Make it Yourself Monday: Bagels!

Wow! Guys, seriously - this rocked! I had no idea how easy it was to make bagels!! I used the Homemade Soaked Bagels recipe from Passionate Homemaking. They came out great even though I read the directions incorrectly and ended up only soaking half the dough overnight. You can skip soaking altogether, but you should consider the health benefits of the extra step.

I used apple cider vinegar for the acid medium, 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 spelt for the flour, and added some ground flax seed. I also added cinnamon and dried cranberries to half the batch - so yummy!!! Makes 12.

Today I am making cream cheese!!! Come back next week to see how it goes! Link up your own posts below so I can see what you are making yourself! Read guidelines here.

This post is linked to Homemaker Mondays.

Make it Yourself Monday: Granola Bars

Welcome new readers and old friends! My goal on Make it Yourself Mondays is to encourage you to branch out and try to make from scratch some of the things you usually buy from the store. This often saves money, and it's always fun! Please link up the things you've been "making yourself" recently at the bottom of this post. :)

I try to make as many of the snacks my husband takes to work as possible. He always has either leftovers or a sandwich, fruit, and some kind of goodie. Sometimes it's crackers and hummus, or a small bag of almonds, but I usually try to pack him something special (aka sweet). This is an awesome alternative to buying expensive granola bars from the store that have who-knows-what in them! Adapted from The Barefoot Contessa's recipe at the Food Network.

Homemade Granola Bars

Ingredients:

2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal

1 cup sliced/chopped almonds

1 cup shredded coconut, loosely packed

1/2 cup ground flax seed

3 tablespoons salted butter

2/3 cup honey

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup raisins

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Butter an 8x12-inch baking dish and line it with parchment paper. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Place the butter, honey, and vanilla in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for a minute, then pour over the oatmeal mixture. Add the cranberries and raisins and stir well. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Wet your fingers and lightly press the mixture evenly into the pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until light golden brown. Cool for at least 2 to 3 hours before cutting. Makes 12-16 bars.

Notes: you can add some brown sugar or sucanat if you think you'll want it sweeter - I thought it was perfect without it. Also, I don't like the way raisins taste after they've been baked, so next time I'll probably use the apricots or dates the original recipe calls for. And more coconut! Always more! :)

Make it Yourself Monday: Yogurt

You'll never go back to store-bought after this!!

I'm doing a bit of content-recycling since I've blogged about yogurt before, but hope you enjoy in any case! Taking care of a two year old and a three week old has kept me a bit too busy to blog much! :)

I first made crock pot yogurt a year or so ago after seeing this post on crockpot365. I know it is old news to most of you, but if you haven't gotten around to trying yet, you should now!! Here are the basic instructions with some of my notes:

Crockpot Yogurt

Ingredients:

1/2 gallon whole milk (preferably raw or VAT pasturized, but anything works)

1/2 cup live/active cultured plain or vanilla yogurt (a little store bought cup works fine)

fruit and honey (optional)

Directions:

Heat milk in crockpot on low for about 3 hours. You want the milk to get up above 180 degrees. Tip: you'll know it's hot enough when a skin forms.

Turn crockpot off and let sit for another 3 hours. You want the temp to get down to 110 degrees or so.

After the 3 hours, scoop out 2 cups of the milk and mix it with the yogurt.

Pour the milk/yogurt back into the crockpot and combine.

Put the lid back on and turn the crockpot off.

Wrap a heavy bath towel around the whole crockpot to insulate the let sit for 8 hours or over night.

In the morning, put the yogurt in the fridge for a few hours to help set.

Add fruit and honey if you'd like or serve with granola!

What did you make yourself this week?

The Most Amazing Banana-Nut Muffins Ever!

I love finding recipes that make me feel like a good baker. :)

These muffins rocked! They were moist, flavorful, and BEAUTIFUL! I also think they would make a lovely coffee cake in a single pan - might be trying that out this weekend! Thank you so much to Carol (Kittencal at RecipeZaar) for blessing us with this recipe and letting me pass it along! Visit Kittencal's Kitchen for more!

Warning: Do not read while hungry (if you've seen the photo below, it might already be too late)!

Banana-Almond Muffins With Almond Streusel
Makes 12

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2-1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 large bananas, mashed
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1/3 cup melted butter
1/3 cup finally chopped almonds

TOPPING

1/4 cup flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons soft butter
1/3 cup cups finely chopped almonds

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.
For the topping; in a bowl mix together the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon; blend in the soft butter using your fingertips, then add in the finely chopped almonds; set aside.
Line 12 regular muffin tins with paper liners.
In a medium or large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
In another bowl beat the melted butter with sugar, egg and vanilla extract until well blended (about 2 minutes) add in the mashed bananas, mix until just blended.
Using a wooden spoon mix in the flour mixture until JUST blended (the batter will be lumpy).
Mix in the chopped almonds.
Divide the batter evenly between 12 muffin tins, then sprinkle the topping mixture on top of each muffin.
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until muffins test done.

*If you are following along with the Real Food Challenge, try substituting Sucanat for the sugar. And if you decide to try making any kind of muffins with soaked flour - I want to know!!*

Cranberry Coconut Granola

I make my granola differently almost every time according to what I have on hand. I posted a stand-by recipe that I use frequently a while ago - Good and Hearty Granola - but I really like dried fruit if it's available. Because of that awesome deal on dried cranberries this week, I've got plenty to use! Here's the recipe for the (DELICIOUS) granola I made for us this week to eat with our crockpot yogurt:

Cranberry Coconut Granola

Ingredients:

4 cups oats
1/3 cup milled flax seed
1 cup slivered almonds
2 tsp cinnamon

dash of nutmeg
1/4 cup dried coconut flakes (I didn't have any on hand - sad!)

1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup coconut oil (I use organic, unrefined)
1/2 cup honey

Directions:

Preheat oven at 220 degrees.
Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well.
Fold in oil and honey. (A great friend reminded me that I needed to point out that you should melt the coconut oil first so that it is easier to fold in!)
Spread on ungreased baking sheet and put in oven for 1-1 1/2 hours.
Stir around on baking sheet every 20 minutes or so to make sure granola browns evenly.
It's done when it's started to get crispy. I sometimes let it sit in the oven with the heat off for a while to let it continue to dry out. Do not overcook or your cranberries will be too chewy/hard. The oats will harden up significantly as they cools.

Eating From MY Pantry

Last day of shopping, Feb 2nd, 2009

That's right - I'm done. :) With the exception of buying asparagus and sliced ham for a meal going to a friend with a new baby, I have shopped my last (for groceries) until April or longer. We are anticipating a move in the next two months and want to deplete our food stores so as to have less to pack and transfer. Should be an interesting ride. :)

Because I generally purchase more than one of any regularly-consumed item that I find at a good price, we are fairly prepared for this little project. So far it has been a small challenge and certainly no hardship. I have frozen veggies and a good amount of yogurt with fruit in it, dried fruit, and a jar of canned peaches. I have at least 8lbs of chicken, 5lbs of beef, 4 pork chops, half a dozen fillet of talapia, 1lb ground turkey, and 2 dozen eggs. I also have 3 loaves of already-made bread stored and plenty of flour to make more.

The difficult part of this project will be the fillers. The pre-made granola bars, crackers, chips, and cookies are gone, and we are obviously limited on the healthier choices. This is fine for me and the little guy (who just turned 1 on Valentine's Day!), but harder to manage for my husband who takes his lunch to work and eats, well, like the 6'4" man that he is. :) He has no qualms with leftovers - eats them every day - but it will be a stretch to find things to go with the leftovers he takes.

In an effort to conserve our egg supply, I have been making us oatmeal in the mornings. My husband isn't a fan of plain oatmeal, so I've been sprucing it up a bit. Here are some ideas:

"Home Made" Instant Oatmeal

3/4 cup quick oats

a handful of any or all of the following:

dried fruit (cranberries are our fave)
seeds/nuts (we like sunflower seeds and pecans the best)

1/2 tsp cinnamon
tsp sugar or honey

you can also add a tsp of powdered milk or coffee creamer if you like creamy oatmeal

Add water to desired consistency and voila!

When both my husband and I were working, we'd take a shortcut in this process and combine a dozen or so servings in a large tupperware container or ziplock bag and dish it into our bowls each morning until it was gone. One of our very favorite blogs posted a great "visual guide" to making individual oatmeal packets ahead of time a while back - read it here.

Please continue to follow me the next month as I stretch our food supply. :)

Baking Day

I love the philosophy behind this: set aside a day to use up what you have on hand, make a lot, freeze for later.

Money Saving Mom posted about a very successful baking day last month and just announced that she'll be doing it again today and invites us to join in! She'll be posting a Mr. Linky so there are sure to be lots of other bloggers to get inspiration from. I wish I could participate, but to be honest, I don't have enough clean dishes or counter space at the moment! My father in law made an unexpected (though welcome) visit this weekend and I can't get caught up.

I *will* be baking a pumpkin pie today though! I will share the recipe tomorrow. I'll be making at least half a dozen more this season and even be getting paid for some! I make a mean pie... what can I say?? ;)

In any case, hop on over to Money Saving Mom to see who cooks up what! She's listed her plans already and I'm impressed!:

Healthy Harvest Muffins
Cranberry Wheat Muffins
Pumpkin Apple Breakfast Bread
Cranberry Pumpkin Scones
Banana Apple Carrot Muffins
Whole-wheat waffles
Apple pie
Cook up rice and freeze

Recycle Those Pumpkins!

I am so pleased with the response so far to my very first giveaway! Don't miss it - you still have almost two whole days to enter! I am loving all of the comments I'm receiving and thank you so much everyone for the great content suggestions! I understand now why people love doing giveaways - I want you *all* to win! :)

To keep you excited for the Dining on a Dime cookbook and all things frugal, here's another article by Tawra Kellam to enjoy! Stay tuned for more pumpkin recipes soon! 'Tis the season!

Recycle Those Pumpkins !

Peter Piper Picked a Profoundly Plump Pumpkin -- Now what does he do with it?

How to Roast a Pumpkin

You can only do this with a freshly carved pumpkin! Do not use on a pumpkin that has been carved and sitting out for several days.

To bake a fresh 6 to 7 pound pumpkin, halve the pumpkin crosswise and scoop out the seeds and strings. Place halves, hollow side down, in a large baking pan covered with aluminum foil and add a little water. Bake, uncovered, at 375 degrees for 1 ½ to 2 hours or until fork-tender. Remove. When cool, scrape pulp from shells and puree, a little at time, in food processor or blender. Mix with a little salt.

To freeze pumpkin puree. Put 1-2 cups in freezer bags along with spices and use in pies. To use pumpkin puree for recipes: Line a strainer with a double layer of cheesecloth or a flour sack dish towel and let the pumpkin sit to drain out the extra moisture BEFORE cooking with it. Pumpkin is very moist, so in order for your recipe to come out correctly, you MUST strain it.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Boil seeds in water for 5 minutes. Drain well. Sprinkle with salt or seasoned salt. Place a thin layer on a cookie sheet. Bake at 250 degrees. Stir after 30 minutes. Bake ½-1 hour more or until crunchy.

*Squash seeds may also be used.

Pumpkin Smoothies

1/2 cup pumpkin 2 tsp. brown sugar
3/4 cup milk or vanilla yogurt 4 ice cubes
1/4 tsp. cinnamon whipped cream (optional)
1/8 tsp. nutmeg sprinkles (optional)

Place all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into 2-3 glasses. Serve with a small amount of whipped cream on top. You may also add orange sprinkles if you like. Serves 2-3.

Visit www.LivingOnADime.com in the press room for a text version of this article and recipes.

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Tawra Kellam is the publisher of the website www.LivingOnADime.com and the author of Halloween On A Dime and the cookbook Dining On A Dime: Eat Better Spend Less.

Julie's Orange-Honey Muffins

The last thing I expected to find in a beautifully illustrated knitting book was a pantry recipe. What a pleasant surprise! Greetings from Knit Café is a great book in general, but this recipe endeared it to me even more. If I have fruit on hand I can make up dessert or a sweet breakfast dish pretty much on the fly - but without fruit or chocolate I'm pretty much out of ideas. The minute I read this recipe from Julie Stark I knew that if it tasted as good as it sounded, it would be a regular treat. It far exceeded my expectations!


Muffins:

2 c flour
1/2 c uncooked oatmeal, not instant
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 c brown sugar
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
2/3 c orange juice
zest of 1 large orange
1/4 c honey
5 - 1/2 T butter, melted

Icing:
1 - 1 1/2 c powdered sugar
1 T orange juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan well, or line with muffin papers.

Combine flour, oatmeal, baking powder, salt and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl and stir. Add the eggs, orange juice, orange zest, honey, and melted butter and stir just until mixed. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups about 2/3 full. Bake 20 - 25 minutes or until very light golden.

To make icing: Combine powdered sugar with orange juice until a smooth glaze is formed. Drizzle over warm muffins. Muffins are best eaten warm.

Makes 12 muffins.

Baked Oatmeal

My friend Christy passed this recipe along to me and I've made it twice now. She described it to me as tasting like a "big crumbly oatmeal cookie," and she was right, but it's oh so much more! It reheats well but we haven't had to do much reheating since it's gone in little more than one sitting! :)

The first time we made this we ate it all up plain. This time we took Christy's suggestion and served it warm with milk and oh wow! When we added home-canned peaches it tasted like a cobbler! We had it for breakfast but it could just as easily have been dessert! Enjoy, and tell me if you like it!

Pennsylvania Dutch Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients:
1/3 c. oil
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
2 c. uncooked oats
1 1/3 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2/3 c. milk

Directions:
Combine oil, sugar, & egg.
Add rest and pour into greased bread pan or 9x9 dish
Bake @ 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.
Serve plain or with milk (and brown sugar, or peaches, or what have you).

Good and Hearty Granola

I've tried dozens of different granola recipes: Low fat, with fruit, sugar free, etc. and nothing beats good 'ole hearty granola that leaves you satisfied for hours. I don't use refined sugar in mine and while I use canola oil (no saturated fat unlike veggie oil), you could substitute the oil of your choice. If you add dried fruit to this recipe, add it at the end or after it's done - I find that the fruit ends up getting scalded if you put it in right away.

Ingredients:

4 cups oats
2 cups bran flakes
1/2 cup milled flax seed
1 cup chopped almonds
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup dried coconut flakes
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup honey

Directions:

Preheat oven at 220 degrees.
Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well.
Fold in oil and honey.
Spread on ungreased baking sheet and put in oven for 1-1 1/2 hours.
Stir around on baking sheet every 20 minutes or so to make sure granola browns evenly.
It's done when it's started to get crispy. I sometimes let it sit in the oven with the heat off for a while to let it continue to dry out. It will harden up significantly as it cools.
Enjoy with lots of milk and fresg fruit or over yogurt or ice cream. :)

Pumpkin Raisin Muffins

It's never too warm for pumpkin!

You can imagine the sort of things that are most commonly donated to our food pantry - canned green beans, corn, and peas as well as mac 'n cheese and ramen noodles. The single most common item donated however, is canned cranberry sauce. My only guess is that people buy more than one can around Thanksgiving/Christmas and then remember that no one in their family enjoys it but them and they can't eat more than one can. I have yet to work up the bravery to try to make anything out of congealed cranberries, but this week I cracked open the other Thanksgiving/Christmas season donations and showed our residents how to use them.

We ended up this year with a whole shelf full of pureed pumpkin. Pumpkin is fantastic! It can be sweet or not. It can be used in baked goods or soups or stews or as a spread. I love pumpkin. So, even though it is June, we've been revelling in the Fall fruits this week.

The recipe came from this site and was delicious:

Pumpkin Raisin Muffins

Number of Servings: Two dozen

Ingredients:
1 cup Fresh or Canned Pumpkin
3 1/2 cups Flour
1 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 1/4 cup 2% Milk
1/4 cup Soft Butter or margarine
1 cup Raisins
4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon Salt

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put muffin cups into muffin tins or grease the tins. Cream butter(or margarine) and sugar until fluffy. Beat in pumpkin and eggs. Dredge raisins in 1/2 cup of flour. Sift remaining flour and spices together. Pour milk into a mixing bowl. Mix in dry ingredients by hand until just mixed. Stir in raisins. Spoon mix into paper cups in muffin tin. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes. Serve pumpkin raisin muffins warm or cool. Spread on butter or margarine, if desired.

Notes: I mentioned in the last post that I am terrible at baking. This is what happens when you forget the baking powder:

They don't rise! Who knew! I salvaged the second half of the batch, but I guaruntee they would have been yummier if I would have followed the directions from the start.

I used canned evaporated milk instead of fresh milk and then used the leftover milk and pumpkin to make a Pumpkin Latte. Delicious!