Moist Banana Muffins w/no added sugar

This is a yummy recipe for day-old bananas. Makes 24 muffins

1 ½ cups mashed banana, about 5 bananas

1 beaten egg

½ cup milk, or prepared powdered milk

½ cup oil

1-3/4 cup all-purpose flour, or whole wheat flour, or a mix of each

2 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

½ cup chopped pecans (optional)

GREASE muffin tins. Do not use paper bake cups. 
PREHEAT oven to 375°

MIX WET INGREDIENTS: In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Add the egg, beat it into the mashed banana. Add milk and oil. Stir.  

MIX DRY INGREDIENTS: In a separate bowl, Mix together flour(s), baking powder, salt.

COMBINE.  Pour dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.  Add pecans (optional). Stir just until moistened. Spoon batter into greased muffin tin, filling each 1/2 full. 

BAKE in a 375° oven for 15 - 20 min, or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 2 min. Remove from muffin cups. Serve warm.

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancake MIX

Whole Wheat Oatmeal

Pancake MIX

Speed up pancakes by

making a MIX ahead of time!

Served at Douglas Neighborhood July 4th Pancake Breakfast

The combination of wheat flour and

oatmeal is whole grain goodness!

Adding cooked oatmeal increases moisture.

Eat them with peanut butter to create a complete protein, w/o meat!

To make the MIX:

     Stores for 6+ months.

 8 c. whole wheat flour

1  c. dry powdered milk

¼ c. baking powder

½ c. sugar

2 t. salt

In a large mixing bowl, combine all

ingredients.  Transfer to a #10 can

or another airtight container.  

To make Pancakes:

     Use a medium mixing bowl.

2   eggs, beaten

¼  c.  oil

2  c. water

1  c. cooked oatmeal

2 ½ c. whole wheat pancake MIX

Using a wire whisk, combine ingredients in order, first

to last.  Cook on a hot griddle.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins w/ Chocolate Chips

3  1/3 c. whole wheat flour, fine ground

1  t. baking soda

2  t.  baking powder

1  t. salt

4   eggs

1 c. milk, or prepared powdered milk

1/2 c.  oil

1/2 c. butter, melted

1 c. cooked cream of wheat, oatmeal, or cracked-wheat cereal, warm (optional, adds moisture)

1  1/2 c. sugar

15 oz. can pumpkin, or 2 c. frozen pumpkin puree defrosted and drained

2  t. cinnamon

1/8  t. nutmeg and 1/8 t. cloves (optional)

12 oz. bag chocolate chips

Makes 24 tall muffins or 36 short muffins. 

Mix first 4 ingredients, then add the rest.  Grease muffin tin with oil, not with oil cooking spray. Put 1/2  to  2/3 full into the greased muffin tins.  

Bake 15-20 min at 350 degrees. The smell of autumn will fill your kitchen. Lightly touch the center of a few muffins, if it bounces back, they are done. Wait 2 min before removing from tin. Enjoy them hot! 

These muffins freeze very well. They make a great (somewhat healthy) after-school snack. We like to make '36 short muffins' because they cook fast, fit in kid-sized mouths, and if frozen defrost easy.

No need to spread extra butter on top of these babies.  The butter is already inside.

Pumpkin Nutrition:

Great source of  Vitamin A

Low in calories and fat

High in fiber

Can replace oil for pumpkin in many recipes.

The bright orange color of pumpkin is a dead giveaway that pumpkin is loaded with an important antioxidant, beta-carotene. Beta-carotene is one of the plant carotenoids converted to vitamin A in the body. In the conversion to vitamin A, beta carotene performs many important functions in overall health.

Current research indicates that a diet rich in foods containing beta-carotene may reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancer and offers protect against heart disease. Beta-carotene offers protection against other diseases as well as some degenerative aspects of aging.

Black Bean and Couscous Salad

This recipe is delicious and it's all food storage and garden ingredients!

I like to make it ahead of time and pack it for a cold lunch to-go. 

~ Lindsey Scarber

3/4 c.   couscous, or whole wheat couscous

1  1/4 c.   chicken broth, or water + 1t. chicken bullion

6 T.   olive oil

6 T.   lime or lemon juice ( I like lime juice)

2 t.   Balsamic vinegar

1 t.   cumin

8   green onions, finely sliced

1 c.   dried cranberries

2 c. cooked black beans, drained, rinsed

Bring chicken broth to a boil in a 2-quart pot.  Stir in the couscous.  Cover and remove from heat.  Let stand for 5 min.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together olive oil, lime juice, vinegar, and cumin.

Add green onions, cranberries, and black beans. Toss to coat.

Fluff the couscous well, breaking up all the chunks.  Add it to the beans and cranberry mixture and mix well.  Refrigerate. Serve cold.

Whole Wheat Cornbread

by Lindsey Scarber

2  beaten eggs

1  c.  milk

1/ 4  c.  cooking oil, OR shortening, OR bacon grease

1  c.  whole wheat flour, OR half wheat flour + half white flour

3/4 c. cornmeal

1/4 c. white sugar, OR brown sugar

2  T.  baking powder

3/4  t. salt

1  T.  butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a med bowl, beat the eggs.  Add milk and oil.  
Without stirring, place flour and cornmeal on top.  Make a little bathtub in the flours for the sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Stir the bathtub ingredients into the flours without getting them wet.  Then mix the dry ingredients into the wet.  Stir just until moistened.

Add the 1 T. butter to a 10-inch cast iron skillet or a 9x1-1/2-inch round baking pan.  Place in a 400 oven about 3 minutes or until butter melts.  Remove pan from oven.  Swirl butter in pan to coat bottom and sides of pan. Pour batter into hot, buttered skillet or pan.  Bake for 15 or 18 min. or until a wooden toothpick or butter knife poked into the middle comes out clean.  Serve warm.

Dinner Variations:  Add 1/2 c. grated cheese before baking.  OR add 1/2 cup crisp bacon pieces before baking.

Breakfast Variation:  Serve cornbread with a bowl and spoon.  Spread jam on the top, then pour milk over it.

Cornbread Muffins Variation: Spoon batter into greased 12-muffin pan. Bake 350 for 8-11 min. To check for doneness, tap the top of a muffin, if it bounces back they are done. 

Behunin Family Honey Butter Variation:   In a microwave dish, combine 1/2 cup butter + 1/2 cup honey. Melt in microwave. When cornbread is out of the oven, poke the cornbread all over with a fork. Pour honey butter on cornbread. Heavenly delicious! 

Light & Crispy Whole Wheat Waffles

These simple wheat waffles are the best ever! 
by Cherise Cooper

Wet Ingredients:

4    eggs

4 c.  water

1 c.   milk, or powdered milk

1/3 c.   oil

2 Tbsp  white vinegar

Dry Ingredients:

4 c.  whole wheat flour

2 tsp  baking soda

2 tsp  baking powder

2 tsp  salt

In a large bowl, mix wet ingredients with a wire whisk. In a separate smaller bowl, mix dry ingredients. Combine dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Cook on a hot waffle iron.

Serve hot with blended fruit (such as strawberries or canned peaches) and whipped cream or yogurt, or with peanut butter and maple syrup. 

Recipe can also be used to make pancakes.  Awesome recipe! 

Strawberry Scones

Last Friday, I made these delightfully delicious Strawberry Scones from Good to the Grain  by Kim Boyce.  It is one of my most beautiful cookbooks, though the premise of the book is  that she uses lots of different grains besides "flour" (like quinoa flour, polenta, kamut, rye, spelt, etc) and I rarely have any of those on hand, so I don't cook from this book nearly as often as I should - but everything I've made from it has tasted A-MAZ-ING.
Since I decided to make these last-minute, and didn't have any barley on hand, I had to alter the recipe, but it still tasted very yummy, and I think that my version was a little easier to "throw together."



Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups white flour
1/2 cup + 2tlbs whole wheat flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp bk powder
1/2 tsp bk soda
1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 stick cold butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
generous 1/2 cup strawberry jam
powdered sugar for sprinkling

1. Whisk or shift together dry ingredients, and cut in butter (like you're making a pie dough) until butter pieces are the size of rice grains or little peas.

2. Whisk together buttermilk and egg and add to dry mix, mix until barely combined.

3. Turn on to a floured surface and separate in half, adding more flour if the dough is too sticky to handle. Pat each half into a disk, about 3/4" thick and 7" across.

4. Cover one disk of dough with strawberry jam. Top with the remaining pastry. Slice it like a pie, into triangles and transfer to a well-buttered baking sheet.

5. Bake for 22-26 minutes at 350 F, rotating the pan half way through.

6. Remove immediately to a cooling rack (or the jam will harden and you'll never scrape your scones off the pan if you don't move it while it's warm), and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

These were delicious served warm with a cup of tea for Second Breakfast, and only took me about 40 minutes to make, and 24 of those minutes they were baking. It's also one of the first times that my version looked like the picture in the book! I was so proud.

Leave a comment and let me know if you make them!

By Becky Pitcher