Ask and You Shall Receive ...

A slow, slow evening at work the other night gave some co-workers of mine and me a chance to sit around and talk about one of my all-time favorite topics....one that makes my neck get red & splotchy from my excitment...organic food. I love talking food with people...organic produce, recipes, homemade food, budgeting for organic food, growing a garden of food--any & all things food!! I get especially pumped when others get as excited as I do about cleaning out the cupboards and refrigerator and converting to an all-natural lifestyle. Stinkin' love it! It's even better when others understand the rationale for needing organic and natural food in your life. But that's an entire post in itself...and trust me, I will go there soon. Right after I finish the book Food, Inc. Actually, let me rephrase that...I don't believe that we need to eat everything organic...just food without the added hormones, pesticides, antibiotics, preservatives, and chemicals. And you better be able to pronounce every ingredient in that bottle or box of 'food'. There's plenty of food out there that doesn't contain these things and they're not necessarily 'organic'.  To my excitement, a few folks are asking me for recipes and ideas for healthy snacks for their families, and I've got quite a few to share! I thought I'd post the recipes on here for whomever wants them! And because I think food education is necessary these days, I'll try to occassionally post some food facts. Everybody will learn a valuable thing or two about the food in our lives by reading this blog. ;-)


Enjoy the recipes--let me know how they turn out or if you find others! You know I'm crazy about new recipes--especially for convenience foods that I can make at home!


Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread
The best part of this bread is the way it toasts. Wow! The cinnamon sugar crust on the outside gets all sweet & warm...slap some high-quality butter on a slice of this toast and you'll melt along with it.


Homemade Pizza Dough...the best ever.
I've tried a quite a few homemade pizza doughs in my day...this one tops them all. Not. even. kidding. Stromboli...calzone...pepperoni rolls...endless possibilities.
The Most Amazing Hamburger Buns
Who woulda thought? Homemade hamburger buns? Whip this dough together, let it rise once, and then wrap it up and stick it in the freezer for burger night. This brioche is nice and fluffy and slightly sweet. But not too sweet--I have a diabetic husband! Annie also has a honey wheat bun recipe that is currently sitting in my freezer...waiting for burger night. ;)

Homemade Granola Bars
Yield: About 10 bars

2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup sliced almonds
3/4 cup salted sunflower seeds
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
2/3 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cup dried fruit, or a mix of dried fruit (I used chopped cranberries and the few leftover raisins from cinnamon raisin walnut bread :)

Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine oatmeal, almonds, sunflower seeds, wheat germ in a bowl and spread on sheet pan. Bake for 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently. Lightly toasted is good. Remove from oven and decrease temperature to 300 degrees. Pour oatmeal mixture into a large bowl. Combine honey, brown sugar, and vanilla in small bowl and pour over warm oatmeal mixture. Sprinkle with salt and add dried fruit, stirring to evenly coat all ingredients with the honey mixture. Line sheet pan with parchment paper and lightly grease paper. Pour granola bar mixture onto sheet pan and distribute evenly. Press the mixture into the pan...firmly...quite a few times...you want these bars to stick together! Using plastic wrap to press on the mixture worked best for me. Place bars into oven (remember 300 degrees!) and bake for 25 minutes. Let bars cool for 2 hours before cutting. I used a heavy duty serrated knife to cut these. Turned out delicious! Sweet, salty, and slightly crunchy.







I know what you're thinking..."Yea, sounds good Liz...but not practical...I don't have time to make all this stuff!" Two questions I hear all the time are, "How do you do it?" and "Why do you do it?" Here's my best answer for "How?": Take one day every couple weeks and have a marathon of baking & making. You can freeze all this dough so you can use it whenever you're ready for it! You'll have the freshest, best-tasting, homemade goodies, and you'll have total control over the ingredients that you're putting into your little-ones bellies...and your own!

And the "Why?": Since I got serious about this natural lifestyle revamp...so, about 2 years ago now...my eyes have been opened to the real hidden world of food. I was a bit naive before I got into "fooding" and thought that, of course, the food on the store shelves is safe and "healthy" for consumers. Of course it is, right? Um, no. After much research into the organic food vs conventional food battle, I have learned that you really can't trust that the FDA is allowing only the safest food  onto the market. I'm not a political person...but when it comes to the food made available to us in supermarkets, it really is all politics...not safety...or nutrition. It comes down to money...power...and mass productions. Really...in all seriousness...watch the documentary Food, Inc and then tell me that you're okay with where our nation's food crisis stands. The politics behind the most basic substance of our existence are out-of-this-world-ridiculous. The obesity rate and climb in childhood neurological disorders in this country should tell us all something. Ooooh, but I'll save all this talk for another post! :) I'll just say that what we don't know about our food does hurt us! Whether we are willing to acknowlege it or not! Anyway, another answer to "Why?" is that making your own simple convenience foods will save you tons of money! I have cut back our grocery bill by a lot...and I'm almost a little embarrased to say by how much...I spend about 40% less nowadays (that's ballpark--I should figure it out for real)!! Gah!!! Think about it...a good, healthy loaf of bread at the grocery store will cost you $2.49-$4.99 (just what I've seen). Making it at home...with all natural or organic ingredients...all of which you can pronounce...will cost pennies. Sure getting started with the ingredients costs more...but you can make like 10 loaves (or something crazy like that) from those ingredients. Now, it's all about time management & organization...and really, time is not the real issue...we make time for the things that are important to us. It's just about figuring out if a natural lifestyle is important to you!