Suburban Granola » Cooking

Saturday Mornin’ Poppy Seed Rolls

admin — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 14:17:19 +0000

Don’t let the whole wheat fool you, these rolls ‘aint healthy, but they sure are a tasty Saturday morning treat. They are especially good slathered in my citrus icing!

This recipe is for a batch of 14 plus two ugly yet still yummy end pieces.

Poppy Seed Rolls

1 cup whole wheat flour

3- 3 1/2 cups bread flour

2 1/2 tsp dry yeast

1 cup whole milk

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/4 tsp fiori di sicilia (optional) substitute 1 tsp. vanilla

3 tbsp butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

3 tbsp poppy seeds

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine 2 cups flour and yeast, set aside. In a saucepan heat and stir milk, 1/3 cup sugar and butter until it is almost completely melted. Add to the dry mixture and set on low speed. Add eggs one at a time and the fiori di sicilia or vanilla. Once it is all combined beat at high speed for 3 minutes. Change to the dough hook and add as much of the remaining flour as you can keeping the dough soft. In other words, add less and not more if you can, just enough so it isn’t sticking to the bowl too much. Once the flour is in turn the mixer on low/medium speed to knead the dough for about 5 minutes. It should be smooth and elastic. As it is kneading, lightly grease a bowl for the rise, and two 9″ cake pans to bake them in. Once the dough has been kneaded turn it into the greased bowl and let rise for at least an hour. It should double in size.

Punch down the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes. Turn on to a lightly floured surface and roll out into a rectangle shape about 1/4 of an inch thick. Brush on the 3 tbs butter. I actually ran out and made my own butter.

This is where I remembered to start taking pictures.

Give a healthy coating of poppy seeds, and about a 1/2 cup sugar.

Pay no attention to the fruit. I was also prepping to juice…

Roll the dough up, jelly roll style.

Then slice 1 inch sections.There are different methods to this. You can use thread to wrap around it and pull it but I prefer my serrated bread knife. The knife is conveniently an inch wide so I lay it sideways to measure and cut the pieces evenly.

Place your rolls in the greased pan. This is normally where I cover them with plastic wrap and throw them in the fridge.

In the morning, I pull them out of the fridge and let them rise to double in size. (leave the plastic wrap – or cover with a damp towel or they tend to dry out) It usually takes an hour depending on the temperature of the house. This particular morning it was cold, so I pulled out my dehydrator and set it on the lowest temp and set them in it to proof. It worked like a charm! They could have used a little more time but we were in a hurry.. While they are rising, I make the citrus icing to go on top and preheat the oven to 375.

Bake at 375 for 20 to 25 minutes.

Citrus Cream Cheese Icing

admin — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 14:04:46 +0000

Its heavenly.

2 packages of cream cheese, bring to room temp

2 cups of powdered sugar, give or take to taste

2 small limes

1-2 tbsp of milk

In a stand mixer cream the cheese and powdered sugar. Squeeze the juice of the 2 limes in. Add milk if it is too thick one tablespoon at a time to the desired consistency. Zest the two limes into the mixture. Viola! Citrus Icing!

This icing goes great on my poppy seed rolls!

Green Smoothies

admin — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:09:10 +0000

This past weekend we found some beautiful organic kale at the farmer’s market and I bought a lot. I mean a whole lot. I knew I would need a lot to do some experimenting. I am not a fan of dark leafy greens but they are so good for you that I had to find some ways to incorporate them into our diet. I made some yummy kale chips. Then I thought maybe I could disguise the “earthy, grassy” taste in a smoothie. I found a few internet recipes and yuck…so I started tweaking. This recipe is full of kale and a beautiful green but you can’t really taste it! I have to warn that you can smell a little bit of a grassy smell but you can’t taste it in the slightest. weird.

I am making this for 7 people so if you are making it for less, you will want to scale way back. If you omit the ice you can put leftovers in the fridge to save for later and add a little ice when you are ready to drink it. Because we drink smoothies most every morning, I do this for my late sleeping kid. The one who doesn’t like kale at all *teehee..

Kid Friendly Green Smoothies

1/2 a bunch of kale – stems and all. ( although I think if you take the thicker woodier bits off it tastes better)

1 cup of apple juice

I go ahead and blend it up a little to make room for the other good stuff now.

2 medium bananas

1 pear

a couple of handfuls of green grapes

1/4 of a whole fresh pineapple

1 cup of frozen peaches

1/4 cup coconut – fresh or unsweetened flakes

1-2 cups of ice

Blend again for at least 1 minute, you want to get all the coconut pieces pulverized.

Take a little taste, if it still tastes a little “green” add a little more banana.

ENJOY!

Juliana thinks they are great.

Even my most picky eater loves the green smoothies.

She drank the whole cup and went on to a second one! But she wasn’t about to touch those green beans!!

Kale Chips

admin — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:21:34 +0000

If you read many green blogs, by now you have probably heard of kale chips. And if you aren’t a greens eater you probably haven’t tried them yet. Kale is super good for you. One cup of kale contains 36 calories, 5 grams of fiber, and 15% of the daily requirement of calcium and vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), 40% of magnesium, 180% of vitamin A, 200% of vitamin C, and 1,020% of vitamin K. It is also a good source of minerals copper, potassium, iron, manganese, and phosphorus. I saw recipes floating around on blogs for months, but I wasn’t sold ( I don’t actually like dark leafy greens…) let me tell you, they are really good! They really do get cruchy and chip-like. Even my greens-hating kids chowed down on them. One of them said they tasted like pizza with the Italian seasoning on it. Score 1 for Mom

Kale Chips

1 bunch of kale (any type)

1-2 tbsp olive or grapeseed oil (I prefer grapeseed because it is very mild and stands up well to heat)

a few shakes of Italian seasoning

salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 300* F

Wash and dry the bunch of kale and snip or tear into chip sized pieces. You want to rid them of stalks and any thick stems. Toss them in a bowl with the oil and use your hands to coat all the pieces. You could also add a couple of teaspoons of vinegar for a little extra flavor.

Cover a couple of cookie sheets with parchment paper to keep it from sticking and spread out the chips. Sprinkle them with salt and Italian seasoning and bake for about 30 minutes. Keep an eye on them and if they aren’t quite crisp give them a few more minutes.

Store in an airtight container- if they last that long.

Amelia wanted to see if it tasted as good raw. She smiling, but that was the only bite she took.

Getting Kids(and me) Eating Right

admin — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 05:59:52 +0000

This was supposed to be the SAD diet detox week for me. It has been slow going. I have definitely cut down on processed foods and sugar but dairy and meat have been a little more of a challenge. We are eating the rest of what is (unhealthy) left in the fridge and pantry as to not be wasteful. I had intended on going cold turkey thinking it would be easier, but gradually increasing the amount of fruits and veggies we eat while reducing the amount of meats and dairy we have been eating has been a surprisingly easy way to get the kids on board. I decided that if they wanted to join me in really trying to eat better that I would let them snack whenever they wanted to, and without asking ( provided, of course that they clean up the mess they make). I have never given my kids free reign over their own snacks so to them this is exciting and a very big deal. We are not one of those families that just lets the kids into the pantry and fridge any time they want. I am not trying to deprive them or anything I am just a major control freak. I have very little control over the way may day goes so I feel as if I need a lotta control over the neatness of my home. I have issues, I know. 6 kids= one hot mess. But that’s a whole other post. I found it easier to control the mess in the kitchen by limiting snack times and also to make sure little bellies weren’t full of snacks come dinner. So really, it was all about control. I’ve got to let that go, I mean, kids know when they are hungry right? They don’t need me telling them when their body needs a little refueling. Our definition of snacks is changing, it is no longer anything that comes from a box or a bag. They are allowed to eat any kind of fruit, dried fruit, nuts, veggies or homemade bread they can find and generally speaking we have a wide variety. We also eat meals around the same time every day so they have to eat snack at reasonable times between meals. But since they are eating healthy foods it is not such a big deal to me if they feel like they have to eat something and can’t wait…letting go….control…I made up little snack sized bags of carrots and grapes and stuck them in the fridge along with apples and oranges, I left almonds out where they could easily grab a handful to munch. We are all getting lots more servings of fruits and vegetable in than we were before. I had forgotten how much I love fruit! I have had a crazy sweet tooth lately which is terrible because I am nursing, and when I am nursing I am starving all of the time, and I am eating anything that is not nailed down. Fruit is very helpful with the sweet tooth though, and much more filling than chocolate kisses..

Because my kids are athletes, I feel like it is even more important that they get high quality, nutrient dense foods. How else will they be able to keep their energy up while their bodies and brains are growing? I have also noticed that they are not as grouchy. Maybe because they are feeling better? Winter is fast approaching and I have been reading a lot about strengthening the immune system. Did you know that sugar is the one most damaging thing to your immune system? It’s a great reason to nix it from our diets. Eating foods that we know we have sensitivities or are allergic to also assaults our immune systems. This article made me realize how important it is to remove the foods that my oldest daughter is allergic to. She has an allergy to corn, which is extremely hard to avoid because it is in everything. She is also allergic to fish, peanuts and dairy to a lesser degree. We gave up on eliminating it because corn is in everything and many times not any any ingredient list. Did you know they use corn in the wash for those pre-washed bagged salads?! She was still having severe reactions so we made the choice to use medications. I would love to get her off of them!

So tell me, what kind of snacks do you keep on hand? Do you let your kids eat “on demand”?

Cinnamon Creme Syrup

admin — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 01:37:19 +0000

This topping is great for pancakes and waffles. It also makes a perfect topping for these cinnamon rolls. Also goes great on vanilla ice cream!

Cinnamon Creme Syrup

1/2 cup pure maple butter or pure maple syrup

1/2 can of sweetened condensed milk

2 tbsp butter

1 tsp cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a small microwavable measuring cup. Microwave at 15 second intervals and stir in between. Heat until warm and well combined.

Citrus Poppy Seed Rolls

admin — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 22:56:21 +0000

I adapted this recipe from my cinnamon roll recipe. If given the choice, these are what the family votes for.

4 to 4 1/2 c. all-purpose flour (you can also replace 1 cup whole wheat for 1 cup of all-purpose)

2 1/4 tsp. yeast

1 cup milk

1/8 tsp fiori di sicilia

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter

1/2 tsp. salt

2 eggs

3 tbsp butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

6 tbsp poppy seeds

I use my KitchenAid Artisan 5-qt. Stand Mixer for this recipe. I also always make these the night before and put them in the fridge before the second rise. I pull them out first thing and let them sit on the counter for about 30 minutes while the oven preheats. If I am making the cream cheese icing I will set out a block of cream cheese as well.

In the mixer’s bowl combine 2 cups of flour and the yeast. In a medium saucepan heat and stir the milk, the 1/3 cup sugar and the 1/3 cup butter and salt just until warm and butter almost melts. (120-130 degrees). Add milk mixture to yeast mixture along with the eggs and fiori di sicilia. Put the paddle attachment on the mixer for this step. Beat on low for 30 second until well combined. Scrape sides and beat on medium speed for another 3 minutes. Replace paddle with the bread hook attachment and add as much of the remaining flour as you can.

Using the dough hook, knead the bread at low speed for 3-5 minutes, until elastic. Shape dough into a ball. Place dough into a lightly greased bowl and turn once to grease dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or doubled in size.

Punch dough down and let rest 10 minutes. Lightly grease two 9×1 1/2 in. round pans. Roll dough into a 12×8 rectangle. Brush with the melted 3 tbsp butter. Sprinkle the 1/2 cup sugar and the poppy seeds over the butter. Roll up jelly roll style starting from a long end. Slice into 12 equal pieces. Place into prepared pans. Cover and let rise 30 minutes or until doubled.

Bake in a 375 oven for 20- 25 minutes. Makes 12 large rolls.

For the icing;

1 block of cream cheese, softened.

2 cups powdered sugar

2-4 tbsp orange juice

Mix ingredients in the mixer at medium speed slowly adding orange juice until it reaches the desired consistency. Spread over cooked rolls.

Freezer Cooking & March 22-28th Menu

admin — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 22:47:22 +0000

I love to cook. It is one of my favorite hobbies. But I don’t like to cook every day. Therefore, the fact that I can tend to be extremely busy, unorganized lazy means that our family has been eating out way too much. With a family our size eating out is just not that practical. Eating out is time consuming, most often taking up our precious school time or even worse our relaxed evening family time. Not to mention the cost is enormous. An average restaurant meal for us is about $50 but it wouldn’t be uncommon in a nicer (often healthier) restaurant to spend upward of $100. It adds up very quickly and we can far exceed our monthly grocery budget in just a couple of weeks.

In an effort to save time and money (and effort) I have tried different menu planning techniques . I have tried the once a month freezer cooking, both alone and with partners. It was helpful but didn’t give us the best solution. I have tried pre-prepared food delivery. Easy but very expensive and we didn’t like the food very much and ended up tossing a lot of it. The pre-prepared foods are also very unhealthy. Making my own meals to freeze is definitely the healthiest most cost effective way to go. So this week I am going to try something new. For every dinner I make this week, I am going to double, triple or quadruple the recipe to split and freeze for future meals. I will also do the same thing for breakfast: pancakes/waffles/muffins /breads ad gravy. That way at the end of the week I should have at least 1 week’s worth of dinners and breakfasts cooked or at least prepared and ready to cook and frozen for later use. My goal is to have yummy, healthy meals that save me from cooking when I don’t feel like it and save us a ton of money without having to spend all day or more in the kitchen. I am looking forward to the final days of this pregnancy and the postpartum period when I am not feeling like cooking to be able to pull something from the freezer.

Here is what I have in store for this week:

(with links to some recipes at the bottom)

Breakfast:

Sausage Gravy

Bonnie’s Best Biscuits

Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon Cream Syrup

Citrus Poppy Seed Rolls

Baked French Toast

Farmers Casserole

Dinner:

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

Mexican Rice

Meatloaf

Chicken Soup

Stuffed Peppers

Beef Stroganoff

Green Chili Chicken

Chicken Pot Pie

Cinnamon Rolls

admin — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 20:36:39 +0000

My family prefers this recipe over all others that I have tried. I have adapted it from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (Better Homes & Gardens Plaid).

4 to 4 1/2 c. all-purpose flour (you can also replace 1 cup whole wheat for 1 cup of all-purpose)

2 1/4 tsp. yeast

1 cup milk

1/8 tsp fiori di sicilia

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter

1/2 tsp. salt

2 eggs

3 tbsp butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

I use my KitchenAid Professional 600 Series 6-Quart Stand Mixers for this recipe. I also always make these the night before and put them in the fridge before the second rise. I pull them out first thing and let them sit on the counter for about 30 minutes while the oven preheats. If I am making the cream cheese icing I will set out a block of cream cheese as well.

Punch dough down and let rest 10 minutes. Lightly grease two 9×1 1/2 in. round pans. Roll dough into a 12×8 rectangle. Brush with the melted 3 tbsp butter. Combine the 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the butter. Roll up jelly roll style starting from a long end. Slice into 12 equal pieces. Place into prepared pans. Cover and let rise 30 minutes or until doubled.

Bake in a 375 oven for 20- 25 minutes. Makes 12 large rolls.

My cinnamon creme syrup recipe makes the perfect topping for these or you can use the following recipe for a cream cheese icing.

For the icing;

1 block of cream cheese, softened.

2 cups powdered sugar

2-4 tbsp milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix ingredients in the mixer at medium speed slowly adding milk until it reaches the desired consistency. Spread over cooked rolls.

Week of Jan. 11 Vegan Menu

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:15:43 +0000

Our menus will be changing a little over the next few weeks. There are couple of reasons as to why, the first as a New Years resolution we decided to try harder to move from our “somewhat vegan” status to a “very vegan status. We have all been suffering from low energy, stomach issues and some eczema problems and it seems when we are not so lazy about sticking to our vegan diet we all feel better. The other reason is that we have just found that our oldest daughter has some food allergies we were previously unaware of. She has been suffering from chronic urticaria since she was 5 years old and recently she was getting hives every day. Which meant she had to take benedryl every day and you can imagine how hard it is to function on that medication. We finally got her back in to the allergist and had her allergy tested (for the second time) and she is now allergic to corn, peanuts, fish, dairy, mold, weeds, grass, and…cockroaches *shudder… She loves peanuts so initially I thought this would be the hardest one for her. But this is not so. Did you have any idea that corn is in almost every processed food you eat? Heck, high fructose corn syrup is just about in every main stream packaged food out there. I found this list of corn derived ingredients. Pretty much any obscure ingredient on the label turns out to be some kind of corn based substance. Scary.

Acetic acid
Alcohol
Alpha tocopherol
Artificial flavorings
Artificial sweeteners
Ascorbates
Ascorbic acid
Astaxanthin
Baking powder
Barley malt* (generally OK, but can be contaminated)
Bleached flour*
Blended sugar (sugaridextrose)
Brown sugar* (generally OK if no caramel color)
Calcium citrate
Calcium fumarate
Calcium gluconate
Calcium lactate
Calcium magnesium acetate (CMA)
Calcium stearate
Calcium stearoyl lactylate
Caramel and caramel color
Carbonmethylcellulose sodium
Cellulose microcrystalline
Cellulose, methyl
Cellulose, powdered
Cetearyl glucoside
Choline chloride
Citric acid*
Citrus cloud emulsion (CCS)
Coco glycerides (cocoglycerides)
Confectioners sugar
Corn alcohol, corn gluten
Corn extract
Corn flour
Corn oil, corn oil margarine
Corn starch
Corn sweetener, corn sugar
Corn syrup, corn syrup solids
Corn, popcorn, cornmeal
Cornstarch, cornflour
Crosscarmellose sodium
Crystalline dextrose
Crystalline fructose
Cyclodextrin
DATUM (a dough conditioner)
Decyl glucoside
Decyl polyglucose
Dextrin
Dextrose (also found in IV solutions)
Dextrose anything (such as monohydrate or anhydrous)
d-Gluconic acid
Distilled white vinegar
Drying agent
Erythorbic acid
Erythritol
Ethanol
Ethocel 20
Ethylcellulose
Ethylene
Ethyl acetate
Ethyl alcohol
Ethyl lactate
Ethyl maltol
Fibersol-2
Flavorings*
Food starch
Fructose*
Fruit juice concentrate*
Fumaric acid
Germ/germ meal
Gluconate
Gluconic acid
Glucono delta-lactone
Gluconolactone
Glucosamine
Glucose*
Glucose syrup* (also found in IV solutions)
Glutamate
Gluten
Gluten feed/meal
Glycerides
Glycerin*
Glycerol
Golden syrup
Grits
High fructose corn syrup
Hominy
Honey*
Hydrolyzed corn
Hydrolyzed corn protein
Hydrolyzed vegetable protein
Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose
Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose pthalate (HPMCP)
Inositol
Invert syrup or sugar
Iodized salt
Lactate
Lactic acid*
Lauryl glucoside
Lecithin
Linoleic acid
Lysine
Magnesium fumarate
Maize
Malic acid
Malonic acid
Malt syrup from corn
Malt, malt extract
Maltitol
Maltodextrin
Maltol
Maltose
Mannitol
Methyl gluceth
Methyl glucose
Methyl glucoside
Methylcellulose
Microcrystaline cellulose
Modified cellulose gum
Modified corn starch
Modified food starch
Molasses* (corn syrup may be present; know your product)
Mono and di glycerides
Monosodium glutamate
MSG
Natural flavorings*
Olestra/Olean
Polenta
Polydextrose
Polylactic acid (PLA)
Polysorbates* (e.g. Polysorbate 80)
Polyvinyl acetate
Potassium citrate
Potassium fumarate
Potassium gluconate
Powdered sugar
Pregelatinized starch
Propionic acid
Propylene glycol*
Propylene glycol monostearate*
Saccharin
Salt (iodized salt)
Semolina (unless from wheat)
Simethicone
Sodium carboxymethylcellulose
Sodium citrate
Sodium erythorbate
Sodium fumarate
Sodium lactate
Sodium starch glycolate
Sodium stearoyl fumarate
Sorbate
Sorbic acid
Sorbitan
Sorbitan monooleate
Sorbitan tri-oleate
Sorbitol
Sorghum* (not all is bad; the syrup and/or grain CAN be mixed with corn)
Starch (any kind that’s not specified)
Stearic acid
Stearoyls
Sucrose
Sugar* (not identified as cane or beet)
Threonine
Tocopherol (vitamin E)
Treacle (aka golden syrup)
Triethyl citrate
Unmodified starch
Vanilla, natural flavoring
Vanilla, pure or extract
Vanillin
Vegetable anything that’s not specific*
Vinegar, distilled white
Vinyl acetate
Vitamin C* and Vitamin E*
Vitamins*
Xanthan gum
Xylitol
Yeast*
Zea mays
Zein

Corn is even used in the washing process of pre-washed, bagged salads. Our salad isn’t even safe! While reading about corn allergy, I ran across this article that even suggests that excess corn consumption could cause hormone disruption. We already know that the pesticides used in corn are major hormone disruptors.

Eating out will pretty much be out of the question. We eat mostly whole foods anyway but now it looks like some of our favorite snack foods are out. Pirate Booty anyone!? YUM.

I am replacing her beloved peanut butter with a raw homemade almond butter and replacing popcorn (which we also love) with rice cakes. I also started making my raw almond milk again to replace the little dairy we did use. And I am looking for a non-dairy recipe for homemade yogurt.

Here is a peek at my new improved allergy-free, Vegan Menu.