White Flour Substitute

I have always wanted to say that I have made butter! There is just something about my imagination that pictures me on a wraparound porch of some southern farm in the morning light churning the butter in the wooden butter churner and producing glorious butter! So my hopes finally came true because I made butter. Okay so I may have told a little white lie…I didn’t necessarily make the butter, more or less just flavored the butter- which surprisingly enough was very good.  It also was not on a southern wraparound porch…instead it was a kitchen in our family’s cabin. But it was in the morning, which makes it a truth sort of. None the less, I made Sweet Flax Butter. It was very good and refreshing and simple!

 Gather your ingredients

Now just whip together your ingredients

Now mine didn’t really whip as much as it did just  mix – but I have to say that chef brad’s recipe calls for ½ cup butter to a ½ cup flax oil- which tasted great. But I thought that the ratio seemed wrong if you want a whipped butter. But honestly it’s my first butter making extravaganza so I may experiment next time by using a flavored yogurt, especially if you are using his muffin mix with fruit add ins then you could do the same with your butter!

 Store it in a air tight container and you’re set!

P.S. –  I slathered it on my HOT Master Muffins from yesterday!

So until next time…

Who doesn’t love a no-bake cookie? They are quick, easy and taste great! So what would you say if I told you that Chef Brad had a healthier version of your traditional no-bake cookies, but they still tasted just as good as the traditional ones. I really loved the use of coconut oil instead of butter because it adds a really nice flavor. I think you will really like the new addition!

Chef Brad’s recipe calls for Kamut Flakes, however I could not find Kamut flakes anywhere in our town or the surrounding area. And when I tried to make my own Kamut flakes I may have broken the grain press! I didn’t know that Kamut is an extremely hard grain and needs to be soaked before pressing it! Well if you didn’t know that, now you do and you can soak your Kamut before pressing it.  Since my home pressed Kamut ended badly, I decided to substitute an extra cup of White Quinoa flakes instead and the cookies were FANTASIC!

 So let’s not keep the cookies waiting.

Gather your ingredients.

Next combine your sugar, cocoa, milk and coconut oil in your pan and bring it to a boil.

Then add your vanilla, peanut butter, oats, and white quinoa flakes and mix well.

Drop the cookies out on to wax paper.

Let them set up. This will only take about 8 minutes and then you can gobble them up, or hide them so no one else will!

So until next time…

So once again I have not been disappointed with Chef Brad’s Cookies. Now I know you may be thinking, “What’s different about these cookies from the others that we have made?”  These are the first cookies I have made so far where I didn’t use WonderFlour (which as you can recall is equal parts Brown Rice, Barley, and Spelt). These cookies were made purely with Spelt flour! They tasted really good and cooked nicely. Just as a side note: My husband ate the whole batch before I could take them to work with me! I guess I should thank him for making sure that they didn’t end up on my thighs, so thanks Babe for your sacrifice!

 This recipe is just as easy as any of his others. Instead of using the WonderFlour I had on hand I just took some of the spelt grain and threw that through my WonderMill, but it really is so fast to grind I didn’t even mind. I’ve also noticed that many of Chef Brad’s recipes call for either WonderFlour or Spelt Flour, so if you decide that you like the texture and or taste better than that of the trio WonderFlour , feel free to switch. Since I have gotten my WonderMill I love being able to grind up any whole grains I like and substitute them for the white flour that is called for in many recipes! Also I don’t have to keep tubs of flour around because I can store it as grain and grind it when I need it. Okay, I’ll get off my soap box now and back to the cookies.

 Gather up your ingredients

Cream together your sugars and unsalted butter. (Chef Brad called for Yellow D Sugar but I couldn’t find it anywhere so I just substituted brown sugar instead. If you know where to find it please clue me in and I would love to try it next time).

Then add in your eggs, and vanilla until smooth

Now add in your  salt, soda, & Spelt flour.

Then throw in your chocolate chips and pecan pieces.

Scoop them on to a lined/greased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.

 Be careful not to over bake them! I took them out when they still looked a little underdone and let them finish on the cooling rack.

Get a glass of milk and enjoy!

Until next time…

Every year for his birthday, my brother asks my mom to make him apple cake. And every year without fail, NOBODY eats it. I think after 364 days he forgets that it is not a good cake and he asks for it again. So this year when he asks my mom for an apple cake for his birthday I am going to make him Chef Brad’s Fresh Apple Grain Cake!  The cake itself was very tasty and moist, and the frosting was very delicious. It had cream cheese and a kick of lemon which were great accompanying flavors to the apples.

 The only change that I made to the recipe was that this recipe calls for Teff, and after looking on Chef Brad’s web site (http://www.chefbrad.com/grain/details.php?grain=Teff&grain_id=16) I found out what it was. I then could not find it any stores, and due to the fact that I live in a small town I figured I would need to pick some up at a whole foods store next time I was in Salt Lake. Because I didn’t have any Teff I substituted in more popped Amaranth in its place. The texture and taste was really good, so if you can’t find Teff then feel free to use more Amaranth. And if you CAN get your hands on Teff, then let me know where you found it and how it turned out!

 Let’s get down to business.

Get your ingredients together

Whip together: oil, sugar, eggs, heavy cream, & vanilla.

Use a fine grater to grate your apples, I used my food processor.

Then add in the rest of your ingredients: WonderFlour, popped Amaranth, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, salt, Teff* & grated apples and pour into a “large pan”. Chef Brad didn’t say what size pan to use, so I used my jelly roll pan and it worked out great but feel free to try a bunt pan.

Bake for 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

Remove from the oven and cool before frosting.

While it’s cooling let’s make the frosting!

Gather up your ingredients

Cream your cream cheese, vanilla, melted butter, lemon zest, juice & powdered sugar until well blended and spread on cake.

This is a very good cake and I really think that my brother will like MY NEW apple cake rather than THE NASTY ONE that he ALWAYS asks for but never eats. Hopefully I can get my hands on some Teff also!

 So until next time…

I am not a big mint fan in general, but I do love a little mint in my drinks. I feel like I’m out in the meadows and I can breathe really deep and it’s just so refreshing! Like I said, sometimes it can be overpowering but surprisingly I really liked this drink. Unlike Chef Brad’s other drinks, this one is really light. The mint just kind of comes through right at the end and just lightens the pineapple taste. You REALLY need to try this one. I honestly think you will like all of his drinks, I haven’t found one I don’t like yet!

Grab your Pineapple, Sugar, and Mint.

Chop up half your pineapple, add the sugar and mint leaves and put them in a blender.

Chef Brad calls for four large mint leaves but I only had small ones so I used a couple more than he said. If I were you I would start by adding a little bit and then adding more until you like the balance of mint and pineapple… All in all I used about 5 small leaves.

Mix them all together then add that to a gallon of water and chill in the fridge…garnish with mint leaves on top and Drink Up!!!

And like his other drinks, you could always add some other flavors such as strawberries, raspberries, etc… The possibilities are endless!

So until next time…