Earlier this week, I had a friend over for brunch.
Disclaimer: I am not as fancy as that might make me sound. I slept late, ended up having breakfast at 10:00, and decided to make it a party.
I made a delicious, cake-like baked oatmeal and served it with real maple syrup, freshly picked strawberries and a drizzle of raw cream. While our kids played outside on the trampoline, we ate far more than any reasonable woman would admit to.
It was just oatmeal. But it was that good.
Before my friend left, I made a copy of the recipe and then started making notes on my modifications.
Instead of sugar, I used honey, so be sure to cut the liquid a little. It doesn’t specify what kind of oil, but I used coconut. Oh, and I used homemade raw milk yogurt and farm fresh eggs, and… what?
At this point, I realized that my friend was trying not to laugh. Honestly, I couldn’t blame her. It was apparent that I have become one of them: the healthy foods people.
I haven’t always been like this, you know. It wasn’t that long ago that my idea of a healthy breakfast was a fat-free, sugar-free (flavor-free?) brightly colored yogurt. That conversation with my friend really illuminated just how far I have come…
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I’m guest posting at Kitchen Stewardship today. Read the rest of my journey from junk food to real food here.
PS: I realize this post may seem a bit ironic after yesterday’s cinnamon roll recipe. I have only this defense:
1) Walt loves white flour and white sugar
2) I love Walt
3) At least it was homemade
I really enjoyed your post 🙂 I love that you figured out that cooking from scratch is not as hard as it seems! I read it on Kitchen Stewardship and hopped over here and read your p.s.–so very true! I definitely use white flour/sugar occasionally because my hubby loves it too, and it’s still a lot better than the additive-laden stuff in the stores 🙂
Just like Diana I read this at Kitchen Stewardship and decided to come over for a look. I am laughing at your PS because the same thing happens here. Hey – white flour and sugar are still better then the extra whoknowswhat ingredients in the pre-made stuff at the store!
And we have the same issue with bread. I haven’t found a recipe yet that approximates store bread (though Tammy’s Recipes’ whole wheat was close) to my husband and children’s liking either. If you find one I’d love to hear about it!
Thank you all so much for taking the time to stop by and comment. I thought the timing on my healthy foods post was comical, but I still think there is a small place in our diet for those kinds of treats (though smaller in my mind than my husbands. What can I say, I love him for who and where he is and am glad he puts up with what he might view as my particular brand of “crazy”).
Sarah and Jan – thanks for the recipes. I can’t wait to try them. I may have to do a series about my search for a great whole wheat bread recipe.
Thank you for sharing this lovely post. I was the same as you and the journey to real food is a long slow one. My kids love it, my hubby struggles with it at times, and I am hooked on real food now. Today I’m making dry cereal 3 years after our food journey began. I finally said “that’s it!” to our boxed cereal addiction. I did finally find a great recipe for whole wheat foldable bread from the recipe which I’ll happily share with you. It’s even made in the bread machine ;o)
Basic White Bread (ABM)
1 cup tepid water (I use whey)
2 Tbs oil (I use olive oil)
3/4 tsp salt
2 Tbs sugar (or honey, molasses or other sweetener)
2 Tbs Vital Gluten
3 Cups flour (I use spelt flour)
1 1/2 tsp yeast
Place in pan, in order listed. I use regular setting, light crust on my machine. Start machine and let it run for a couple of minutes to blend ingredients. Then check and make sure dough is not too wet/dry. (too wet is when you’ve got a puddle of dough at the bottom of the spindle. Too dry is when the bread sits on top of the spindle and spins, but doesn’t move on the spindle. It should move up and down and change shape while spinning with the spindle. Also, if it’s not “tacky” to the touch, it’s too dry. Between the two extremes is a lot of leeway, so don’t be afraid to adjust the recipe, so just add water by the tsp and flour by the tbs . Also, give it about 2 -3 mins after doing an addition to make sure what you just added is incorporated before you do anything else to it and you’ll be ok.
Let cool COMPLETELY before slicing. I slice mine with an electric knife and it can be stored after cutting in the freezer 🙂
Enjoy!
I just read your post at KS and want to send you my husband’s favorite bread recipe…
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/classic-100-whole-wheat-bread-recipe
The only adjustments I made were to add 1 T lecithin, substitute 1/4 c orange juice for 1/4 c of the water and use honey out of the choices suggested. Always turns out great and makes good sandwich bread.
I enjoyed your post at Kitchen Stewardship so much that I came over to say hi here. I just subscribed to your blog. I am a recent convert to healthier eating as well and my kids LOVE going to pick up our milk each week. It makes me grin thinking about the fact that they can talk to the actual cow that gave us our milk. I think there will always be a place for white flour and white sugar in our home. However, they are now used much less frequently than in the past. I never dreamed that whole wheat chocolate chip cookies could taste every bit as wonderful as the original!