Deep-Dish Pizza

(From my Betty Crocker Cookbook, 1983 edition, but I've modified it slightly, of course, knowing me...)

1 lb hamburger (sometimes I'll add a little sausage or bacon for flavor)
Pizza Dough (see recipe here)
1 can (16 oz) whole tomatoes (or used diced) drained (I never drain it)
1 Tbsp instant minced onion
1 tsp dried oregano leaves
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder (or crushed garlic clove)
1 small green pepper
1 can (4 oz) mushroom stems and pieces, drained
1 C shredded mozzarella cheese (about 4 oz) (I usually also add a little shredded cheddar cheese for color & flavor)

Cook and stir hamburger until light brown; drain. Prepare Pizza Dough. Mix tomatoes, onion, oregano, salt, the pepper and garlic powder; break up tomatoes with fork.

Press dough evenly on bottom and halfway up sides of greased oblong baking dish, 13x9x2 inhes. Sprinkle hamburger over dough. Spoon sauce over hamburger; top with green pepper, mushrooms and cheese. Cook in 425 degree oven until cheese is light brown, 20-25 minutes. 8 servings.

My class notes: Grains & Sourdough Bread

I went to a set of classes at the home of a friend of a friend, and learned exactly what I've been needing to learn for a while. This time the bread is turning out FABULOUS, my kids LOVE it, and are anxious for me to make more when we get low!!!

Grains Class, Amy Loveless, Saratogajacks.com

The book Amy referred to - "The Art of Baking with Natural Yeast, by Caleb Warnick & Melissa Richardson - I have a copy already, and have used, but not successfully, so I was grateful to have this in person training from someone who has used it with success, and to receive an actively growing live start to get started with.

In 1984 instant yeast came on the market, with lots of dire consequences.

The long yeast process was necessary, because it takes time to break the grains down properly. Grains are like legumes - you'd never try to have dry legumes ready to eat in 15 minutes!

Kamuth wheat is 5% gluten, vs 80% of others

Since then there has been a huge rise in auto-immune diseases, such as yeast infections, fatigue syndromes, autism (recently linked to leaky gut), etc., etc., etc.

5 Steps for Healing your Gut (I can't figure out for sure which steps were 3 or 4)

1. Go off the garbage you've been eating, like the rapid yeast breads, etc.

2. Replace with healthy foods for 2 whole weeks

Bone broth -- extremely healthy

Yogurt or kefir, raw cultured

Fermented vegetables

Coconut products

5. Plug the leaks - Colostrom from Dr. Anthony Klein Smith, chewable colostrom (bovine)

Natural sour dough breaks down the starches/carbs, and fills with enzymes instead! (Her diabetic husband would eat a regular roll and go up 220, eating the sourdough roll he'd go up 5!)

Self grinding flours are best - purchased ground flours are made in plants where machines divide up the ingredients, and put in other things, instead of grinding it complete.

(Recommends Silver Nugget hand crank, from ID, since the competition stole their design, altered one shape and had it made in China.)

Tools for Sourdough bread making

Big metal bowl from IKEA ($9.99)

Danish dough whisk from Amazon ($9.99)

Recipe

Note - IMPORTANT - for every cup of water you add one tsp salt.

4 C water

about 1 C start

(feed this mix with a handful of flour)

4 tsp salt

5 big scoops (about 1 1/2 C each) flour*

Optional ingredients

2 eggs (makes it fluffier)

2 tbsp coconut oil

seeds

1/2 C honey

pepper (counterbalance the sweet with not sweet)

2 tbsp ginger powder (old fashioned dough enhancer)

other flavorings as desired

(She didn't measure anything accurately,  it's not an exact science for her.)

*Flour questions - the sourdough method breaks down the wheat such that the gluten is negligible, so any flours, even the altered ones will work.

Leave in bowl, but place a clean garbage bag around it, and set it aside for at least 8 hours. Then you punch it down and separate it into loaves as desired, and let rise for at least 2 more hours. Bake in 350 degree oven until bread reaches 190 degrees internally, (about 30-40 mins). For a harder crust, put 2 inches of water in a pyrex dish on bottom oven shelf, 15 minutes before putting the bread in, at 400 degrees. Bake bread with the water for 15 minutes, then remove the water and turn down the oven to 350 degrees and finish cooking.

Feed your yeast/start with 1 C flour and 1 C water (not hot). Stir. It should be thick enough for a spoon to stand up, then it will last one week in the fridge. Remember yeasts are territorial, so do NOT put two yeasts next to each other, or store modern breads near your yeast starter! It could ruin them.

Sprouting Grains Class, Instructor Kimberly Shock (EXTREME athlete, vegan for many years, she uses sprouted grains for her nutritious diet.) I have her phone number if you have questions.

When sprouted, grains are GLUTEN FREE, as the sprouting process turns them into a vegetable.

In a quart jar, place 1/2 C of grains. Soak grains for at least 24 hours (different than other instructions you'll read). 

Rinse, rinse and rinse to get rid of the folic acid - you will do this twice a day. Do this between 3-7 days depending on what you are growing and how much you want it sprouted. (If you're going to the bathroom too often, maybe you grew it too long.)

Dehydrate sprouted grains on the lowest setting, sufficiently dried, they have long shelf (10 years), and can be used like normal grains, ground, etc.

You can sprout everything, (but if you sprout kidney beans they are poisonous until cooked.)

Sprouted grains are 1/2 the carbs of non-sprouted.

No dehydrator - you can dehydrate on cookie sheets outside, just protect from birds & other critters & weather...

OR use immediately as moist sprouts: Blend together 2 C sprouted wheat to 1 C water, use as a base for your recipes. (As I'm looking in the book Natural Yeast book, I notice that you usually use a little sprouted grain, and mix it with unsprouted ground grains.)

Wheat grass - 7 days to grow. "One ounce juice is better iron builder than a blood transfusion." 1 lb wheat grass has equivalent nutritional to 23 lb homegrown garden vegetables.

Sprouting provides 900-2000% nutritional improvement over non-sprouted grains. Sprouting makes it a vegetable. (Even dehydrated.)

Sprouted Almond Milk recipe

1 C almonds - soak for 24 hours

Drain, rinse 4-5 times until water runs clear

In blender, combine almonds and 4 C cold water (for cold milk)

1-2 T sweetener (optional)

Blend 3 minutes, and drain through cheese cloth, or similar to remove solid particles.

Cold Buster Tea

(From a fellow teacher, Tamara Hill, at the school where I work. We'll be trying this next time we need it; I've long known the health benefits of each of these components. Thankfully we've been very healthy this winter.)

I start with a base of chamomile tea (probably any herbal is fine, but this is a mild tasting one).  I make the tea with two tea bags in about 8-10 ounces of water. 

Then I add cinnamon and stir it in, this is a KEY INGREDIENT.  I read an article about cinnamon working as a natural nasal decongestant and antibiotic.  It clears up the drainage.  Add as much as you can handle--I usually do 3/4 TBS up to 1 TBS.  This is not for the faint-hearted, because the cinnamon makes it quite strong.  But better than suffering with a cold.

Next, add honey.  A good amount of honey.  I don't always measure, but I did once and put in about 1/4 cup, you could do a little less though, as that seemed a bit much, but close.  Honey is another key as I know there is something to the idea about being harvested by bees, coming from the flowers, it all helps.

Last, stir in lemon juice.  Again a good amount 1/4-1/3 cup is about what it ends up being. 

Drink this at the first signs of the cold to catch it early and continue twice a day, morning and evening.  I noticed on Sunday that I was sneezing and starting to blow my nose too much, so I made this at about 5:00 Sunday evening.  Within 15 minutes the runny nose had stopped.  I slept all night without blowing my nose, and have continued twice a day since.  I can feel I still have the cold, but my symptoms have been VERY light.  I have zero congestion, though I can feel it has tried to move into my lungs, there is really not much to move down into the lungs to block them up.  Seriously, the best thing I have found for a cold.  I hate cold medicine and hardly ever take it if I can and this totally makes it so I don't need it.  I have had one cold that was a real whopper that I didn't clear up with this, but I'd say 3 out of 4 colds I can kick with the tea.

Serbian Quiche

(This was served at our 2014 Stake Women’s Conference. It's quickly becoming one of our family favorites!)   

6 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
1 lb. small curd cottage cheese
1 cup Bisquick
1 lb. cheese, grated
1 cube butter, melted
1 cup chopped ham (optional)

Mix all together. Bake in 9x13 pan at 350° for approx.45 minutes or until golden brown. Test for doneness. This is a very versatile dish.You can change the cheese, add bacon bits or sausage, leave the meat out, add different herbs, the combinations are endless.

Grandma Howlett's Playdough

Here's a recipe my mom has used for years for the kids. The alum - used in pickling - is a natural preservative, so this playdough lasts MUCH longer than most. We have made it LOTS of times, including for school projects. The kids love it!

Mix together:
3 C flour
1/2 C salt
1 Tbsp alum

Mix together then combine with dry ingredients:
1 3/4 C boiling water
3 Tbsp cooking oil
Food coloring (20 plus drops)

Knead together like you would bread dough until all ingredients are well blended. Store in a sealed container or resealable bag in the refrigerator for up to six months.

Laura's Pumpkin Bread

From one of my library volunteers - Laura Hartline - for Christmas 2013; this bread was so good, so moist, that I had to have the recipe. Here's what she sent me:

1 cup pumpkin

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1/4 cup water

1 2/3 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

Combine first 5 ingredients.  Mix well, add dry ingredients.   Grease loaf pan.  Bake for 50-60 min at 350.  This makes one large loaf.  

I use a large can of pumpkin and triple the batch to get 5 medium loaves.

Karen's Chicken Masala

We share New Year's Eve with my sister, Karen & her family, and my daughter pointed out that her aunt has made this recipe almost every year, and she likes it SO much, she decided it needs to be an official tradition! Karen simplified an original recipe, making it a lot less time consuming, and still oh, so yummy! We usually triple or quadruple the recipe for our large group, but use less chicken.

2 pounds chicken breasts (about 3-4 chicken breasts)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup blanched whole almonds
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1 1/2 tablespoons garam masala (if you don’t want to buy this spice blend, google “make your own garam masala” to check out some homemade versions, or try this one)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
16-ounce can tomato sauce
Pinch of sugar
1 cup heavy cream (or milk)

Optional Garnish: Lots of fresh cilantro

Toast almonds in a toaster oven OR cook in a small amount of oil in a large enameled cast-iron dutch oven or a large pot until fragrant and just starts to split. Remove the almonds and let cool, then grind them in a food processor or blender until fine. 

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil until shimmering. Add the onion, garlic and ginger and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until tender and golden, about 6-8 minutes. Add the garam masala, and cayenne and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes with their juices, the tomato sauce and the sugar or honey. Season with salt and pepper. Cover partially and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, for about 5-10 minutes. Ladle half the mixture into a food processer or mixer and puree.* Repeat with the other half. Then return to heat. 

While the mixture begins to simmer, cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Throw the chicken into the pot of simmering tomato sauce. Continue simmering/cooking the chicken, partially covered, for an additional 10-20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has reduced and thickened just slightly. Add the cream and ground almonds* and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 10 minutes longer. Serve with lots of fresh cilantro over hot, steamed rice and naan bread!

*We simplified even further and just added the almonds in the puree process...tasted great!

Find the original time-consuming recipe complete with "wasteful, overnight marinading" instructions here. Hey, we're busy moms, who like good food, but take shortcuts where warranted, especially where the difference isn't that great!