Heavenly Homemakers

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How to Make EASY Pita Bread

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I shared this Easy Pita Bread recipe here several years ago. But I decided that it’s worth sharing again as we head into fall baking season. Ready to watch some bread-making magic?

Don’t let the idea of making Homemade Pita Bread scare you! It’s as easy as:

  1. Mixing a few basic ingredients together.
  2. Rolling dough into little circles.
  3. Baking the little circles at high heat until they puff up and turn brown.

Also, filling them with delicious meat salads is quite fun too. Our favorites are:

  1. Chicken Salad
  2. Tuna Salad

Making Pita Bread will make you feel like a fancy cook, even though the work involved really isn’t at all complicated. Plus, watching the bread puff up in the oven is a lot of fun!

How to Make Easy Pita BreadYum

How to Make EASY Pita Bread
 
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Serves: 16
Ingredients
  • 3 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground whole wheat from hard white wheat)
  • 1½ teaspoons yeast
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 Tablespoons honey
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cup warm water
Instructions
  1. Stir together flour, yeast, and sea salt.
  2. Add honey, oil, and water, stirring until a nice dough forms.
  3. Knead the dough on a well floured surface for 4-5 minutes. (In other words: Mix dry ingredients. Add liquid ingredients. Stir well. Knead.) See? Easy.
  4. Place dough back into the bowl, cover, and allow dough to rest and rise for about an hour.
  5. Pull dough out of the bowl.
  6. Knead for about 30 seconds.
  7. Cut dough into eight equal parts.
  8. Roll each into a circle, about six or seven inches in diameter.
  9. Place circles directly onto a baking sheet after rolling.
  10. I baked mine on a well seasoned baking stone, so didn't find that I needed to grease my pan, but feel free to grease yours if you need to.
  11. Allow the dough circles to rest/rise on the baking sheet while you heat your oven to 500°.
  12. Place baking sheet of pita circles into hot oven.
  13. Bake for 5-8 minutes - just long enough for them to puff up and brown slightly.
  14. Allow pitas to cool, slice in half, and serve as desired.

Have you ever tried making Pita Bread before? What are your best suggestions for Pita Bread filling?

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Easy Whole Grain Cherry Muffins

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Why have I not thought to make Cherry Muffins before?

I was inspired a few weeks ago after helping out at our church’s monthly food bank distribution.

It’s one of my favorite days of the month, by the way. Well over 100 families are served, and they get to pick up lots and lots of food to help meet their grocery needs for the month. I’ve loved taking as many of our boys as are available each time. Yes, even the little boys. Brayden stays with a big brother and helps transport boxes of food in wagons. Boy Babe hangs out with me. Without even trying, he makes all the people waiting in line smile. Then they often start telling me about their kids and grandkids. It’s fantastic.

As a perk, after all the community has been served, if there are any food leftovers we volunteers can go through the line and take what we can use. In August, there were huge bags of dried cherries available. I snatched one right up with the idea to make trail mix. But then I got the idea to try these Whole Grain Cherry Muffins.

Not too shabby of an idea if I do say so myself.

I love that we can take a basic muffin recipe and add so many different add-ins. Fruit, nuts, chocolate chips – so many great options! Find a huge list of other muffin recipes here, many of which are simple tweaks to the recipe below.

For this particular recipe, I added a hand full of dried cherries, then a splash of lemon juice to make them extra tart and flavorful!

Easy Whole Grain Cherry MuffinsYum

Easy Whole Grain Cherry Muffins
 
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Serves: 9-12
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups whole grain flour (I use freshly ground soft white wheat.)
  • ⅓ cup sugar (sucanat, brown sugar, honey, whatever your preference)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 egg
  • ¾ cup milk
  • ¼ cup sour cream
  • ¼ cup melted coconut oil
  • 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
  • ½ cup dried cherries
Instructions
  1. Mix dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
  2. Add egg, milk, sour cream, coconut oil, and lemon juice.
  3. Stir well, then fold in dried cherries.
  4. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups.
  5. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 18-22 minutes or until muffins are golden brown.

**Do you have our Simple Mixes to Save the Day eBook yet? Grab it so you can save time and energy by using the Muffin Mix for this recipe!! I LOVE having these mixes on hand!!!

Simply exchange the dry ingredients in this recipe for 2 cups of Muffin Mix. :)

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Easy Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

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Sure, banana bread is delicious. But why not take it a notch above and add some chocolate chips? I’m guessing that no one would argue if you made Chocolate Chip Banana Bread…

Even if you made it with whole grains, who’s gonna know? No one. You know why? Because it still tastes delicious. It’s still moist. And there are chocolate chips in it. It’s an amazing treat!

How many times have I said that I wished more food could be made from “spoiled” food. What I mean is – after bananas turn black, we can use them to make fantastic treats like this Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. Why can’t everything be made into something wonderful after it’s past its prime?

Everything should be like a banana.

By the way, this recipe is made millions of times better simply by adding sour cream. Mmm, always add sour cream. :)

Easy Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Banana BreadYum

Easy Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
 
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Serves: 1 loaf
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground soft white wheat)
  • ½ cup sugar, brown sugar, or sucanat
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 cup mashed over-ripe bananas (about 2-3 bananas)
  • ½ cup sour cream or plain yogurt
  • ⅓ cup melted coconut oil or butter
  • 2 eggs
  • ⅓ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. In a large mixing bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
  2. Add mashed bananas, oil, sour cream and eggs.
  3. Stir until ingredients are well combined.
  4. Fold in chocolate chips.1
  5. Pour mixture into a buttered bread pan.
  6. Bake in a 350 degree oven for one hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

 

Lately, Brayden and I have been making lots of loaves of this Chocolate Chip Banana Bread to share with friends. He’s becoming quite the chef and loves delivering treats to friends.

It sure is fun to share pictures of our son. Here are more photos of his big adoption day in case you missed it. :)

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Easiest Healthy Pancake Recipes

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Did you see our post sharing Easiest Whole Wheat Bread recipes? I thought it would be fun to follow that one with a post sharing Easiest Healthy Pancake recipes!

Easiest Healthy Pancake RecipesYum

We all love pancakes at our house – often for dinner even more than for breakfast! We’ve tried many recipes through the years, and these are our favorites. For the record, we find that pancakes made on a Cast Iron Griddle taste the best!

Simple Pancake Mix Pancakes

I used to make pancakes from scratch each time, which is quite easy and fast because pancakes aren’t hard to make in the least. But for the past couple of years, I’ve been making huge batches of Pancake and Waffle Mix from the recipe in the Simple Mixes to Save the Day eCookbook. Now making pancakes is even faster and easier than before. I love this mix!

—– > I just discounted the book so everyone can have access to it at a much lower cost. All of the mixes in that book are a huge time and money saver! < ——

Check out this book here.

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Whole Wheat Pancakes

This is my tried-and-true pancake recipe that inspired the Pancake Mix recipe above. This recipe is easy and quick, truly perfect for breakfast or dinner!

Peanut Butter Pancakes

Want a little protein in your pancakes? These are so delicious, and if you add chocolate chips to them? Well, we all know how good peanut butter and chocolate tastes together!

Pumpkin Pancakes

Pumpkin Pancakes taste perfect during crisp fall weather days.

Easy Whole Grain Chocolate Pancakes

It goes without saying that these taste great topped with berries. Or we can go with the chocolate/peanut butter idea from above and spread peanut butter all over these cakes.

Simple Banana Pancakes

Have over-ripe bananas but want to make something other than Banana Bread? Whisk them into these Banana Pancakes. So good!

Whole Wheat Applesauce Pancakes

Like the Pumpkin Pancakes mentioned above, these are wonderful in the fall!

Baked Apple Pancake

Speaking of fall and apples, if you have an abundance of apples and want to try something new, this is an amazing option!

Easy Pancake Muffins

Here’s a super fun variety to a traditional pancake. These work great to take on the go!

Whole Wheat Waffles

Not to be outdone, here’s our favorite easy waffle recipe!

If you give a friend a pancake recipe, you’ll need to give her some pancake toppings to go with them…

Here are our favorite pancake toppings:

I think it’s time for a pancake dinner!

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Easy Cheesecake Topped Treat Recipes

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After you read this list of Easy Cheesecake Topped Treat Recipes, you will most definitely need to stock up on cream cheese. Most of us would agree: cream cheese makes everything better. And usually, it is on sale this time of year.

Why make treats topped with cheesecake? Do I even need to explain this?

You see, the treats in and of themselves are wonderful. Muffins, cookie bars, you can’t go wrong. But then if you whip up a cheesecake mixture and bake it on top of the already wonderful treat? Well, this is where we all sing and dance and shout for joy. Cheesecake-topped muffins! Cheesecake-topped cookie bars! SERVED FOR BREAKFAST!!!! With a cup of coffee or a glass of milk. This is the most delicious.

So let’s get started, shall we?

Easy Cheesecake Topped Treat Recipes

Yum

We just shared the latest and possibly the best, our Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars. These are a favorite because of the chocolate chips sprinkled over the cheesecake.

 

That recipe came about by tweaking our Whole Grain Raspberry Cheesecake Bars recipe. We simply switched the raspberry jam for chocolate chips. I personally like the raspberry variety better. AND, you can switch out the raspberry jam with any flavor you like!

Say yes to these Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars and you’ll be happy you did. They are perfect for an autumn treat!

Of course, we tweaked the bar recipe and turned it into a pie. And then we added chocolate chips. It’s the same recipe, just “fancier” so we highly recommend this Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie.

Now it’s time to talk about muffins. All of these are basic, wholesome muffin recipes with the same cheesecake topping baked on to add amazingness!

Easy Blueberry Cheesecake Muffins


Easy Chocolate Cheesecake Muffins

Easy Banana Cheesecake Muffins

Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

Easy Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Muffins

Easy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Muffins

See? I told you that you were going to want to stock up on cream cheese after reading this post. Cheesecake baked on top of treats makes them incredible!

Here’s a quick bullet list of all the Cheesecake Topped Recipes:

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Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars

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Perhaps you have become great friends with the infamous Whole Grain Raspberry Cheesecake Bars? If not, you must. And now, you must also get to know our new friend, the Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars. Where has this friend been your whole life?

But speaking of whole, it is fantastic to know that these bars are made with whole grains. But no one, not even the boxed poptart lovers out there, will realize that these are packed with delightful nutrition. I know this because I fed a batch to a bunch of teenage boys who were visiting our home and who had just polished off a box of poptarts they had brought over. The next morning, I presented them with these bars.

Perhaps it was the added chocolate chips that made these so inviting. Well yeah, of course it was the chocolate chips. Still, they gobbled these down with a pitcher of iced coffee and some fruit, thanking me for the great breakfast like the sweet boys that they are.

It’s so fun to make treats like this that provide nourishment while still being “not weird.” You cannot go wrong with the words “chocolate chips” and “cheesecake bars” in the same title, am I right?

So get yourself some oats (which you probably already have), some chocolate chips (which you probably already have), some whole wheat flour (which you probably already have), and some cream cheese and some butter (please tell me you keep a lifetime supply of these golden ingredients on hand at all times). You will love these delightful Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars!

Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Cheesecake BarsYum

5.0 from 2 reviews
Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars
 
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Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground soft white wheat)
  • 1½ cups rolled oats
  • ½ cup sucanat or brown sugar
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 cup melted butter
  • ½ cup chocolate chips
  • CHEESECAKE LAYER:
  • 8-ounces softened cream cheese
  • 1 egg
  • 2 Tablespoons real maple syrup
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Mix together flour, oats, sucanat, baking powder, and salt.
  2. Stir in melted butter until the mixture resembles crumbs.
  3. Press half of the mixture into an 8x8 inch baking pan.
  4. In a blender or with beaters, whip together cream cheese, egg, maple syrup, and vanilla.
  5. Spread this cheesecake layer over the top of the oat layer.
  6. Sprinkle ½ of the chocolate chips over the cheesecake layer.
  7. Drop spoonfuls of remaining oat mixture on top of the cheesecake layer, then sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top.
  8. Bake in a 350° oven for 45 minutes or until lightly browned.

 

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Easiest Whole Wheat Bread Recipes

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After sharing my thoughts about buying a Nutrimill and grinding fresh flour for homemade bread, I thought it would be fun to make a list of the easiest whole wheat bread recipes I love and recommend.

We’ll start from the “hardest” recipe to the easiest – but I put that in quotes because once you get the hang of making bread, it definitely isn’t difficult in the least. Still, you’ll see that the final recipe I share requires no kneading and is so easy that a three-year-old can make it. There’s video to prove it! So I suppose these recipes will go in order of more detailed to practically effortless. And with every recipe, the end result is amazing homemade bread!

Easiest Whole Wheat Bread RecipesYum

1. Honey Whole Wheat Bread

I first shared this recipe back when my 4th son was little enough to sit on the countertop. He’s taller than me now and has to shave once a week, so that tells you how far our family and this site has come.

Either way, this Honey Whole Wheat Bread recipe is wonderfully delicious, calls for only 6 simple ingredients, and is delightful when made with freshly ground hard white wheat. I highly recommend that you click over to read the recipe and the details as you will find:

  • A step-by-step guide for making homemade bread
  • A video showing how to knead bread dough
  • A video showing how to shape a nice loaf of bread

Get our Honey Whole Wheat Bread recipe here!

2. Monkey Bread

If you want to use the above mentioned Honey Whole Wheat Bread recipe to make cinnamon-sugar rolled Monkey Bread, you should click over to get all the details! Our older four boys were all so small then, helping me and making messes.

Get our Monkey Bread recipe here.

3. Whole Wheat Pita Bread

Want to know how much fun it is to make Pita Bread? You should try this easy recipe! Again, this one calls for just 6 basic ingredients, and it is deliciously fun to watch them puff up in the oven!

Get our Easy Whole Wheat Pita Bread recipe here.

4. Easy Overnight No-Knead Yeast Bread

This is a super fun way to enjoy homemade bread for breakfast without much effort! Mix it up the night before, bake it in the morning. It’s fantastic!

Get our Overnight No-Knead Whole Wheat Bread recipe here.

5. One-Hour Whole Wheat Yeast Rolls

You’re beginning to think I’m lazy, huh? Hey, when we can make homemade bread and rolls without having to break a sweat, who am I to argue? And when we can have homemade rolls in one entire hour without much work? Everyone wins.

Get our One Hour Whole Wheat No-Knead recipe here.

6. Stir-and-Pour Whole Wheat Bread

This is the one I was telling you about earlier – it’s so easy a 3-year old can make it!

I’ve started making this recipe almost exclusively now simply because I don’t have to do any work to have homemade bread for my family! Mix the ingredients, pour it into a baking pan, bake it, and have homemade bread. What could be better or easier?

Get our Stir-and-Pour Whole Wheat Bread recipe here.

As fall approaches, I’m getting pretty excited to start baking again. My family probably won’t mind. ;)

What are your favorite easy bread recipes?

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INCREDIBLE Whole Grain Raspberry Cheesecake Bars

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Stop what you are doing right now and make these Whole Grain Raspberry Cheesecake Bars!! Well, maybe finish reading this post so you can get the recipe. Otherwise though, the making of these bars should become a very high priority. My family is in love with them!

As it happens, one day I decided to experiment with combining my Raspberry Oatmeal Bar recipe with my Crustless Cheesecake recipe. The result is this incredible, layered dish of delightfulness.

The cheesecake filling bakes right into the bars, creating a fantastic moist texture with raspberry cheesecake flavor. Truly, each bite of these bars is full of WOW.

As a bonus to the deliciousness of these Raspberry Cheesecake Bars, we get to enjoy the nourishment of whole grains, healthy fats, and low sugar content. I personally find nothing wrong with serving these bars for breakfast. But they are also wonderful as a dessert!

Whole Grain Raspberry Cheesecake BarsYum

5.0 from 1 reviews
Whole Grain Raspberry Cheesecake Bars
 
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Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups whole wheat flour
  • 1½ cups rolled oats
  • ½ cup sucanat or brown sugar
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 cup melted butter
  • ½ cup 100% raspberry jam
  • CHEESECAKE LAYER:
  • 8-ounces softened cream cheese
  • 1 egg
  • 2 Tablespoons real maple syrup
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Mix together flour, oats, sucanat, baking powder, and salt.
  2. Stir in melted butter until the mixture resembles crumbs.
  3. Press half of the mixture into an 8x8 inch baking pan.
  4. Spread jam over the top.
  5. In a blender or with beaters, whip together cream cheese, egg, maple syrup, and vanilla.
  6. Spread this cheesecake layer over the top of the jam.
  7. Sprinkle remaining oat mixture on top of the cheesecake layer.
  8. Bake in a 350° oven for 45 minutes or until lightly browned.

Not a fan of raspberries? Substitute any of your favorite jams or jellies. And my next experiment will likely include something involving chocolate too! (You are shocked, I’m sure.)

Want more info?

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Easy Whole Grain Chocolate Pancakes

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This recipe is so easy I’m not sure why we haven’t been making this for years and years. Not to spoil the punch-line, but it is a fact that we can make Whole Grain Chocolate Pancakes simply by whisking some unsweetened cocoa powder into our pancake batter. Yup, it’s that easy!

I’ve always loved fresh berries and whipped cream on my pancakes, but on Chocolate Pancakes? Be still my heart.

Or on another day, I might spread homemade peanut butter over my chocolate pancake for a fabulous chocolate peanut butter combo. You know, for the added protein. Yes, that’s why I do it. ;)

The topping possibilities for these Easy Whole Grain Chocolate Pancakes are endless, and I love the fun and ease of turning regular pancakes into a chocolate surprise.

I always have a big container of Homemade Pancake Mix on hand, so making a batch of these pancakes is even easier! Here’s how I make these:

Easy Whole Grain Chocolate Pancakes

Easy Chocolate Pancakes
 
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Serves: 4 servings
Ingredients
  • 1 cup whole grain flour (I use freshly ground hard white wheat)
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • OR 1 Cup Pancake Mix**
  • 3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 cup cultured buttermilk or regular milk
  • 1 egg
  • 3 Tablespoons melted butter (or oil)
Instructions
  1. Whisk together the ingredients until the batter is smooth.
  2. Cook pancakes on a well buttered, hot skillet or griddle, flipping once bubbles begin to form.
  3. Serve with real maple syrup, applesauce, jelly, fresh fruit, or any of your favorite pancake toppings.

Recipes for you!

Here are our favorite pancake toppings:

Resources for you!

  • Do yourself a favor and order any of the Unsweetened Cocoa Powders from Olive Nation. (And use the code home to get 20% off!) I can’t tell you what a wonderful difference these cocoa powders have made in my chocolate recipes. The quality is MUCH better, and they do not cost more than I was spending on the lesser varieties. Rock on!
  • Do you have our **Simple Mixes to Save the Day eBook yet? Grab it so you can save time and energy by using the Pancake Mix for this recipe!! I LOVE having these mixes on hand!!![wp_eStore_fancy1 id=27]

What are your favorite pancake toppings?

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40+ Real Food Muffin Recipes

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Muffin lovers, unite! And bring your chocolate chips when you come. Some of the 40+ real food muffin recipes we’re about to share are going to need them.

40 + Real Food Muffin Recipes

For eleven years now, I’ve been posting muffin recipes here to share with you. We decided it would be nice to list them all in one place for you to access! But first, two of my favorite muffin-making tips…

  1. Make Muffin Batter ahead of time!

    Follow this tutorial to easily freeze muffin batter for later. I love this time-saving trick.

  2. Make Muffin Mix!

    Make a big batch of Muffin Mix so you can easily whip up a pan of muffins without getting out all the ingredients!

And now it’s time to share our favorite muffin recipes. These are all either whole grain or grain free!

40+ Real Food Muffin RecipesYum

My boys’ favorite muffins are the Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins. Matt’s favorite is the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffin. My favorites are any that are topped with cheesecake!

What’s your favorite kind of muffin?

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