Recipe: Sprouted Wheat Berry Salad

This winter I have been experimenting with sprouting various seeds. I posted recently about sprouting wheat berries and how delicious I find them.  Recently Roni from GreenLiteBites posted a recipe where she used a sweet mustard dressing.  As soon as I saw it I realized how delicious it would be and wanted to try it.  I came up with the following recipe that was delicious and perfect for a cold winter day where spring seem so far away.  It has just a bit of a kick from the combination of mustard, vinegar, and onions in it.  Even the man of the house gave it a thumbs up, after commenting on how the wheat looked a bit like spiders.

Spicy Sprouted Wheat Berry Salad

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups Wheat Berries
• 1/2 White Onion (The kind with enough flavor to burn your eyes when chopping)
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 stalk celery chopped
• 3 (generous) servings Roni’s Maple Mustard Dressing
• 1 cup raisins soaked in hot water until they are nice and plump

Instructions

• Start the wheat berries sprouting a few days before you want to make the salad.
• Let it grow until the tips of the green leaves show up, it seems to add a nice level of sweet to the salad.
• Look up Roni’s salad dressing and mix up a batch, tweaking it as you go for the flavor you want.
• Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and let sit a room temperature for a while for the flavors to mix.
• Eat the delicious salad until it’s gone.

Recipe: Sweet Bread Hot Pockets

Tonight I combined two recipes I found in the inter web and created the most delicious pizza pockets.  Next time I am going to double everything and make a huge batch to freeze.  I will make  no other modifications, except to maybe try other flavors. Both recipes get two thumbs up from everyone here.

For the dough I used this super simple recipe for Homemade ‘King’s Hawaiian’ Bread.

For the filling I used a modified version of the Pioneer Womans “Easy Calzone” recipe.

Wheat Berries.

 

My new obsessions. I grew them on a lark the other day when it was way to far below zero for humans to be outdoors. My boys discovered they like them too and asked me to record the video above. Here is what I did:

– I washed out a mason jar in really hot water to make sure it was good and clean.
– Put about 1/3 cup of wheat berries in the jar. I got them in a bulk bin at the local food co-opm, Bobs Red Mill sells them in most regular grocery stores.
– Add water until they are covered.
– Cover with a mason jar ring and a small piece of cloth.
– Change the water every 10 – 12 hours or so for 24 hours, or until I saw little sprout tails starting to grow.
– To drain them I just put the cloth over the top and turn the jar over in the drain until all the water is gone.
– Once the tails are showing rinse them but this time drain all the water out and don’t replace it. Keep rinsing a couple times a day.
– Once they started to grow roots I planted a few of them in a pot I have on the window sill. The rest I left in the jar.
– After a few days they started to grow leaves. I then put them in the fridge.

I started eating them as soon as they were growing tails.

– I put them in my oatmeal, at all stages of growth, they add a nice crunch. The bonus is that I don’t need to cook them!
– I put them on a sandwich after they started growing leaves
– I ate them raw when I was craving candy the other night.

The adventure will continue. I may switch to another type of seed next. Hmm. we will see.

Recipe: Pumpkin Waffles

I found a recipe for Pumpkin Waffles the other day.  I simplified it a bit and made them for breakfast.  They turned out delicious.

Pumpkin Waffles

Ingredients

• 2 cups Heart Healthy Bisquick
• 3 large Eggs
• 1 can Pumpkin
• 2 cups Skim Milk
• Pumpkin Pie Spice and Cinnamon

Instructions

• Mix everything together.
• Add as many spices as you want for flavor.
• If it seems to thick add some additional milk until it is thin enough.
• If it seems to thin add additional Bisquick until it is thick enough.
• Cook on highest waffle iron setting until done. The center is hard to get just right. I cooked mine for 5 minutes each and could have maybe been on there a bit longer.
• Best eaten with real maple syrup. Yum.

Recipe: Pot Roast with Yellow Rice

Lately in our house we have been experimenting with different things in the kitchen.  I am in love with Cast Iron cookware and my mother in law has recently been looking into the health benefits of turmeric.  Today I blended them together in a delicious dinner.  I made a pot roast in my cast iron pan and also made yellow rice.  Here are the recipes for them, I’m lazy tonight and don’t want to figure out the nutrition.

Yellow Onion Rice

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp butter or coconut
• 1 medium onions sliced thinly
• 1 cup Jasmine or other rice
• 1 1/2 tsp turmeric
• Water

Cooking Instructions

• Heat butter in a pan until it stops bubbling.
• Add onions and sauté until they are nicely browned and delicious looking
• Add water and boil
• Add rice and cook until done
• Add turmeric and stir until mixed thoroughly

Pot Roast (Cast Iron Dutch Oven)

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp butter or coconut oil
• 2 medium onions sliced thinly
• 2 carrots scrubbed and diced
• 3 stalks celery diced
• 2-3 pound beef roast
• Dry Rub
  • 2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp chipotle chili
• Sauce
  • 1 cup beef broth
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp liquid smoke

Prep Instructions

• Mix up the dry rub
• Spread the dry rub over the roast and set aside for at least an hour
• Dice all veggies
• Preheat oven to 300 degrees

Cooking Instructions

• Heat butter in your cast iron pan until it stops bubbling.
• Add onions and sauté until they are nicely browned and delicious looking
• Add carrots and celery and cook for a few minutes
• Dump veggie mixture onto another pan
• Take your roast and put it in the hot pan and sear each side for about 5 minutes each
• Add the veggies back in the pan
• Add the sauce mixture from above
• Cover pan with tin foil and a lid
• Put in oven and bake for approximately 3/4 of an hour per pound
• Turn half way through
• Serve over the yellow rice

Recipe: Zucchini Cornbread Casserole

It’s not often that I find a recipe on Facebook that is tasty, delicious, and pretty decent on the “healthy” scale.  This one fits the bill.  It is going into my special notebook for recipes that I don’t want to lose.

Zucchini Cornbread Casserole

INGREDIENTS:
4 cups shredded zucchini
1 onion, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
1 (8.5 ounce) package dry corn muffin mix
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
8 ounces low fat Cheddar cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 2 quart casserole dish.
In a large bowl mix together the zucchini, onion, eggs, muffin mix, salt and pepper. Stir in 4 ounces of the cheese. Spread this mixture into a greased 2 quart casserole dish; top with remaining 4 ounces of cheese.
Bake in a preheated oven for 60 minutes.
Makes 8 servings 231 calories