Soaked Whole Wheat Streusel Muffins

I finally came up with a baked recipe! I love making up recipes from scratch, but have been afraid of trying my hand at baked goods before now. What could be more simple than a muffin recipe? Over the last year especially I've been learning the importance of preparing foods traditionally, hence the soaked part of these muffins. If you are interested in the why of soaking grains before using them for baking and whatnot, this article from Weed 'em And Reap is an excellent introduction to it.

Something else that I've noticed with soaking muffins in general, is that there is no longer a worry of over mixing them.  A big plus when your 2 year old and 3 year old want to help stir everything up.  Since the flour is completely saturated before you start with the rest of the prep, there's no such thing as over mixing!  And yes, they still come out light and fluffy! 

Soaked Whole Wheat Streusel Muffins
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2-1 3/4 cups cups buttermilk
3/4 cups coconut sugar or organic brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 egg
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbls. coconut oil melted
1 heaping tsp. vanilla extract

Streusel:
1 tsp. cinnamon
4 Tbls. cold butter
4 Tbls. coconut sugar or organic brown sugar
3-4 Tbls. white flour

The night before mix the whole wheat pastry flour and buttermilk together.  You want the mixture to be slightly runny.  Cover and leave on the counter top over night.  DO NOT REFRIGERATE!!

In the morning: Preheat the oven to 375.  Add the sugar of choice, baking powder, salt, egg, coconut oil and vanilla to the flour mixture, and mix until well incorporated.  Fill paper lined muffin cups nearly full.  (If you live in a lower altitude, you could  probably get away with  the standard 3/4's full, but up here, we need extra)

Mix strudel ingredients together until crumbly, and sprinkle over muffins.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.  I ended up with 14 muffins, you might have more depending on how full you fill the muffin cups. Enjoy the yummy-ness that is these muffins!!!

Steak Soup

I actually came up with this recipe well over a month ago, but just haven't had time to get it up on my blog. At least I remembered to write the ingredients down this time!

So, what do you do when you end up with lots of left over steak, and don't want to eat the same thing 3 nights in a row?  Make soup of course!  When I grilled the streak originally, I put garlic butter over it, so it already had some flavor to it.  My husband is not typically a soup eater; he'll usually only eat one bowl full even if he says it came out really good.  Well, after trying this soup he ate two full bowls!!  So here we go.

Steak Soup

Left over steak, thinly sliced
1 can Itailian diced tomatoes
1 can pinto beans
Savory
Season salt
Worcestershire sauce
Chopped onion
Chopped garlic
Beef broth
Water
Corn

Put all ingredients into a pot except corn.  Use as much of each as you prefer.  Bring to a boil, and simmer for at least an hour.  15 minutes before serving, add corn, and continue to simmer.  Enjoy!

Our Hobbit Breakfast

For our hobbit breakfast we had:

 White gravy over English muffins 

Scrambled eggs 

Strawberries 

And black tea (you can't have a hobbitish meal without tea!)

Mock Beef Stew

Ever had one of those days when you get an idea for dinner but don't have the right ingredients? I did today. When I finally remembered to go through the freezer to figure out what to make for dinner, it was already 5 o'clock. I had considered defrosting a roast and putting it in the pressure cooker, but I don't have roasts anymore. So I looked for some stew meat instead, but we're out of that too. The only other option I had at such a late time was hamburger. But you can't make beef stew out of hamburger... or can you? I did!

If I had had more time I would have boiled some fresh potatoes and carrots, but especially up here at 7,000 ft it takes at least 30-40 minutes before they're done. So I used canned potatoes and carrots instead.

And now that I've gotten all that out of the way, here's the recipe I came up with!

1 lb hamburger
About a teaspoon of garlic powder (fresh garlic would have been better, but I'm out of that too right now)
Half a teaspoon of onion powder
1 can of tomato soup
1 cans worth of water
A few tablespoons of oregano
1 can of carrots
1 can cooked potatoes
Salt and pepper to taste

Brown hamburger in a large skillet over high heat with garlic and onion powders. Once browned, add the rest of the ingredients, stir well, then simmer for about 15 minutes.

All told, it only took about a half an hour to get this meal on the table!

That Hamburger and French Fry Thing

Note, this recipe first appeared on my other blog A Seamstress Cat on May 12 of 2010. When I made it, I did not have this blog, but since it has nothing to do with sewing, I figured it would be better off here.

That Hamburger and French Fry Thing

I made up a new recipe last night, and my husband, Zack, really liked it, so I thought I'd better write it down before I forget it. ;-) Like all meals I make up off the fly, I never measure anything. Let me know if this sounds good to you too!

1 lb. hamburger
Chopped onions, (as much as you like, I only used about 1/8 of a cup)
1 chopped garlic clove, (or if you don't have any, a good shake of garlic powder works too)
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
Frozen French Fries cut in to 1 in, pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Brown hamburger in a large skillet with the onions and garlic, mine started to dry out before it was nicely browned so I added some oil to it. Cut up the French fries until you have a little less then the amount of hamburger. Stir in chopped fires and cream of soup into the hamburger. Pour into casserole dish. (I couldn't think if a proper topping so I didn't put anything on top of it, instead I covered it with a glass lid) Bake in the oven until hot and bubbly, about 30min.

Well, there you go! Hope you like it.

Homemade Hamburger Helper

Last night I made up another recipe on the fly, a homemade version of Hamburger Helper. My husband loved it and wants me to make it again, so I thought I'd better write in down before I forget what I did. :-) Plus I figure this is way healthier then the box stuff anyway. ;-)

Once again, I didn't really measure anything, so it probably will never cook up the same.

Ingredients:
1 lb. Ground meat, (this time I used beef instead of venison for a change)
1 can cream of chicken soup
Pasta
Frozen peas
Water
Milk
Garlic powder
Garlic salt

Brown meat in a large skillet. When it's nearly done, sprinkle a generous amount of garlic powder on it, and stir in. Turn stove temp. down to low. Pour in about 1 1/2 cups of water, a little milk, cream soup, pasta (I added what looked like a similar amount as what comes in the box), some frozen peas, and a couple shakes of garlic salt. Stir together. Once mixture starts to boil, cover and set timer for 10-15 minutes. Cook until pasta is done, and most of liquid is absorbed.

Enjoy!

There are endless options on how to customize this to your own preferences too!

Scarborough Fair Chicken & Pasta

This is a recipe I came up last month on the fly and had been meaning share on my other blog, but never got around to it. It fits in much better with this blog anyway. ;-) I hope you and your family enjoy it as much as my husband and I did.

Note, when I'm making up a recipe I don't measure anything, so adjust the amounts to your preference and number of servings.

Scarborough Fair Chicken & Pasta

Grind equal parts parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme in a mortar and pestal. Next add some garlic powder and a pinch of salt. Grind again.

Chop into bite size pieces two (or more) chicken breasts and brown with a little olive oil in a large skillet on high heat. Cook until almost done. Turn temperature down to low.

Mix just over a cup of water, half a cup of milk, and a little olive oil in a 2 cup measuring cup.

Pour water mixture into skillet along with herb seasoning and a handful of angel hair pasta broken in half. Stir, cover, and cook until pasta is done and liquid is absorbed.

Enjoy!