Wheat Recipes -- Corn Bread

I don't have a picture of this recipe to share (yet!)  So this corn pic will have to do until I make corn bread again.   I tweaked my wheat corn bread recipe from my sister-in-law's No Crumble Corn Bread recipe.  (Mine doesn't crumble either, btw).  I simply changed the white flour to wheat, the butter to oil, cow's milk to soy milk, and the refined sugar to unrefined.  It's pretty heavenly, especially with some chili.  I love it the next morning too, toasted at the top with a little vegan butter.  I mostly eat it plain fresh out of the oven.

Whole Wheat Corn Bread 
1/2 c. oil
3/4 c. unrefined sugar or 1/2 c. honey (you could probably get away with 1/2 c. or even 1/4 c. sugar )
2 eggs
1 c. yellow corn meal
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 c. plain soy milk

Mix and bake in greased 8x8 pan for 40 minutes at 375 degrees.

I realized as I typed this that I never make this bread as is.  I always double it.  Here are the doubled proportions if you don't want to have to double them in your head:

Whole Wheat Corn Bread 
1 c. oil
1 1/2 c. unrefined sugar or 3/4 c. honey
4 eggs
2 c. yellow corn meal
3 c. whole wheat flour
4 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
3 c. plain soy milk

Mix and bake in greased oblong pan for 45+ minutes at 375 degrees.

Wheat Recipes -- Fabulous Fall Bread -- Pumpkin, Zucchini, Banana, or Apple Bread

Here are some wonderful sweet bread recipes that I love to make in the fall. This is taken from a Williams- Sonoma Pumpkin Bread recipe, only I've changed the butter to oil, sugar to unrefined sugar and substitute other ingredients for the pumpkin for a variety of breads (all super yummy). I think the magic in this bread is the corn meal/wheat flour mix. It makes for a heavy, gritty, yet sweet bread. And it has less than 1/2 the oil of most sweet bread recipes. My kids love it.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Bread
2 1/2 c. wheat flour
1/2 c. corn meal
2 t. baking soda
1 t. ginger
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. cloves
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. salt
2/3 c. oil
2 c. unrefined sugar (you could probably try 1 c. honey and omit the water)
2 c. mashed or canned pumpkin
4 eggs
2/3 c. water
1 c. raisins or currants (optional)
1/2 c. walnuts (optional)

Mix wet ingredients first -- add dry ingredients. Stir in raisins &/or walnuts. Pour into 4 mini-loaf pans or 2 full loaf pans. Bake full loaves at 350 degrees for 1 hour (mini-loaves for about 45 minutes).

You can also make these into muffins -- bake for more like 15-20 minutes.

You can even scoop them onto a baking sheet for cookies -- bake for 8-10 minutes.

Other Options --

Apple Pumpkin Bread -- Add 2-3 chopped apples to pumpkin recipe for a wonderful fall bread.

Zucchini Bread -- Substitute grated zucchini for pumpkin.

Banana Bread -- Substitute smashed bananas for pumpkin. I usually don't use walnuts for the other breads because my kids don't like them, but I always sprinkle a handful of nuts on top of each mini-loaf of banana bread so I can have the nuts and my kids can have the under part without. It looks pretty that way too. 

Pumpkin-Zucchini Bread -- I've even combined the squashes to make a Pumpkin-Zucchini Bread (using 1 c. pumpkin, 1 c. zucchini) - - Super Delicious!

Raw Recipe -- Berry Bars

Berry Bars are super easy to make and very tart and tasty.  They have a little more of a chewy texture than crackers, which is fun too.

Berry Bars

2 c. sprouted wheat
1/2 c. soaked dates
1 1/2 c. frozen or fresh berries 

I use the triple berry blend frozen most of the time -- raspberries, blackberries and blueberries.  Strawberries are good too. 

Blend up the wheat and dates in the food processor.  Stir berries in afterward.  Form small patties small cookie size (2-3 inches round, although they are rarely perfectly round) onto the dehydrator tray.  No Teflex sheet necessary.  

What's fun about these is that the frozen berries makes the mix cold and the raspberries makes the wheat pink.  I feel like I'm making hamburger patties for my mom long ago when I used to cook dinner growing up where my hands get cold and I get to work with this strange-feeling stuff.  Kind of nostalgic in a strange way.  :)  These are thicker than the crackers, but don't seem to take longer to dehydrate since you don't have the bottom covered with a Teflex sheet.  They probably dry in about 12 hours total.  Just check them from time to time to see.

As with the last two recipes, I'll post a picture in the morning when they are all done. 

Raw Recipe -- Fruitful Crackers

When I first ate raw, I was in search for something to replace my love for graham crackers.  There may be a recipe out there now that comes close, but at the time, raw recipes weren't plentiful (especially on the internet) and I decided to try a variation on my veggie crackers to see if I could make them sweet.  This is what I came up with:

Fruitful Crackers

1/2 cup soaked flax seed
2 apples
1 T. cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
2 c. sprouted wheat
optional 1-2 T. water just to help it blend well

Blend up everything in the food processor.  Once it's blended well, stir in:

2 apples cut and sliced thin (maybe the size of a quarter)

optional -- add in 3 or 4 peaches sliced thin or berries (frozen or fresh)

It's super delicious with the peaches -- you may want to up the pumpkin pie spice for the peach variation.

Spread on a dehydrator tray covered with a Teflex sheet.  Dehydrate at 110 degrees overnight or for about 10-12 hours until the top of the cracker is dry enough that you can flip the giant square of a cracker over and peel off the back of the Teflex sheet.  Let it continue to dry for another 6 - 8  hours.   The drying time varies, so just watch it for dryness.

Once the crackers are completely dry, break into cracker-sized pieces (tasting as much as you want as you go) and keep in an air-tight container or zip-loc bag. 

I'll add to the post in the morning when they come out of the dehydrator.  I can't wait!

Raw Recipe -- Savory Veggie Crackers

When I make my veggie crackers, it's like making vegetable soup. I start with a base and vary them every time according to what's in my refrigerator.  They're really quite wonderful all alone or with a veggie dip or salsa.

Savory Veggie Crackers

3/4 c. soaked flax seeds
1 long carrot
5 celery stalks (or a few cucumbers)
1/4 cup onion
1/4 cup parsley or basil
1 t. sea salt (or Himalayan salt)
3 c. sprouted wheat berries


(Sometimes I add in 1/2 cup of other greens like kale.  I've also added bell peppers and garlic.  Just remember that whatever strong flavors you use, they will taste even stronger once dehydrated.  The bell peppers came out pretty pepper-y, so go easy on them).

Blend all together in the food processor.  I add the wheat last because it's hard for the veggies to reach the blades if the wheat is further down in the bowl.  If it's not seeming to blend well, you can add 1/8 cup or so of water.  This makes it easier to spread too (and it will eventually just dehydrate out later on).

 Spread on a dehydrator tray covered with a Teflex sheet.  Dehydrate at 110 degrees overnight or for about 10-12 hours until the top of the cracker is dry enough that you can flip the giant square of a cracker over and peel off the back of the Teflex sheet.  Let it continue to dry for another 6 hours or so.   The drying time varies.  I just kind of watch it and see.

Once the crackers are completely dry, break into cracker-sized pieces (don't even try to make them perfectly even) and keep in an air-tight container or zip-loc bag. 

Mine are still drying (I just flipped them over) so I'll take pictures to add to the post in the morning.

Wheat Recipes -- Peanut Butter Cookies -- Non-Dairy, Non-Hydrogenated, Unrefined

A few months ago, I promised a good friend of mine (Hi Chris!) that I'd give him my Peanut Butter cookie recipe, made with fresh ground whole wheat flour, unrefined sugar and non-dairy, non-hydrogenated butter. They're super hearty and very tasty! I'm finally getting to writing up the recipe and thought I'd share it with you too. One of my sons says that they taste like you're eating grass (I first thought he said they tasted like "rats" and was offended, but once he clarified, I figured grass wasn't half as bad as rats). He does eat them, though, and the rest of my family loves them (and so does Chris :)). They're a little more dense and crunchy than regular peanut butter cookies and they taste pretty wonderful, especially right out of the oven. (Well, actually, they're pretty good the next day too).

Basically, I sub wheat flour for white, unrefined sugar (evaporated cane juice and/or sucanat) for the white and brown sugar, and Earth Balance buttery spread for real butter or margarine (so as to avoid the dairy and the hydrogenated fat). It's what I do for most of my favorite cookie recipes and they turn out great.



Wheat Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup Earth Balance buttery spread (or 2 Earth Balance butter sticks)
1 cup Peanut Butter (I use Costco's organic or Marantha)
1 c. evaporated cane juice (can be found in bulk in most health food stores -- sometimes they'll let you buy it by the huge bag and get a 10% discount)
1 c. sucanat (also in bulk food section of the health food store or in little pkgs. -- the pkgs. get pricey though. If either are very expensive, I just use 2 c. of the other sugar)
2 eggs
1 t. baking powder
1 1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour

Mix butters and sugars together first. Add in eggs, then the 3 small ingredients. Gradually add the wheat flour until blended well.

Form balls (or use a cookie scoop like Pampered Chef makes ) and place onto cookie sheet or baking stone. Press a criss cross with a fork to flatten out a bit. Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes until golden brown. Try not to eat too many!

Wheat Recipes -- Brownies

I've always loved baking. My mom used to call me "Cookie" because I baked cookies so much. I also loved baking bread of all kinds. Even in college, I remember running home on my lunch break, making a batch of cookies, and coming back with the finished goods. In fact, I baked a LOT of cookies while in college and it showed! I gained weight and had a hard time getting it off. It was a 4 year battle. So I've slowed down on the cookie baking, but still bake treats from time to time. Here are a few recipes I've changed to make a little healthier for my kids. I'm thinking of morphing the brownie recipe a bit more to reduce the oil and salt. I'll add those results to this post when I do. For now, here's the rich recipe. It's from a Betty Crocker Cookie Book, but I've changed the shortening to oil, the white flour to wheat, and the sugar to unrefined sugar (either sucanat or evaporated cane juice). This pic is from two nights ago btw. My daughter decided she'd rather have some of these than birthday cake or whatever sugary treats her friends might bring her at school the next day.


Brownies
1 c. oil
2 c. unrefined sugar
4 eggs
2 t. vanilla
1 1/2 c. wheat flour
1 c. cocoa
1 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 c. walnuts (optional)

Mix ingredients in order listed. Pour onto baking sheet or stone with 4 sides (could probably bake in an oblong pan for thicker brownies if you don't have that kind of baking sheet). I don't oil mine because I use a seasoned stone, but you may want to spray yours or lightly oil the pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes (until dry in the middle). Let cool and serve.


Update (4/4): I made the brownie recipe, cutting the oil and salt in half (and replacing the oil that I omitted with water). I decided to get some fiber in there by adding 2 (yes two!) cups of oatmeal. I'm not sure what I think yet. They're good (my 16 year old daughter keeps telling me that she loves them), but they are lacking some flavor. But they are very filling, that's for sure. Must be the fiber. The regular brownie recipe is more gooey. These are more cakey. I'm wondering if I just increased the oil from 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup if they'd have enough flavor. I'm sure I'll have another update when I find that perfect recipe.......

Wheat Breakfast Recipes -- Fruit Muffins, Scones & Cracked Wheat

I'm finding that I cook a lot with wheat -- I didn't realize I had so many recipes to share. I love to bake in the winter to keep the house warmer. It just feels nice too with the aroma of freshly baked goods. Even if I'm eating raw and mostly eat my sprouted wheat goods, it's hearty and healthy for the rest of my family.

Here's a favorite recipe that I morphed from a McDougall cookbook. I can apples every few years and use those for the muffins where it calls for apple sauce, but I'll write both. This recipe is so versatile. I've changed it up when I was out of apple juice and used grape juice instead, which made me think I should use berries to go with that stronger taste. That same day I realized my muffin pan was still at the school, so I made scones instead and they were an instant hit. I liked them because they had that muffin top wonder that tastes so much better than the bottom. So I'll post both recipes and will add at the bottom of each that they can be made into muffins or scones (or even a sweet bread if you have a mini-loaf pan). I've done all of the above.

Apple/Oatmeal Muffins
1/2 c. apple juice
1 c. canned apples or apple sauce
1/2 c. honey
2 eggs (optional if vegan -- bakes fine w/o them, just a little drier)
2 T oil (optional -- this was originally an oil-free recipe -- I find my kids like them better w/oil because they're more moist, but they bake just fine without the oil too)
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice
1 t. salt
3 c. wheat flour
2 c. oatmeal (old fashioned)

Mix ingredients -- wet first, then add in dry. Pour into muffin pan at 3/4 full. If you'd rather make them into scones, scoop w/ice cream scoop onto baking stone or sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes. If you make mini-muffins, it will only take about 20 minutes. If you want to make it into mini-loaves, it will take more like 45 minutes. These freeze well to keep fresh if you can't eat them all within a few days.

Berry Scones
1/2 c. grape juice
1 c. apple sauce
1/2 c. honey
2 eggs (optional if vegan -- bakes fine w/o them, just a little drier)
2 T oil (optional -- this was originally an oil-free recipe -- I find my kids like them better w/oil because they're more moist, but they bake just fine without the oil too)
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice
1 t. salt
3 c. wheat flour
2 c. oatmeal (old fashioned)
2 c. fresh or frozen berries (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries)

Mix ingredients -- wet first, then add in dry. Fold in berries at the end. If the berries are fresh, they may come apart when mixing -- you can coat the berries with a little unrefined sugar to keep them together if you'd like. Scoop batter w/ice cream scoop or large serving spoon onto baking stone or sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes. If you'd like to make muffins, fill muffin tin to 3/4 full. If you make mini-muffins, it will only take about 20 minutes. If you want to make it into mini-loaves, it will take more like 45 minutes. These freeze well to keep fresh if you can't eat them all within a few days.

I'll have to make some and post a picture in the next few days.

-- I also like to make cracked wheat with just raisins and cinnamon (and often flax too) on cold mornings. If you haven't tasted plump cooked raisins, you're in for a treat!

Cracked Wheat & Raisins
3/4 c. cracked wheat (either by hand or from the store)
3 c. water
1/2 c. raisins (usually just a handful)
1 t. cinnamon
1 T. ground flax seed

Put wheat, raisins and water into pan, rice cooker, or large glass bowl. There are a variety of ways to cook your cracked wheat. I've done it in the microwave for about 14 minutes on high in a glass mixing bowl. It sometimes boils over and microwaving destroys nutrients, so I don't do it this way anymore. But it's still better for you than most cold cereals and is a hand option if you don't have a rice cooker or the time to stand near the stove.

If you have a rice cooker, follow the instructions for the cooker for brown rice and it will cook up the wheat just wonderfully. If you use a pan on the stove, let water rise to a boil, add wheat and raisins, let boil for about 15 minutes, stirring and watching so it won't burn.

Stir in cinnamon and flax seed when it's all cooked. (You can add them before cooking, but they often end up boiling out and drying on the top edges of the pan or bowl). The finished cooked wheat should be moist. If too much water has boiled out, just add in some hot water to moisten it up. Super soothing and wonderful to warm you up.

Wheat Recipes -- Waffles, Pancakes & French Toast

I didn't think good fluffy waffles were possible with just whole wheat, but I was wrong. I make them all the time and they're wonderful. Yes, they have more oil than pancakes, but they're a nice wholesome treat for mealtimes or dessert. We top them with real maple syrup or a variety of fruits -- fresh berries, peaches, mangos or cooked apples, berries, or peaches w/cinnamon. I usually put so much fruit on mine that you can't even see the waffles anymore. To me, it's like eating a pie or shortcake with a much healthier crust! Obviously, I don't eat these when I'm eating all raw, but it's great for the rest of my family and is something I can join in with when I'm eating a high raw diet.

Fluffy Whole Wheat Waffles
1 c. soy or almond milk
2 eggs
2 t. baking powder
1 1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 c. wheat flour
1/4 c. oil
2 T. honey or unrefined sugar

Mix by hand or in mixer. Pour onto hot waffle iron as directed by the appliance user guide. Save what you don't eat in a ziploc bag and reheat in the toaster for up to a week if refrigerated. I usually triple or quadruple the recipe to have them handy for quick breakfasts for my kids throughout the week.

-- I have one son who for some unknown reason loves pancakes, but won't eat the waffles. So I make pancakes more often than waffles. Sometimes I just use the waffle batter for pancakes too, but if I make them alone, I adapt the earlier recipe with 1/2 the oil or use this other great pancake recipe.

Wonderful Wheat Pancakes
3 c. wheat flour
1 t. salt
1 T. baking powder
2 eggs
3 c. soy or almond milk (sometimes I use 1 c. water and 2 c. milk)
1 1/2 T. oil

If you don't eat eggs or are out of them, you can omit the eggs and increase the soy milk by 1/4 c. and increase the baking powder by 1/2 T.

Mix all together and cook until bubbly, then flip. As you cook, the batter seems to thicken. I end up adding a bit of water or soy milk as I go.

-- It may seem basic to list a French Toast recipe, but I have a little recipe I came up with in my last pregnancy almost 6 years ago when I was craving French Toast daily. The combination of sweetness from the vanilla soy and added cinnamon is just great!

Sweet & Spice French Toast
2 eggs
1/2 c. vanilla soy milk
1/2 t. cinnamon
whole wheat bread

(I actually just pour in the soy milk and cinnamon and you can too if you don't feel like measuring, but these ratios are right, so you make it once, see the consistency and run with it from there).

Stir together in a flat dish. I usually use a glass bread pan because it's rectangular like the bread slices. Dip bread on both sides and cook over the stove until brown.

Top with real maple syrup or fruit.

-- I'll post my sweet bread recipes either later today or tomorrow.

Wheat Recipes -- pizza dough & bread

Sorry I haven't posted much this week. It's Easter vacation, school is out and the house is hopping! We have three birthdays within a week and had the first party (with over 30 teenagers here) on Tuesday. Very fun, but doesn't leave much time for thought and writing! I figured I could focus enough to post a few good recipes. I hope I can anyway (music playing loudly in the background, children jumping around, etc. :))

A few years ago when I got into raw foods, I wanted to take some steps at getting food for my family healthier too. I decided to stop buying white flour and refined sugars. I know some people have wheat allergies and are cutting out wheat, but I find if I grind it up myself, I don't have problems with it like I do with refined wheat. My youngest son tested highly allergic to wheat a few years ago (was getting eczema from head to toe) and we found with a few mishaps that he actually doesn't have any problems with fresh whole wheat -- just with refined wheat products (especially white flour!) So we are grateful to know that. He's happy to be able to have toast and pancakes again. And I'm happy to not have to experiment with all the other grains that don't behave quite as nicely as wheat does.

I have many, many 5 gallon buckets full of hard red wheat and spring white wheat. Both grind up wonderfully for baking. I crack the red wheat for hot cereal and sprout the white wheat (mainly because it's newer -- the red wheat is 10-30 years old and stores well & tastes fresh for cooking, but won't sprout when it's that old). The hard red wheat is heavy and hearty. It's good for dense bread, sweet bread (like pumpkin, banana or apple), cookies that you don't mind gritty (like peanut butter, oatmeal, or chocolate chip), even brownies. The spring white wheat is lighter and better for lighter loaves such as homemade french bread, muffins, or anything that you don't want weighed down quite as much. Either works well for pancakes or waffles.

I've decided that if I do have pizza, it's with homemade crust, sauce, and veggies. I've tried raw pizza and it was about the biggest disappointment I've ever had in my raw food ventures. It took so much effort to make and didn't have any redeeming quality -- not a single one. So if I go for pizza, it will be one of my cooked creations. I have 2 crusts that work well -- one (Pizza Crust I) is just my homemade bread recipe. It's heavy, but good. I use it when I'm already making bread and just double the recipe to make pizza too. The other (Pizza Crust II) is actually a pizza crust recipe a friend gave me that I morphed a bit to make healthier.

Pizza Crust I (bread dough recipe)
Combine and let rise until foamy:
2 1/2 c. warm water
1/2 c. honey
1 1/2 T. yeast

Stir into a big bowl:
1/3. c. oil
1 t. salt
2-3 c. wheat flour

Add yeast mixture to wheat mixture; Stir in additional
5-6 c. wheat flour

Cover with damp towel and let rise until double (can let rise in oven at 170 degrees)
Knead a bit, shape into pizza rounds, let rise again for about 10-15 minutes)

Bake pizza at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.


Pizza Crust II
1 pkg. or T. yeast
1 c. warm water
1 T. unrefined sugar or honey
1 c. ice cold water
1 T. salt (less if you're restricting salt)
2 T. olive oil
5 - 5 1/2 c. wheat flour

In small bowl, stir yeast, warm water, and sugar -- let sit for 5 minutes until yeast becomes frothy.

In a bigger bowl, stir cold water, salt and oil. If you have a dough hook for your mixer, you can mix in half the flour. Otherwise, just stir by hand. Once mixed well, add in yeast mixture, then other half of flour until the dough is not sticky (but not too dry).

The actual recipe says to divide the dough into 2 balls and put each ball into a gallon ziploc bag in the refrigerator for 10 hours to 2 days. I've never done that, but you can try it if you'd like. I just let it rise at room temperature for about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes -- until it's risen, then punch it down and form into 2 big pizzas (can stretch with hands or roll out with rolling pin). Sometimes I make personal mini-pizzas instead. I let it sit until it looks like it's raising a little bit (maybe 10-15 minutes while I make the sauce), then I add the sauce and toppings. Bake at 450 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Quick Pizza Sauce
You can use any pasta sauce, but this homemade sauce tastes like it came from a pizzeria.
1 can (14 oz. or 1 3/4 c.) chopped or diced tomatoes
1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
2 T. chopped fresh basil leaves (or 2 t. dried basil)
1 1/2 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 t. dried oregano
1 1/2 t. unrefined sugar
1/2 t. chopped garlic
add salt to taste

I use the hand blender, but you could blend it in a regular blender too.

Pizza Toppings
I don't put cheese on my pizza anymore, but I do for a few of my kids and my husband. For the rest of us, I add a mixture of mushrooms, tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions -- sometimes spinach too.

As for homemade bread -- the recipe I wrote for the pizza crust is my basic bread recipe -- only I form it into loaves at the end. I use Pampered Chef stones for baking 90% of the time. I like to bake bread in their mini-loaf stone that has 4 loaves in one pan. This is the perfect size for slices of homemade bread because it isn't so big that it falls apart. We use it mostly for dinner and toasting (in the mornings and for snacks).

All Wheat Bread
Combine and let rise until foamy:
2 1/2 c. warm water
1/2 c. honey
1 1/2 T. yeast

Stir into a big bowl:
1/3. c. oil
1 t. salt
2-3 c. wheat flour

Add yeast mixture to wheat mixture; Stir in additional
5-6 c. wheat flour

Cover with damp towel and let rise until double (can let rise in oven at 170 degrees)
Knead a bit, shape into loaves and let rise again for about 20-30 minutes (less time in oven).

Once it's risen the second time, bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes if large loaves, 15-20 minutes for mini-loaves. When it's finished baking, put a damp cloth on top of the bread while it cools and the crust will be much softer and more moist.  Also, I like to put a little butter (I use the non-dairy Earth Balance, but any will do) on top of the crust as it comes out of the oven.   It gives the crust a moister taste).


Tomorrow I'll post my wheat recipes for waffles, pancakes, and sweet breads. I'll eventually get to the cookies and brownies.

Next week, I'll talk more about sprouting and will post my favorite cracker recipes. Super yummy!