Friday, March 28, 2008

Recipe: Granny Corn

Helen Wride's Granny Corn

Ingredients:
Large bowl popcorn
1 large box Jello (any flavor)
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup sugar


Directions:
1. Pop popcorn, remove old maids and set aside.
2. Bring jello, corn syrup and sugar to a rolling boil. Boil 1 minute. Quickly pour jello mixture over popcorn and stir. Lightly grease your hands with butter and form popcorn balls or serve sticky from the bowl.

Alana's Variation: You can use kool-aid packets in place of the jello for the option of additional flavors.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Recipe: Pizza Sauce

Real Italian Pizza Sauce
by Alana


Great for pizza or just dipping breadsticks. If you don't have all of the spices and herbs, the start up cost for this will be between $10-$20, but you will be thrilled with the result. It is my favorite pizza sauce. When I learn how to can, I'm going to can a few dozen jars of this Italian nectar.

Ingredients:
29 oz can tomato sauce
6 oz can tomato paste
1 ½ t. minced onion
1 t. minced garlic
1 bay leaf
¾ t. sea salt (or ½ t. reg salt)
1 ½ t. oregano
½ t. fennel seed
½ t. marjoram
½ t. basil
¼ t. thyme
¼ t. rosemary

Simmer in crock pot for 2-3 hours. Remove bay leaf. (You can also simmer it on the stove for 1-2 hours on low.)

Number Of Servings: This can make at least two large pizzas.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Recipe: Sourdough Pancakes & Bread

I've been baking a lot of bread lately, and then I got the hankering for some sourdough. I made my own Sourdough starter with help from this web site (and I gave it a little boost with some baking yeast, don't tell anyone). If anyone wants a cup of my sourdough starter to grow their own, just let me know. I'm happy to share. Now I have two sourdough recipes to share with you.

Sourdough Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 c. sourdough starter
1 c. water
• • •
1-1/2 c. flour (I used half whole wheat, which has more wild yeasts in it)
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 T. sugar
1 T. melted butter
3/4 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda (generous)
milk to reach desired consistency (1/4 c. more or less)

Directions:
1. The night before you want to make pancakes, remove 1 c. of starter and mix with 1 c. warm water and 1-1/2 c. flour. This is a great way to use up the starter that gets discarded while you're growing your starter.
2. In the morning, mix in egg, sugar, butter, salt, and baking soda. Add milk slowly until you reach desired consistency.
3. Fry on hot griddle. Devour with butter (and apricot syrup).


Alana's Sourdough French Loaf

Ingredients:
1-1/2 c. warm water
1/2 T. yeast*
1 T. honey
1/2 c. sourdough starter
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 t. salt
2 T. gluten flour
2-1/2 c.+ bread flour
corn meal

Directions:
1. Mix warm water, yeast*, honey and starter in a bowl.
*you can omit yeast if you have 5-10 hours to let it rise--like overnight in the fridge.
2. Add whole wheat flour, salt and gluten flour.
3. Add bread flour to reach doughy consistency (amount depends on how thick your starter is).
4. Knead and form into a ball. Place in greased bowl in warm area and let rise 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.
5. Punch down and knead again. Let rise again until doubled in bulk.
6. Punch down and form into long loaf, pinching seams together and place on greased baking sheet sprinkled with corn meal. Let rise. Cut slits across top. Place pan of water on bottom rack in oven. Place loaf in oven. Preheat to 375 degrees (while loaf is in oven) and bake 20 minutes.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Recipe: Vanishing Wheat-Oatmeal Cookies

These cookies are probably healthy enough to eat for breakfast--I can't imagine that they have any more sugar than a bowl of kids' sugar cereal. And I fib not when I tell you that I cannot even taste the whole wheat--they literally taste just like regular yummy oatmeal cookies.

Vanishing Wheat-Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1-1/2 t. vanilla extract
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 c. + all-purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. cinnamon
a few dashes nutmeg
1/2 t. salt
3 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 to 1 c. raisins, chocolate chips, etc

Directions:
Blend butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well. Add vanilla. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix well. Stir in oats and raisins or chips. Drop by tablespoon onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, until just golden.

Note: Cookies should not be flat. If the cookies turn out flat, mix in more all-purpose flour, 1/4 c. at a time. Also, I substituted 3/4 c. of the rolled oats with 3/4 c. rolled 5-grain cereal for a healthy variation. This recipe is adapted from one my mother received from Julane Wells in Montana (I added whole wheat and nutmeg).