Tips For Success When Using Whole Grains And A Recipe For Blueberry-Corn Pancakes

Have you ever found that by in large wheat flour is usually heavier and generally produces weighter bread?  I have until just recently when I purchased stone ground whole wheat flour, fine grade.  In fact, a friend just asked me why her whole wheat hamburger buns did not turn out light and fluffy like mine did.  At the time I had no idea, so I ask another friend who had also had good success with her bread products.

When using whole wheat flour, the secret to lighter and fluffier buns is in the grade of the flour.  The finer the grade the lighter and fluffier your bread will be.  The texture of fine stone ground whole wheat flour is that of white flour.  I usually purchase stone ground whole wheat flour with a fine grade and my products turn out great.  Another thing that I have read and tried is allowing the wheat and warm water to sit for at least 15 -30 minutes before adding the remaining ingredients.  For example, if the recipe calls for 7 cups of flour I will add 3 cups to 1 and a half cups of warm water and let it set for 15-30 minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients.  This allows the grains some time to start working and the flour time to absorb the liquid.  When using cornmeal this same method applies.  Just this morning, I tried this when making delicious blueberry corn pancakes.  Also, when I thought  that I had purchased 50 lbs. of white flour this week, I opened it and discovered that I will be cooking using all whole grains for a while as it was enriched, unbleached, unbromated wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, iron, folic acid, riboflavin, and thiamine mononitrate.  It did not affect the flavor or how the bread rose.

Blueberry-Corn Pancakes (from Whole Grain Baking)

(I doubled this recipe when I used it for my family of 7)

1/2 cup whole yellow cornmeal

2/3 cup boiling water

3 Tbs. butter, melted

1/4-1/3 cup milk

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 Tbs. sugar

1 Tbs. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

1. Place the cornmeal in a medium bowl. Pour the boiling water over it, stir the mixture thoroughly and let it sit for 15 minutes. This allows the cornmeal to absorb the liquid, and it will be quite stiff at the end of 15 minutes.  Stir the melted butter to loosen the mixture.  Measure the milk; use the smaller amount of milk if your blueberries are frozen.  Beat the egg into the milk and stir the mixture into the cornmeal.  Combine well to be sure there are no lumps.  In a separate bowl, combine the flour with the sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the cornmeal mixture and combine with a few swift strokes.  Let the batter sit for 15 minutes, then stir in the blueberries.
2. Heat a nonstick griddle or a cast iron skillet and brush with oil if your pan is not non-stick.  When the surface of your pan is hot enough, drop 1/4 of a cup of pancake batter onto the skillet for each pancake.  Let the pancake cook on the first side until bubbles begin to form around the edges, about 3-4 minutes (since it is whole wheat bubbles will not form across the whole surface).  Flip and finish cooking about 2 more minutes on the other side.  Serve immediately with maple syrup and enjoy!

Thursdays: From Scratch (Week 2)

This weeks from scratch journey led me to making brown sugar muffins, 2 batches of whole wheat hamburger buns, 4 loaves of cinnamon raisin bread, cinnamon raisin bread french toast, dried cranberries, 2 batches of yogurt,  part of an apron for Joshua,  learning to patch holes in jeans, and window cleaner.  I will be posting pictures at a later time.

My dried cranberries were an utter failure.  I had the crazy idea to set a pan with waxed paper and cranberries cut in half on top of our wood stove.  When I saw that it was too warm, I set it on the counter for a while and then in the oven at 200 degrees for a few hours.  Needless to say, I burned them!  After talking with a friend whose mom dried all their fruit, she said that she put them on a pan and set the pan in the attic for a few days because the air was drier up there.  I will persevere and keep trying until I get them right and then I will try my hand at drying grapes.  The idea of making my own dried fruit is very impressive to me because of the high cost of dried fruit.  If anyone else has had any luck drying your own fruit without paying for a food dehydrator I would love to hear how you did it.

Making things from scratch saves a lot of money and is totally worth the time.  The children love it just as much as I do and they are learning right along with me.  This week I plan on looking for a recipe for homemade ravioli. If anyone else wants to share of their journey in making homemade pasta, please share.  Also, I would like to venture out and start sewing more, but I have not yet figured out how to fit that into the schedule more then about once a week.  Any suggestions?

Don't forget to hop on over to Sarah's blog http://8-muddyboots.blogspot.com and read how others  journey from scratch went this week.  She would love to have more join her on her journey.  It does not have to be a lot of work.  One recipe a week or one thing made from scratch a week is a big help when it comes to becoming a frugal mom.

Feeling A Bit Ambitious And Overwhelmed

Okay, I have to admit that diagramming Romans was a bit ambitious for a 9 year old boy.  We finished our grammar book about 6 weeks ago and have not spent time reviewing it at all.  Today, when I set down with him he had trouble with diagramming.  For now, we will be spending time reviewing and then we will try diagramming Romans at a later date.  Getting back in the swing of things after being gone all day yesterday is also a bit overwhelming with my very long to do list today.

How Home Schooling Can Be Simple

Yesterday, the kids and I had the wonderful opportunity to travel with him and stay a few hours at a friend's home while he made a hospital visit.  We had a great visit.  The children got to play with another home school family out in the woods in the snow on a rather warm day and see maple taps on the trees.  I had an encouraging visit from two other moms, one who had already completed her home schooling journey and one who was in the thick of it with her 6 children.  It is rare that I get to sit down and visit with other home schooling moms.  We shared what was happening in our families and some journals of what home schooling looked like when another mom was teaching her children.  Getting to see the journals was very helpful to me because sometimes I get discouraged when I want to spend lots of time in the kitchen baking and cooking with the children and not working on our "lessons" for the day or spending time on other homemaking skills such as meal planning, laundry, or sewing.  She taught me that homemaking is schooling.  She taught me that going to see maple taps is schooling.

Just recently we finished our grammar book with our oldest child and was not planning on starting another for a little while, but in the mean time feeling as if he still needed to do some grammar (just because that is what we do).  While looking through my friend's journals I saw that she made grammar very easy by having the kids diagram sentences, write summaries, write out vocabulary words with their definitions, and copy Bible verses.  That all got me to thinking, "I could continue to teach Grammar without an "official textbook" especially since the curriculum I had been using had been teaching him how to diagram sentences.  So, my husband and I talked on our long drive home and decided that we were going to have our son keep a notebook of his diagramming and that we would start by diagramming the book of Romans.  Then we would have our daughter, who just finished her handwriting book, copy Bible verses from Proverbs.  What better way to teach your children than to use the Bible as your "textbook"!  I was so excited that I had to share.

Lastly, my sweet friend whom I went to visit, knew of my journey in making things from scratch and also knew that my husband was picking up a few of our bulk baking supplies (50 lb of white flour and 50 lb of wheat flour) and lent me a copy of King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking.  She also recommended and let me look at More With Less.  I LOVE cook books!!!  When I got home, I immediately opened the book and started reading it.  I am very excited to share with you in future posts my journeys through Whole Grain Baking.

The day ended by my husband and I sitting down and watching Julie and Julia.  If you have not gotten the opportunity to watch this movie I highly recommend it!  It is about Julie taking on the challenge of blogging about cooking for a year through Julia Child's cook book, The Joy of Cooking in a small 900 square foot apartment and about the story of Julia writing her cookbook in American while living in France.  It is two stories in one that is based on two true stories.

Later in the day, I will be posting of my journey in cooking from Scratch.  I would love to hear from you, too.  How was your week?  Did you venture out and try making something from scratch (it does not have to be food)?

Another Great Blog To Check Out

How am I doing on the $100 challenge for a month?  The first week, I spent $17.  This week, I spent $26 plus tomorrow I will be spending $23 on a 50lb bag of white flour and a 50lb bag of wheat flour.  Not bad!  In my journey to save money on groceries and to make everything I can from scratch I ran across another very helpful website http://grocerycartchallenge.blogspot.com/  It is her challenge to feed a family of 6 for $60 a week.  Amazing!!!  On Thursday, I will be posting pictures of my journey in making new things from scratch.  Let me know how you are doing?  Are you, too, learning to save money when it comes to meal preparation?  I love to read comments.

Come and Join In On the Spring Cleaning That Sarah is Hosting

Sarah over at http://beautiful2god.blogspot.com is hosting a spring cleaning of the entire house.  Each week we will be cleaning and focusing on decorating  a different room in the house.  This week's focus is the entry way.  Go on over to her blog to read the details.

The Bible Podcast

The Bible Podcast, I have linked in my side bar, is a great way to read through difficult sections of the Bible.  If you ever get to a certain spot in your Bible reading and you feel as if you are walking through swamp land and moving at a snail's pace while losing motivation to continue in your commitment to faithfully reading all the way through the Bible, listen and follow allow with someone else reading the Bible.  At the start of the year I had decided to read through the entire Bible in 90 days and write posts about summaries of each book as I finished reading each them.  However, as time past, I came upon certain  sections in Joshua that I was just having a hard time wading through and was losing motivation  due to the many names that I was unable to pronounce and the repetition until I came upon The Bible Podcast.  I love it!  It got me over my hump and renewed my excitement as I was able to listen to the entire book of Judges yesterday and today.  While listening, I was reading along in my own Bible and encouraged to keep going.  I also learned how to pronounce certain difficult names.  So, I write this post to encourage others to persevere and give The Bible Podcast a try.

I have also been wanting to share this hymn written by Julia H. Johnston

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt, yonder on Calvary's mount outpoured, there where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.  Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold, threaten the soul with infinite loss; grace that is greater, yes, grace untold, points to the refuge, the mighty cross.  Dark is the stain that we cannot hide- what can avail to wash it away?  Look!  there is flowing a crimson tide; whiter than snow you may be today.  Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace, Freely bestowed on all who believe!  You that are longing to see His face, Will you this moment His grace receive?  Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within!  Grace, grace, God's grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin!