Whole Wheat Honey Applesauce Muffins

We needed a snack for a group in a hurry today, these were quick and easy to put together, and delicious.

Whole Wheat Applesauce Spice Muffins
Yields: 12 Muffins 24 mini-muffins

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/3 cup honey
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1 cup unsweetened applesauce


Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease muffin pan or place muffin liners. Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a large bowl, set aside. Melt honey in a med bowl.  Whisk in eggs, honey, and applesauce until combined well.  Then fold in flour mixture until flour is just moistened. Divide batter among muffin cups. Bake until muffins are puffed and golden brown, about 18-20 minutes (13 for minis).  Adapted from this recipe.

Honey-Sweetened Homemade Marshmallows

I adapted my recipe for Marshmallows from the Nourishing Gourmet. I doubled hers, and used the process I was familiar with from my older recipe for marshmallows.  

Honey-Sweetened Homemade Marshmallows
4 packets plain gelatin (a little less than 3 Tbls)
1 cup cold water
1 cup honey
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Butter a 9x9 pan. Put 1/2 cup of water in the bowl of a mixer with a whisk , and sprinkle the gelatin over the water. Set aside to soften. (I sprinkle one packet at a time and let it sit in between so it doesn't get clumpy.)

In a small pot, place the honey, salt, and the other 1/2 cup of water. Heat on medium heat. Using a candy thermometer, bring the mixture to 248 degrees. It takes about 7-8 minutes to reach this temperature. Remove from the heat as soon as it’s at the right temperature.

Turn the mixer with the gelatin on low, very slowly pour the hot syrup in a thin stream into the gelatin mixture. Once combined, add the vanilla and increase speed to high. Beat for 10- 15 minutes, or until the mixture is thick and fluffy and cooled down to a lukewarm temperature. Scrape into the prepared pan and leave, uncovered, for at least 4 hours or until set and mostly dry.

Pull the edges away from the side of the pan with a spatula. Sprinkle the top with cocoa powder, toasted coconut, or for classic marshmallows a mixture of half powdered sugar and half corn starch. Flip the pan over on top of a cutting board and let the marshmallow slowly fall out--you can give it a bit of help with the spatula around the edges. Cut into squares and toss in a bowl with your desired coating.

 For S'mores- These did toast up better the next day when they'd dried out for longer, so if you want them for roasting--make at least a day in advance.

Honey Wheat Zucchinni Muffins

I tried a recipe from Me and My Pink Mixer for honey wheat zucchini muffins.  I chose her recipe, though it looked almost exactly the same as another, because hers used 3/4 instead of a full cup of honey.  (I'm trying to wean us from the need for everything to be super sweet--a little sweet is enough)

This recipe is made with 100% whole wheat flour.  Because muffins use chemical leaveners to rise, instead of yeast and gluten, there's no reason to use anything but the wheat.

Honey Wheat Zucchini Muffins

3 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups shredded zucchini

1/2 cup butter, melted

3/4 cup honey

2 eggs

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and baking powder.  Stir and then add zucchini and toss together.  In a separate bowl, melt butter, stir in honey and eggs.  Make a well in the dry ingredients, pour in the wet, and mix just until moistened. Scoop dough into paper-lined muffin tins. Bake at 400 degrees for 16-20 minutes.

This recipe made 1 dozen muffins plus 1 dozen mini muffins.   We cooked the minis for 10 minutes and the regular for 16 min. 

Vanilla Pudding Pops

We love teaching our children that eating real food includes plenty of snacks and treats. Homemade and from whole foods. In our family we love food, and enjoy food. . . and our food is nourishing.



This week we enjoyed a whole food treat of homemade pudding pops. I adapted this Martha Stewart Recipe, swapping out honey for the sugar, and you could use an arrowroot or other starch in place of the corn starch if you wanted as well.

I used an old plastic set of popsicle molds that I've had since I was like 9 or something. But this week I saw these stainless steel popsicle molds, and definitely think those should be a purchase for the future.

Honey Sweetened Vanilla Pudding Pop Recipe

• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 Tbl cornstarch or other starch
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, off heat, whisk together cornstarch, and salt. Gradually whisk in milk, mixing until ingredients are dissolved. Whisk in egg yolk and honey.
Whisking constantly, cook over medium heat until the first large bubble sputters. Reduce heat to low; continue to whisk, and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat, and immediately pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl; stir in vanilla.
Divide mixture among five or six ice-pop molds. Chill in refrigerator until cool and thickened, about 1 hour. Insert pop sticks, and freeze until solid, at least 4 hours and up to 2 weeks. Run mold briefly under warm water to help release popcicles.

Honey Whole Wheat and Flax Bread

With so much honey flowing into our kitchen, I've been experimenting more lately with replacing other sugars with honey, and trying to adapt favorite recipes along the way.



I've successfully adapted my recipe for bread to use honey rather than sugar. I've made it a few times, so I'm ready to share it.

In the summer it's always harder for me to work up the desire to turn my oven on--so I've been trying to bake a bunch of bread at once. (This picture shows four loaves of the honey whole wheat and flax seed bread, and the round loaf on the right is a leftover oatmeal bread loaf.)  

Honey Whole Wheat and Flax Seed Bread

1/2 cup honey
2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups warmed buttermilk*
2 Tbsp butter, melted, or oil
5 cups of whole wheat flour, divided
1/3 cup of ground flax seed meal**
1 Tbsp yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 tsp honey***
2-3 cups unbleached AP or bread flour

In large mixer bowl, mix first 4 ingredients together. Add 3 cups of the whole wheat flour and 1/3 cup of ground flax seed meal to cooled mixture. Blend at low speed until moist; then beat at medium speed for three minutes to begin developing gluten. Mix yeast into water and honey and let proof.

Add last 2 cups of whole wheat flour to bowl, and add the yeast mixture--after it has started to rise. Mix all together well. Stir in 2-3 cups white flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until dough pulls cleanly away from the sides of the bowl. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic, at least 7 minutes in mixer or 10-15 minutes by hand.

Place dough in greased bowl, flip the dough over so the oily side is on top, cover with a towel. Let rise in warm place until doubled--about an hour. Gently degas ("punch down") dough, divide into 2 loaves and form into loaf shapes. Place in greased bread pans and let rise again until dough is about 1 inch above pan edges.(About 30-45 minutes)

Slice 1/4 inch depth down the the center of each loaf.**** Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes--or until loaves sound hollow when lightly rapped.***** Remove from pans immediately. Cool and enjoy.

My personal notes:

*Sometimes I use buttermilk, sometimes I use milk with 1 Tbl lemon juice added, I've used reconstituted powdered milk with lemon juice added, and you could even use just water, but the bread would not be as rich.

**Fresh ground meal has more nutrients, but flax seeds are difficult to grind. I've tried unsuccessfully in a food processor, and my hand grain mill. What I do is store my flax seeds in the fridge, and when I need meal I mix it about half and half with the wheat berries (grains) and find that I can grind that pretty well through my hand grinder. You can try that if you want, realizing that it goes against the instructions of many grain mills, or you can use pre-ground meal, or simply replace it with more wheat flour.

***I measure out my 1/2 cup of honey into a 1 cup glass measuring cup. I pour it out into the mixing bowl and set aside. When it's time for my yeast, I take that measuring cup with the honey residue left in it, fill it with 1/2 cup of warm water and the yeast and mix them all up. I find there is enough honey left in the glass to get the yeast going nicely, and I don't have to stress about scraping every last bit of honey out back at the first step.

****It's my un-scientifically-proven beleif that splitting the top allows the dough to raise just a little bit more when being placed into the oven before the crust forms, allowing the bread to be just a little bit more airy, which for wheat bread is very appreciated.

*****Alternately I bake to an internal temperature of 190*F.

Violet Jelly

Sometimes when I see or read an idea, I know instantly: I will do that. I latch on to it and become determined to make it happen. That's how it was for me when I first heard of wildflower jelly.

Last year I made dandelion jelly first, but was sad to have missed the wild violet season. This year I was determined to make the violet jelly, so I did that first and next I'll do some more dandelion jelly. I got some blossoms from my backyard for my first batch. But I didn't have very many so later we went foraging through the neighborhood for more. I knocked on a neighbor's door and she was surprised but more than happy to let me help myself to her patch of violets.

To make violet jelly you pour boiling water over the blossoms to steep them like tea.
I always strain it through a flour sack towel to keep out all the dirt. (See what got left behind?)
The violet water is a deep blue color, but when you add lemon juice (the acidity is necessary to preserve the jelly) it turns a bright fuchsia color. They really are beautiful.

 Violet Jelly Recipe:

The basic recipe is all over the internet-

2 cups violet blossoms, stems removed.
2 cups boiling water
juice of one lemon
1 package pectin (I used sure-jel for these)
4 cups sugar

Steep blossoms in water overnight. Strain. Add water if needed to make 2 cups. Add lemon juice. Follow directions for your pectin--mine were: Add pectin to juice. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve. Add sugar, return to rolling boil, and boil for one minute exactly. Ladle into jars and process in water bath canner for 10 minutes. (Makes 12 4oz jars)

 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :

Violet Jelly with Honey variation:
I experimented with using honey instead of white sugar to make the jelly. I use Pomona's Pectin. I used one cup of the violet water and followed the directions in Pomona's for a basic jelly. It was 1T lemon juice; 1/4 cup honey; 1 tsp of the calcium water (that comes with the Pomona's Pectin); and 1 tsp of pectin. (Makes 3 4oz jars) Next time I will use a little bit more pectin because it was a pretty loose set, and I may add a bit more honey--it was a very mellow jelly. It definitely has some floral hints to it and I could taste the honey. Obviously the jelly was more cloudy from the honey, but all-natural instead.

Honey Ice Cream

I mentioned I was reading Keeping Bees with Ashley English. Well, my boys couldn't help but be excited about all the bee books around, and Jonas found the recipe for Honey Ice Cream in the recipe section of her book. He wouldn't let us forget about it, so this week we made a batch of backyard honey ice cream.



It was absolutely delicious, as homemade ice cream always is. And it is made with only natural ingredients and honey as the only sweetener. I love when food can be so real, and so delicious.



Honey Ice Cream Recipe:
2 cups milk
2/3 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 large eggs
2 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon vanilla

  Note: This is a custard-type ice cream which uses eggs, the eggs are heated on the stove top and need to be chilled completely before attempting to freeze into ice cream, so prepare the mixture in the morning, or the night before you want to freeze it.

Heat the milk over medium-low heat for 4-5 minutes. Whisk in the honey and salt. Beat the two eggs in a small bowl. Temper the eggs by slowly pouring 1/2 cup of the hot milk into the eggs while quickly stirring. Once they are mixed together you can pour the eggs mixture into the pot of milk without the eggs curdling. Cook for an additional 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent scorching.

Allow mixture to cool completely. Then chill thoroughly, 8-12 hours.

Prepare ice cream freezer. Pour in milk mixture, vanilla and cream. Freeze according to the directions for your ice cream maker.

Ice cream always comes out of the mixer a bit of a soft-serve consistency, if you prefer harder ice cream, transfer to a chilled freezer-proof container and freeze four hours to harden.

Enjoy!

Leftover Oatmeal Bread

The ultimate definition of thrift is taking something unusable and resurrecting it into something of real great value.

No one likes rubbery leftover oatmeal. We've tried to save helpings leftover from breakfast and reheat them later--maybe adding a little bit of milk to brighten it up--but it's still not the same as a steaming pot of freshly-cooked oatmeal. So we've tried giving old oatmeal to the chickens, and --truth be told-- they love it, but I just still feel like throwing it out to the chickens was a bit of an extreme sentence for the crimes of the old oatmeal.



I knew there had to be a better option. Adding them to bread seemed like a perfect idea. I consulted Alton Brown, for his food savvy, and adjusted the recipe to our own food preferences (whole wheat and honey). Our oatmeal was steel cut oats and included a little bit of dairy and honey, but rolled oat oatmeal could be used as well.



Leftover Oatmeal Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups leftover, cooked oatmeal, at room temperature
1/4 cup warm water
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for bowl and pan

1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup bread flour, plus 1/2 cup extra for kneading
1/4 cup toasted uncooked old fashioned rolled oats, plus 1 tablespoon extra for topping
1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon water

Directions:

Toast the raw oats if desired.

Combine the leftover cooked oatmeal, warm water, honey, and 1 tablespoon of oil in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Combine the yeast, bread flour, 1/4 cup toasted, uncooked oats, and the salt in a small mixing bowl.

Add the dry mixture to the cooked oatmeal mixture in 3 installments and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon after each addition.

Spread last 1/2 cup of bread flour on a counter. Turn the dough onto it and knead by hand for 10 minutes, adding more flour, if needed. Dough will still be a little sticky. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl or container. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise until the dough has doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Punch down the dough, shape it into a loaf, and put it into a lightly oiled 9 by 5-inch loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

Remove dough from refrigerator. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the egg yolk and water in a small bowl. Lightly brush the top of the loaf with egg wash and sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon toasted, uncooked oats. Bake about 55 minutes to 1 hour. Remove the loaf from the pan to a cooling rack for 30 minutes before slicing and serving.

Autumn Apple Butternut Soup

It's amazingly satisfying to cook with my own produce and the other fruits of my labors.
I made a favorite recipe of ours recently: Butternut Apple Soup. I was excited to see so much of my own efforts go into the soup. Two decent-sized butternut squash. (We let them sit on the shelf for a while to fully ripen since their vines died before they were ripe.) Frozen applesauce I made this summer from my freezer. Honey from our backyard beehive harvest . I'd love to can my own chicken broth but haven't done that yet.
Butternut Apple Soup Recipe
3 cups chicken broth
1 medium butternut squash peeled, seeded, and cubed to 1 inch pieces
1 Lg apple peeled and cubed
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 1/2 T honey
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cream

In a large pot bring the broth and squash to a simmer. Add the apples, applesauce, honey, ginger, and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to med-low, simmer for 15 minutes. At this point you can begin to mash the squash against the side of the pot with a spoon. Add cream, cook for another 10-15 stirring/mashing occasionally until you reach your desired consistency. You can just puree it with a stick blender too. Salt to you own taste.

Indian Fry Bread

We were looking for a way to enjoy our fresh honey harvest.  We didn't have any bread for toast, but I'm an Arizona girl, and I can't think of anything better to enjoy golden raw honey on than hot fresh Indian fry bread!

When I was little living up in the White Mountains we called them "Navajo Tacos" because the Native Americans would serve the fry bread topped with beans, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes with a dollop of sour cream on top.  They would serve them in the lodge at the ski slopes we went to on the reservation.  After skiing we were always hungry enough for the taco version, but the dessert version of the fry bread with honey drizzled on top can't be beat for a sweet treat.

My mom got her recipe for fry bread from the newspaper in AZ.  Sometimes newspaper recipes can turn out the very best!  This is one of those times.  So here is my mom's Indian Fry Bread Recipe, and.  (Don't forget to follow all hot oil kitchen safety rules--especially with kids around.)   

Indian Fry Bread
Serves 8

4 cups flour
1 Tbl baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 Tbl powdered milk
1 1/4 -1 1/2 cups warm water
Shortening or other frying oil

Melt shortening or other oil in a large skillet, dutch oven,  or wok.  (Should be at least 3/4 inch of oil.)  Heat to 500*F.

Meanwhile, combine flour, baking powder, salt and milk powder in large mixing bowl.  (You can do this by hand or with a dough hook.)  Gradually stir in warm water.  Mix until dough forms a ball and comes clean from edge of bowl.  Knead until elastic.  Divide dough into 8 pieces.  Pat into circles and roll to 1/4 inch thickness.  

Slip one dough circle into hot fat.  Turn once when underside is brown.  Remove from oil, drain on paper towels.  Repeat with remaining dough.

Homemade Granola Bars

I've been working on this recipe for a long time. This is an instance where I wanted to replicate my favorite store brand, so that's why it is the way it is. This includes the addition of crisp rice cereal (and peanut butter chips). This cereal really helps keep the bar light. Even with that addition these bars still have way less preservatives than what the grocery store sells. But if you want-- exchange them out for more oats.

Homemade Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bar Recipe:

3/4 C butter, softened
1/2 C honey
1/2 C packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 C rolled oats
1 1/2 C crisp rice cereal
1/2 C chocolate chips
1/2 C peanut butter chips
1/2 C peanut pieces (I put peanuts in a plastic bag and give my son a mallet and 60 seconds.)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly butter one 9x13 inch pan.

In a large mixing bowl combine the butter, honey, and brown sugar. Add the vanilla, flour, and baking soda, mix to combine. Add the oats, crisp rice and remaining mix-ins. Firmly press mixture into the prepared pan. Bake at 325 degrees F for 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. When you remove from oven, use the back of a spatula to press down and compact the bars. (This will make them easier to hold without them falling apart.)Let cool for 10 minutes then cut into bars. Let bars cool completely in pan before removing or serving.

**For oatmeal raisin granola bars leave out chips and peanuts, add 1 cup raisins.

Makes 24 1 x 4 inch granola bars. Freeze extras--though I doubt there'll be any.

Sourdough English Muffins

Recipe adapted from: Bake Your Own Bread & Be Healthier/Stan & Floss Dworkin The Night Before:
1 C starter
2 tablespoons honey
2 C reconstituted powdered skimmed milk (or whole milk)
4 C unbleached white flour

Mix starter, honey and milk in mixing bowl until smooth. Add 4 C flour, 2 C at a time, and mix in. Cover with clean towel and leave at room temperature.

The Morning of:
1 scant teaspoon baking soda
1-2 C unbleached white flour
2 tsp sea salt
cornmeal for sprinkling.

Stir down mixture. Sprinkle a scant teaspoon baking soda and 2 teaspoons sea salt over the surface of the dough and work in.

Flour your counter with ½ C of flour. Transfer dough to counter on top of flour pour ½ c flour on top of dough and work flour in. Add up to 1 cup more flour until the dough longer sticks to your hands is stiff enough to roll out. Knead for 5 minutes.
Line 2 baking sheets with waxed paper, sprinkle corn meal over both.

Flour counter again and lightly roll dough to about 1/2-inch thick. Take a 3 inch round cutter and cut as many rounds as you can-rolling out the left over dough and cutting more until the dough is all used.

As you cut each round, place it on the cornmealed wax paper. Don't allow muffins to touch or they will stick. When all rounds are cut, sprinkle corn meal over the tops of the muffins.

Allow to rise in warm place, covered, for about one hour.
Preheat a griddle 300*F or flat pan over medium. Cook one side for about 5 minutes or until golden brown and flip. Cook on other side for about 5 minutes or until done.

Split with a fork and top with a fried egg and cheese or marmalade.

Makes 24 Muffins (Freeze leftovers!)