Home made granola bars (trying to replace z bars)

 Okay so this one is definely a money saver for us.  A box of Z Bars from Costco is $10 ish, and I do love them, soft and yummy with not too many calories for a quick snack or for energy on a bike ride.   So when I saw this one on Kitchen Stewardship I just had to try it.  I doubled it and ended up with over 40 bars which I wrapped and placed in freezer.  Then the next week took out a handful for soccer games, softball practice and keeping the little one happy during all of this.  Did I mention my husband ate 3 at the soccer game instead of the dinner I packed him.  Healthier I don't know, lots of oat, but also lots of butter and of course yummy chocolate.  Time sensitive definetaly only takes minutes to mix pour into a cookie sheet, bake, cook, cut , wrap done.   Cost saver, oh yea.  Again I don't know what oats cost because I buy in large 50 lbs. bags, the butter and honey are the expense so 2 cups of honey is maybe $4 and 1 lbs. butter is another $4 maybe so about $10 for all 40 bars.

Recipe:

4 1/2 Cups rolled oats

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup butter softened

1 cup honey

Add- ins: 1 Cup chocolate chips, I cup chopped nuts, or and 2 cup combination with dried fruits or sunflower seed, or coconut or whatever you like. (My kids like plain chocolate chips the most but my husband and I really like the craisons and coconut)

Pre heat oven to 325 degrees,  for single batch use 9x13 for double batch use a rimmed cookie sheet (jelly roll pan).

Beat butter and honey first until smooth and smelling yummy,  then all other ingredients except add ins.  Beat hard until combined then stir in add-ins.  Press mixture into pan,  you do need to really jam them down in (spray your hands with cooking spray and that will keep them a lot cleaner) so they don't fall apart later.  Then bake for 15 to 20 min. or until golden brown.  Let cool for at least 10 min before cutting into bars (in pan).  Then let cool completely and remove and wrap.

Homemade Wheat Thins (easy)

 So I have been trying to replace processed foods with more natural or whole foods,  I am not ready to jump completely into that change but am working towards it.  Most of the processed foods that does come into our house are snacks for the kids.  So what I want to focus on for the next few posts is are they healthier, time efficient and cost effective.  I have now made these crackers twice, the first time I doubled the recipe the second time I quadrupled the recipe and was much happier the second time around because I ended up with the equivalent of a two pouch Costco box.   I am just going to assume they are healthier since the wheat was ground minutes before use and I used honey and butter instead of processed sugar and hydrogenated oil.  I do thin these are fairly time efficient, it took me less than 30 min. the first batch and less than 45 min.  the second batch ( I do have double ovens which helped to speed things up). As far as cost, I think the Costco bag is about $5, I have no idea on homemade because I bought my wheat years ago.  The flour is minimal only a couple cups of wheat a small amount of honey, but two cubes of butter is at least $1.50 and they you have to think about the energy to bake and wash dishes.  So I think probably pretty even on cost.

Recipe:
1 1/4 Cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 Tbs. honey (or sugar)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. paprika
4 Tbs. butter
1/4 Cup water
1/4 tsp. vanilla
Salt for topping
Parchment paper or flat baking stone
Please follow directions, the second time I did not and the dough was not as smooth and harder to roll out.

 Pre heat oven to 425 degrees.  Combine flour, salt and paprika in mixing bowl, then cut in soft butter until it looks like large crumbs. no bigger than a pea.  Then combine water, vanilla and honey and add to flour mixture.  Mix well until combined and dough forms.
Then divide dough into fourths rolling out one fourth at a time on a sheet of parchment or right on to a stone (I only used parchment).  Use as much flour as necessary to make rolling easy.  Roll out until dough is as thin as humanly possible with out tearing.  Then use a pizza cutter to cut into a rectangle.  I saved all the edges and baked them together at the end our you can just cut as is and have some weird crackers, doesn't matter kids eat them either way.  Then continue to cut into squares I have done some big and some small, what ever you like.  Poke lightly with fork, I forgot on some and had bubbles but not a big deal if you are in a hurry.  Then sprinkle with salt and slide parchment onto cookie tray and bake for 8 min.  (in my oven but you make want to check and start with 6 or 7)

Whole Wheat Bread

This post is for Natalie who felt like the multi-grain bread was too complicated.  This one is simple and quick and 98% of the time I get perfect bread, (there is always that day once in a long while when things just aren't going your way and it's a flop) I think the main trick to this bread is to let the mixer knead for a full 8 to 10 min.  That will feel like a long time but it is well worth it.   This recipe comes from Kitchen Kneads which is a store in West Jordan, UT and is a great place to buy all your grain and nuts and other healthy items in bulk.  You can half this if your mixer can not handle that much flour.  It says it makes 5 loaves.  I am picky and don't like my bread to have a muffin top so when I make it I use 3 of the really long loaf pans from IKEA and one regular size I think 8 inch.  This gives me 4 loaves just the size I like.  Once cooled I slice and place in reused bread bags and place in my freezer for our every day use.

Whole Wheat Bread (kitchen Kneads)

6 Cups warm water                         2 Tbls. Yeast

3 Tbls. Lecithin                                   2 Tbls Dough enhancer

2 tbls. Salt                                            1/3 cup honey

14-16 cups wheat flour

Mix all ingredients adding last two cups of flour slowly until dough pulls away from side of bowl (I usually end up using all 16 cups and sometimes a little more).  Spray clean counter top with cooking spray and divide and pat into rectangles, roll up and place in greased bread pans.  Let rise until doubled( or just arching above rim of pan). It will rise considerably once in the oven.  Bake at 350 for 30 min.

Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns

I have been looking at this recipe for about 5 years now meaning to make it and I finally did and I will never go back to store bought white buns again.  I expected to hear some complaining from my kids at the change but instead they all sat down and gobbled it up even saying they liked it.  What was really convenient was that I made small buns and small patties for the younger kids so they could hold it and eat it with ease.  It also made enough to freeze and pull out next week when we have BBQ beef sandwiches for dinner.  My next post will be whole wheat bread which I made the same day as the buns,  they used a lot of the same ingredients so it made it a breeze.

 Recipe:
3 1/2 Cups warm water
3/4 Cup sugar ( I used honey but you could also use agave)
1 Cup oil ( I did this first time but from now on it will be apple sauce or cottage cheese)
6 Tbls. yeast
1 Tbls. salt
2 eggs slightly beaten ( I used 6 Tbls. flax meal and 2 Tbls. water as a substitute)
10 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
Combine water, sugar, oil and yeast.  Mix then add remaining ingredients and mix well.  Roll out to desired thickness. (Mine was about 1/4 inch thick and did rise to be about double a sandwich thin that you buy at the store.  Since I like the thin sandwich thins I think I will go even thinner next time on some for me but keep this same thickness for the kids.) Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Cut out using what ever you have I use a Ziploc container that had a screw on lid so the edge was pretty sharp and for the little burgers I used a small biscuit cutter.

 Place one circle on top of the other and let rise for 15 min. ( I let mine rise longer because my house was cold or maybe they just need longer).  Bake for 10 to 12 min. or until lightly golden brown.  I didn't do anything fancy with mine just to keep the kids happy but you could sprinkle with sesame seeds or what ever you like. I used my favorite wheat cook book for this it is called Wheat Cookin Made Easy, definitely a great resource if you plan to use wheat.

Bunny Buns

My daughter saw these in The Friend magazine and just had to have them, so we gave them a try.  They are an orange roll, but I think you could easily make them a cinnamon roll if you choose.  The kids enjoyed twisting them and putting on the tail so it did work as a family activity which is always nice.

Recipe

1 Tbls. yeast

1/4 Cup warm water

1 Cup milk, warmed but not boiling

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter or shortening

1 tsp salt

2 eggs beaten (of course only from a chicken you can trust)

1/4 cup orange juice

2 Tbls. grated orange peel

5 1/2 cups flour

Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 cup hot water ( just used milk right out of the fridge), 1 tsp. butter.

Combine yeast and water, set aside while warming milk.  Then add butter and sugar to milk.  Combine all ingredients. (I would do this step different next time.  I didn't feel like there was enough orange flavor a hint but I really like to taste the flavor so next time I would combine a little sugar and zest and then when I have it rolled out would sprinkle that on I think you would get a stronger flavor that way)  Mix or knead until smooth, then let rise until doubled, about 2 hours.   Roll out on a floured surface into a rectangle approx. 14 inches high, 1/2 inch thick and then using a pizza cutter cut off rounded edges to make straight edges, set cut pieces aside to roll into balls for tails.  Then cut rectangle into 1/2 inch strips then make a small loop in center of strip and twist once or twice leaving ends out for ears.  Then place on sprayed baking sheet and place a small ball for tail in the loop.   I added cinnamon chips for eyes but you could use mini chocolate chips or any cake decoration item you choose.  Once all the dough is used cover and let rise in warm place for about and hour.  Bake at 375 for 12 to 15 min.  While still warm brush with glaze and sprinkle as desired.  I got exactly 2 dozen bunnies from this recipe.