Easy Stovetop Granola

Easy Stovetop Granola                  Makes 2 gallons

Ingredients

1/2 cup  Organic Coconut Oil

16 cups Organic rolled Oats

2 2/3 cups Butter

2 cups Raw Honey

2 2/3 cups packed Organic Brown Sugar

4 cups chopped Almonds

2 2/3 cups dried Organic Cranberries (we prefer the apple juice sweetened cranberries)

4 cups shredded Organic Coconut flakes (unsweetened)

Directions 

1. Heat the Coconut oil in a very large pot.  Add oats, then cook and stir until starting to lightly brown.
2. While oats are cooking, in a saucepan, melt the butter, honey and brown sugar, stirring constantly, until bubbly. 
3. Add the butter mixture to the lightly browned oats in large pot.  Stir thoroughly and cook for at least 5 minutes, a little longer if you like your granola a little crunchy.  With burner turned off, add coconut flakes, chopped almonds, and cranberries to the oat mixture.  Stir well.
4. Pour mixture out onto 4 large cookie sheets to cool.
5. When cool, store in an airtight container.

 This recipe may be scaled down.  We like it so well that I make it in a large batch such as this.  It will only last around a week for us. (Really!) :o)

Other nuts and fruit may be used as well.  I often use chopped dates (rolled in oat flour and bought this way) flax seeds, pecans, raisins, pumpkin seeds and/or sunflower seeds. (Whatever sounds good to you.)

I am not a cereal eater for breakfast and usually will only eat granola as a snack, maybe in the evening, but even I can't resist this one for breakfast sometimes.

I also have to give credit to where credit is due! I followed this recipe from Allrecipes, tweaked it a little, and then showed my recipe to Laura.  Laura made it and tweaked it by adding more honey, and wow!!! What a difference it made!!! So thanks, Laura!

No Mush Allowed Gourmet Oatmeal

I could never stand eating oatmeal until my sister-in-law Kathy showed me that it didn't have to be mushy. I will be forever thankful to her because oatmeal is packed with good nutrition and sound weight loss principles.

Oatmeal has long been considered a health food and recently, a dieting food as well. It is a dieter’s dream meal: it is rich in nutrients and carbohydrates that by itself it can already be considered a complete meal.

Whole grain oats contain seven B vitamins, vitamin E, and nine minerals, including iron and calcium. B vitamins are necessary for weight loss because it helps your body not retain water, flushing it easily through the system and not allowing it to build up in the body. The quality and quantity of the protein in oats is far superior to that of wheat and many other grains.  As with all grains, when soaked before cooking, it becomes even more power packed with good nutrition.

Our Favorite Pancakes

Our family loves these easy to make pancakes.  We love the flavor of homemade buttermilk with these, and it is worth the wait to make the cultured buttermilk in order to make these.  To make the buttermilk, put about a 1/2 cup of store bought Organic buttermilk  to a quart jar and add fresh raw milk or pasteurized milk (not ultra-pasteurized) to about 1 inch below the rim of jar.  Put the lid on it loosely and put it on top of the refrigerator for a couple of days.  It will smell like sweet buttermilk when ready.
Best Buttermilk Pancakes

2 Cups freshly ground Hard White Wheat Flour (I often use a combination of White Wheat, Oat flour and Spelt)
2 Tsp. aluminum free Baking Powder
1 Tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp. Celtic fine grind Sea Salt
1 1/2 Tbsp. Organic Evaporated Cane Sugar
2 Large Organic fresh eggs, lightly beaten
2 to 2 1/2 Cups fresh cultured Buttermilk
4 Tbsp. Organic butter, melted plus more for skillet


Melt butter in small saucepan on stove.  Heat skillet (about a number 3 on my stove.) Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a bowl.  add eggs, buttermilk, and 4 tablespoons melted butter; whisk to combine.  batter should have small to medium lumps.  Do not over beat.  This makes the pancakes tough, and not light and fluffy.

Test skillet by sprinkling a few drops of water on it.  If water bounces and spatters off the skillet, it is hot enough.  Put in a teaspoon or so of butter in the skillet and spread around.  If you like crunchy sides, leave the excess butter, otherwise wipe off the excess lightly with a paper towel.  Spread about 1/2 to 3/4 cup batter in the middle of skillet.  When pancakes bubble on top and are slightly dry around the edges (about 2 1/2 minutes,) flip the pancake with a pancake turner.  Cook until golden on the bottom, about 1 minute.  Repeat with remaining batter; keep finished pancakes on a heat-proof plate in the oven.

Serve with homemade freezer jam, real maple syrup, honey, or homemade berry syrup.

Eggs Benedict With Homemade English Muffins

 Studies show that organic eggs from hens raised on pasture offer better nutrition than typical supermarket eggs and contain:

• four to six times more vitamin D
• two-thirds more vitamin A
• double the amount of omega-3 fatty acids
• three times more vitamin E
• seven times more beta carotene
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  English Muffins
  

4 cups freshly ground Organic Hard White Wheat (I used 1 cup Spelt in place of 1 of the cups flour)
1/2 tsp. Celtic fine grind Sea Salt
1 tsp. Organic Evaporated Cane Sugar
1 1/2 tsp. Active Dry Yeast
Generous 1 cup lukewarm water
1/2 Cup Organic Sour Cream, or Daisy Pure & Natural Sour Cream (It has no added ingredients, just cultured cream and is from cows not receiving synthetic hormones)
Softened butter for mixing bowl and skillet

In medium mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt, sugar and yeast.  Make a well in the center and add the lukewarm water and sour cream.  Stir with a wooden spoon until the dough begins to come together, then knead with your hands until it comes away from the side of the bowl.  Turn out onto a lightly floured counter and knead for 5-10 minutes, sprinkling lightly with flour as you knead until you are able to knead the dough  without it sticking to the counter.  Continue to knead until smooth and elastic.

Brush a medium bowl with softened butter and shape dough into a smooth round ball.  Place dough into greased bowl, turning to coat all sides as you do.  Cover with a moist dish towel and place in a warm place to double in size, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Dust a cookie sheet with flour and tap off the excess into a garbage can.  Turn out the dough onto the counter and knead lightly.  Roll out to a thickness of  just under1/2 inch, and stamp out 10-12 rounds with a 3 inch cookie cutter.  Transfer the muffins to the prepared cookie sheet, cover with a damp dish towel, and let rise in a warm place until just under 1/2 inch in height.(Muffins will continue to rise as they are cooked.)

Heat a large skillet (I used my cast iron skillet) on medium to medium high heat (I needed the lower heat with my cast iron skillet) putting some of the softened butter in the skillet and turning to coat.  Add half of the muffins and cook for 5 to 8 minutes on each side, again, depending on what type of skillet you will use until golden brown.  Cook the remaining muffins the same way. If you prefer, you can make the muffins the night before and reheat in the morning if mornings are quite hectic for you. (Recommended)

Cut muffin in half and butter. Lay a slice of Hormel Natural Choices ham on buttered half of muffin, put a poached egg on top of it, season with sea salt and pepper, and pour hollandaise sauce over the egg.  Add a sprig of fresh lemon thyme as a garnish.

Poached Eggs

Fresh, very cold Organic eggs
Water for poaching in

Pour water into a deep saucepan to equal 1 1/2 inches deep.  Let boil, and then turn to low to simmer. Gently break a fresh, (needs to be fresh so that the egg white will set properly) cold egg onto a saucer without breaking the egg yolk, and gently slip it into the simmering water.  Cook for 3-5 minutes depending on whether you like your egg yolk runny or not.  Dip some of the simmering water gently on top of the egg yolk to cook the top to the desired stage of cooking.

Hollandaise Sauce

3  Organic egg yolks
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed organic lemon juice
1 Tbsp. white cooking wine (or another tablespoon lemon juice)
1/2 Cup butter from grass fed hens
1/4 Tsp. Celtic fine grind sea salt


Place the bottom of a double boiler with water in it on the stove.  Heat until hot, but not boiling.  Place egg yolks, lemon juice and cooking wine in top part of double boiler, and beat until well mixed. Place pot on top of the double boiler bottom with hot water in it.  While beating with a wire whisk, add 1/3rd of the butter into the yolk mixture and cook, beating constantly, until butter is completely melted.  Add another third of the butter, repeat with remaining third, beating until mixture thickens and is heated through.  Remove from heat; and stir in the salt. 

To Assemble Eggs Benedict:

Cut muffin in half and butter. Lay a slice of Hormel Natural Choice (without antibiotics, hormones, nitrates or nitrites) ham on buttered half of muffin, put a poached egg on top of it, season with sea salt and pepper, and pour hollandaise sauce over the egg.  Add a sprig of fresh lemon thyme as a garnish.