Whole Grain Pancake Mix

• 
  
• 4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3 1/2 cups old-fashioned or rolled oats
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 5 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 cup oil
• Optional addition: 1/2 cup ground flax

Grind oats in food processor until fine. 

Combine dry ingredients. In a mixer or with a large whisk, drizzle in oil & mix until oil is evenly distributed. Will appear like damp sand. 

Store in a jar in the refrigerator indefinitely. 

Makes 10 cups. 

To make pancakes:

1 cup mix

1 cup milk

1 egg

Combine ingredients and let stand for 20 minutes. The oats need a chance to soak up some liquid. 

After letting it stand, gently stir before making pancakes. Makes about 8 4" pancakes per batch. 


To freeze: Cook pancakes & cool on a tray. Stacking them up makes them a bit soggy as they cool, so lay them flat to cool. Stack cooled pancakes into a clean bread bag (save them up for this). Seal up with a twist tie. Let all the air out of the bag first. Freeze on it's side. Pop apart frozen pancakes with a butter knife. Toast & enjoy!

Adapted from King Arthur Flour

Automatic Dishwasher Detergent

Works great! And it's super cheap. Makes 32+ loads.

Use 2 tablespoons per load, a little less if your dishes are coming out cloudy.

1 cup Borax
2 cups Washing Soda
1 cup Baking Soda

Mix together. Store in an airtight container.

The Best Veggie Burgers

This recipe makes a lot. It can be 1/2ed or 1/4ed, but I recommend making the whole thing and freezing them. 


These can also be used for taco filling, meatballs, etc.

1 onion
4 stalks celery
1 cup carrots
1 med zuchinni
3 cloves garlic
Mince all. I used my food processor. Salt & saute until barely translucent. This step is important because the burgers will hold together a little better and crisp up more easily if the veggies have let go of some of their moisture prior to being mixed in with the grains and beans.

2 cups dry lentils
2 cups dry split yellow peas *note- black beans could also be used
Cook beans in stock according to package directions. Mash them up up a bit. 

1 1/2 cups dry bulgur
Cook in water according to package directions.

1 cup walnut meal
about 4 cups oatmeal- you may need up to 6 cups depending on the moisture level of everything
4 eggs (or 6 egg whites)
Mrs. Dash
Parsley
 20 dashes or more liquid smoke
4 tablespoons  or more worcestershire sauce
salt
pepper

Combine everything and refrigerate for a few hours. Add more oats if it seems too wet to hold any shape. Season liberally. This makes a lot of burgers. If you are wondering if it's seasoned enough, take a small amount and brown up a tiny patty to taste for seasoning. 


The mixture is going to be fairly wet and kind of gummy and sticky. Form into patties. I form patties by putting some of the mixture on the counter, smashing it down to the thickness I want my burgers, and use my largest biscuit cutter to cut them uniformly. 


Flash freeze on baking sheets lined with plastic wrap. Bag up once frozen. 


Saute frozen patties on medium for 6-10 minutes per side depending on how frozen they are and how crisp you'd like them. Makes about 40 med-lg burgers.

Refrigerator Dill Pickles or Green Tomatoes

Ingredients:

1/2 bulb garlic, peeled

1/2 med. onion, chopped

8 stems fresh dill

4 cups water

1/2 cup white vinegar

1/8 cup salt 

1/2 jalepeno, sliced

6-8 pickling cucumbers, sliced or quartered into spears *OR*

6-8 green tomatoes - sliced *OR* a mixture of both

Directions:

Place 1/2 of the peeled garlic cloves, onion, peppers and dill on the bottom of a 1/2 gallon sterilized jar.

Pack  1/2 cucumbers and tomatoes in jar.

Place remaining 1/2 of garlic, onions, peppers in jar. 

Pack remaining 1/2 of cucumbers and tomatoes in jar. 

Place remaining dill on top.

Heat water, vinegar and salt until the salt dissolves. 

Pour brine in jar, covering everything.  

Set at room temperature for about 2 days

then refrigerate. 

Pickles will keep 9 months-1 year.

Freezer Cooking & Baking Day

I thought I'd share my cooking/baking goals for today. We just purchased a large freezer and I am excited to fill it up! My grandma is coming over to help, and I of course, will share the goodies with her. I will give the play-by-play and share recipes sometime this week. 


Here we go-


I'm going to try to update and mark them off as I go. 

• 1lb. bag of Pinto Beans in the crock pot
• Large pot of tomato sauce to use for spaghetti and pizza
• Brown Sugar Biscuit Twists
• Whole Wheat Buttermilk Waffles x2
• Whole Grain Cinnamon Rolls 
• 100% Whole Wheat Bread
• Cranberry Orange Scones x2
• Thumbprint Scones x2
• Hamburger Buns
• French Toast
• Whole Grain Pancakes
• Banana Whole Grain Pancakes

Wish me luck!


Edit- We accomplished all of this, cleaned up, and packaged everything by 4pm yesterday. Wow! The funny thing is we didn't even fill a whole shelf in my new freezer. 

Dreaming...

of eating THIS today,
while enjoyng a cup of hot black tea.

Blogs and Inspiration

Here are a few of my favorite "foodie" blogs and websites. I'll be linking them up in the sidebar soon! Do you a favorite food related site? If so, please share it with me in the comments. 

All Recipes (numero uno source! always look at the reviews of each recipe…they almost always contain vital info)

Good & Cheap Eats

Old House Kitchen (they have a giveaway right now! go sign up!)

The Kitchn

Happy Lady Eats

Everyday Food

From Scratch

Tasty Kitchen