Thursday, July 8, 2010

Chemical Free Healthy Cooking/Baking

I have been asked before to blog about our eating habits...sometimes it intrigues people...sometimes it annoys people...sometimes people are just interested and sometimes people are looking to change their diets too. It doesn’t really matter to me : you eat the way you want…I will eat the way I want. It doesn’t bother me either way…but if you want to chat about it. I can talk all night on this subject. DISCLAIMER: I am not perfect AT ALL!!! I fail every day at this healthy stuff. But I wanted to explain our family's way of eating!! So here goes...I have one rule for eating. It has to be food. I do not want to eat something created in a lab (HCFS, white flour, MSG). When I first started eating this way I lost over 40 pounds. I was eating cane sugar and butter and eggs. But they were in their natural state. Someone explained it to me once that you do not want to eat food that has been removed from its natural state more than 3 times.For an example: a potatoe-
1. Picked2. Boiled3. Mashed/Sliced4. Dehydrated5. Bagged6. Sit in a box for a long time7. Mix with ingredients8. Baked.9. refridgerate left overs10. Nuked in a microwave
Okay that Potato no longer has ANY of the nutrients, that it once had. NOTHING!! There is no longer any nutritional value!! Butter….I am sorry to me this is a no brainer. I know where butter comes from I have NO IDEA where margerine or spray butter or butter buds come from. I cant grow it, or feed it so I sure ain’t gonna eat it. Eggs….People want to buy egg beaters. Do you really want me to go thru the process of stripping down egg beaters? You get the picture. Also do you want to eat eggs from chickens that aren’t allowed to move or the air they breathe is so toxic because of the close proximity of where they eat, sleep, socialize and poo is all the same 2 inches!! ICK!!!We have our own chickens.:) They are free to move about and they do!!:) And they are very friendly and fun chickens. I buy a 25 pound bag of Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, 5 pound bag of Spelt Flour, and a bag of ground flaxseeds. I like to mix this all together and keep in a bucket!! And that is what I use in any recipe I need flour. I make cookies, cakes, pies, cobblers, buckles, pancakes, waffles..You name it!! I make it. Now you may have to change your way of thinking because I had too. I wanted to bake and cook beautiful creations with these fabulous whole grains straight from God ;)!! Welll…..first I am not the most fabulous, creative or neatest person around…so I was saddened when my baked goods were ..well brown. But I have now changed my way of thinking …I no longer look longingly at white floured pie crusts or at those white floured chocolate chip cookies (not that they don’t tempt me..I am just not interested in making those for my kids)…but I look for the chunky , brown cookies with some dried fruit and steel cut oats in them. My kids can even point a healthy cookie now verses a white store bought looking cookie..anyone and everyone can create them…not every mom desires to make a lumpy brown cookie!!! Check my tags for a few recipes that I blogged before. And here are a few more. By the way if the kids don’t like the lumpy brown cookie…they will learn to love that cookie!:) I promise!!

Whole Wheat Breakfast Pastries2 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour1/2 teaspoons salt1 tablespoon sugar1 stick (112g) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes1 egg, slightly beaten1/3 cup ice cold waterjam or preserves (such as Smucker’s Simply Fruit or Polaner All Fruit)1 cup confectioner’s sugar1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, pulse together the flour, salt, and sugar. Add in the butter, and pulse a few times until the mixture is crumbly and resembles coarse meal. Combine the egg and water in a container (remove all ice pieces). While the processor is running, pour the water/egg mixture in and pulse until mixture just comes together.2. Pour mixture out onto a floured board and knead a few times to bring all the ingredients together. Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into 4 x 5 inch rectangles. Place a small amount of your favorite jam in the center of half of the rectangles, and use a finger to spread water around the edges. Place another rectangle of dough on the top and smooth the edges down to seal in the jam. Use a fork to crimp the edges.3. Bake on a parchment paper lined baking sheet for 12-15 minutes, or until they begin to turn golden brown.4. As they cool, mix confectioner’s sugar with 1-2 tablespoons of water. Spread on top of the pastries. Serve warm.

or check http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/homemade-whole-wheat-vanilla-wafers look thru her blog. It has some great recipes or better yet google any and everything you could possibly want. I love google!!!

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