Blender Pancakes

I love it when a wonderful recipe just falls into my lap.  My sister in law, Rochelle, emailed me this recipe one morning.  This is what she had to say about the recipe, "I was given this recipe a while ago and it has become a regular breakfast choice.  We like them so much that they are preferred above regular pancakes.  They are an easy way to use your food storage and get some grains in your diet." She's not kidding, this recipe uses a bunch of food storage ingredients, which is always a good thing.

Now I have to admit, I was skeptical.  My blender is not top of the line.  It works fine for making smoothies and such, but I was worried it would not be up to the task of grinding up hard red wheat kernels.  But I figured "what the heck, you only live once, right?" and gave it a try.  I am so glad that I did.  My blender was up to the task, and I discovered that this is a super easy recipe that is quick enough to whip up even on a busy school morning.

Blender Pancakes
1 ¼ cups water
1 cup whole wheat kernels
¼ cup powdered milk
1 egg
2 Tbs oil
1 Tbs honey or sugar
½ tsp salt
1 Tbs baking powder

Place water, wheat kernels, and dry milk in the blender and mix on high for 3 minutes. Add egg, oil, honey, and salt. Blend for 20 seconds. Add baking powder. Pulse three times, just enough to mix. Mixture should foam up and get very light.

Cook immediately on hot nonstick griddle.

Rochelle also added that if you do have an amazing blender like a vita mix or blend tech to not mix for the full 3 minutes or it will turn into bread dough.  Like I said, not a problem for my blender, I was just happy the wheat ground up at all :)

And if you really want to make them doubly delicious click here to make Vanilla Pancake Syrup to pour over the top!

Thanks for a great recipe Rochelle!!!!!

Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Wow, it's been a really long time!  Life is too busy.  I just finished making some AWESOME cookies from my fresh ground whole white wheat flour :)  So these are healthy right?!?!?!  They are definitely a delicious way to eat food storage.  I haven't told my family they are made from whole wheat flour - no need to get them all suspicious about eating them.  I left the "whole wheat" part out of the recipe title too.  So here we go -

Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (I ground white wheat for this recipe)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup unsweetened baking cocoa (I have cans of this in my food storage too!)
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar (part of my food storage :)
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 large eggs
6 oz white chocolate bar, chopped 1/2 inch pieces (or 1 cup chips)
6 oz dark chocolate bar, chopped 1/2 inch pieces (or 1 cup chips)

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease (spray and wipe off) or line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat.

2. In a medium bowl, combine whole wheat flour, soda, salt and cocoa with a wire whisk. In large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Stir in vanilla. Add eggs one at a time. Combine completely. While mixing add flour mixture 1/2 cup or so at a time.

3. Hand stir-in chopped chocolates. Drop by tablespoonsful onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes. Cool on cookie sheets for 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks for cooling completely.  I usually like to eat my cookies warm, but I prefer these the next day after they have been stored tightly wrapped or in a ziplock - they get nice and fudgy.

Now I like to bake only a dozen cookies at a time - that way we don't eat too many! So after baking a dozen, I take the remainder of the dough and roll it up in plastic wrap in the shape of a tube (like you would find cookie dough in the grocery store). 

If I want to make it pretty, I wrap that in parchment paper. This dough can be refrigerated up to 1 week, or frozen for up to 6 months. 

To bake just take it out of the refrigerator (frozen dough should be thawed in the refrigerator for 24 hours), cut 1/4 inch slices, place on a cookie sheet and bake at 350° for 12 minutes.

And if you want to make bar cookies, lightly grease and spread dough into a 9x13 pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Seriously.  Good.

My Very Own 100% Whole Wheat Bread Recipe

Well, what does one do with a 25 pound bag of wheat?  A family staple at our house is homemade bread.  Seldom do I buy bread from the grocery store.  This recipe has just enough sweetness to entice my kids to like it, and oodles of whole grain nutrition.

I keep the wheat I use regularly in a 5 gallon bucket.  This is my bucket of hard white wheat.  I also use hard red wheat - just depends on the mood I'm in :)

I load about 6 cups of wheat berries into my NutriMill grinder and grind it on high. The FINE - COARSER dial I set so that the arrow is below the "N" in "FINE."

And I get this wonderful whole wheat flour.  It has a much richer flavor when you grind it fresh, and is undoubtedly more nutritious, but I don't tell my kids that!!

Then I use it to make bread, rolls, cookies, pancakes - pretty much any recipe that uses flour.  Here is my 100% Whole Wheat Bread recipe.


Heidi's Hearty 100% Whole Wheat

3 1/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbs molasses
2 Tbs honey
1 1/2  Tbs yeast
3 Tbs butter, cut up
2 tsp salt
6 cups whole wheat flour
3 Tbs dry milk powder
3 Tbs gluten
1 Tbs dough enhancer (optional, but it gives the bread great texture)


Place the warm water, sugar, honey, molasses, salt, yeast and butter in a large bowl.  Stir.  Add 2 cups of the flour, dry milk, gluten, and the dough enhancer.  Stir and let sit 5 minutes.  Stir in remaining flour to form a soft dough.  Turn out on floured surface and knead for 5 minutes.  Set in greased bowl, cover and let rise 1 - 2 hours or until double in bulk.  Punch down and form into bread or rolls.  Let rise again.   Bake at 350° for 35 minutes for bread, and 25 minutes for rolls.

Makes 2 large loaves.

Homemade Laundry Detergent - But Better!

I have recently been making my own laundry detergent for a couple of reasons. One, it saves a ton of money for our family of 6.  Two, when you are trying to store supplies, having a bunch of jugs of laundry soap is very space consuming.  The ingredients to make your own soap take up very little room.

So I was given a recipe to make the detergent, which is the one you find all over the internet.  They all basically contain the same ingredients in different ratios:  A bar of grated Fels Naptha soap, Borax, Arm & Hammer Washing Soda, and the option to add some drops of essential oils for scent.

So I made this recipe a few times, and although I felt good about the savings, and it was kind-of fun to mix up the recipe in a big 5 gallon bucket, I was feeling disappointed when I used it.  I love doing laundry.  I love the smell of the laundry soap, the fresh smell of clean clothes, and the satisfaction of taking a dirty wrinkly item of clothing and turning it into a fresh, clean and folded garment.  This homemade laundry soap was just kind of blah.  The clothes seemed clean-ish, but not deep clean.  I felt like my clothes were all getting dingy.  And the smell was good, but it didn't smell laundry-ish nor did the clean laundry smell linger on the clothes.

So I started experimenting with adding other ingredients.  I noticed that adding a scoop of oxy-clean to the washer along with my homemade detergent really helped eliminate the dingy look the clothes were picking up.  I can get a container of oxy-clean at my local Dollar Tree for, well, a dollar.  I decided to add a container to my recipe.  It was a good idea in concept, but I have never seen so much foam in all my life.  The foam billowed out of the bucket when I added water, and the detergent turned all lumpy.  In my trial and error process, that was definitely an error.  It also didn't solve my problem of making my laundry smell fresher.

Then I ran across this all OXI-Active detergent for $4.69 a bottle.  It already had oxy power in it, but the manufacturer had done all the science to prevent it from foaming up once it hit water.  It also smells fantastic and laundry-ish, so I decided to add a bottle to my recipe.  It is the perfect solution, now my laundry is coming out fresh and clean.  It did drive up the cost per load a bit, but I am still saving tons of money, and I once again feel good about my laundering results.

So, here's my recipe.

Heidi's Homemade Laundry Soap

1 bar Fels Naptha soap

1 1/2 cups Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (not baking soda)

1 1/2 cups Borax

1 cup Sun color safe bleach (I can find this at Dollar Tree)

1 bottle all OXI-Active detergent (28 load size)

(I can find all of the ingredients above at my local Kroger and Dollar Tree.  I have added the links in case you have difficulty finding one of the ingredients)

Grate the Fels Naptha soap and dissolve in a large pot with 12 cups of water over medium high heat.

Pour into a 5 gallon bucket and add the washing soda, borax and color safe bleach. Stir until dissolved.

Add 8 cups of hot water.  Stir and add the bottle of all OXI-Active.  Fill bucket to about 2 inches from the top with tap water.

Let sit for 24 hours.  Stir and use 1/2 cup to 1 cup per load.  I have an old laundry detergent container that I just keep refilling out of my big bucket.  I use 2-3 lids full per load.

This detergent is safe for high efficiency washers.  

Southwest BBQ Chicken Salad

So, now you've rehydrated those black beans and they are ready to use - what should you make with them.  Well here is one recipe that my family really enjoys. . .

Southwest BBQ Chicken Salad

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (still frozen)

1 cup mesquite marinade (or any southwest flavor)

1 bunch  red leaf lettuce, rinsed, drained, and chopped

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1 cup black beans

1 cup cooked corn

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

2 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1 cup crushed tortilla chips

Kraft Honey Hickory Smoke Barbecue Sauce

Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing

1. Earlier in the day place frozen chicken breasts in a crock pot and pour marinade over.  Cook on low for 4 hours.  You could also marinade the chicken overnight and then grill.  Allow chicken to cool and then slice into 1/4 inch strips.

2. To assemble salads:  Divide lettuce between 6 large bowls.  Divide remaining ingredients among the bowls layering cilantro, black beans, corn, cheese, tomatoes, chicken, and chips.  Drizzle lightly with barbecue sauce then top with ranch dressing.  Serve immediately.

Tips

1.  You can use a can of black beans drained and rinsed, or I like to buy my beans dried and soak and cook them (find out how here).  I then drain and divide them into quart size freezer ziplock bags and freeze until needed.  They can be quickly defrosted in the microwave if you forget to get them out earlier.  This is much more economical (1 pound of dried beans is $1 and this makes about 4-6 cans worth).

2.  My husband prefers to use salsa and ranch for his dressing.