Crumpets For Me!

I love reading books that have great food descriptions in them. I love food and it is one of the details I love to see in the background of a story. Growing up I read many English literature books and was always interested in what the people had for "tea". I was especially interested in crumpets since I had never seen or had them before. I imagined all kinds of cookies, cakes and such when I heard the word. I was very disappointed when I finally had one and found that they were like English muffins. Not one of my favorites.

Then I was reading one of Anne Perry's William Monk books. In it Hester was snatching a precious moment to herself and got to eat a hot crumpet with her tea. This was a rare treat for her. She described the crumpet with it's crispness and softness and the hot, melted butter that was in danger of running down her elbows if she didn't hold it just right and eat it quickly enough. I was sold on crumpets right there.

Now, after some searching, I have found a recipe that I like and I can enjoy a crumpet to myself (or with my kids). I hold it just right and eat it quickly to prevent the pool of melted butter from dripping on my hand and running down to my elbow.
I did have to do some searching.

The first recipe I found to way too much time, 3 hours from start to first crumpet.

Sorry!

When I want a crumpet I want it now not at next meal time.

Then I found the baking powder versions and was so excited.

However, I found that many of these sacrificed flavor and many of them tasted like flour paste. That is NOT good eats.
I have found some medium ground though.

I found some recipes that use both yeast and baking powder.

The time is cut down to 15 minutes and the flavor is fabulous.

I have found that those that call for eggs taste the very best.
So.....

Here is my recipe for crumpet, whole wheat crumpets no less.

(white flour can be substituted or mixed half and half with the wheat.)

Miss Lucy's

Whole Wheat Crumpets

4 cups flour

(whole wheat, white, or a mix of both)
3 cups hot water
2 tsp yeast
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp baking powder
6 eggs
9 Tbsp Non-instant powdered milk (1 cup instant)
2 Tbsp oil or melted butter

In the hot water (not too hot or you will kill the yeast) add the sugar, eggs, oil and yeast. Mix well and set aside.
In a large bowl mix the flour, baking powder, salt and powdered milk.
Add to the water mixture and mix well.
Let the mixture stand for 15 minutes.

Prepare your griddle or large frying pan by heating it on medium for several minutes.
Oil your crumpet rings. I do this by pouring some oil into a small bowl and dipping or rolling the rings in the oil to coat. Set the rings on the hot griddle for a few seconds before adding the batter.
When the time is up, add a scoop of batter to each oiled ring. The rings should be half filled.
Cook at medium heat until the edges start to look "dry" and they have holes in them.

Remove the rings with tongs or pliers.

Flip the crumpets and bake on the other side.
Serve hot with butter and jam.

Enjoy!

** Hot milk can be substituted for the hot water and powdered milk. (It is winter here now and fresh milk is not as abundant as it is in the summertime. We don't buy milk from sthe store, only the dairy.)

Cherry "Cinnamon" Rolls

My fall sewing has ended and my Christmas sewing is just beginning..... But for right now I am free to blog a few tasty things. This is a recipe I experimented with for my friend Tracy. Every now and then we have to have a bun (cinnamon roll) and a cup of tea (rooibos tea), and de-stress and the regroup. I need it as much as she does. (I hope she needs it as bad as I do).
I wanted to try something different the other day and I had seen a Cherry roll at a local tea shop and had to give it a try. I used my regular cinnamon roll dough recipe (whole wheat) and added my own home canned cherry pie filling (recipe to come). It was fabulous! So here is what I did.

Cherry Rolls

Dough:
2 Tbsp dry yeast
6 Cup whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp Gluten
2 tsp salt
6 Tbsp (non-instant) dry milk (1 cup instant)
1/2 cup instant potato flakes
2 Tbsp lecithin (optional)
2 cups hot water
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 eggs

Dissolve the yeast in the water. Add the honey, eggs, milk, salt, lemon juice, butter, potato flakes, and lecithin and 1/2 the flour. (mix the gluten with the flour or it will clump). Beat well and let rise. Add the remaining flour and kneed for 8-10 minutes. Let rise for 1 hour.

Filling:
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup butter
1 can cherry pie filling

Mix honey and butter together.

Roll out the dough into a large rectangle. Spread with honey and butter mixture. Top this with cherry pie filling.
Roll into a "classic cinnamon roll". Cut with dental floss or a heavy thread. Makes 12 very large or 24 small cinnamon rolls. Place on a buttered pan or cookie sheet, cover and let rise for 20 minutes.
Bake at 375 deg F for 18-20 minutes.

Frosting
1/4 cup butter
4 oz cream cheese
2 cups (maybe a bit more) Powdered sugar
vanilla extract
Milk if needed

Mix the butter and cheese together. Add the sugar and vanilla. Whip into frosting. Add more sugar or milk if needed.
Frost the rolls when the come out of the oven, this melts the frosting all over the place and it is gooey, sweet and warm.
Heaven!

Tips and Tricks I have learned:
*non-instant powdered milk is tricky to work with. If you don't mix it in just right, it clumps. I have found that you either need to whisk it in carefully (not something I ever remember) OR mix it with your flour. This spreads it out and there is no clumping. The same goes for the gluten. It clumps something terrible, however, mixed with the flour there is no problem.
*Oven proofing - I have found that if I "proof" or raise my cut rolls in the oven, they get much bigger and fluffier. This is quite an accomplishment with 100% whole wheat. What I do is heat the oven to 200 deg. F and then TURN IT OFF. While that is heating, I boil a kettle of water. When the rolls are cut and in the pan, I our the boiling water into a baking dish in the oven and slip my rolls right in there. I let that set for 20 minutes. I remove the rolls and the water, heat the oven to temperature and bake as usually. The buns get really big. Because of this, I space them well on the pan so they are NOT touching when I put them in, they will be when I pull them out to bake.

These rolls are "proofed" and ready to bake.

Breakfast Shakes

Here is another quicky breakfast we fix here for the kids. It is nutritious and delicious so kids say YES! and so does mom. My kids actually like to fix these as after school snacks when they get home.

We have several that we make.

My kids make them in our regular old blender that we have had for YEARS. It works fine. Sometimes the ice isn't all crushed but they don't seem to mind. When I make the milkshakes I now use my high power blender. I have a Health Master. I have liked it so far but don't recommend it to anyone. There are too many potential problems. I am already smelling the "hot machine" smell when I use for anything difficult which is what they advertise it for. If I had the purchase to make again I would get a Blendtec home blender. I have a friend that has had one for a long time and loves it and it still works beautifully. I wish I had been told that this was a better buy. I would have saved the $$ and bought this one instead. Hind sight. Oh well! On to the shakes. The advantage of the high power blenders is that they work way faster and I can blend up things in them that I can't in a blender, such as nuts and grains which add health benefits to my kids food.

Banana Milk Shake

1 cup milk

1 whole banana

2 Tbsp Peanut butter

1 Tbsp cocoa powder (I think we actually use a lot more than this) ☺

2 Tbsp whey protein powder (I don't do soy but you can if you like)

1 cup ice

Sweetener of your choice (we use honey, agave syrup, sucanant, or stevia depending on what is on hand)

1 tsp vanilla

Put everything in the blender and blend like mad until it is smooth.

This makes enough for 2 kids. In the big blender I will double or triple this recipe for the whole family.

Orange Julius

1 cup milk

1 cup carrot juice (originally called for water but hey I slip in veggies where I can. )

1 cup ice

6 oz orange juice concentrate (half a regular can)

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp whey protein powder

Sweetener to taste - with the carrot juice in there it doesn't take much and again we try to use healthier choices like agave syrup

Put everything in the blender and blend like mad until it is all smooth and yummy.

In the big blender I skip the carrot juice and just put in 2 raw carrots for this recipe. For the whole family I double this recipe in the big blender and blend the carrots and liquids first before adding the ice. It does a great job of liquefying the carrots.

Berry Smoothie

1 cup milk or orange juice or plain sweetened yogurt

1 cup frozen berries ( or frozen fruit mix)

sweetener if needed (or sometime we just add a banana and that is plenty sweet)

Put in blender and blend like mad till it is as smooth as you like.

Big blender berry smoothie

2 1/2 cups milk, Orange juice, or plain sweetened yogurt (or a mix of any of the three)

1/2 cup old fashion oats

handful of nuts

2 Tbsp flax seed - ground

1/4 cup whey protein powder

2 tsp vanilla

Blend this till smooth

Add

1 banana

2+ cups frozen berries of your choice - we like to buy the big bags of mixed fruit with strawberries, mango, pineapple, peaches and grapes.

If you think it needs sweetening, you can add a squirt or two of agave nectar or another sweetener you like.

This takes the higher power blender to get the oats and nuts blended enough to be able take. The kids and I really love this. It really fills you up and lasts all morning.

I have tried adding the flax seed, oats and nuts to all the above recipes and we like the addition. It does change the texture though.

I got the idea for this recipe from my friend Vea. Go check out her blog for more ideas for great food and money saving tips.

Simple Breakfast

I don't know about you but that looks really yummy to me. I picked the idea for this breakfast up from an old diet book I found. It is just fruit, cottage cheese and nuts. It fills me up and keeps me going all morning. With the fruit, I have enough carbs to get my brain going. With the cottage cheese, I have enough protein to keep be going. With the nuts, I have enough good oils to make me feel satisfied. I love it. You can substitute what ever fruit you like with the cottage cheese. I have used strawberries, grapes, melon, and pears. I love them all but the pears are my favorite right now.

Simple Breakfast

1 cup cut up fruit

3/4 cup low fat cottage cheese

a handful of nuts (not roasted, raw)

Give it a try, you will love it!

Hollandaise Happiness

I have to admit that I haven't always loved this sauce. As a child I didn't trust it but knew that something had to be up because of the fuss the adults made about it. I have had it in many forms, some of which I think must be aberrations. (nasty things)

I have now made it a few times myself with varied success. This past week though I found a fast, and fabulous recipe for it. It is made in the blender. Here is the recipe.

Fast & Fabulous Hollandaise Sauce

3 egg yolks
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp Salt
Dash of hot sauce
1/2 cup melted butter

Blend the egg yolks, lemon juice, salt and hot sauce in the blender. Melt the butter and bring to a boil on the stove top. You want to boil it until it start to brown (like an light tan) this starts to caramelize the flavor of the butter and really opens it up.
Turn on the blender with your egg mixture in it. Start gradually pouring the boiling butter into the running blender in a steady stream. It will thicken quickly.
Serve immediately with your steamed vegetables or on eggs Benedict. (that sounds so yummy, I might have to get some fixing for that tomorrow!)
Enjoy!!

If that doesn't "feel" cooked enough for you, you can place it in a double boiler over hot water. You really have to watch it though. It can curdle which isn't cool. (you can fix that though by adding a table spoon of boiling water to it and mixing it well.
You have to serve this immediately. It is not something that is meant to last a long time so fix it very last before serving your food.

Baked French Toast

My dear friend Suzanne fixed this for our Quilt Guild Retreat this past month. It was Fabulous! I use that word a lot but it really was.
My children love French toast and so do I. I may post how they make that but here is how we adapted Suzanne's recipe and made it our own.

4-6 sliced of whole wheat bread cubed or torn in chunks
1 pkg 8 oz cream cheese (optional)
6 eggs
1 cup milk
sprinkle of cinnamon and/or nutmeg
pinch of salt
brown sugar or Sucanat

Butter a 9"x9" baking dish
Place half the cubed bread in the dish.
Cut the cream cheese over the bread.
Cover with remaining bread cubes.
Mix eggs, milk, salt, and cinnamon or nutmeg together in a blender.
Pour over bread.
Sprinkle the top of the bread mixture with Sucanat or brown sugar.
Cover with plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate overnight.
In he morning, preheat the oven to 350 deg F.
Bake for 45 - 60 minutes.
Serve warm with maple syrup, powdered sugar or just the way it is.

Basic Muffins

I just found this recipe and have to share it. It is so fast and easy and tastes fabulous. I have been looking for a recipe like this for a long time. Something that I can use for breakfast or dinner when we are out of bread but the meal screams for a tasty piece of bread to go with what ever we are eating. The recipe can be dressed up with additions if you want to also.

Whole Wheat Muffins

2/3 cup brown sugar (can use less)
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1 cup sour milk (add 1 tbsp vinegar to a 1 cup measuring cup and then fill with the milk, OR you can use buttermilk.)
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups whole wheat flour (fresh if you can get it)

Blend the sugar and butter, stir in egg. Add the other ingredients and mix. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 375-400 deg. F. for 15 minutes.
Makes about 12 muffins.

You can add 1 cup dried fruit (raisins, dates, apples, etc.) to the batter.
You can also add grated cheddar cheese to the batter.
These are great plain with just butter.
They go well with soups on a cold fall or winter night.
Are you drooling yet? Go make some. You will have hot, delicious, and healthful muffins in about 30 minutes.

Breakfast Meal Plan

Those of you that know me well know that organization is my bain. I am about as scattered as you can get (at least I hope no one is more scattered than I am.) This past month I had a brilliant thought that might just save me some confusion and stress in the morning. With 5 little and now big Byrds to get up and ready in the morning I can't face my kitchen stove at 7:00 a.m. in a panic thinking "what do I feed them this morning??" I don't have time for that. So I have taken a leaf from the books of several organizational gurus and have set up a weekly Breakfast plan. Each day of the week has a set aside breakfast so I know the day before what I will be fixing for breakfast. It is making life so much easier for me and there is a lot less parental stress before the bus gets here. I planned the week according to our time and mood constraints.

If you want to do it too look at:

• What is easiest for you to do in no time flat?
• What are you willing to eat? (that sounds weird but if you can't deal with cereal than don't think of it as an option)
• What can you fix in advance to make breakfast a snap (ie. freezing and warming up stuff)
• What can your family help do when time permits? (Saturday or Sunday morning traditions that everyone participates in, learning great self help skills)

So with that in mind here is what I came up with:

• Sunday - Cereal/granola (busiest day of the week for me with church so we need a no stress breakfast)
• Monday - Cereal/Granola (we are all dead heads on Monday so we can slide into our day without too much stress.)
• Tuesday - Toast and Cocoa - (this changes according to what is on hand, homemade whole wheat bread, muffins, bagels, cinnamon rolls, etc. and from scratch cocoa or homemade mix cocoa)
• Wednesday - Oatmeal
• Thursday - Biscuits, eggs, sausage
• Friday - Eggs and Toast
• Saturday - Pancakes, waffles, or something fun like that

Now each of these meals has many variations. I might stick muffins in place of biscuits, or we might have biscuits and sausage gravy instead of eggs. The egg and toast day could be any kind of bread (bagels, muffins, etc) and any way of fixing eggs (boiled, scrambled, fried, toad in the hole, etc.) The oatmeal is always from scratch with old fashion oats and we add things we have fresh on had to it.

I have lots of different recipes I use and have posted many of them here under good food and breakfast.

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

I have always loved a good bowl of oatmeal and am so thrilled to see so many varieties on the shelves now. I just don't like the sugar they add to the mix. I would rather be in control of that part of it.

A Friend of mine clued me into a great oatmeal mix that you can make from home. It is made with few ingredients that you just might have at home already.


Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
(one serving)

1/2 cup old fashion oats
1/2 water
1/2 cup milk
pinch of salt
1/2 apple
2 tbsp nuts
Cinnamon to taste

I put the oats in the blender and give them a quick pulse. Then I put the oats, milk, water and salt into my saucepan and heat on Med-high. I stir constantly as I bring it to a boil. Remove from heat when it starts to thicken up. It will thicken more as it cools.
I put the nuts and the apple in the blender or food processor and chop fine. Then stir the nuts and apple into hot oatmeal. I sprinkle with cinnamon and stir it all up and eat it all up.
You can add some honey, brown sugar, sucanant or stevia if you want it sweeter. I like it just the way it is and like it best with a Fuji apple because they are so sweet.