Recipes

Oatcakes (with a gluten-free variant)

Oats are healthy, oats raise your good cholesterol, oats are just the thing if you’re a fan of grains. If you want to feel your oats, but you’re not up for a bowl of oatmeal porridge, have a couple of oatcakes instead. You can take ’em with you, too.

Two versions here: regular and low-wheat/no-wheat/gluten-free. Serve with a little butter and brown sugar on top.

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Low Fat (but yummy) Barley Pancakes

These pancakes taste great and have no added fat. I eat them with homemade applesauce and pure maple syrup and never miss the melted butter I used to pour on pancakes. Read more…

Lower Your LDL Cholesterol – Add Barley to Your Baking

Turn a health need into an opportunity. If you or someone in your family needs to reduce their LDL (bad cholesterol) and you enjoy cooking and/or baking, adding barley to your repetoire can make a real difference. Read more…

Fin’s Wheat-free Gingerbread Cookies

Fin’s Wheat Free Gingerbread Cookies

I created this recipe for my grandson’s first Christmas as he had not yet started eating wheat.

I mix this entirely by hand but you can use a hand mixer to start.

Beat until creamy:
1/4 cup margarine
½ cup brown sugar

Beat in:
½ cup molasses

Sift together:
½ cup corn starch
3 cups oat flour (I made this by running large flake oats through the blender)
Sift again with:
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp salt
(Increase ginger and cinnamon by up to 50% if you like a spicier cookies.  My grandchildren love them this way.)

Add the sifted ingredients to the margarine mixture in about 3 parts alternately with :
1/4 cup water (It may take much less water depending upon moisture in margarine.  You’ll want a dryer dough if you are going to roll it out than if you are going to shape the cookies by modelling).

Use corn starch or arrowroot flour to dust the rolling pin and surface.  Roll out and cut with cookie cutters.  I use a straw to make a holes for yarn to hang the cookies on the Christmas tree. For a sparkling effect, sprinkle the cookies with granulated white sugar before baking.  You or the children can also mold figures by hand right on a greased cookie sheet.  Increase cooking time for thicker molded cookies.

Bake on a greased sheet at 350 degrees for 8 minutes or until surface springs back when lightly pressed by fingertip.

H. P.’s ‘Squirrel’ Stew (Beef Stew With Hearty Red Wine Flavor)

This is my father’s recipe. To the best of my knowledge he ALWAYS used beef instead of squirrel; but he bestowed the frontierish name on the dish when it was part of a camping trip menu. The flavor is greatly enhanced by cooking it at least a day ahead and squirrelling it away in the fridge overnight before reheating and serving.  So that’s another reason to call it “squirrel stew.”  Your enjoyment is further enhanced by being able to smugly go about other activities knowing that a brilliant dinner needs only to be heated up. Serve with french or Italian bread and a good sturdy dry red wine. Gallo Hearty Burgundy does just fine if you’ve spent so much on the beef that you can’t afford a Chianti or a Bordeaux.

– Dan Luckett

Cook at least 1 day ahead and re-heat

2 1/2 lbs. beef cut in 1 1/2″ cubes
1 large or 2 small onions cut up
1 clove garlic
1 1/2 cup dry red wine
2 beef bouillon cubes dissolved in 2 cups water or 2 cans of beef stock
8 oz. can of tomato sauce
4 potatoes cut up in chunks
5 carrots, scraped and sliced
4 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
ground pepper to taste
flour
5 Tablespoons oil

Flour the beef (I shake the beef and flour in a bag) and brown in oil in your largest iron skillet. Remove beef from skillet and cook onion until clear. Return meat to skillet or (better yet) a large electric crockpot), add garlic, bouillon with water, and wine and simmer 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Add tomato sauce, vegetables, spices and Worcester sauce and simmer covered another 3 hours. During the cooking add water to maintain the volume – if your lid is not tight you may need a couple of cups. Test the potatoes with a fork. Maintaining the water is essential to avoid having the meat stick to the pan and to ensure plenty of juice (which may be the best part).

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Cast-Iron Cooking: From Johnnycakes to Blackened Redfish (A. D. Livingston Cookbook)

Martha’s* Butter Tarts

Pie-crust pastry – enough for 4 pie-crusts
3 Eggs
3 Cups (1 Lb. box) light brown sugar
3 Tablespoons vinegar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
¾ Cup melted butter
1 ¾ Cup raisins or currants – smaller raisins work better

Roll out pastry and cut with a 3 inch cookie cutter. Place individual shells in a shallow muffin pan, preferably with rounded bottom.

Beat eggs only until well blended — do not over-beat. Stir in sugar and when fully combined add vinegar and vanilla. Stir in melted butter and fruit. Fill shells ½ to 2/3 full – do not overfill as mixture will rise.

Bake at 380o to 400o F (experiment, as ovens vary) for 12 – 14 minutes. Monitor closely as time between under-cooked and over-cooked is short. When pastry starts to brown they are done. Cool before serving.

*Martha Postlethwaite – Noreen’s mother, Jennifer and Elizabeth’s grandmother

Maple Granola

Serving size: ½ cup at home ( ¾ cup for camping)

Estimated calorie and fat content per ½ cup serving:

233kcal, 11.4g total fat, 1.4g saturated fat

Preheat oven to 325⁰F

Ingredients:

Method:

Gently heat oil and maple syrup in a large pot. Remove from heat.

Add remaining ingredients in order one at a time, stirring after each addition.

Spread granola in two roasting pans (dutch oven or cast iron skillets) and toast in the oven, stirring every 10-12 minutes until desired color indicates it is done (about 30 minutes). Pay special attention to the corners of the pans when stirring to avoid burning.  It’s delicious to munch while still warm but allow to cool before storing in an air tight container.

Pan de Jamón

Pan de Jamon is a Venezuelan stuffed bread traditionally served around Christmas time.  It’s a rich, glazed bread stuffed with ham, pimento olives and raisins.

Some people cut corners and use a pre-made dough such as pizza dough you can get at the supermarket, but there is no substitute for the real thing.  Sure, it takes a little longer to make your dough from scratch but the end result is well worth the extra effort.  And if you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, your arms won’t even get tired from kneading the dough!

Ingredients:
Dough

• 45g – Fresh yeast (15g or 1 packet of Active Dry Yeast)
• ½ C – Warm water
• 1 t – Sugar (for proofing yeast)
• 500g (~4 Cups) – Flour
• ¾ t – Salt
• 3T – Sugar
• 6 T – Butter (softened)
• 1 – Egg
• 6-8 T – Warm milk

Filling, etc…

• Flour for dusting
• 1 T – Butter to grease baking sheet
• 1 lb – Ham
• ~25 olives, chopped
• ¾ C – Raisins
• 1 – Egg yolk
• 1 t – Sugar

Preparation:

Put yeast, warm water and sugar in a contaner and allow to proof until bubbly (~30 min)

Once yeast has proofed, add butter, egg and remaining dry ingredients.  Use milk to adjust consistency of the dough until it is soft, but not sticky.  Knead until smooth and stretchy.

Let rise in a warm place until doubled (appx. 90 mins)

Grease baking sheet

On a floured surface, punch down dough.  Then roll out dough to ~3/8” thickness.

Arrange ham, olives and raisins on the dough, and roll the dough into a loaf, sealing the ends and seam.

Place loaf on buttered baking sheet and let rise until doubled (about an hour).

Preheat oven to 370º, bake bread for ~40 minutes.

Beat egg yolk with 1t. sugar and set aside.

When the bread is nearly done, remove from oven and brush on the egg yolk mixture.

Return to oven for about 5 mins until the glaze has set and has taken on a nice, golden-brown appearance.

No-Knead Bread

This bread is so simple to make, you can mix up the dough before you go to work and bake it when you come home.  The recipe incorporates whole wheat flour as well as flax-seed meal for a tasty and healthy combination.

I’ve given the quantities by weight (with approximate volumes) so that if you own a kitchen scale, you can just add all the ingredients to a single bowl without breaking out the measuring cups and spoons.  Can’t be any simpler than that!

Ingredients:

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Half ‘n’ Half Pancakes

These moist, fluffy pancakes are always a hit.  Everyone who tries them says they’re the best they’ve ever had.  They’re also pretty healthy with whole-wheat flour and yogurt.

Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients:

• 1/2 C – White all-purpose flour
• 1/2 C – Whole wheat flour
• 3/4 t – Baking Powder
• 1/2 t – Baking Soda
• 1/2 t – Salt

Wet Ingredients:

• 1/2 C – Milk
• 1/2 C – Plain Yogurt
• 2 T – Butter
• 1 – Large Egg
• 1 t – Honey

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