shake it gently to mix up the milk and yogurt. As for the milk you poured out (you saved it right?), that's going to be your starter for the next batch, so add a couple teaspoons of yogurt to that, give it a good stir, and cover tightly. Get an old (but clean!) bath towel and wrap both in it. Place on a cookie sheet and place in 110 degree F oven. "Bake" at 110 degrees overnight - around 12 hours - remove from oven and refrigerate. Perfect European-style yogurt! (For the thicker American style, add powdered milk along with your yogurt "starter.") Best of all, there's no need to pre-heat/scald the milk (not necessary if you use pasteurized milk) and no cleaning (since you make the yogurt right in the paper milk carton straight from the store). Any size milk carton will work -- just adjust the amount of starter accordingly."
Here's some of my yogurt recipes:
Gracie's Dill Dip
Gracie is our two-year-old cousin who lived with us in India. Her mom adapted her usual veggie dip to use yogurt instead of sour cream, since we couldn't get sour cream there. Gracie didn't notice the difference and ate it nearly every day with carrots and cucumbers, and she's a pretty discerning child! Dawn may have to correct me a little, but here's my best guess:
2 c. yogurt (or any combination of yogurt, mayo, and/or sour cream)
1/2 t. dried dill weed (or 1/2 T. fresh dill)
1/2-1 t. seasoned salt
1/4 t. dried onion
Mix together. Keep in fridge and serve with carrots, cucumbers, celery, on crackers, on fish, etc.
Drinkable Yogurt
If someone can help me figure out how to put this in those Danimals containers and seal it up so I can toss it in my kids' lunchboxes, I'll be your best friend!
2 c. yogurt
1/4 c. sugar (more or less to taste)
1 T. fruit syrup or jam
1/2 c. milk
Yogurt Chicken Nuggets
Found this on the back of the Stonyfield Farms yogurt--a healthy alternative to chicken nuggets or fried chicken.
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 lbs., cut in pieces if you like)
2 c. plain yogurt
Salt and pepper to taste
Garlic and/or onion powder to taste (optional)
2 c. cornflake crumbs, or panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
Preheat oven to 350. Season yogurt liberally with seasonings. Put cornflake crumbs or panko in a shallow bowl. Place chicken breasts or pieces in the yogurt, coat well, then remove. Wipe excess yogurt from chicken and roll in the cornflakes/panko. Bake for 30 minutes or more, until browned and the juices run clear. Serves 4.
Raitha
A yummy relish that tastes great with any Indian food (cools the heat!) or mixed with rice.
2 c. plain yogurt
1/2 cucumber, peeled and grated
1/4 onion, grated
1/2-1 t. salt
1/2-1 t. cumin powder (can roast it in a pan beforehand to enhance the flavor)
Squeeze the liquid out of the grated vegetables. Mix it up and serve it with an Indian meal, or even a Greek meal. It will keep well in the fridge for a week or more.
Cinnamon Surprise Cake
This was a Family Fun recipe that we altered in India due to the lack of sour cream. The results are delicious! The yogurt gives it a slightly tart flavor and makes the cake so very moist. I would often make it Saturday night, have it for breakfast with a fruit smoothie, and then for dessert after Sunday dinner (or a snack while we tried to pull dinner together!). Try adding raspberries and/or chopped pecans for a special treat.
Filling:
1 T. cinnamon
1-2 T. softened butter
1/3 c. brown sugar
2 T. flour
Cake:
3 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. butter (room temp)
1 1/2 c. sugar
3 eggs
2 t. vanilla
2 c. plain yogurt
powdered sugar (for dusting)
Heat the oven to 350° and grease a 12-cup bundt pan (or two 9- by 5-inch loaf pans, or two 6-cup bundt pans). To make the cinnamon filling, place the cinnamon, butter, brown sugar, and flour in a small bowl and mix with your fingers. Set aside.
For the coffee cake, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate large bowl, cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Beat in the vanilla extract and the sour cream. Gradually add the dry ingredients, beating well after each addition.
Spoon half of the coffee cake batter into the large bundt pan (or, if you're using two smaller pans, one quarter of it into each pan). Crumble the cinnamon mixture over the top. Pour in the remaining batter and then use a table knife to swirl the cinnamon throughout. Bake for about 60 minutes (or 40 minutes for the smaller loaves) or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.
Invert the coffee cake onto a rack and cool it thoroughly before dusting with powdered sugar. Serves 10 to 12.
I used 4 cups of water and 1 cup of powdered milk, plus 1/2 cup of yogurt starter (plain yogurt with active cultures). I stuck it in the little machine and it kept it warm all night. Woke up to a quart of perfect plain yogurt. That very day, I was so excited that I made strawberry-flavored yogurt, veggie dip, yogurt chicken, and tried to make a drinkable strawberry yogurt for the kids (most of them wouldn't even try it--ingrates!).It's actually kind of a silly appliance for the price (I paid $15.30 on Amazon, but now it's up to $23.30!). But you don't need a fancy, or even a simple machine to make yogurt. There are other ways to keep it warm. I remember a really cool middle-aged teacher guy I would chat with in the teacher's lounge in DC when I was student teaching who told me in excruciating detail about how to make yogurt by putting your concoction on top of the fridge for a few days. Apparently, all you need is a temperature where the "good" bacteria will multiply and turn the rest of the milk into yogurt. And everything needs to be really clean so you don't introduce "bad" bacteria into the mix. Here's some instructions for doing it in your oven (got these from a reviewer on amazon.com):
"Get a quart-size carton of milk and some yogurt, both at room temperature. Open the milk carton, pour some out to make room in the carton, and add 1/2 c. of plain yogurt with live cultures (like Stonyfield Farms or Dannon plain yogurt). Close up the carton again, clip shut, and shake it gently to mix up the milk and yogurt. As for the milk you poured out (you saved it right?), that's going to be your starter for the next batch, so add a couple teaspoons of yogurt to that, give it a good stir, and cover tightly. Get an old (but clean!) bath towel and wrap both in it. Place on a cookie sheet and place in 110 degree F oven. "Bake" at 110 degrees overnight - around 12 hours - remove from oven and refrigerate. Perfect European-style yogurt! (For the thicker American style, add powdered milk along with your yogurt "starter.") Best of all, there's no need to pre-heat/scald the milk (not necessary if you use pasteurized milk) and no cleaning (since you make the yogurt right in the paper milk carton straight from the store). Any size milk carton will work -- just adjust the amount of starter accordingly."
Here's some of my yogurt recipes:
Gracie's Dill Dip
Gracie is our two-year-old cousin who lived with us in India. Her mom adapted her usual veggie dip to use yogurt instead of sour cream, since we couldn't get sour cream there. Gracie didn't notice the difference and ate it nearly every day with carrots and cucumbers, and she's a pretty discerning child! Dawn may have to correct me a little, but here's my best guess:
2 c. yogurt (or any combination of yogurt, mayo, and/or sour cream)
1/2 t. dried dill weed (or 1/2 T. fresh dill)
1/2-1 t. seasoned salt
1/4 t. dried onion
Mix together. Keep in fridge and serve with carrots, cucumbers, celery, on crackers, on fish, etc.
Drinkable Yogurt
If someone can help me figure out how to put this in those Danimals containers and seal it up so I can toss it in my kids' lunchboxes, I'll be your best friend!
2 c. yogurt
1/4 c. sugar (more or less to taste)
1 T. fruit syrup or jam
1/2 c. milk
Yogurt Chicken Nuggets
Found this on the back of the Stonyfield Farms yogurt--a healthy alternative to chicken nuggets or fried chicken.
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 lbs., cut in pieces if you like)
2 c. plain yogurt
Salt and pepper to taste
Garlic and/or onion powder to taste (optional)
2 c. cornflake crumbs, or panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
Preheat oven to 350. Season yogurt liberally with seasonings. Put cornflake crumbs or panko in a shallow bowl. Place chicken breasts or pieces in the yogurt, coat well, then remove. Wipe excess yogurt from chicken and roll in the cornflakes/panko. Bake for 30 minutes or more, until browned and the juices run clear. Serves 4.
Raitha
A yummy relish that tastes great with any Indian food (cools the heat!) or mixed with rice.
2 c. plain yogurt
1/2 cucumber, peeled and grated
1/4 onion, grated
1/2-1 t. salt
1/2-1 t. cumin powder (can roast it in a pan beforehand to enhance the flavor)
Squeeze the liquid out of the grated vegetables. Mix it up and serve it with an Indian meal, or even a Greek meal. It will keep well in the fridge for a week or more.
Cinnamon Surprise Cake
This was a Family Fun recipe that we altered in India due to the lack of sour cream. The results are delicious! The yogurt gives it a slightly tart flavor and makes the cake so very moist. I would often make it Saturday night, have it for breakfast with a fruit smoothie, and then for dessert after Sunday dinner (or a snack while we tried to pull dinner together!). Try adding raspberries and/or chopped pecans for a special treat.
Filling:
1 T. cinnamon
1-2 T. softened butter
1/3 c. brown sugar
2 T. flour
Cake:
3 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. butter (room temp)
1 1/2 c. sugar
3 eggs
2 t. vanilla
2 c. plain yogurt
powdered sugar (for dusting)
Heat the oven to 350° and grease a 12-cup bundt pan (or two 9- by 5-inch loaf pans, or two 6-cup bundt pans). To make the cinnamon filling, place the cinnamon, butter, brown sugar, and flour in a small bowl and mix with your fingers. Set aside.
For the coffee cake, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate large bowl, cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Beat in the vanilla extract and the sour cream. Gradually add the dry ingredients, beating well after each addition.
Spoon half of the coffee cake batter into the large bundt pan (or, if you're using two smaller pans, one quarter of it into each pan). Crumble the cinnamon mixture over the top. Pour in the remaining batter and then use a table knife to swirl the cinnamon throughout. Bake for about 60 minutes (or 40 minutes for the smaller loaves) or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.
Invert the coffee cake onto a rack and cool it thoroughly before dusting with powdered sugar. Serves 10 to 12.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Recipes from the Garden
My friend Amy’s beautiful garden and backyard is so inspiring! She has masses of basil and lettuce, blackberry bushes along her fence, and a strawberry patch growing with her kids’ little playhouse in the middle of it! Love it.
At the class I got to taste some good recipes: Dani’s cookies (low sugar and laced with navy beans . . . Sh! Don’t tell the kids!), Amy’s cheddar-stuffed jalapenos, and freshly-made pesto. Yum!
Amy’s Pesto
2 c. firmly packed fresh basil
3/4 c. parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 c. pine nuts/pecans/almonds
1/2 c. olive oil
3 cloves garlic
Blend well in a blender or food processor. Store in fridge 5 days or freeze up to 1 month.
Serving ideas:
Dip for crackers or vegetables
Spread on sandwiches
Pasta: mix with sour cream and add to any hot pasta
Pizza (Cindy H’s suggestion): top with pesto, garlic chicken, red onion, fresh tomatoes, feta cheese, etc.
Amy’s Cheddar-Stuffed Jalapenos
Ingredients:
* 25 medium fresh jalapeno peppers
* 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
* 3 cups (12 ounces) finely shredded cheddar cheese
* 1-1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
* 4 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
Directions:
Cut jalapenos in half lengthwise; remove seeds and membranes. In a large saucepan, boil peppers in water for 5-10 minutes (the longer you boil the peppers, the milder they become). Drain and rinse in cold water; set aside.
In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, cheddar cheese and Worcestershire sauce. Spoon 2 teaspoonfuls into each jalapeno half; sprinkle with bacon.
Place on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 400° for 5-10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve warm. Yield: About 4 dozen.
Dani’s Better Chocolate Chip Cookies
Dani usually doubles this.
1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 c. unsalted butter
1/4 c. white bean puree
1 egg
2/3 c. flour
1/3 c. wheat germ
1/2 c. oatmeal (rounded—a bit more than 1/2 and less than 3/4)1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. baking powder
1/4-1/2 t. cinnamon (opt.)
1 t. vanilla
1/2 to 3/4 c. chocolate chips
Cream beans, butter & sugars. Add egg and mix. Mix dry ingredients separately and then add the wet mixture. Add vanilla and chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 13 minutes or so. Enjoy!
At the class I got to taste some good recipes: Dani’s cookies (low sugar and laced with navy beans . . . Sh! Don’t tell the kids!), Amy’s cheddar-stuffed jalapenos, and freshly-made pesto. Yum!
Amy’s Pesto
2 c. firmly packed fresh basil
3/4 c. parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 c. pine nuts/pecans/almonds
1/2 c. olive oil
3 cloves garlic
Blend well in a blender or food processor. Store in fridge 5 days or freeze up to 1 month.
Serving ideas:
Dip for crackers or vegetables
Spread on sandwiches
Pasta: mix with sour cream and add to any hot pasta
Pizza (Cindy H’s suggestion): top with pesto, garlic chicken, red onion, fresh tomatoes, feta cheese, etc.
Amy’s Cheddar-Stuffed Jalapenos
Ingredients:
* 25 medium fresh jalapeno peppers
* 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
* 3 cups (12 ounces) finely shredded cheddar cheese
* 1-1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
* 4 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
Directions:
Cut jalapenos in half lengthwise; remove seeds and membranes. In a large saucepan, boil peppers in water for 5-10 minutes (the longer you boil the peppers, the milder they become). Drain and rinse in cold water; set aside.
In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, cheddar cheese and Worcestershire sauce. Spoon 2 teaspoonfuls into each jalapeno half; sprinkle with bacon.
Place on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 400° for 5-10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve warm. Yield: About 4 dozen.
Dani’s Better Chocolate Chip Cookies
Dani usually doubles this.
1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 c. unsalted butter
1/4 c. white bean puree
1 egg
2/3 c. flour
1/3 c. wheat germ
1/2 c. oatmeal (rounded—a bit more than 1/2 and less than 3/4)1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. baking powder
1/4-1/2 t. cinnamon (opt.)
1 t. vanilla
1/2 to 3/4 c. chocolate chips
Cream beans, butter & sugars. Add egg and mix. Mix dry ingredients separately and then add the wet mixture. Add vanilla and chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 13 minutes or so. Enjoy!
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