Bread and Breakfast Archives | Page 25 of 25

Healthy Treat for Today: Whole Wheat Donuts

March 18, 2008 by Laura 97 Comments

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My dad…whom my boys call, Papa, is famous around here for buying us donuts when he comes to town. It’s become a big deal…one that the boys won’t let Papa forget about. (“Hi Papa…did you bring us donuts?…oh, and we’re also glad you’re here…”)

One Saturday morning…I decided to make homemade (and healthier) donuts for the family. I got up early…ground wheat into flour…mixed up the dough, rolled them out, fried them up…and made a special hot fudge sauce to drizzle over them. I put them on a pretty platter…poured glasses of fresh milk…and called the boys down for breakfast.

I cheerfully and excitedly greeted them with flour on my face and my hair all frazzled from all the work of making these fresh off the stove donuts…

And my three year old lit up and said, “Oh!! Did Papa make us DONUTS?!”

Huh. I go to all this trouble…and Papa gets all the credit.

sigh :)

Well, they liked my donuts just as much Papa’s…and I loved that these were a pretty healthy treat!

(Papa really got a big kick out of that story, of course..)

I hope you’ll get a big kick out of this recipe!

Whole Wheat Cake Donuts (or should I call them, “Papa’s Special”?)!Yum

3 ¼ cup whole wheat flour
2 t. baking powder
½ t. cinnamon
¼ t. salt
¼ t. nutmeg
2/3 cup rapadura (dehydrated cane sugar juice) or sucanat
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter
Oil for frying (I use palm shortening or coconut oil)

Mix dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Stir in eggs, vanilla, milk and melted butter. Knead dough a few minutes to make sure all ingredients are mixed thoroughly.
On a floured surface, roll dough to ½ inch thickness. Cut with donut cutter, or biscuit cutter. Heat oil in skillet or electric skillet…enough to cover the bottom of the skillet about ¼ inch. Place donuts into the hot oil to fry for 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove from skillet and place on a paper towel lined plate. Sprinkle a mixture of rapadura and cinnamon, or sprinkle organic powdered sugar over the hot donuts.

Yum! Anytime I want a special breakfast treat for my family…these donuts work for me!

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Kids in the Kitchen, pt. 5: Monkey Bread and Monkey Business

March 14, 2008 by Laura 19 Comments

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Yesterday I mentioned making monkey bread with all four of my monkeys in the kitchen. While there were times of craziness when we were putting this together – really, really we did have fun! (All of us…even me.)

Monkey Bread Tutorial 2

Yum

I wanted to share this recipe with you, as it is a healthy (uses only whole wheat flour and unprocessed sugars), yummy treat that is fun to make with your kids. It does take a bit of time to make, but you do it in stages, and the time spent is worth it!

I simply used my Honey Whole Wheat Bread recipe, but instead of forming loaves as normal, we made it into this wonderful, sweet cinnamon pull apart bread for our breakfast.

How to Make Whole Wheat Monkey Bread

Kids in the Kitchen, pt. 5: Monkey Bread and Monkey Business

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Author: Laura

Ingredients

6 cups whole wheat flour, divided
1 ¾ cups warm water, divided
⅓ cup honey
1 package yeast (2¼ teaspoons)
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 T. melted butter

Instructions

Mix 3 cups of whole wheat flour with 1 ½ cups of warm water in a large glass bowl. Allow this to sit for about 30 minutes. This will break down the gluten and help the bread to rise better.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl mix together ¼ cup water, yeast and honey. Allow this to sit for about 10 minutes, or until the yeast is activated and mixture becomes bubbly.
Add salt, melted butter and yeast mixture to the flour and water mixture. Gradually add the remaining three cups of flour and stir well.
As the dough becomes harder to stir, pour it out onto a clean counter and begin to knead the dough. Add a little flour if needed to keep it from sticking. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes.
Place the ball of dough back into the bowl and cover it with a cloth. Allow the dough to rise for one hour, or until it has doubled in size.
Using a floured hand, pull the dough out of the bowl onto the counter. Knead for just a minute or two until the air bubbles are gone.
Melt one stick of butter.
In a medium bowl, mix together 1 cup rapadura and 3 t. cinnamon.
Pull off small fits of dough and roll them around in your hands to form a ball.
Dip the ball of dough into the melted butter, then roll it around in the cinnamon/rapadura mixture.
Place the covered ball into a buttered bread pan or angel food cake pan.
Continue to dip bits of dough in butter and cinnamon/rapadura. Fill pan ½ full. You should be able to make two pans.
Allow the dough to rise for about 30 minutes.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.

Here are a few picture highlights of our Monkey Business:

Once the dough had risen and needed to be punched down…EVERYONE wanted to be a part of that. I mean – it’s permission to punch something. What little boy doesn’t want THAT?!

Asa got to knead the dough, and I’m not sure what Justus and Malachi are licking off their fingers there…flour? Okay you two – wash your hands…again.

Not to be outdone by the biggest brother, Justus and Elias needed to knead too.
Asa got the butter melting on the stove.

Justus smeared butter all over the bread pans.

Malachi stirred up the rapadura and cinnamon mixture.

And then EVERYONE got to pull off balls of dough and do the fun rolling and dipping and making ooey-gooey bread part.

Ah, the beautiful loaves, rising and almost ready to go into the oven.

Monkey bread!! Can’t you just smell it?!

The next morning, I rewarmed it a little and we had it with milk for breakfast. When the boys woke up smelling it, they jumped out of bed and ran downstairs.

All the way down the stairs, I was hearing monkey noises, “Ooo Ooo…Aah…Aah..” in high pitched tones and looked over to see four monkeys making their way into the kitchen. And that is how my monkey bread morning began.

(At least they didn’t start picking bugs off of each other and eating them. My monkey’s are slightly tamer than that.)

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Healthy Treat for Today: Applesauce Bread

March 5, 2008 by Laura 132 Comments

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Wanna know the biggest problem I had with my Applesauce Bread this morning?!

applesauce_bread

Yum

I only made one loaf! What was I thinking?!

We downed the whole loaf very quickly…

And then, “Mom, did you make anymore?” say all the boys as they peek around in hope at all the countertops and at the oven.

So, be warned, you might want to double this recipe if you’re going to wake your family up some morning to the delicious smell of this bread baking.

And, it is a great way to wake your family, I promise!

5.0 from 1 reviews

Healthy Treat for Today: Applesauce Bread

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Author: Laura

Serves: 1 loaf

Ingredients

1½ cups whole wheat flour
¾ cup sucanat or ½ cup honey
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¾ cup applesauce
2 eggs
¼ cup melted butter

Instructions

Mix dry ingredients.
Make a well in the center and add applesauce, eggs, and butter.
Stir well.
Pour batter into one buttered bread pan or stone.
Bake at 350° for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean.

Check out these cutie boys eating their Aplesauce Bread this morning with butter melted on it, with a glass of milk…

See, Malachi has his green cell phone handy right there – ready to call someone to let them
know what a great breakfast he’s having. (I can’t believe my kids were actually this little once!)

This is one of our favorite fall recipes! Put some in the oven, and your whole house will smell like fall. Or Christmas. Or comfort. Or all of the above.

Hint: If you have some apples that are beginning to get mushy and no one wants to eat them – simply core them and put them into a food processor or blender. Puree them, then stir them into this recipe. Works like a charm!

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Healthy Treat For Today: Smoothies

February 26, 2008 by Laura 23 Comments

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There really is no limit when it comes to smoothies.

smoothies

Yum

Whip out your blender and you can make them with just about any combination of ingredients:

Yogurt or kefir, berries, peaches, apples, bananas, juice, cream, milk…

How about spinach smoothies?

Yes, and they’re good too. Really. I’m not kidding.

I made myself one yesterday. Ain’t it purty?

Heather mentioned some smoothie suggestions a few weeks ago at the beginning of the NO SUGAR Plunge. Here are her great ideas:

The Ultimate Smoothie:
half a Banana
four to six frozen strawberries
half cup plain yogurt
half to one cup orange juice
one Tbsp Flax seeds (ground in coffee grinder)

In a blender add the banana, strawberries, yogurt, and orange juice. Blend until smooth. Add the flax seeds and whey, blend until evenly distributed. Pour in two glasses and enjoy! Makes 2 smoothies or cut ingredients for a solo one!

Change the fruits to make a whole new kind of smoothie.
Tropical- Fresh banana, frozen mango, pineapple juice
Very Berry– Fresh blueberries, frozen raspberries, pomegranate juice
Peachy Dreams– Fresh strawberries, frozen peaches, orange juice

Thanks, Heather for sending us those!

I really like mixing my homemade yogurt or kefir (kefir is a lot like yogurt, just a little runnier) and a variety of frozen fruits, a tiny bit of vanilla and a few drops of stevia to sweeten. Blend it up and you’ve got breakfast or a snack or a side dish at lunch.

And I know you’re dying to find out how I made my spinach smoothie…’cause you really want to hop right up and make one yourself!

It was a banana, and apple, a big handful of spinach leaves, about a half cup of water and a few drops of stevia. Trust me, it mostly tastes like banana and apple. You can use any kinds of greens – I just happened to have spinach on hand.

What do you put in your smoothies?

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Making Homemade Soft Pretzels

February 13, 2008 by Laura 309 Comments

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Brace yourself. The Soft Pretzels recipe I am about to share with you is INCREDIBLE!

Whole_Wheat_Soft_Pretzels

Yum

Ask anyone who’s ever tried them. People have even called me the “Pretzel Lady”. (I’m sure they’ve even called me the “Beautiful Pretzel Lady” and the “Unbelievably Intelligent and Witty Pretzel Lady” behind my back.)

I used to sell these at our local farmers market each week. On my best week, I sold over 100 of them in less than 17 minutes (yes, I timed it).

Here is the recipe and the step by step tutorial on how to make Laura’s Amazing Soft Pretzels:

Whole Wheat Soft Pretzels

Making Homemade Soft Pretzels

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Author: Laura

Serves: 20-24

Ingredients

1 cup water
2 Tablespoon yeast
2 teaspoon honey
2½ cups milk
1 stick butter
½ cup honey
4 teaspoon sea salt
8 cups whole wheat flour (more or less as needed)
butter
salt

Instructions

In a large bowl, mix 1 cup warm water, yeast, and honey.
Stir this together and kind of mush the yeast around.
Let this sit for a few minutes while you do the next step.
Melt a stick of butter in a large saucepan.
Add honey, butter, salt, and milk. Heat this to 120 degrees.
Pour milk mixture into yeast mixture and stir.
Stir in 8 cups of flour, 2 cups at a time. (add more if you need it)
Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes.
Plop it into a bowl, cover it and let it rise for 1-1½ hours.
Pull it out of the bowl and knead it a few times to get the air out.
Pull a ball of dough, about the size of your fist off and get ready to make your very first pretzel!
Roll it into a long snake.
Twist the ends together, then twist it again (pictures below are helpful)
Pick up the ends and pull them down to the bottom.
After you shape each pretzel, put them on a cookie sheet about an inch apart.
Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
Melt a stick of butter in a saucepan.
Right when you take the pretzels out of the oven, slather them with butter. Lay it on thick. Don't hold back.
Sprinkle salt over the buttered pretzels.

(You can make these with white flour and white sugar if you want to have a delicious mound of empty calories…but I have found that using these healthier ingredients does not make us like these pretzels any less!)

Please make no snide remarks about my blueish, boney hands. It is always a little cold in my house and my hands are never quite warm AND I inherited my Nana’s boney hands and I know my Nana would have never allowed her hands to be put on a blog while she lovingly told you how to shape a pretzel because she was ashamed of her boney hands, but I’m okay with it. I’m not embarassed at all. Not one bit.

After all the pretzel twisting, it should look like this. If it doesn’t, just undo it and try again. By the time you get to the end of shaping your big blob of dough into pretzels, you’ll have the hang of it and be able to talk on the phone, make a grocery list, check your email, tie someone’s shoe AND shape a pretzel, ALL AT THE SAME TIME!

If at all possible, eat one right out of the oven. They are good two days later too, but OH MY GOODNESS, you HAVE to eat one right out of the oven!

With a glass of milk.

If you really want to have fun, shape some into hearts for Valentines Day!

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