Homemade Soaked Crackers

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Homemade Crackers

3 1/2 cups of whole grain flour (I used 1 cups of whole wheat flour, 2 1/2 cups of quinoa flour for a lighter cracker)
1/4 cup of melted coconut oil
1 cup of water with two tablespoons vinegar (or you could use buttermilk)

Gently mix together the above ingredients, until combined. I used a fork at first, and then kneaded the dough gently in the bowl until it just came together into a ball. Cover and leave out overnight on the counter. The next morning, flatten your ball out on the counter, using a little white flour, if needed to prevent sticking.

Sprinkle over the top:1 teaspoon of sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

Fold in half and knead gently until salt and baking powder are evenly mixed in (if this intimidates you, you can mix these two ingredients in with the flour the night before. The salt will inhibit some of the soaking process, however. You are now ready to roll it out!

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees, and lightly flour your surface. I liked to roll out a quarter of the dough at a time, for more control. I rolled them to about 1/8 on an inch to make firmer, crisper crackers to serve with spreads and cheese. For baby Micah, I rolled them to about 1/4 of an inch, and this produced a lighter, more crumbly cracker that was very easy for her to eat. Cut into desired size with a sharp knife and gently lay out on a greased baking sheet and prick with a fork.

Bake for about 1o minutes and check. They will be done when they are browning slightly around the edges. Cool on cooling sheets and enjoy!

Next time I will make them Gluten Free... 

Soaked Buckwheat Pancakes

Last night before going to bed I decided to start soaking Buckwheat Flour for this mornings breakfast. (3 cups of flour and 3 cups of Raw Milk.) 

This morning the clocks changed and we actually (somewhat) benefited with an extra hour of sleep. 

THANK you boys!!! Happy Time Changing Day!!!! :) 

This morning I was totally expecting to be up at 6:30 (old time) and 5:30 (new time). Joshua did come into our room around that time but we were able to get him back to sleep for another 2 hours. That is right - we did not get out of bed till 8:30 (old time) and 7:30 (new time!)

Happy Time Changing Day!!!! :) 

The Ingredients:
3 cups buckwheat flour
3 cups soured raw milk or cultured buttermilk
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 tsp fine grained sea salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tablespoons melted RAW butter
coconut oil or butter for frying

The Directions:


12-24 hours before you plan to serve the pancakes begin the soaking process. Mix buckwheat flour and sour milk or buttermilk until well combined (see above photo). Cover and place in a warm place (next to oven, on top of refrigerator) for 12-24 hours. The longer the better.


In the morning start preheating your pan over medium-low heat.


While that is heating mix all other ingredients into buckwheat flour/milk mixture. At this point it may be very bubbly, like a sourdough starter. Stir it down a bit, just to take a little air out of the batter. If you don’t do this your pancakes will literally have holes all the way through them.


Add coconut oil or butter to your prehated pan. Ladle 1/4 cup of batter into pan for each pancake. Cook for 3-5 minutes, or until bubbles pop and the top dries out just a bit. Flip and cook for 2 more minutes on the other side, or until nicely browned.


Serve with plenty of grass-fed butter and homemade jam, syrup, molasses, molasses-honey spread, or raw honey. I topped mine with Almond Butter and Coconut.

Recipe Notes: The soaking step in this recipe helps to neutralize the phytic acid in the grain, making them more digestible and the nutrients more available. Culinarily speaking, though, the soaking process just makes for a lighter, tastier pancake. In testing this recipe I have used freshly ground toasted buckwheat for my flour option, though any buckwheat flour should work. Just make sure it is 100% buckwheat. Finally, this recipe makes a lot of pancakes which store well in the refrigerator for days and will freeze well for months.

Baby Cereal Recipes

According to nutritionist Jen Allbritton, “Babies do not produce the needed enzymes to handle cereals, especially gluten-containing grains like wheat, before the age of one year. Even then, it is common traditional practice to soak grains in water and a little yogurt or buttermilk for up to 24 hours. This process jump-starts the enzymatic activity in the food and begins breaking down some of the harder-to-digest components.”

I am a big fan of Super Baby Food. This book has a lot of great information. Some of my favorite baby recipes come from a variation of the recipes in this book. I love the section on Baby Cereals.  Here are two of my favorites!

Rice Cereal using Rice Powder

Ingredients:

1/4 c. rice powder (brown rice ground in blender or food processor)
1 cup water

Directions:

Soak overnight with 1 Tbsp of kefir/whey for all the extra benefits, especially for oats

Bring liquid to boil in saucepan. Add the rice powder while stirring constantly.
Simmer for 10 minutes, whisking constantly, mix in formula or breast milk and fruits if desired
Serve warm.

Barley Cereal

Ingredients:

1/4 cup ground barley (barley ground in blender or food processor)
1 cup water

Directions:

Soak overnight with 1 Tbsp of kefir/whey for all the extra benefits, especially for oats

Bring liquid to a boil. Add the barley and simmer for 10 minutes, whisking constantly
Mix in formula or breast milk or juice and add fruits if desired
Serve warm

Crockpot Black Beans

Black beans are a staple item in our house. I make a batch, sometimes two a week. I love Black Beans and so does my family.

Micah, the baby is a fan of black beans too!

I have a jar full of beans and maybe even a bag or two on hand. Never can have too many black beans!!!

The Ingredients:

Black beans, soaked, see below

onion, diced (amount depending on amount of black beans)

water

chicken or turkey neck or turkey bacon (I do not eat anything pig) or even a broth (vegetable would do)

The Directions:

Soaking - 

Beans should be rinsed then soaked with 1 Tbsp whey or lemon juice per cup of beans. After soaking, drain, rinse and start with fresh water. 

Cooking -

Add soaked beans, onion, seasoning and water into crockpot. 

Cook you beans either high for 2 -3 hours or on low for 6 - 8 hours, even longer. 

I do not have measurements **BUT** you can never have too much water. You can always drain the water when you are done cooking. If you have too little water your beans WILL burn and your house will reek... 

Trust me - I have been there!!!! The house smelled for a week (exaggeration, a little!)

If I have to guess with measurements --- cooking on high - 1 cup beans 3 - 5 cups water. cooking on low 1 cup beans 3 cups water. You can always add more and you can always drain the liquid at the end!

Black Bean recipes :

Southwestern Chicken Soup with Black Beans

Southwestern Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos with Cashew Cheese

Quinoa and Black Beans

Black Bean Lentil Salad

and many more to come!!!!

Whole Grain Soaked Tortillas

Even though I have decided to be more serious with my Gluten Free diet (again!) I could not waste the this dough I soaked. After all, why can't my boys enjoy them! I have good self control!

Plus, I was curios on how this Whole Grain Soaked Tortillas would taste.

They were good. I only had about a quarter size piece.

Next time, I will not add the salt or the Baking Powder.

The Ingredients:

3 cups whole wheat or kamut flour
1 cup warm filtered water
1 Tbsp acid medium (kefir, whey, buttermilk, yogurt, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice)
1/4 cup coconut oil or butter, melted
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

The Directions:

Combine flour, water, melted coconut oil or butter and 1 Tbsp of acid medium. Cover and soak at room temperature for 12-24 hours.

After soaking, add baking powder and salt to soaked flour mixture, kneading in the flour until the dough is workable but not too stiff.

Shape into 8 – 10 balls and let stand 10 more minutes. Roll to form a 10 inch circle or use a tortilla press. Bake on a lightly greased griddle till done (not browned). Toast for about 20-30 sec. per side.

Yield: 8-10 tortillas.

Vegetable Fried Rice

I love Rice. I REALLY love Fried Rice!!!! I grew up eating Fried Rice. I have strived to try to make a Fried Rice like the one I have had so many times at Ron of Japan in Chicago.

I have never come close to their recipe. Every time we are in Chicago, we eat at Ron of Japan. Everyone in my family watched closely at how the cook their Fried Rice but still it is not the same.

This is close but not the same. Delicious but not the same... Most importantly MINE is HEALTHIER!!!!

The Ingredients:

7 spears of asparagus, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

1/4 - 1/2 cup of frozen peas

1/2 cup broccoli (fresh or frozen), cut into pieces

1/2 onion, chopped

2 scramble eggs

Soy sauce

Sesame Seeds

Garlic Salt

Salt and Pepper

The Directions:

Combine your rice and all the water called for in the recipe with 1-2 Tbsp of acid medium and let soak for 7 hours. I combine these ingredients in the rice cooker. When ready, simply turn it on and cook as usual. My recipe is to soak 1 cup brown rice to 2 1/4 cup water, with 2 Tbsp of kefir. Then plug in the rice cooker and begin to cook. If you are using stovetop following the directions. Should take about 45 minutes on a low simmer.

(- Brown rice is not have as high of phytate content and thus need only be soaked for 7 hours (this is a great last minute grains if you forget to soak, won’t be a big problem – also recommend purchasing brown rice pasta for this reason as well)

Once the rice is done, unplug the rice cooker or take off the heat, begin to saute the vegetables in Coconut Oil. Start off with the carrots and broccoli. If you are using frozen vegetables, add those. After a couple of minutes and the rest of the vegetables. Mix in the seasonings.

If you haven't done so, in a separate pan, scramble the 2 eggs.

Add the cooled rice and scrambled egg to the vegetables. Cook for a minute or two.

This is great for leftovers! :)

Quinoa and Black beans

I am extremely thankful for my meat guy! I feel I need to give him a shout out... His sole mission is to provide clean meat that EVERYONE can afford. He is so dedicated and affordable he has to work 2 jobs just to do so!

KUDDOS J&J KUDDOS!!!!

Do not worry I did not eat all that meat. My darling husband made my plate and ended up eating off it!

This meal is almost completely local. Quinoa and Blackbeans - NOT LOCAL but SOAKED!

Quinoa and Black beans.

The Ingredients:

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa (Mine was already prepared in my fridge!)
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste

2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained (I made a homemade batch in the crockpot)

Zucchini and yellow squash, chopped into small pieces

The Directions:

Soaking Step Rinse quinoa thoroughly in a strainer. Allow to sit in strainer over a large bowl and add warm filtered water to cover sufficiently. Add 1 Tbsp of an acid medium (whey, kefir, yogurt, or cultured buttermilk). Cover with plate or towel. Soak 12-24 hours. Rinse once again and add 1 cup broth, and proceed. I use less than the recipe calls for if soaking, because it absorbed water in the soaking stage, and will not need as much to cook. 1 cup was perfect.

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.

I cook my quinoa in my rice cooker! This time I cooked it in vegetable broth and added cumin, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper right into the water.

(Thoroughly rinse quinoa. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes.)

Saute zucchini and yellow squash in RAW butter and season with salt and pepper and Italian seasoning. Add into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans.

Soaking Grains Part 2

Check out Sally Fallon’s article, Be Kind to Your Grains . It is very helpful in understanding why this is such an important process to do. But here is a quote that contains the most helpful part.

I am still learning about soaking grains. So far, I have learned why we soak grains, posted here.

What does soaking grains accomplish?

The soaking breaks down some of the hard-to-digest proteins, making assimilation much easier, and neutralizes phytic acid, which is an anti-nutrient that prevents absorption of minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, and copper.

Because grains are seeds, they also contain enzyme inhibitors, which protect the seed from germinating until the conditions are proper for growth. If ingested, these inhibitors can prevent the body's enzymes from working properly, and digestion will be hindered. Soaking grains neutralizes these inhibitors and stimulates the production of beneficial enzymes and increases vitamin content, because the seed is being activated toward growth. This active, live seed is nutritionally superior to one that is "closed up".


How do you do it?

It’s quite simple. You can soak grains like rice, millet, quinoa, wheat, 12 to 24 hours at room temperature in some water with 1-2 tablespoons of whey, lemon juice, vinegar, buttermilk, yogurt, or kefir (this gives it an acidic medium which helps neutralize anti-nutrients). You can then rinse the grains to remove any acidic taste to them, and then cook in fresh water.

Or you can sprout your grains.

For baked goods, you can soak your flour in buttermilk, yogurt or kefir 12 to 24 hours and then add the rest of the ingredients right before baking. This makes the fluffiest whole wheat pancakes!