Oven Roasted Cauliflower

1 Head of Cauliflower

1/4 Cup of Canola/ Olive Oil

Taco Seasoning

Powdered Garlic

Cut cauliflower into bit-size or slightly larger pieces.  Cover in oil.  You may not need the entire quarter cup, it will depend on how large the head of cauliflower is.  Next, use enough of the spices to get an even coat of spices on the cauliflower.  You may choose to use only garlic or substitute the taco seasoning for Italian seasoning.  The spices are up to you!  Bake at 350 degrees until tender.  The time will depend on your oven, but it takes about ten to fifteen minutes in my oven.

Quick Whole Wheat Pancakes

2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 TBS Gluten Flour
2 TBS Brown Sugar or Honey
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
2 TBS Canola Oil
1 Cup of cold Water

Gather dry ingredients into a bowl. Pour oil and some of the cold water.  Continue adding water until you have a suitable pancake batter.  Lightly grease a skillet.  These pancakes will not bubble like ones from a mix, so flip them when the edges look done.  Keep temperature low enough to cook the middle of the pancakes.  When cooking, the outside will become paler and paler just before turning golden brown on the outside.  I usually put honey and a little butter on my pancakes instead of cheap corn syrup (what "syrup" usually is.)  This recipe makes 8-10 small pancakes. 

Wonderful Whole Wheat Brownies

1/2 Cup Shortening

1 Cup of Softened Butter

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

2 tsps of Vanilla

1 tsp of Salt

3 Cups Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

1 Cup Cocoa Powder

2 2/3Cups of Whole Wheat Flour

Cream the sugar, shortening, and butter with the salt, baking soda, baking powder, and vanilla.  When well creamed, add the two eggs.  Evenly mix in the cocoa powder.  Add the flour in parts, stirring in evenly.  The brownie batter will be much denser than a mix from a box.  Makes one 9X13 pan.  Bake 20-40 minutes at 350 degrees until a fork comes out clean.  Cooking time varies a lot between ovens, pans, and depth of the batter.

Simply Sweet Tuna Salad

One serving of Whole Wheat Noodles

Can of Tuna (drained)
1/4 cup of Broccoli
Handful of sliced carrots
Dash of Salt
Dash of Pepper
2 tsps of Honey

Cook the noodles.  Strain and set aside.  Use cooking spray (I use a canola or olive oil-based spray.) to grease the sauce pan/skillet.  I used the same one that I cooked the noodles in.  Heat the broccoli and carrots until tender.  Add tuna and noodles.  Now, add salt, pepper, and honey.  Add other seasonings to taste.  This can be adapted to feed more people.  I did not use the entire can of tuna for the single serving.

Homemade Seasoned Fries (Baked!)

Seasoning:

*Whole Wheat Flour

Taco Seasoning

Garlic

Garlic Salt

Brown Sugar

*can substitute gluten-free flours

Instructions: Slice potatoes thinly.  These will be broiled, so the potato needs to bake quickly, before the seasoning burns.  Mix the seasoning mix to the desired strength.  The more brown sugar, the sweeter.  The more flour, the more mild... Add any spices that you think will taste great.  Shake potatoes in a baggie with oil or stir in oil in a bowl.  I use canola oil or better yet olive oil when I have it.  After there is an even coat of oil on the potatoes, drain off any excess.  Next, shake or stir in powdered seasoning mix.  When there is a fairly even coat as pictured, broil on high to desired crispiness.  It doesn't take long, so don't forget about them (learned from experience.)  Mine are done in as little as five minutes.

Left: Unbaked fries coated and spread out, ready to bake.
Right: powdered mix (this one is pretty heavy on the taco seasoning.)  I add garlic and garlic salt to get enough garlic with less salt.  Regular garlic and salt could be used instead.  Lots of choices.  

Background story:  I love curly fries.  Unfortunately, the seasoning mix uses bleached flour.  I have decided to try to start making my own.  These are pretty great!  I do Bountiful Baskets, so I get a lot of great quality produce.  If you live in the western United States, you should check it out.  http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/  This week I got 2lbs or more of Gold Yukon Potatoes, an entire head of cauliflower, three broccoli stem things, three cucumbers, five tomatoes, apples, bananas, a cantiloupe, a head of romaine lettuce, apricots, and a pineapple for only fifteen dollars!

Potato Bread

3 Itty Bitty mashed potatoes or the equivalent (no extra water or milk)

1/2 cup of the potato cooking fluid

1 cup of milk

3/8 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons of yeast
1/4 cup oil
Make sure this mixture is warm, between 110 and 115 degrees Fahrenheit
Pour into dry ingredients, mixing.
Dry ingredients:
4 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup gluten flour
2 teaspoons of salt
Add additional whole wheat flour until firm.
Knead 6-8 minutes
Let rise until doubled in size.  To keep the bread moist, spray 2 large Ziplocs with cooking spray.  Put half of the dough into each bag and seal.  Let air out of the bag as needed.  (This also works with pizza dough!)
When risen, shape into 2 loaves and bake.  Any size bread pan will do.  They are smaller than a 9x5x3, but they will cook nicely in a pan that size. 
Bake at 325 degrees for about 35 minutes.
Crust will be firm like some old-fashioned recipes.

Lick-your-lips Lemon Bread

1/3 cup shortening (generous)
1 cup brown sugar (also generous)
Cream sugar and shortening together
Add one egg and mix well
Add a second egg and mix well
2 tsps (generous) Lemon Juice (original recipe calls for lemon peel)
In a separate bowl, combine:
1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour (skimping)
2 TBS gluten flour
1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/2 tsps Baking Powder
In a liquid measuring cup:
1/2 cup of milk
Alternately stir in milk and the dry from the separate bowl.  Don't be afraid of over-stirring because this recipe needs to be lighter and fluffier.
Bake 40-50 minutes at 350 or until a toothpick comes out clean
Background Story:
This is a major variation on a bread recipe in my cookbook.  The original recipe called for things that I A. didn’t have or B. are on my avoidance list.  So I loosely followed it and yum-yum happened!  This is a very sweet bread- almost cake but not quite.  I had to have a whole wheat to gluten flour ratio.  Also, I didn't want pecans and I didn't have lemon peel.  I don't use all purpose flour or white sugar and I wanted more salt.  So basically I used the same amount of baking powder and eggs as the original and similar fat-to-sugar ratios.