Recipes

I hope these recipes will be helpful for you. Feel free to leave comments or suggestions or share one of your own recipes.

Recipe for Oat Scones

Years ago I found a recipe for Scottish Oat Scones in an Amish cookbook. Since then I've adapted it to my needs and tweaked it several times. Here's the version I'm currently using. Give it a try and let me know what you think! =) 

Organic Oat Scones

2 cups organic rolled oats (I usually use Bob's Red Mill brand)

1 cup organic tapioca flour

5 tsp. aluminum-free baking powder

3/4 tsp sea salt (table salt is stronger, only 1/2 tsp needed, but I recommend the sea salt as it's much healthier)

1 egg (organic)

1/2 cup organic coconut oil

1/3 cup organic milk (sometimes I substitute with water if I don't have milk; almond milk might also work, though I haven't tried it) 

1 Tbl. honey

1 small package of organic blueberries (you can use more or less depending on how many blueberries you want per scone)

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Alternate: instead of blueberries, you can add 3/4 cup of organic shredded coconut, but then you might have to slightly increase the amount of milk/water to get the right consistency.

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Mix dry ingredients & make a well in the center. In a separate bowl beat egg until frothy. Then pour egg, milk, oil, & honey into the dry ingredients. Add blueberries and stir to make a soft dough. 

Place in well-greased (with organic coconut oil) dish - you can bake them in a pie plate or small casserole dish. (Be sure to use glass cookware, NOT teflon or "non-stick" pans.) 

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until slightly browned. 

(FYI - our oven tends to overheat, so I always set it at 400, but if you're oven is correctly calibrated, you can probably bake them at 425, which is what the original recipe lists.)

After baked, let them cool, then cut into squares or pie-shaped wedges. 

Accidental Recipe

Sorghum Wafers

In my ongoing adventures with gluten-free baking, one day I completely messed up the recipe I was trying to make. I didn't want to waste all the ingredients, so I baked it anyway. And to my great surprise, I liked the result! =)

So here's my accidental recipe for what I now call "Sorghum Wafers" - 

1 cup organic sorghum flour

1 cup Bob's Red Mill organic baking flour

1/2 cup organic Tapioca flour

1&1/2 Tbl. baking powder

1&1/4 tsp sea salt

3/4 cup organic coconut oil

1&1/2 cup water

mix dry ingredients

add liquids and stir

pour into glass cake pan (greased with coconut oil)

bake at 350 degrees for approximately 30 minutes

When cool, cut into squares (or whatever shape you prefer). =) 

This "wafer" looks somewhat like cornbread, but has a pretty mild taste. I like to eat it with my meat and veggies, but I think it would also work well with soups or stews.

Healthy Banana Bread Recipe

Here's the recipe I use, which you can make with either gluten free flour or whole wheat flour. I still prefer the taste of the whole wheat, but the gluten free version is also pretty good. =) 

Healthy Banana Bread

scant 2 cups (not quite 2 full cups) flour

      Option 1 - Bob's Red Mill gluten free baking flour

      Option 2 - Organic stone ground whole wheat flour (I use Bob's Red Mill brand, but there are other brands available as well.)

1 & 1/2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon sea salt 

2 organic eggs 

2-3 organic bananas (with the gluten free flour I use 3 bananas, with the whole wheat flour I prefer to use 2 bananas if they're large or 3 if they're small)

1 Tablespoon honey (If you like your bread sweeter, you can use more honey. This is plenty for my tastes.)

1/3 cup organic coconut oil

3/4--1 cup organic sour milk (Depending on which flour and how many bananas you use, you might want a little less or a little more liquid, so that's why it's 3/4--1 cup. Also, I make my own "sour milk" using organic raw milk from the farmer's market. Put the milk and about a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice in a glass measuring cup. Let it sit for about 10 minutes and it becomes "sour milk".) 

Combine dry ingredients. 

Add liquid ingredients. 

Stir and pour into glass baking dish greased with organic coconut oil. 

Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes. (If you use the gluten free baking flour, it's a little harder to tell if it's done. But it usually takes closer to 30 minutes.)

Serve it hot with a bit of organic raw butter. Yum! =)

Note: It also freezes well. I slice mine and put it in the freezer for when I need a quick snack. 

Recipe for Gluten-free Pancakes

As I've been trying to eat less wheat I've tried several alternative flours, but cooking with them can be a little tricky. Thankfully my mom is very inventive. =) Here's the recipe she came up with for blueberry pancakes - using gluten-free flour. And they're actually pretty tasty! 

Gluten-free Blueberry Pancakes

- 2 cups flour -- we use "Bob's Red Mill: Gluten-free All Purpose Baking Flour" (It's available at most health food stores, and their website has a lot of information and more recipes http://www.bobsredmill.com/)

- 1 Tablespoon baking powder

- 3/4 teaspoon salt

- 1 egg (we use organic eggs)

- 1/4 cup organic coconut oil

- 3/4 cup water (or more if needed)

- about 3/4 cup organic blueberries (or however many you want to add)

Mix dry ingredients. Then add egg, oil and water. Stir mixture, then add blueberries and stir again.

Fry in organic coconut oil in stainless steel skillet. (We always avoid teflon & non-stick pans because they're highly toxic.)

Makes about 6-8 pancakes (depending on size).

Irish Soda Bread

One of my current favorites is this Irish Soda Bread (non-yeast bread).

Irish Soda Bread

stir - 2 cups organic whole wheat flour
       1/2 tsp. sea salt
       1 tsp. baking soda

mix -  1 organic egg beaten
          4 Tbl. honey (This is optional but it tastes better with it. =) We use local orange blossom honey.)
          3/4 cup buttermilk or 1 cup sour cream (To make our own "buttermilk" we mix about 2 Tbls fresh lemon juice with 3/4 cup organic raw milk. I think it also works to combine the lemon juice with almond milk.)

add liquid mixture to dry ingredients
blend with hands to work flour in (knead about 5 minutes)
shape into loaf
put in oiled glass pan (You could use a cookie sheet, but I recommend never using anything with a non-stick surface.)
cut 2 parallel slashes on top of loaf
bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes

I like to eat this bread for breakfast with a generous spoonful of coconut oil on top. Yum! =)

Vegetable Beef Soup

(This goes great with the Irish soda bread!) =) 

Start with 3 lbs of beef stew meat (we use Laura's Beef brand since it's high quality organic meat)

Cut the meat in small pieces (unless you buy it already cut up)

Put about 2 Tbl organic coconut oil in the bottom of a pressure sauce pan. 

Add meat and slightly brown.

Add about 3 cups of water, put the lid on and cook on high heat until the pressure cock begins to make noise, then reduce the heat and cook for about 20 minutes. 

While the meat is cooking, wash, peel & chop:

 - 6 large organic potatoes

 - 5-6 organic carrots

 - a small head of organic cabbage 

optional: 1/2 cup organic celery, 1 small onion chopped, 1 clove chopped garlic

(Note: if you can't afford to buy all organic vegetables, then at least be sure to get organic celery since it is high on the pesticide list, or leave it out. Onions are lowest on the list of pesticide residues, so it's not as vital to use organic ones.)

When the meat is done, add the vegetables and hot water until the pan is 2/3 full. Also add 1/2 to 1 cup of organic tomato juice and salt to taste. 

(Many tomatoes are now genetically modified, so it's important to use organic ones or organic tomato juice.)

You can also add various spices if you like - my mom likes to add 1 bay leaf, a pinch of sage and pinch of rosemary to taste. (I prefer it plain without any spices.)

Put the lid back on and return to high heat until the pressure cock makes noise again. (This may take a while.) Then reduce heat and cook for 8 minutes. 

Note: If you don't have a pressure sauce pan, then simmer the meat in 3-4 cups of water til done. Then add more water, vegetables and spices and cook until they're done. This will take longer than using the pressure pan.

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This "recipe" is for getting chemicals and smells out of clothing. It works especially well for any petroleum based chemicals like gasoline, etc. Hope it's helpful.

Coca-cola Recipe for Clean Clothes

A few years ago my mom found this great formula for getting fragrances/smells (even gasoline odor) out of clothes:

We call it the Coca-cola Recipe -

- put 1-2 cups baking soda and 1 quart (4 cups) of coca-cola in a small water level in the washing machine

- stir mixture (or let the machine agitate for a minute) 

- add the clothes (you can increase the water level after adding the clothes if necessary, just try to keep the load fairly small)

- turn off the machine and soak clothes overnight (or up to 24 hours)

- finish the machine's washing cycle and then wash once more as you normally would (we use Charlie's Soap for our laundry - charliesoap.com)

If the fragrance/chemical in the clothes is really persistent, you might need to repeat this process again the next day. 

This has worked really well for us. I'm just glad to know there's a healthy use for coca-cola. =) 

Note: If your laundry room is not air conditioned and you live in a hot, humid place (like FL), then after doing this a couple of times you'll probably need to rinse your washing machine with vinegar, as the coca-cola combined with humidity can cause a slight mildew build-up in it. If you have any questions, please let me know.