Health Nut... Grape Nuts

I was bored today, and both Parker and I were hungry.  I found this recipe in Rita Bingham's "Country Beans" and gave it a shot. If you're not a Grape Nuts fan, this recipe might change your mind. It has the same texture, but tastes like brown sugar and honey. The ginger and cinnamon come out in it, too, which makes it, oh, so good.

Mix together:
2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. white bean flour
1/2 c. dry milk powder
1/2 brown sugar (optional)
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. each ginger and cinnamon

Using an electric mixer, drizzle in 1/4 c. melted honey, 2 t. vanilla, and approximately 6 T. water (enough to make a fine, crumbly mixture. NOT a dough).
Spread evenly on a large baking sheet and bake at 325 for 10 minutes. Stir to break up granules and bake 5-10 minutes longer, or until golden brown. Allow to cool and serve with milk or store in airtight container.

I just used 3 c. whole wheat flour and it turned out yummy. Parker and I also skipped the "allow to cool" step. We couldn't wait; the smell was killing us!

Whole Wheat Navajo Taco Scones (Baked = Healthy...er)

Combine in a Bosch mixer:
2 c. water
2 T. sugar
2 t. salt
8 T. dry milk powder
6 T. gluten
2 1/2 + c. whole wheat flour
2 T. yeast (sprinkled on top of flour)

As you're mixing, add more flour until dough pulls away from bowl. Mix for 6 minutes. Turn dough onto a floured surface, punch down, and let it relax for 5 minutes. Roll dough into 1/4 in. thickness and cut into six circles, six inches in diameter. Allow circles to rise 15-20 minutes before baking @ 450 for 10-15 minutes. Makes 6 LARGE scones. Cutting them in half was enough food for me. If you can get your dough rolled a lot thinner than I can, this could make 12 scones, I guess. :)

I found the ingredients on a blog somewhere and just made it with whole wheat flour instead of white. Then I found a baked scone recipe in one of my cookbooks and simply followed those directions.

Graham Crackers

2 c. whole wheat flour
scant t. baking powder
1/3 c. dry milk powder
1/4 t. soda
pinch of salt
1/2 t. cinnamon

Mix in bowl. Make a nest and add:

1/3 c. applesauce or canola oil
1/2 c. warm honey
1 t. vinegar or lemon juice
1 T. vanilla
2 T. water

As you mix, this should form a stiff pie-crust type dough. As wheat flours differ in moisture content, you may need to add more or less flour. You can add up to 1/4 c more flour if dough is too limp.

Roll out evenly on baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Dough should be 1/8'' to 1/4'' thick on large tray. Score into small or large squares, or cut shapes with cookie cutters (Parker chose candy canes, snowflakes, and snowmen). If you make large squares, prick with fork to allow hot air to escape. Bake @ 350 for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown. You may need to take the crackers around the edges out at about 5-6 minutes, and let the rest brown. These make great ice cream sandwiches or pie crust crumbs. Makes 1 large tray.

This recipe is taken from a book by Rita Bingham called "Natural Meals in Minutes." I'm LOVING the stuff I'm finding in here! Thanks, Mom and Dad, for letting me borrow it. Maybe someday it will find its way back to your kitchen. ;)

Health Nut

You know that button inside your body that tells you when you're full? Yeah, mine doesn't work. I can feel like puking while stuffing the fifth piece of chocolate cake in my mouth, but my mind tells me, "It's so good! You HAVE to keep going!" So I do.

So it's no wonder that one night I prayed--for the hundredth time--to have the strength to be more healthy. I was really praying for a miracle because... well, nothing was working. And, frankly, I had a hard time summoning the desire to even have a desire once food was placed in front of me.

I decided to attend a 5:45am aerobics class, which ended up being an answer to my prayer. I had--non-coincidentally, I believe--come on the first day of a competition. And there was a group of friends who needed one more person to be on their team of four. Oh, baby, was I in!

This competition is called, "Feel Great in 8." You add or subtract points depending on what you eat, how long you exercise, and even if you read your scriptures and pray. Bonus points are added for weight loss. Talk about feeling great in ALL areas of your life, thus creating a balance I've been looking for. Everyone pitched in $5 for the eight week program, and the team who has the most points by the end of the eight weeks, wins the money. Your team is simply your support system--not to mention the people who are going to be really mad at you if you screw up your health goals.

That being said, I've been looking up healthy recipes and going nuts over stuff that I had never even heard of before. So far, I've made ten loaves of whole wheat bread, have been eating whole wheat pasta, and have made it a point to have more fruits and veggies readily available for snacks. And, surprisingly, sweets haven't been as big of a problem as I thought they would be. Am I aware that there is a delicious chocolate cake underneath that bowl? Yes. Do I want some? You bet. But I am at peace with the fact that I will not--not CANnot--have it. Yes, I'm surprising even myself here.

So, for the next little while, I'll be posting some recipes that I've found that are quite yummers, yet healthy for you. I'd tell you that even my two year old will eat them, but he usually eats whatever we give him anyway. Even if it does take some persuasion.

The Big Two Seven!

For Cam's birthday, I found an idea on the Dating Divas website that I carried out. I sent out 27 balloons to friends and family, had them write a message on it, and send it back to me, all unbeknownst to Cam. On February 1st, after a picnic dinner in the living room, I gave Cam a bag of the 27 envelopes. Cam and I looked forward to the many AWESOME messages and pictures on the balloons, and the boys loved playing with them. *Thank you SO much to all who helped make Cam's birthday special!

Since his birthday is on a weekday, he was gone all day at school. So, I wrote up a cheesy little story and separated it onto ten pieces of paper, labeled them with 7:27, 8:27, 9:27, etc., and put them in a bag. Every hour on the :27, he opened up the paper and read the story. It wasn't much at all, but it was something different for a different kind of day--his birthday!!!

 

Oh, and check out his cake. Oreo cake, if you couldn't tell. Soooo good...

More Crafts

Parker's favorite thing lately seems to be painting. Unfortunately, we don't have any paints.  So I just made some out of milk powder and water and let Parker get creative. We've also done it with instant pudding powder. It's what Parker calls, "nummy paint."

Cam helped Parker make Oobleck, which is simply cornstarch and water. Simply put, it's crazy and weird to play with, and Parker had tons of fun with this, too!

This one was even fun for me! Just put enough 2% or whole milk in a pan to cover the bottom, drop some food coloring in random places, put some liquid dish soap on a Q-tip, then touch the colored drops with it, and watch the show!

Just a spoonful of baking soda makes the vinegar blow up! Add some liquid dish soap for a greater effect. Parker's face didn't change from this expression the whole time. He was pretty concerned that it was making such a mess.

This is perhaps Parker's favorite craft we've done lately. Gak. He played with this forever. The measurements don't have to be exact. Here's the link on how to make it: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/glue-borax-gak

To the Moon and Back

After seeing some sand castles in a book, Parker wanted to make some. I remembered a "moon sand" recipe that I had heard of once, so we made that, but instead of baby oil I used just vegetable oil (4 c. flour mixed with 1/2 c. vegetable oil). I mixed it up in the biggest bowl that I had, put some measuring cups in there and Parker and I went to town.

Somewhere in our playtime, Stockton woke up from a nap and I went to feed him. I called in to Parker numerous times just to keep him in check. *Keep in mind, please, that I DID know there was going to be a mess to clean up. But as long as Parker was enjoying himself, sweet. I'd just wipe all the flour off the table and then sweep it up.

After Stockton was done eating, I called my mom and we chatted for minute. Then, placing toys in front of Stockton on the floor, and preparing myself for whatever mess Parker had for me to clean up, I entered the kitchen. Just in time for me to catch Parker chuck a handful of flour across the room.

So, what do you get when you mix a two-year-old and flour? DUH. You get a mom who knows she can't be mad and smiles and shakes her head to herself thinking, "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea." You get a mom who has to carefully take the toddler to the tub, remove EVERYTHING from the kitchen, vacuum out the high chair, the window sills, the designs on the window frame; sweep off the chairs, the bar stools, the trim on the bar, the baseboards, the designs on the baseboards, the table, the counter, the wall... anything that belongs in a kitchen that I've missed? When I used the vacuum for some of the mess, it coated the inside of the vacuum. Yeah... maybe I should clean that out.

It was a fun project, but we'll be playing with our "moon sand" in the bathtub from now on. Thank you. :)