Baking Sourdough Bread.

I like baking bread. There's just something about kneading the dough, letting it rise, and then smelling that goodness wafe out of the oven. On a cold day, it really brings a warm and cozy feeling to the home when the scent of baking bread drifts through the house. Plus there's the bonus of relieving stress and toning your arms when kneading the dough!

I normally make a wheat flour yeast bread. But I've been reading alot about the benefits of Sourdough, and wanted to make some again. I made Sourdough starter and successfully made a few batches of bread last year, but then somehow killed my starter and never made another (I think I fed it too much flour, and too little water one day).

I wanted to try my hand at it again, and this time keep the starter going.

The recipe I used is from Above Rubies issue 76. It is from the kitchen of Serene Allison, and has been used by her family with great results. I do not lay claim to this recipe at all, but I just wanted to show you how I did it, and how easy it is to make a few good loaves of healthy Sourdough Bread.

To see Serene make this recipe in her kitchen, you can go the the Above Rubies YouTube page, or you can look up the recipe in the Above Rubies magazine archive.

I made the starter with:

1 cup Rye Flour
1 cup filtered water
1 tspn honey
Mixed all together in a glass jar that was sterilized. I sterilized it by pouring boiling water from my teapot into it and swishing it around, emptied the water, and let it cool.
Covered with a cheesecloth secured with a rubber band, and set on top of the fridge.

Day 2-6
Each day I sterilized a gallon beverage pitcher, with boiling water, let cool. Poured the starter into the clean container, and mixed in 1 cup Rye Flour and 1 cup water. I noticed that the starter would be pretty thick in the mornings, and since the rye flour does seem to absorb liquid more than wheat, I added a little over a cup of water each day. Probably closer to 1 1/4 cup water. Recovered with a cheesecloth and rubber band, and returned it to the top of the fridge to just let it do it's thing.

Day 4 this is what my starter looked like.

By day 7 I had about 3 quarts of starter, that had a fresh sour smell, and was nice and bubbly throughout.

Thursday night was mixing night. To prepare I dressed in my most comfy socks and donned my favourite apron.



I believe the success of the bread depends on how cozy your feet are when kneading the bread. No matter who you are, you need good comfy socks to make great bread. At least in my kitchen.

Next I greased 5 bread pans with Coconut oil


This recipe makes a larger batch, so you'll need a big bowl to mix it in. I use my dishpan. Scrub it out with hot soapy water, let air dry, and it's good to go.

In the dish pan I measured in 8 cups of my starter, not perfect cups so it could be a little more than 8 cups.



To that I added 1 handful of coarse sea salt, approx 2 1/2 - 3 Tblspns worth of coarse Sea Salt. Then added 6 cups Spelt flour, 2 cups wheat flour, and approx 6 1/2 cups Stoneground Rye flour. With a wooden or sturdy plastic spoon, mix it in till it's a really thick glob.



It almost looks like damp sand that's stuck together.
Then the fun part came. :) I filled a 2 quart jar with filtered water to the 7 cup line. I started by adding 5 cups of water, mixing it in with my hands. You could try mixing it with a spoon, but it's really thick and you would need a really sturdy spoon or utensil. I mixed a little, added a little water, and mixed some more, added a little more, and mixed some more till it was a good consistency. This is not a typical dough that is kneaded on a counter top. It's like a really thick cake batter, and it almost feels like kneading glue that's just starting to harden. This starts out kind of thin, but thickens when the gluten starts to come together. After kneading about five minutes the consistency felt just about right. It was still pretty gooey, but holding together and becoming elastic.



I would of gotten an action pic of my hands in the midst of the goo, but it's hard to hold the phone with dough covered hands.

I then dipped the dough into the waiting bread pans. I used Serene's suggestion by using a table or cereal bowl to use to dip the dough. (Wet the bowl, scoop up some dough, and the dough should flop right out into the pan.) The bread pans are just over 1/2 - 3/4 full.

Cover filled bread pans with a cheesecloth or towel to discourage any little critters from becoming extra protein in your bread.

The pans are sitting on the counter, rising till morning. I'll pop them in to bake (350 deg F for about 1 hour) when I wake up, and the smell of fresh bread should be welcoming my 3 little chicklets when they stumble out of bed.

I'm not left with much of an aftermath to clean up. With my normal yeast bread I have to scrape and wipe down the counter top where I kneaded the bread, plus wash the mixing bowl, the rising bowl, the spoons, etc. Tonight all I have is the dishpan to re wash, and a few measuring cups, a few spoons, and my big jar. Less than a full sink full of dishes and no flour on my counter! Sounds like a winner to me!



The remaining starer, I fed again
1 cup Rye flour
1 cup approx filtered water.

This is what it looks like after being used and fed again.

By continuing to feed it everyday, I should have enough starter to make another batch within a week. With this making 5 generous loaves, this should be enough bread to last my family till the next batch comes out of the oven.

Meal Plan Monday - Daniel Fast Recipes

Vegetarian Crock Pot Chili

2 Tablespoons Oil (Olive, Canola, or Coconut)
3 cups chopped onion (white or red)
3 cups chopped green pepper
2 cups chopped celery
4 - 16 oz cans Pinto Beans, drained and rinsed
2 - 28oz cans whole tomatoes
2 - 6oz cans tomato paste
3 cups water
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
2 Tablespoons Chili Powder (more or less to taste)
1 Tablespoon ground Cumin
2 Teaspoons oregano
1 Teaspoon pepper
1 - 16 oz pkg firm tofu (optional)


Place all ingredients except tofu in a large crock pot. Cook on low (6-8 hours) or high (4-6 hours).
20 minutes before serving, with a potato masher, mash the whole tomatoes (don't have to take them out of the crock pot, just press the masher into the crock a few times)
If Tofu is desired, open package and wrap tofu in paper towels. Press lightly to remove any excess moisture. Cube tofu into about 1/2" cubes. Gently stir into chili.
Cover and warm, stirring gently, till tofu is warm.
Serve with a side of whole grain wild rice, brown rice, or quinoa. Or serve on top of prepared spaghetti squash with some marinara for a version of 3 way chili.
Top with vegetarian cheese if desired.

Vegetarian wraps

1 whole grain tortilla OR one large Romaine lettuce leaf, washed and patted dry
1-2 oz vegetarian cheese, sliced thin
Hummus
1/4 Red pepper, seeded, and thinkly sliced lengthways
1-2 cups mixed prepared Romaine lettuce and baby Spinach leaves
1 Tablespoon Honey Mustard
1 Tablespoon mashed advocado

On the tortilla or the lettuce leaf, spread hummus, layer the cheese, sliced pepper, and mixed lettuce to fill. Top with mustard. Start to fold and roll tortilla/lettuce leaf. Spread the mashed advocado near where the seams will meet up to help seal the wrap, and finish rolling up the wrap.

Eat with a piece of fruit or some berries.

Enjoy

Black Bean Salsa
1 15 oz can petite diced tomatoes -undrained
1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen corn
2-3 green onions, finely diced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 cup loosely packed chopped cilantro
1 lime
sea salt

In a large bowl, combine diced tomatoes, tomato juice, black beans, frozen corn, green onions, cumin, cilantro. Cut lime in half, and squeeze juice into salsa. (If you like more lime juice, use another lime). Add sea salt to taste.
Cover and let set overnight in refrigerator to let the flavors meld.

Spaghetti Squash Supreme
1 large spaghetti squash
1 - 16oz Box Firm tofu (optional)
1 small red onoin, chopped
4-6 medium mushrooms, rinsed and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
1 small green bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
1 -15 oz can petite diced tomatoes
1 cup chopped spinach - tightly packed in measuring cup
4-8 oz vegetarian cheese
Paprika

To prepare Spaghetti Squash, cut in half. Scoop out seeds with a spoon. Put in a large dutch oven or pot, skin side down/cut half up, with about 1 2 inches of water. Simmer on stovetop till tender, about 30 minutes. Remove squash from pot, and fluff strands with a fork. Scrape strands out into a bowl.

In a large pan, heat oil. Saute all vegetables till tender but not too mushy. Remove tofu from package, wrap in a paper towel and press lightly to remove moisture. Cube into 1/2" cubes. Add to pan with vegetables. Heat till tofu is warm, stirring gently.

Mix tofu/vegetable mixture into the spaghetti squash.

Grate cheese and sprinkle on top.

Creamy Corn Potato Soup
Oil (oilive, canola, or coconut)
1-2 cans of corn.
6 medium to large Red Potatoes, cleaned and diced into about 1/2"cubes
6 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 large red onoin, peeled and finely diced
2 green or red peppers, seeded and finely diced
2 bay leaves
3 teaspoons marjoram
3 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspoons pepper
3 - 32 oz boxes vegetable broth
water

In bottom of a large stock pot, drizzle oil. Heat slightly. Add vegetables and spices. (Add the 1st can of corn, then rest of veggies. If more corn is desired add the second can). Saute vegetables over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes. Add broth. Heat to a slow boil. Reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove from heat.
If a creamier texture is desired: Remove about 3/4 of the soup in small batches and blend. Keep the blended soup in a separate bowl till all the batches are blended, then add the blended soup back to the larger pot. OR lightly blend soup in the stock pot with an immersion blender.
Add water if desired to thin to preferred consistency.

Quinoa
1 cup Quinoa, rinsed in a strainer
2 cups water or vegetable broth.
1 medium onion - diced
1-2 garlic cloves, minced.

In a sauce pan over medium heat, put water or broth, and bring to a light boil. Add diced onion, garlic, and Quinoa. Bring back to a slow boil, reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and fluff.

Keeping little hands busy - Home Made Modeling Clay

1 16 oz box baking soda
1 cup cornstarch
1 1/4 cups COLD water
Food coloring

In a large microwaveable mixing bowl, combine soda and cornstarch. In a separate 2 cup measuring cup combine water and food coloring. Stir to distribute coloring evenly. Pour colored water into soda mixture. Stir until smooth.

Microwave on high for 4 minutes. Or until mixture is stiff but can still be stirred. Stop after each minute and stir, then microwave another minute, stir, etc till stiff. Cover with a damp towel and let cool. Knead it until smooth. Store in airtight containers or plastic baggies.

Meal Plan Monday

Good Morning Fruit Salad

3 medium green apples - cut into about 1/2" chunks
2 medium oranges - peeled and cut into about 1/2" chunks
1 1/2 cups frozen raspberries
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries
2 cups frozen strawberries
1 cup green or red seedless grapes
1 Tablespoon Honey

Mix all together in a medium to large bowl. Let sit overnight in refrigerator.
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Weekly Meal Plan

Monday
Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs, Fruit, Milk
Lunch: Fruit Salad, Turkey franks, carrot sticks
Snack: Baked Oatmeal and cheese sticks
Dinner: Turkey Fajitas, Black Bean Salsa, Salad, Milk/Water

Tuesday
Breakfast: Crockpot oatmeal, blueberries or strawberries, Milk
Lunch: Toasted Cheese Quesadillas, Celery Sticks, Peanut Butter
Snacks: Apple slices and deviled eggs
Dinner: Turkey or Chicken Enchiladas, salad, water

Wednesday
Breakfast: Spinach and cheese crepes
Lunch: Peanut butter roll ups, cheese sticks, fruit salad
Snack: Bananas and peanut butter balls
Dinner: Dinner at church

Thursday
Breakfast: Mushroom, pepper, onion omelette
Lunch: Turkey and oatmeal steaks, cheese, tortillas, apple slices
Snack: Deviled eggs and carrot sticks
Dinner: Grilled Chicken and Asparagus, Peas, Salad

Friday
Breakfast: Yogurt and fruit salad
Lunch: Grilled Chicken and Spinach Salad, Orange Slices
Snack: Apple Slices, Peanut butter, cheese sticks
Dinner: Chicken and broccoli rice casserole

Saturday
Breakfast: Pancakes, turkey sausage, eggs, milk
Rest of Day: Leftovers

Sunday
Breakfast: Breakfast Casserole
Dinner: Roast Rosemary Chicken

Tomatoeless Stuffed Peppers

Friday Show and Tell time with Canada Girl!

If you want to join us
Click here!

My Friday's show and tell isn't really a show and tell... because I don't have any pitures. I killed my digital camera a few weeks ago, and my phone will not link with my new computer. Go figure.

Anyway...

My meal planned for last night was stuffed peppers. I started pulling all of my ingredients out to get some early prep done, and I realized I have NO TOMATO SAUCE! Not only did I not have any tomato sauce, I had no tomatoes in any form!

What to do? All of the recipes I have seen for stuffed peppers called for tomato (sauce, crushed, diced, etc...) Do I put this recipe off and quick thaw something else, or do I improvise?

I decided to improvise! I scrounged around in my cabinet to see what I could find. I found one lone can of chicken broth that had been forgotten. So I decided to try that and see how it turned out. My family loved them, and actually asked for more, which never happens when I make stuffed peppers.

So here's my "improvised" recipe:

Tomato-less Stuffed Peppers

• 4 medium green bell peppers.
• 1 cup brown rice, uncooked
• 1 cup dry black beans, or 1 can black beans
• 1 lb ground turkey sausage
• 1 1/2 tspn basil (optional)
  
• 1 can chicken broth
• 8 oz block of cheddar cheese

Quick soak black beans, and then simmer on stove top. While beans are simmering, steam brown rice. Place rice in steamer and use 2 cups chicken broth in place of water for the rice. Steam until rice is done. Thaw and brown turkey sausage. Retain juice from turkey sausage and set aside until time to assemble stuffed peppers.

45 minutes before dinner time, pre heat oven to 400 degrees F. Pull out a 9x13 baking pan. Lightly grease if need be.

Wash green peppers. Cut peppers in half from TOP to BOTTOM! (Not cutting the tops off). Rinse insides and remove seeds and stem. Pat dry.

In a bowl, combine black beans, turkey sausage, 1 1/2 cups to 2 cups brown rice. Add basil if desired. Mix together. Scoop mixture into each pepper half and place in 9x13 dish.

While peppers are baking, grate cheese. With a kitchen scale measure cheese into 8 1oz portions.

Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees F. Turn off oven. Pull out baking dish and top each stuffed peppers with 1 oz shredded cheddar. Place dish back in oven for a few minutes to melt cheese.

Serve to your family :)

Be Blessed

Save money.... make yogurt!

Today I'm working up a batch of yogurt. Yogurt is a pretty popular item at our house.
It's versatility is only limited by our imagination. It can be eaten as is out of the cup, mixed in a smoothie, topped with granola, mixed in with fruit, frozen for a cool snack, or even used to baste a chicken in a roaster to add a unique flavor. It can even be used as a face mask!

If I let them, my girls would eat three or four cups of it a day. They love it.

When we are out and about on errand day I will stop at Braums and our lunch will be from the mini grocery store: yogurt, fruit , cheese, sunflower nuts, and water or milk. (Healthy fast food for under $15.00 for all of us!)
Braums has their yogurt for about $.59 for a 6 oz flavored portion or an 8 oz plain unflavored portion.

Needless to say, if I bought all the yogurt we ate from the store it could really add up cost wise.
This is one area that making it yourself could free up some extra dollars to be used elsewhere.
All you need to make yogurt is:

• A yogurt incubator or a makeshift yogurt incubator
• Milk
• Dry non fat instant milk powder (optional)
• Sweetener (optional)
• 1/2 to 1 cup plain non fat yogurt for your "starter"
• Vanilla extract of flavoring of choice (optional)
• A candy thermometor
• A pan to heat the milk in
• Time to scald milk, cool milk, and pour into an incubator

I picked up two Salton yogurt incubators from a thrift store for about $5.00. They work great and each one makes 5 6 oz portions. If you don't have an incubator you can use glass pint or quart size mason jars and come up with a makeshift incubator.

My milk comes from Swan's Dairy in Claremore. Each gallon is $3.75 and it is raw, organic, unhomogenized milk. I have tried recipes that use only reconstituted dry milk but I didn't like the taste and consistency. If I have dry milk on hand I'll add some to my batch for some extra protien, but if I don't I don't worry about it. The yogurt comes out fine without it.

I like to use honey, stevia, or sucralose (Splenda) for sweetener, but will use sugar if I'm in a pinch.

Your starter can be store bought plain yogurt or it can be yogurt from your last batch. If you use store bought yogurt for your starter be sure the label says it has live active cultures.

Lets add up the cost of home made yogurt and compare it to the cost of store bought yogurt.

1 gallon milk can make 4 batches of 5 6oz portions of plain yogurt (20 portions over all). 2 cups store bought yogurt can be starter for 4 batches, or you can use yogurt from prior batches. 1 1/3 cups dry milk is optional but I'll include it here. Sweetener is optional as well... but what the hey... let's include that cost too.

• Milk $3.75 per gallon
• $1.20 for 2 cups starter yogurt
• Estimating $2.00 for the dry milk
• Estimation $2.00 for the honey or sucralose used for sweetener
• $9.00 approx total cost for 20 portions

Each 6 oz portion is approximately .49. Now that's adding in the cost for the dry milk, the store bought starter if you didn't have a prior batch to use, and the cost of honey. Omitting the dry milk and swetener would of course reduce the cost of each portion.

But even with that factored in, $.49 cents versus $.59 cents per portion looks better for me! Over 20 portions I will save about $3.00. I'll take that thank you very much!

It doesn't look like much but that will add up even if you just stick it in you kids piggy banks. Plus the fact that home made yogurt is fresher and I know what went into it makes it even more worth it.

There are plenty of home made yogurt recipes out there... so I won't regurgitate one by typing it all out here. But I'll give you plenty of links to information on how to make your own. And hey... some even have pictures!!!

http://livinglifereal.blogspot.com/2008/04/homemade-yogurt.html

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1625,149188-255198,00.html

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/000176.html

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Yogurt

This one has techniques to make yogurt without a yogurt incubator: http://homecooking.about.com/od/dairyrecipes/r/bldairy7.htm

These two are the recipes I use: http://homecooking.about.com/od/dairyrecipes/r/bldairy9.htm

http://homecooking.about.com/od/dairyrecipes/r/bldairy8.htm

The "Never Ending" pot of beans

It's amazing how versatile beans can be, and how long one pot of them can last. Last week was tight. We had extra expenses come out of hubby's check and I wasn't able to spend as much on groceries as I wish. (Fact is, I hardly ever get to spend as much as I want, but this week was much leaner :) ) So I got to be creative.
With God's help of course (smile).
I found a recipe for Black Bean Soup http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/blackbeansoup2.htm. When i made it I added rice to make it a little more substantial. Served with home made bread, salad, milk and tea. It was yummy! And there were left overs.
The next night I added 2 cans of Cream of Mushroom Soup and some more rice to thicken up the leftovers. I used 4 large whole weat wraps and filled them with 1/2cup to 1cup of the black bean mixture, rolled them up, topped them with green enchilada sauce and cheese, and baked them. Another yummy dinner from that pot of beans. And still leftovers.
The following night, I added 1 or 2 cans of petite diced tomatoes. Then I halved 4 large green peppers, filled each half with 1/2 cup bean mixture, topped with grated Cheddar Cheese and baked it. Served with salad and Iced tea. We even had enough for company that night. :) Night #3 on that pot of beans. And still there were leftovers.
The next day was shopping day for me. I wanted to finish off those leftovers so they wouldn't go to waste and spoil. I cooked 2 boneless chicken breast halves and diced them well. Mixed them into the beans, used it to fill whole wheat tortillas. There was just the right amount to fill enough tortillas for a 9x13 baking dish. It was quick and easy, and still yummy.
My hubby tries to follow the Zone Diet, so these meals weren't quite balanced for him. But still some what nutritious for the time and money they required.
If you ever find yourself in a lean time.... remember to be content. Find your contentment IN GOD, but don't be satisfied with your current situations. Always ask God to help you be creative with what you have, and believe God for bigger and better things in your future.
Hoping your day today is blessed.