Steel Cut Oat Bread

Background first on how I cook my oats:

I make steel-cut oats (SCO) as follows

3 cups SCO
12 cups of water
1 stick Butter
1 1/2 tsp. salt

I brown the oats in the butter first.  Then I cook it for about 30 minutes or so and enjoy.  My boys didn't like the extra nutty taste at first but they have since learned it is really good.  I make a HUGE batch and keep it in the refrigerator.  They are creamier reheated and I don't have to wait for it to cook.  To reheat I chop it up with a wooden spoon and add hot water.  Heat until hot. Another plus about browning it,  the butter keeps the oats from boiling all over my stove.  Moving on....

This bread recipe uses the oats how I cooked it above. You can cook them with out browning them but add the fat, EVOO or butter to the dough.

2 cups Cooked SCO room temperature
1/2 cups Black-strap Molasses
Butter or EVOO (see above) 1-2 Tab.
2 cups warm water
4 cups unbleached white flour
4 cups graham flour
2 tsp sea salt
1 Tab lecithin granules
1/8 tsp vitamin C powder
1 tab and 2 tsp yeast or 2 packets

This may be a tricky dough, depending on how wet your SCO are, so you may need to add additional flour.  This can be halved.  The amounts listed above made 5 pounds of dough.  Kneed 10 minutes.  Let rise till doubled, punch down form into loaves, let rise till doubled.  Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes.  I weigh my bread dough.  I have 1 pound and 1.5 pound pans depending on your pan size is why the time varies.  Bake until golden brown and when tapped with the back of your finger nail you get that hollow sound.

This is my new favorite whole grain bread.  It is not very sweet, if you like your bread sweeter than I would add some sucanat.

Let me know your thoughts.

Bacon Jam

Yes you read it correctly Bacon Jam.  Of course I have revised this to make it more healthy.  Is it even possible with 2 pounds of bacon in it.... of course it is, I can talk myself into anything.  For instance chocolate is a vegetable, as is coffee.  Gummy bears or any fruity candy that has at least 1% fruit juice is a fruit and so on.  So now onto the healthy version of this  recipe.

2 pounds of bacon cut into small pieces with scissors
3 medium onions (about 3 cups)
4 cloves of crushed garlic. (2 1/2 tsp.)
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup sucanat
1/4 real maple syrup (NOT Log Cabin)
1/2 cup brewed coffee
1/2 cup bourbon
1/8 tsp real salt
1/4 tsp fresh cracked pepper

Brown the bacon drain on a towel (no paper napkins in my house), leaving 1 Tab bacon "juice" in the pan. Saute onions and garlic for about 5 minutes on low.  Add remaining ingredients and stir well to remove the brown bits off of the pan bottom.  Pour the contents into a crock pot.  Cook on high uncovered for 3 1/2 to 4 hours until thickened.  Coarsely pulse in a food chopper.  Chill for up to a month.  I am freezing some of this too.

My healthy changes areas follows:
-I used raw vinegar with mother.  Click the above link to find out why it is better for you.
-I used sucanat instead of brown sugar.  It is pure cane sugar not refined white with color and flavor added.
-Real Maple Syrup, expensive, but it doesn't contain HF corn syrup.

I plan on making some bread on Friday to try this out on in the morning.
The alcohol cooks out of this so it is safe for children.

Leave me a comment if you give this a try.

Grapefruit and Rosemary Jam

The concoction of the day is Grapefruit and Rosemary Jam.  This started as a marmalade till I remembered I don't like marmalade so I tossed the peels and started over.

I zest-ed 2 grapefruit.
Add the pulp from about 8 grapefruit and all the juice.
I had made fresh squeezed citrus juice it had grapefruit, oranges and a lemon in it.  There was about 1 1/2 quarts left so I used it all.
Pure cane sugar to taste.
Agave nectar to taste.
Pinch of salt.
Rosemary and black pepper (1/2 tsp) and 1 tsp. sugar morter and pestled till a fine powder was achieved.

I boiled the pulp, zest, juice, and 4 cups water for 15 minutes.  Then set it in the porch to cool overnight.  Added the rest to taste and let it simmer till a jell is formed.  I am then going to can it.  So far it tastes pretty yummy!!!

Banana Jam

A blast from my childhood...bananas and peanut butter on toast.  YUMMY  I had about 12 over-ripe frozen bananas in my freezer.  Not being a huge fan of banana bread, and not feeling like making smoothies for a month I did some Googling and came with my own creation for banana jam. 

12 frozen bananas peeled and mashed
1 lemon,  juiced
cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves;  to taste
1/8 tsp. salt
2 Tab. of my homemade vanilla vodka extract
1 cup of water
1 1/2 cups sugar or to taste
1 tsp. unsulfured molasses

I mixed it all together and am now cooking it down to thicken.  I am going to refrigerate it when done and freeze the rest.  I wanted to can it but I don't have PH paper or a tester so I will save that for another day.

ETA:  Don't add all of the lemon juice, mine it a little tart.  Also back off on the sugar to sweet.  I will probably add more vanilla.  If I had a whole bean I think that would be even better.  Scrape the seeds and boil the pod.

What's for Slupper?

We have Tomatillos that are starting to get ripe.  So I made fire roasted Salsa Verde with them.

I took about 20-30 or so put them in a 9x13  with 8 cloves of garlic, with the skin because I am lazy, 1 jalapeno, about 1/2 of an onion.  Drizzled with EVVO and broiled stirring every so often so that they were somewhat charred.  Let it cool.  Squeeze out the garlic, picked of the big black bits added 1/2 the jalapeno with no seeds or ribs and a quarter with the rib and a few seed.  Took that juice and all into the food processor added fresh cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper and blended it.  YUMMY!

Today i browned 1.5 pounds of ground beef, 1 onion, 1 large clove of garlic crushed,  1 tsp oregano, 1/4 cilantro, salt, pepper, lime juice (if you want tang) and 1 cup of the Salsa Verde from above.  Cooked it down and turned into nachos.  Fabulous!!!  Try it you will thank me!!!

From the Bakery

After several requests for different baked goods and hours of thinking how that looks in my life as a wife and mother this is what I have come up with.

Honey Whole Wheat --Large (1 pound 15 ounce) $2.75--- Freezes Well.  This is a blend of white and wheat (WW) flours, eggs and milk. Lighter than 100% WW but more dense than pure white.

Cinnamon Rolls--- Large Pan 9 Rolls (2 pounds)  $6.50--- A blend of white and WW eggs and milk.  Iced with a thin drizzle of icing. 
Cinnamon Rolls--- Small Pan 4 Rolls (1 1/4 pounds) $5.00 --- A blend of white and WW eggs and milk. Iced with a thin drizzle of icing.

Hamburger Buns---6 per bag (1 pound) $2.00 a Bag--- Freeze Well.  All white topped with a thin egg white wash.  Sesame, Onion or Plain

Shooting Star Potato Bagels---6 per bag (1 1/2 pounds) $3.50 a bag---Freeze well.  White Flour,  potato, extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), agave nectar.  Topped with sesame, poppy, onion, or plain.  A very chewy but not tough bagel.

Rosemary Focaccia Bread---1 pound $4.00--- White flour, EVOO.  Great dipped in EVOO.  Herb choice can be made by you.  ei: rosemary, oregano, Italian herb blend (may be dried herbs depending on my herb garden)

Olive Oil Pita Bread---11-15 ounce $1.50 a bag---White with semolina flour (nutty taste), EVOO.  Soft and tender.

This just a sampling of items and price.  Items with EVOO, and other expensive ingredients, and things that take more work will cost more.  I want you to be satisfied with your order.  An example; a standing order customer liked the bread I had mad made but it was rather dense for their liking.  She paid for the order and has decided to keep the bread and together we have decided that her next order will be at a discount.  If she had decided it was just bad I would have given her a refund.

Some items I may make for my family, AKA Guinea Pigs, to eat and am willing to give you a sample to see if it is something you would like.  I am thinking this would work like this; a posting saying...I have made Salsa Corn Meal Bread.  If you're interested I will have samples available from ?-? on Wednesday.  Come over and try it.

I have many bread, rolls, and bun recipes.  If your looking for something let me know.  I can do dinner rolls with bread dough, pure white bread, rye breads, pizza crusts, beer bread.... different sweeteners like Agave Nectar, Brown Rice Syrup and Honey or regular sugar. If that isn't enough I have breads that I can hide vegetables in like zucchini, pumpkin, or squash.  I also have done non yeast healthy sweet breads and pumpkin rolls.

I also have cinnamon oatmeal pancake mix made with whole wheat flour, regular (non quick) oatmeal, and dry milk.  These are protein packed for staying power( the morning that I make pancakes, I can save one for you to taste) these freeze well for an easy school day breakfast;  dill dip, taco seasoning mix, bacon dip, hot chocolate, pudding mixes, cappuccino.  (all made by me)

I also have taught canning classes.  I will bring my "stuff", you buy what you want to can, and together I will show you what to do, you get to keep the jars.  I pressure can as well and will show you that that it is nothing to fear.  We can do this at your house or mine.  $50 for a 3-4 hour hands on lesson.  I will also do group lessons.  Contact me for the cost.  4 people maximum.

Since I am apart of the Cottage Food Industry there are some things that I can not do. Please look at this PDF for the State of MI  for a more clear definition.

Call me at 269-751-7011, email at JulieABauman@gmail dot com, facbook message, or comment here.

Summer Food

I am making Peach Vinegar.  I googled recipes and found several that would work.  I took about 3 pounds of ripe peaches and mashed them in the pan.  I added 1/2 gallon of White vinegar at 5% acid.  This is important to preserve the peaches.  Make sure the acid is no higher than 7%.  I also added 1/4 cup sugar.  Bring this to a simmer.  Let it cool and transfer it into a glass jar(s).  Store in a cool dark place for 3-4 weeks.  Strain through several layers of cheese cloth.  At this point I may add more sugar.  And maybe some fresh herbs.  Store in the refrigerator to preserve the lovely color.  I plan to use this to make fruit dressing for fall lettuce that we will soon be planting and as a marinade for meat.

The next is Beet Hummus  YES BEETS!  Dan loved it and he hates hummus.

Roast 4 beets until tender.  350 for about an hour.  I let them cool and peeled them.  sliced them up into a food chopper.  I like tahini so I added more but start with 4 Tab., 4 Tab of lemon juice and the grated peel of 1/2 the lemon, 2 cloves of pressed garlic, and salt and pepper to taste.  Whirl it around.  Taste it and adjust it to your liking.  The color is breath taking and the taste is just as good.  Serve with whole wheat crackers or cut fresh veggies.  Try it it is really YUMMY!  Remember that fresh beets can do funny things to your "output".  Like turn your urine a nice rosy color and also turn you bowel movement red.

Cooking "spray"

I am on a mission to save money. I want to be a good steward of what God has given us. We have found that without cutting things out of our budget; tithing becomes a burden and a chore. Not at all what God intended from the happy giver.

Keeping on that theme I have made my first batch of cooking "spray".

It is:

3/4 cup oil (canola)
2 Tab. Liquid Lecithin

I put it in a container with a brush and will use it as I would baking spray.

I got this recipe from a bread class (more on that latter) that I took at the SDA church in Pullman. http://www.clnf.org/ They have an amazing amount of healthy vegetarian things on their website.

I just love the rush I get as I strive to do thing the way my Grandparents may have done them. We waste so much money now days it almost makes me ill. I have and will continue to make my life and the life of my family as "crunchy" as possible.

I hope you enjoy this journey as much as I do.......