Saturday, February 27, 2010

Fit Chick Granola

Oh, and did I mention I made granola, also? I opened a #10 can of 6-grain and used the following recipe from a friend:
One Fit Chick Granola

4 cups oatmeal
1 1/2 Tbl vanilla
1 1/2 Tbl cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/3 cups pure maple syrup
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup sliced almonds
3/4 cup dried fruit, any combination (cranberries, apricots, dates, cherries, etc.)
3/4 currants

Preheat oven to 325. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper sprayed with Pam. Mix first 6 ingredients. Combine well. Spread into prepared pan and bake for 35-45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Add the rest of the ingrients after the half-way point. Watch it closely so as not to burn. Allow to cool in pan, then store in an airtight container.


Cook's Notes: I used the 6 grain mixture in place of the oatmeal. I also had a bag of chopped nuts used for sundaes, so I used those also. I did buy the Maple Syrup at $12 a bottle,(grasp,choke,cough). I opened a #10 can of brown sugar. (We had canned it by putting it in a gallon sized ziploc bag, so it didn't touch the can.)
I bought orange-flavored cranberries on sale and picked up some chopped dried pineapple at Sprouts. I had raisins and added those. I don't know that the maple syrup made that much difference. I think next time I will use honey.

P.S. I tried honey and maple flavored syrup.  I've decided I like just the real maple syrup best.
I tried it this morning for the first time and it was tasty! Even with the non-fat milk!

2010, A New Year

Today is 27 February 2010. Lots has happened that I don't feel like writing about. But, my new goal that I just came up with is to use my food storage in everday cooking.

Week 1:

I was determined that I would make a loaf of whole wheat bread that even my husband would eat. He's a Wonderbread lover...I'm enticing him to the dark side...

But not with my first loaf. I wish I had taken a pic of that. Yek. It must have weighed about 10 lbs. I didn't even like it, and I like thick, grainy breads. So off to the internet I went. I found a side with a recipe that made sense to me. Here is the Link:
http://www.thenewhomemaker.com/wholewheatbread1

I carefully read through the recipe, ground my wheat and used my Kitchenaid (my DH bought for me for Christmas). I followed the recipe and made two loafs. Surprise, Surprise. They were great loaves of bread!

Here is what one of the loaves looked like. The texture was good. It was a light loaf and the taste was excellent.

I also cooked up some wheat in the crockpot. Just water, a bit of salt and cooked it for a few hours, than soak overnight. I have been adding it to my breakfast cereal. I usually eat GO Lean Crunch. I also ran out of the non-fat milk that I use in my cereal and cooking. I decided, why not try our non-fat milk storage? I opened a #10 can from 1998 and mixed it in a mixer/pitcher. I let it get cold overnight and tried it on my cereal mixture the next day. I couldn't tell the difference. Wow. The cereal is so flavorful that I would not have guessed it was from a mix. Now mind you, I don't drink milk. I only use it in cold cereal and in cooking. My DH will only drink whole milk. Small steps at a time.

I went to a friend's game night yesterday and brought a dessert. I checked another site and made a Swedish Apple Pie with dried apple slices and whole wheat flour. I reconstituted the apples with apple juice I had in the fridge. They were from 1998, also. I opened the #10 can and it was all stuck together in a big lump. I tried one and it didn't have very much taste. I decided to use them anyway. They worked great in the pie. It was more like a cobbler and I brought vanilla ice cream to top it off with. Everybody liked it. I didn't mention it was from food storage.
Here's the recipe:

SWEDISH APPLE PIE from Dianne Lauffer in Family Fun magazine, November 2009
Filling:
2/3 c. raisins
2 medium apples (about 2 2/3 cups), any baking variety, peeled and sliced
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
Topping:
3/4 c. butter or margarine
1 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
1/4 c. chopped walnuts
Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Soak the raisins in hot water until they plump. Drain, then combine with apple slices. Transfer the fruit to a 9-inch pie pan (it should be no more than 2/3 full). In a small bowl, mix the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg (I used a tsp. of Apple Pie Spice in place of the cinnamon and nutmeg in the recipe). Sprinkle over the fruit.
To make the topping, first melt the butter and set it aside. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, salt, and egg until they are evenly blended. Whisk in the butter, then spread the topping over the fruit and sprinkle on the chopped nuts. Bake the pie until golden brown, about 40 minutes. Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.