whole wheat biscuits

Before the flurry of holiday activity begins (or if you are just more organized than I am and have everything all sewn up), take a breather and relax. I made these whole wheat biscuits yesterday morning and they were perfect with coffee and a slather of butter and a dollop of cherry jam. However, they'd be equally wonderful served alongside soup or topped with sausage gravy and a poached egg.

Made with whole wheat flour and wheat germ, they are wholesome and nutty, light even. The rise on these however is not high, but these are not leaden lumps of dough by any means. I found the recipe on The Oyster Evangelist and Joy calls for them to be made in a cast iron skillet. Most of the biscuits managed to fit into the pan, but the leftovers I just baked on a cookie sheet and I couldn't tell the difference between the two.

whole wheat biscuits
(recipe adapted from The Oyster Evangelist)
1 1/2 c whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 c wheat germ
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t kosher salt
6 T unsalted butter, cold
1/2 c yogurt
1/2 c milk

Preheat oven to 450F with a cast iron skillet inside the oven.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Add in small cubes of cold butter and use your fingers to work through the mixture until you have pea-sized lumps of dough. In a measuring cup, whisk together the yogurt and milk and add it to the flour mixture, using a wooden spoon to stir it all up into a sticky mass of dough.

Transfer the dough to a floured surface, dusting additional flour over top and flatten with your hands until it's about an inch thick. Use biscuit cutters to cut out rounds, shaping out any leftover dough into discs and placing them on the hot cast iron skillet (or use a regular old cookie sheet). Bake for 15-20 minutes until the edges are dark.

leftover grain veggie burgers

Right about now, I'm probably cruising down one of the picturesque side highways in New Brunswick or I've set up camp around the Bay of Fundy and dipping my toes into its muddy banks. Or maybe I'm sucking face with a lobster in Maine. Who knows, but whatever it is that I'm doing, I'm sure that I've got a huge grin on my face. I'm sure my face had a similarly stupid grin when I ate this sandwich. This is one of those stupid simple recipes. Correct that, it's not even a recipe. Rather it's a list of ingredients that is more of an idea than a step-by-step process. I think a lot of people use recipes as a guideline rather than following things to a tee...it's what I've been doing since I was a kid. If you like to follow things to the letter of the law, then shake things up! Play with your food!

So often I have leftovers in the fridge....small amounts of grains, leftover veg and bits and bobs hiding in corners. I hate wasting food, so I try to use up as much as I can without anything going into the trash. This veggie burger was a result of thinking I had nothing in the fridge for our meal. So wrong! When I looked closer at our fridge fixin's, I found that I could try making some veggie burgers. Into a bowl went the Trader Joe's mixed grains that I had cooked up for a soup the day before. I also threw in some leftover chopped vegetables and a few squares of forlorn tofu. Heck, I didn't even have buns, so I just used whole wheat toast but upped the ante with a slice or two of brie. What started out as nothing, turned into something pretty dang tasty.

leftover grain veggie burgers
1 egg, beaten
cooked grains
cooked vegetables
tofu cubes
salt, pepper & whatever spices look appealing
ground almond meal
dijon mustard

Add in your leftovers and spices to a bowl, toss with a beaten egg, a plop of dijon, and add in some almond meal to help bind the mixture. Too dry? Add in another egg or some broth or milk. Too wet? Add in some more almond meal. The mixture should start clumping well and holding together. Make patties and put in the fridge for 15 minutes or so to let things meld. Fry in a little olive oil until both sides are golden. Serve in buns or on toast with your favorite condiments.

low fat granola with millet

Didn't I mention something about cake? Cookies? Something toothsome, gooey and sweet? I swear this isn't turning into a breakfast/vegan blog (not that there's anything wrong with that), but this is how I've been eating lately. It's spring outside...or at least it's trying to be and I think it's time for a dietary shake up for a bit. The cake and cookie recipes will come, I promise! Last week I picked up Mark Bittman's hefty cookbook, How to Cook Everythingand found myself at his granola recipe. It intrigued me since it required no oil and there was a suggestion to throw quinoa or millet into the mix. It got me thinking, and just a few minutes later I found myself heading to the cupboard making up a low fat granola recipe.

Now, I'm no slouch when it comes to making granola. My recipe archives contain recipes for peanut butter granola, cocoa-coconut granola, vanilla almond granola, and my no-fail granola. But despite my granola cred, I've never added millet. And dear readers, millet is a granola god-send! It adds such a snap, crackle, pop for the perfect bite of crunch. As for the no-oil, I couldn't detect much difference between this one and my normal granola, so why not choose the low fat version instead? It's delicious, filling and healthy breakfast and if you prepare a batch every Sunday evening then you have something to look forward to all week long.

low fat granola with millet
(Inspired by Mark Bittman)
6 c organic oats (not quick)
1/2 c millet (regular, uncooked millet)
1 c dessicated coconut
1/2 c sunflower seeds
1/4 c flax seeds or ground flax
1/2 c wheat germ
1 c pecans
1 generous T cinnamon
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1/4 t ground cloves
1/2 t ground cardamom
dash of salt
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/2 c raisins
1/2 - 1 c maple syrup
orange juice

Heat oven to 300F. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients from the oats down to the salt. Drizzle in the maple syrup and stir well with a wooden spoon to get everything coated. Needs more liquids? Add in some more maple syrup or a bit of orange juice.

Spread the mix out into a large baking dish and bake for 30 minutes, checking and stirring occasionally so that nothing burns. Add in the raisins and cranberries and bake until the granola turns golden and crisp, again making sure things don't get too "golden". Remove from oven and cool. Store in a sealed container. Serve with fresh fruit and yogurt.

package cookies: ANZAC biscuits

My best friend lives in Durham, NC which makes dropping off cookies a bit more difficult. When she lived around the corner from me in Vancouver it was real easy to do so many things, but through the years we've managed nicely, I think. She's a good friend and her holiday package to me was chock full of good stuff, including a few things that would be pretty difficult for a Canadian to find...like a can of boiled peanuts, a bag of grits and the holiest of all flours, the very Southern White Lily. Yes, my friend knows me well.

When it came time for me finally send off my uber-late holiday box to her, there was still a bit of room in the package and I wanted to fill it with some baking. After spotting the recipe for ANZAC biscuits, I decided that this would be the biscuit that would make the trip over the border to North Carolina. These cookies are made for traveling long distances since they were baked up by loved ones of the Australian New Zealand Army Corps and sent off to soliders fighting abroad. Traditionally, these are made with golden syrup, but since I didn't have any on hand, I decided to sub in honey instead which is a very acceptable substitute.

Besides the little history lesson, how are these easy to whip up cookies? They're good, but honestly, they're not my favorite. I love coconut and oats but I felt that they were missing something. They are sturdy and hearty and not overly sweet which are all good things in my book, but I couldn't put a finger on what was missing. Maybe next time a bit of lemon zest would make these cookies sing or a splash of vanilla or almond extract to round out the flavour. Yeah, that's probably it! As is, it definitely makes a good breakfast cookie with a cup of hot coffee. However, that's just my opinion. They are an eggless cookie, so that's always a nice find. Easy to make vegan too by replacing the butter with a vegan margarine and the honey with agave nectar. My husband liked these cookies a whole lot and they reminded him of cookies his grandmother used to make, and grandma's cookies are never a bad thing!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's about the Bloggies again. I really would love to win, so please tackle the very unruly sideways scroll bar and vote for me as Best Canadian Weblog. While you're there, vote for a few other favorites (I'm in very good company). Remember, voting ends February 2nd!

anzac biscuits
(recipe adapted from Martha Stewart)
2 c all-purpose flour
2 cs rolled oats
1 3/4 c sugar
1 c sweetened flaked coconut
1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 t salt
2 T honey
3/4 t baking soda
1/4 c boiling water

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and line cookie sheets with parchment or silpat. In a large bowl combine flour, oats, sugar, salt and coconut. Set aside.

2. In a medium size pot, melt butter and honey together. In a measuring cup, dissolve the baking soda in the hot water and pour into the butter mixture. ..be careful as the baking soda will foam up. Stir well and pour into flour and oats mixture.

3. Use a tablespoon to gather the dough to form a ball with your hands. This mixture is very crumbly, so roll tightly! Press the dough with the palm of your hand to flatten slightly. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to wire racks to cool. Makes about 18 cookies.

millet by a landslide: broccoli, chickpea & millet salad

I love salads that are meals in their own right. And a salad that looks like springtime? Well, even better. Better because while the calendar says spring, the weather outside isn't co-operating. We have cherry blossoms but unfortunately, this week, we've had an attack of winter. Yesterday, we even had a brief hail storm! March came in like a lamb but is leaving with a lion's roar and I don't like it one bit.

But back to the springy salad. I made a stripped-down version of this salad from 101 Cookbooks a couple of weeks ago and loved it. Instead of quinoa, I used a new-to-me grain, millet. I wasn't sure I'd like the grain since while I like quinoa, I'm not mad about it. But there was no reason for me to be hesitant...because millet is the bomb. Way better than quinoa in my opinion and even Cornelius (who is a bonefide quinoa-hater) loved this salad too. Millet has a great texture and a really great flavour. This time around, I made the salad with broccoli and liked the results even better. It makes a great lunch and is quite simple to put together. The lemon-tahini dressing has a nice bite and helps to bind everything together in a nice flavourful package. So not only does this salad look pretty on a plate it tastes delicious too.


broccoli, chickpea & millet salad with tahini-lemon dressing
1 c millet
2 c water
1 head broccoli, broken into florets
1 can chickpeas, drained & rinsed
1/2 red onion, finely diced
zest of 1 lemon
romaine lettuce leaves, torn or spring mix baby greens

dressing:
1 garlic clove, minced
2 T tahini
3 T olive oil
1 T hot water (more if necessary)
juice from 1 small lemon
salt & pepper

1. Toast millet in a small saucepan until it starts to crackle. Add water, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce to low heat and let simmer until water evaporates.

2. Steam broccoli until bright green, drain and rinse under cold water. Add chickpeas, broccoli, red onion and millet into a large bowl and toss.

3. Make dressing by combining all ingredients, adding more hot water if necessary to get proper dressing consistency. Add half of dressing to millet mixture and blend.

4. Add a base of lettuce or baby greens on each serving plate and add a few large spoonfuls of the millet mixture over top. Drizzle with remaining dressing and add a sprinkling of lemon zest for colour.