Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs

You know those last few slices of bread in the bag? 

Uh-huh. 

You know how those slices are usually dried out?

Oh yeah.

Do you ever throw out those last few slices?

Sometimes.

Have you ever read the ingredient list on breadcrumbs?

Probably not, but it's long.  There's lots of salt and crap in there.

And how does this all tie together?  

By making your own bread crumbs, you use the whole loaf of bread, you simplify the ingredients, lower the sodium AND it saves a bunch of moo-lah.

Not only does making your own breadcrumbs do all of the above, but you are also able to make whole wheat bread crumbs, which are really hard to find at the store.  We should all be making an effort to switch our refined white grains to whole grains. This is just another way to reduce the refined crap in our diet. 

SO let's do it.

You have two options to dry out the bread:
(1) Take those last 3-4 slices of whole wheat bread out of the bag and set them out on the counter for a couple days until they are hard and crunchy (this is what I do).
OR
(2) Place bread on a cookie sheet in a 250*-300* oven for 20-30 minutes, or until it's all dried out.

Break up your hard bread into chunks and place in a food processor. In my case, I only have a blender since I have limited storage space in the trailer and no room for my beloved food processor.  A food processor would work best though.
The only *must*, is to make sure your blender or processor is completely dry, or instead of crumb you will get nasty sludge.

Pulse until bread crumbs form.  It's your choice whether you want a fine crumb or a heavier crumb!  That's the beauty of making your own! It's your choice.
Ahhh, the power of choice.  I'm pro-choice :)
3-4 slices of bread make about 1 cup of crumbs.  You can leave them plain or......

If you want seasoned breadcrumbs, feel free to add seasonings.
To one cup of crumbs, I added 1/2 tsp garlic powder and 1 1/2 tsp italian seasoning.
Give it a good stir.

Whole wheat bread crumbs, it's as easy as 1-2-3!!
I made chicken nuggets with these the other night and they were tasty and healthy!
They would be good for chicken parmesan, pan-fried fish, and endless casserole dishes.

For best results store in a airtight container, of course my favorite container is a mason jar.

There's really no specific recipe here.  Feel free to add any of your favorite seasonings, or leave them plain and add the seasoning when you use them each time.  If you leave them plain, you can season them appropriately for whatever you might be cooking.
Have fun, save money and stop wasting :)  Happy crumbing my friends.

Beer Bread

I bought some pumpkin beer thinking it would be delicious....

And it was gross.

No one would touch it.  Even at a tailgate party.

How often does that happen?

So now I'm stuck with a 6 pack of nasty beer.  I can't waste it, so I figured I better make something tasty out of it.  Then I came across this recipe from gimme some oven blog, and decided Beer Bread was the perfect solution to my foul beer dilemma.

Now, I know that I totally fudged this one up, by not posting it before Super Bowl, BUT I was hoping that you all would forgive me?  I was enjoying the Arizona sun this past weekend, so I didn't make any football game blog posts.  ;)

This bread is best when it's fresh and warm, so I would suggest making it when you are having a few people over....plus, you don't want to be left alone with the leftovers.  You might just munch them all up!

What you need is the usual suspects for bread making, except the yeast, that's where your beer comes in.  It acts as your yeast. Even my nasty pumpkin beer was good in this recipe.

Mix your dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Pop some honey in the microwave to liquify.  Add honey and beer to the dry ingredients.

Stir beer/honey into dry ingredients just until mixed. Don't over stir.

Place batter into a greased loaf pan and brush the top with melted butter! (Don't tell anyone that an RD told you to do that, haha)

Bake @ 350* for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Enjoy this while still warm with some honey butter or jam!!!  MY Oh MY!!!

I want to keep playing around with this recipe by trying different beers. Think Porter, Amber, maybe an IPA or Hef..... Let me know if you find one that is delicious! 

You're Welcome :) D

Beer Bread (adapted from gimme some oven)

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. honey 
• 1 bottle (12 ounces) beer
• 2 tbsp butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9″ x 5″ x 3″ inch loaf pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Put honey in microwave for a 10-20 second to liquify.  Using a wooden spoon, stir the beer and honey into the dry ingredients until just mixed. 

Pour batter into pan, and brush top with melted butter.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until top is golden brown and a toothpick/knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Bread is best warm with honey & butter!

Pumpkin Bread. Quick, Healthy & Tasty!

I am weaning myself off of the sweets.  Goodness, it is so easy to get into a food slump that requires a daily punch of sweets to keep you going.  My weakest time of the day is the afternoon, think 2-4 O'clock PM.  During this time, it's too early to start thinking about dinner (or wine!), but it's too late for lunch --- so what does that equate to in my world?  Something sweet and a cup of tea!  

There are many things in the food kingdom that could satisfy a sweet craving, but when you fall in a slump the real sugary, processed stuff always hits the spot.  Well I'm breaking that slump and you should join me.  The hardest part is making the choice, do I have a cake/cookie/etc (processed junk) with my tea or do I have something with some substance to it?  The cake/cookie/etc (insert favorite sweet) has virtually no nutritional value.  It leaves you temporarily satisfied, but likely to go back for more. 

Again, the choice is the hardest part.  Once you move past the junk and have some real food, it's not so hard.  This recipe is great for the rest of you guys that are weaning yourself off the processed junk.  I realize this recipe still has some processed ingredients in it, but it's a far cry from the usual suspects (cake, cookie, candy bar, etc).  It's whole grain (whole wheat flour), healthy fats (olive oil), vitamin-rich (pumpkin puree, seeds) and tastes great.  

I think ignoring your body and avoiding sweeter stuff all together is a set up for failure.  It will likely lead to overeating eventually.  So allow yourself to eat what your body craves, but tweak it to make it healthier!  If you stick with it you'll eventually go for the healthy stuff automatically!   I've also been having fresh fruit, dried fruit/nuts, yogurt, whole grain toast/PB/honey, and dry cereal for sweet satisfiers. 

This is such a tasty recipe to fill the afternoon void, or even for breakfast with a little lowfat cream cheese.

Plus, it's a "quick bread" recipe, so it's extremely easy.  All quick breads involve the following steps:

1. Mix dry ingredients

2. Mix wet ingredients

3. Combine wet & dry  (DO NOT OVER STIR! It's makes the bread tough and "tunnely")

4. Pour into pan & bake

5. Insert in mouth!

This recipe was adapted from a great blog called  My German Kitchen...in the Rockies. Check it out.

Healthy Pumpkin Bread Recipe

*  3/4 cup whole wheat flour
*  2/3 cup unbleached all purpose flour
*  1/2 teaspoon baking powder
*  1 teaspoon baking soda
*  1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
*  1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

*1/4 teaspoon cloves
*  1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

*  2 eggs
*  1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling!)
*  1/3 cup brown sugar
*  1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
*  1/3 cup honey

*  2 Tablespoons pumpkin seeds/pepitas

Mix the above dry ingredients in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients until well combined.  Add the wet and dry ingredients together and stir with a wooden spoon just until combined.  Don't over stir!

Pour batter into a greased loaf pan and sprinkle with pepitas.   Bake in a 350* oven for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before removing from loaf pan.

(At high elevation this bread took about an hour to bake.  I'm still getting used to the elevation factor)

Enjoy!

D

Rosemary Focaccia Bread

This focaccia bread recipe is SO good and honestly easy.  I had to make it twice last weekend (Friday & Sunday)! It's practically fool-proof.  It's great to take to dinner parties to make people think you are a really good cook.  They won't be able to believe that you made this wonderful, tasty yeast bread all by yourself.  It tastes like heaven AND you won't be spending $5 bucks on some artesian loaf from the bakery.  You should have most of the ingredients in your pantry.  That said, I decided to pair the bread recipe with a beautiful salad.  The classic Caprese salad shows off those yummy summer tomatoes..... and once you eat a whole loaf of warm homemade bread, the only thing you'll have room for is a salad anyway! I'll post the Caprese salad later this week.

Just as a little teaser, here's the finished product.  It's oh-so worth the time.

We'll start with the focaccia bread.  Here are the ingredients you'll need.  I also wanted to note that I derived this recipe from a great food blog called "Our Best Bites."  They have lots of awesome recipes, but this one I use over and over.

 Combine 1 tbsp yeast and 1 tbsp sugar in a bowl.  Sugar is not for flavor in this recipe; it is food for the yeast to help it grow.  And I wouldn't recommend using your measuring cup as a bowl.  You'll see why later !!

Add 1 cup of warm water (110 degrees).  I don't use a thermometer, but I turn my faucet onto hot and let it run until it's too hot to hold my hand under it.  It's important to have warm enough water because if it's too cold, it won't activate the yeast, but if it's too hot, it will kill the yeast.  Give this mixture a good stir and let sit for 10 minutes.

 While yeast is working it's magic, measure your dry ingredients.  In a large bowl, combine 2 c. all-purpose flour (no bread flour necessary), 2 tbsp rosemary, 1 tsp sea salt, & 1/4 tsp oregano.

 And this is why you don't use your measuring cup for your yeast.  I was trying to use one less dish and it backfired.  BUT this picture shows you how bubbly and fluffy your yeast should get.  AND, yes that's a wine glass in the background but I swear I was drinking water out of it!

Now dump your yeast mixture into flour mixture and add 1 tbsp of olive oil.  Begin to stir together with a wooden spoon.  If I had my KitchenAid mixer, I would use it here with the dough hook.  But there's no room for those bulky appliances in the trailer so I use my buff arms to get a little workout.

 Stir until it makes a sticky dough (seen below) and slowly add remaining 1/4-1/2 cup of flour.  DO NOT add more than this.  The dough should be really soft, you don't want a big hard lump.

 After you add remaining flour, it should look like this.  A really tender dough, maybe even slightly sticky.

Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit in a warm place for 45-60 minutes.  I like to put my dough in a sunny window.  My granny always put hers on top of the fridge, but I always thought that was kind of a dusty place to put such a thing!  Maybe that's just my fridge, but I doubt it!  Let it rise until it doubles in size.

 Now here comes the best part.  I'm not sure if this is even necessary, but I think it should be.  Put on your game face, act mean and give your dough a big ol' punch! Hi- Yah! Then dump it out onto a floured surface.

 Divide into 2 halves and knead each of these only about 5-10 times.  Just enough to work out most of the air and to form into something resembling a loaf.  They can be round or oblong, whatev.

 Place your loaves on a greased cookie sheet, cover and allow to rise another 45-60 minutes.  If you cover with plastic wrap, it sticks a little when you remove it.  I think a damp cloth works best.

 Once they are nice and big, coat the top with olive oil (I use the olive oil spray), and sprinkle with rosemary and sea salt.  If you aren't going to eat this within the first day (I can't imagine doing this), hold off on the sea salt on top.  It gets a little soggy over time.

 Bake in a 375* oven for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

 Can you say, yum? gorgeous? tantalizing? addicting? YES! All of the above.  Enjoy with a slop of warm butter or oil/vinegar.  Pure pleasure.

Now once you polish off a loaf to yourself, make a mental note to 1) not step on the scale for a few days and 2) add some extra cardio to your workouts ...but MOST importantly relish in the delightful pleasure of homemade bread without any preservatives or artificial ingredients. Oh yea and wash it down with something yummy. I'd hate to see you choke on something so delicious! ;)

Rosemary Foccacia
1 c. warm water (~110 *)
1 tbsp yeast
1 tsbp sugar


2 1/4-1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. course sea salt
2 tbsp. rosemary (dried)
1/4 tsp. oregano
1 tbsp. olive oil

Combine first 3 ingredient in a medium bowl and let sit 10 minutes.  Combine 2 cups of flour, spices and olive oil in large bowl.  Once yeast mixture is bubbly/fluffy, add to flour mixture.  Stir until sticky dough forms, then slowly add remaining flour (NO more than 1/2 c) until a soft-dry dough forms.  Place in a greased bowl, cover and allow to rise for 45-60 minutes.
Once dough doubles in size, punch it down and pour onto floured surface.  Divide into 2 halves, knead each half 5-10 times and form into 2 loaves.  Place loaves on greased cookie sheet, cover and rise for another 45-60 minutes.
Once loaves are doubled in size, brush (spray) with olive oil and sprinkle top with sea salt and rosemary. Place in 375* oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.