Pumpkin Whole Grain Bread

I love Fall.  The good news is, we have been having Fall weather here in Queens.  Recently I bought 4 Sugar Pumpkins, for 99 cents each.  My daughter Haley really wanted to color one and make a Jack O' Lantern but I said no.  These pumpkins were destined for wonderful recipes.  My children are divided into two groups, half are Pumpkin Pie eaters and the other half like Apple Pie.  This bread actually appealed to three of my four children.  My fourth child is the pickiest eater EVER.  He has few things he isn't afraid to eat. We can claim that 3 out of 4 of my children love this recipe and you should try it out.  I also had a chance to use my pressure cooker to prepare the pumpkin, it is a really good way to cook a pumpkin quickly.  

 My home smelled amazing while this bread was in the oven baking, and it is  delicious too.

Ingredients:

1 cup Brown Rice Flour
1 cup Oat Flour
1 cup Spelt Flour
      *You can substitute these three flours for only whole wheat or all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground Cloves
2 teaspoons ground Cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground Nutmeg
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
3 cups Cane Sugar (or white granulated sugar)
3/4 cup Coconut Oil (1 cup melted butter)
3 Eggs
16 ounces Pureed Pumpkin (or 16 ounce can of pumpkin puree)

Cut a sugar pumpkin in half, remove seeds, place on rack in pressure cooker with 1/2 inch water                    cover with lid and cook on high for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit

Mix flour(s), cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl
or a zip top bag like I did.

 Mix eggs, sugar, and coconut oil in mixing bowl with whisk attachment on low until combined.

 Add pumpkin puree.

 So far so good and all mixed.

 Add flours in three stages and mix in between.

 We are all ready to go.

 Pour batter into 1 large or 2 small bread pans coated with non-stick spray and flour.

Bake for one hour or until knife comes out clean.

 Remove from oven and allow to cool on rack.

When it has cooled, slice and serve.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Whole Grain Bread

Printable Recipe Found Here

Ingredients:

1 cup Brown Rice Flour
1 cup Oat Flour
1 cup Spelt Flour
      *You can substitute these three flours for only whole wheat or all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground Cloves
2 teaspoons ground Cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground Nutmeg
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
3 cups Cane Sugar (or white granulated sugar)
3/4 cup Coconut Oil (1 cup melted butter)
3 Eggs
16 ounces Pureed Pumpkin (or 16 ounce can of pumpkin puree)

Process for Pumpkin Puree:

Cut a sugar pumpkin in half, remove seeds, place on rack in pressure cooker with 1/2 inch water                    cover with lid and cook on high for 20 minutes.

Process for Pumpkin Bread:

Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit

Mix flour(s), cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl.

Mix eggs, sugar, and coconut oil in mixing bowl with whisk attachment on low until combined.

Add pumpkin puree.

Add flours in three stages and mix in between.

Pour batter into 1 large or 2 bread pans coated with non-stick spray and flour.

Bake for one hour or until knife comes out clean.

Remove from oven and allow to cool on rack.

Enjoy!

Cheese Crackers

I remember my friend Misty telling me years ago she missed crunchy snacks, they were short on money.  Crunchy snacks are the first food to skip when your food budget needs to be cut.  My family had a food budget issue a couple years ago as well and Misty is right.   Crunchy snacks are so yummy, but not required, so they are the first to be cut from the pantry.  I like cheese crackers (my ultimate crunchy snack) a lot, so when my cooking mindset was, need is the mother of invention, I figured out how to make cheese crackers.  Today I decided to change the recipe.   Since I have a WonderMill, why not use it.  I ground up some brown rice for my crackers, so these crackers are gluten free.   Sorry they are not dairy free though.  The other change was to use sharp cheddar.  I grew up eating mild cheddar. It wasn't until after I was married that my palet opened up to all sort of cheeses with much stronger flavors.  Sharp cheddar will make these crackers over the top cheese, so please don't substitute the cheese.  You have my blessing and permission to use any sort of flour, but do not change the cheese.

 Cheese packed crunchy snacks, you are my comfort snack.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Brown Rice Flour (or your choice of flour)
12 ounces finely shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1/2 cup Softened Butter
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
2 tablespoons Milk

Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit.

 Combine all the ingredients together in a mixer with a paddle attachment or in a food processor.

 Mix until a dough forms.

Portion the dough into quarters and roll a piece at a time between to pieces of parchment paper the same size as the cookie sheets you will bake the crackers on.  Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick.

Cut the dough into one inch squares, using  toothpick poke the middle of each dough square once.

Gently lift dough on parchment paper to cookie sheets.  

Bake for 12-15 minutes until the edges begin to brown.

 Allow crackers to cool completely on a wire rack.

 Store crackers in airtight container for up to 3 days.

Enjoy!

Cheese Crackers

Printable Recipe Found Here

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Brown Rice Flour (or your choice of flour)
12 ounces finely shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1/2 cup Softened Butter
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
2 tablespoons Milk

Process:

Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit.

Combine all the ingredients together in a mixer with a paddle attachment or in a food processor.

Mix until a dough forms.

Portion the dough into quarters and roll a piece at a time between to pieces of parchment paper the same size as the cookie sheets you will bake the crackers on.  Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick.

Cut the dough into one inch squares, using  toothpick poke the middle of each dough square once.

Gently lift dough on parchment paper to cookie sheets.  

Bake for 12-15 minutes until the edges begin to brown.

Allow crackers to cool completely on a wire rack.

Store crackers in airtight container for up to 3 days.

Enjoy!

Multigrain Pasta

I've been working on a recipe for whole grain pasta these past few months.  Today's recipe was sort of a everything but the kitchen sink type recipe.  I added every whole grain I had to make pasta dough. Stay tuned, I'm not done experimenting on my family, I mean experimenting with food and my family. My multigrain pasta includes equal parts: brown rice, spelt, pearled barley, rolled oats, semolina, and 00 Typo Flour.  I milled most of these myself except the semolina and 00 Typo Flour.  You can also buy these as flour.

 Spaghetti and meatballs, they go together like bread and butter, chili and cornbread. 

 Ingredients for this recipe are: 4 cups multigrain flour (brown rice, spelt, pearled barley, rolled
oats, semolina, and 00 Typo Flour), 6 eggs, 2 teaspoons salt, and 2 tablespoons Olive Oil.

 Mix flours and salt together in a large bowl.  Make a well in the flour and add eggs and Olive Oil.  Using fingers or fork beat the eggs.

Begin mixing flour into eggs, and continue until dough is together.   Knead the dough for a
few minutes.

 Form a ball with the dough.   Rub olive oil on ball.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rest
 for 30 minutes.

Divide dough into 8 portions. At this point invite a family member or friend to help roll out the
dough.  My friend Bridget helped me roll out this pasta while I made meatballs and sauce.
Bridget also had help from my daughter and her son.

 Roll dough through pasta machine on highest setting, 7 and work the dough through the
subsequent roller settings, 6, 5, 4, and 3.  When you have rolled through the 3 setting it is time
to cut the pasta. 

 

We made a lot of spaghetti.

Here it is with turkey meatballs and sauce.  Very yummy.

Enjoy!