Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Chuck's Breakfast

Sometimes the best recipes are the simplest ones. Chuck has a great idea for a very filling breakfast with an interesting taste twist - Lime Yogurt! The nutrition facts are at Calorie Count, the best FREE website to count your calories.

1 Cup Cheerios
1 Carton Light Yogurt (I like to use Lime flavor but any flavor you like will work)
1 Sliced banana(Small or Medium)

Mix it up and enjoy. Do give the Lime flavor yogurt a try. Such a refreshing way to start the day!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Tony's Wheat Bread

Tony used to make this when he was in college and I was working two or three jobs to keep him there. We could not afford much in the way of groceries and he literally made our daily bread. It made awesome sandwiches and toast! The nutrition facts are set for thin slices.

Tony's Wheat Bread 

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 packages instant yeast
1 t salt
1 cup water
1 cup milk
1/4 cup oil (vegetable oil is good)
2 eggs
3-3/12 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 - 1 1/2 cups more flour - your choice white or whole wheat, Tony used whole wheat

Directions:

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt.

When measuring flour by cups, lightly spoon the flour into the measuring cup. DO NOT PACK. Or your bread will be dry and crumbly. I cannot give you the weights for measurements as we never did such a thing. So just go lightly with the flour.

Heat the water, milk, and oil in a sauce pan over low heat until it is very warm - not hot, just warmer than your own body temperature. If it gets hot, allow it to cool a bit. Heat and time are the only two things that will kill the yeast which means your bread won't rise - but don't make a federal case out of it, just shoot for very warm.

Add the heated liquid and two eggs to the flour mixture and blend at low speed with a mixer until it is moistened. Then beat three minutes at medium speed.

With a nice large wooden spoon, stir in the additional whole wheat flour until it forms a sticky dough. Then either in a large bowl or on a board or other cleanable firm surface, gradually add in another 1/2 cup to 1 1/2 cup more flour as you knead and work the dough until it is very smooth and pliable. Keep kneading and flouring until it is no longer sticky. This should take about five minutes or so depending on how strong your kneading fingers are. Me, it would take ten minutes, Tony does it in five which is why it is his bread.

Return to the mixing bowl which has been cleaned and very lightly oiled. Cover and place out of the way of cool drafts until it has risen to about double in size.

Divide into two portions. Shape for loaf pans and allow to rise again.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

If you like it crusty, just pop in the oven. If you like a softer crust, brush with melted butter before baking.

Bake until the loaf is done. This will be about 30 minutes - it has been a while since we've made this, and I never did write down the length of time on my recipe card, just the word Bake. 30 minutes is pretty standard for this type of bread.

When it browns a bit, is firm, and smells wonderful, give it a thump in the center with the flick of a finger. If it sounds hollow, it's done.

If it does not seem done when it is browning, tent it with aluminum foil to stop the browning.

Cool, slice, and consume.


Thursday, February 2, 2012

Crazypotato98's Nopales Con Huevo Y Salchicha Polaka

Nopales are the pad of the prickly pear carefully de-spined and peeled. They are readily available in the Southwest United States, Mexico, and any grocery that carries a good variety of Hispanic foods.

The nutrition facts for this wonderful breakfast are at Calorie Count!

Nopales Con Huevo Y Salchicha Polaka

Ingredients:

2 cups nopales, spines removed, diced
2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup onion
4 eggs
2 tsp salt
50 g polish sausage

Directions:

You can prepare the nopales the night before or in the morning. Boil the nopales with the 1 tbsp salt, garlic and onion. Make sure to use a pot that is large enough so that the nopales are not near the top of your pot. Once they have boiled for a few minutes and appear soft, turn off the heat and add the baking soda by sprinkling it all over. Be careful -- the water will begin to fizz and foam, so if you don't have enough room at the top of the pot, it will boil over. You may refrigerate the nopales for the next morning or go on to the next step.

Dice your polish sausage into whatever sized pieces you like, and saute it in a frying pan coated with cooking spray. Once the juices are coming out, add the drained nopal/garlic/onion mixture and cook, stirring, for a few minutes until the nopales are warmed through.

Add the eggs and salt and cook to your desired consistency.

Note: Here's some more info on how to prep the nopales and why you add the baking soda!

Meganr's Breakfast Thingies

These delicious grab and go breakfast treats are made with peanut flour.  Peanut flour is actually just defatted peanuts that are ground into something resembling flour.  It is very high protein and there are a few different types.  I get the 12% light version, which has 12 gram of protein for 100 calories and does not have much of a peanutty taste, which supposedly the dark version does.  The web site would have you think that this stuff can be mixed with water and then eaten like peanut butter - don't believe it, it's disgusting that way.  But it's super good in these baked numbers.

The nutrition facts can be found at Calorie Count. 

Breakfast Thingies 
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Waffle Mix (Bob's Red Mill 10-Grain Pancake and Waffle Mix)
1 cup 12% light peanut flour
1 large sliced peach (this time of year, it's thawed frozen peaches, a half bag)
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
3/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
4 eggs
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F

Put peaches in a food processer until well mashed up and liquefy.

Add everything else into the food processor and mix well.

Pour into individual baking dishes and put into oven. The baking dishes that Meangr uses are bigger than muffin tins. They hold about 2 cups of product, but should only be 2/3 filled before baking.

Bake for 24 -27 minutes until center is done, not jiggly or soft.

Since I warm these into the microwave before I eat them in the morning, I'm probably underbaking a bit, and the microwave finishes them up.  You'll want to adjust for your desired moistness. So test with a toothpick or use any of your favorite techniques to tell when your baked bready product is done.

More notes on peanut flour:

I also will put 1/4 cup or so into chilis and stews sometimes;  I did that last night with my sweet potato chili and it was ever so good.

More notes on the use of peaches:

Also, I use peaches for the "sweetener".  I've tried a bunch of different things, but these seems to mush up really well.  Berries taste good, but the seeds I found a little annoying.  Probably applesauce would work too, but I haven't tried it.