Whole Grain Pita Bread

Yields:  Nine 6 inch Pitas

1  3/4 cups Whole Wheat Bread Flour

1 cup White Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 cup Oat Flour

1 Tbsp Gluten Flour

1 1/2 tsp Sea Salt

1 1/2 tsp Yeast

1 Tbsp Agave

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp Warm water

Cornmeal (Polenta)

Directions:

Knead all the ingredients together.  The dough should be sticky, but easy to work.  Knead about five minutes or until the ingredients stick together smoothly.  Cover and let rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  Cut dough into 3 ounce pieces and roll out to 6 inch round each.  Use a lightly floured surface to work.  Keep remaining dough covered as you work.  Sprinkle a pinch of polenta on a plate, then place the round dough.  Stack the round dough pieces on top of each other with polenta in between to keep them from sticking to each other.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. placing a pizza stone on the bottom rack to heat.  Place the dough pieces on the pizza stone and bake for 4-5 minutes or until puffy.  Don't over bake!

Wrap pitas in a towel until they cool.  :)

Middle Eastern Chickpea & Rice Salad

Serves 10

What You Need:

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Zest of one lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 minced garlic clove
2 red peppers, cut into wide strips
2-1/2 cups cooked brown rice

1-cups wild rice varieties
1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
24 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup pitted kalamata olives (I used black olives)
1 cucumber, peeled, deseeded, and diced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup finely diced sweet onion


What You Do:

Preheat broiler. 

In a bowl, combine lemon juice, lemon peel, olive oil, and garlic. Set aside. 

Place red peppers on baking sheet and broil until skin bubbles and starts to turn black. Remove peppers from broiler and place in a covered bowl for 5 minutes. Remove outer skin, and dice peppers.  The skin comes off easily if you broil the peppers long enough.

In a large bowl, combine rice, beans, tomatoes, olives, cucumber, parsley, onion, and peppers and toss with lemon juice dressing.

Absolutely yummy!

Quinoa and Black Beans

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup corn kernels
(fresh cut from the cob)
1 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed
and drained
2 tsp dried cilantro or 1/2 cup fresh

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.

2. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes,

3. Stir fresh corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro.

Yogurt Apple Pie

Pie Shell 

Ingredients:

Yields:  One 8- or 9-inch pie crust

• 1 1/8 cups Whole grain organic wheat flour (Next time, I want to use half whole wheat and half spelt flour.)
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 3/8 cup organic all vegetable shortening
• 1 1/2 to 2 Tbsp cold water

Directions:

Combine salt and flour together in a mixing bowl and mix well.

Cut in shortening with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture looks like coarse meal.  

Continue working the dough until pieces the size of peas form.

Sprinkle water over mixture and continue working the dough.

Dough is ready when pressed between fingers and particles cling.

Roll out dough onto floured surface to the desired size.

Place dough into pie pan (I prefer glass) and flute the edges.


Do not pre-bake.

Pie Filling

Ingredients:

Yields:  1 filling for one 8- or 9-inch pie

• 5-6 Granny Smith organic apples, peeled, cored and cut into uniform, thick slices
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice (from a freshly squeezed organic lemon)
• 3/4 cup Xylitol
• 1/3 cup Whole grain organic wheat flour (Next time, I'll use spelt flour)
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 cup Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Stick
• 1/2 cup Coconut milk yogurt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Arrange apple slices, overlapping them inside the prepared pie shell.

Sprinkle apple slices with lemon juice.

Blend Xylitol, flour, cinnamon, and salt.  Cut in the Earth Balance until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

Spread evenly over the apples.

Spread the yogurt over the crumb mixture.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes.  After 10-15 minutes, shield crust edge with tin foil to prevent over-baking. 

Crunchy Granola

Ingredients:

4 cups rolled organic oats

3/4 cup unsweetened organic coconut

1/2 cup organic polenta or corn meal

1/2 cup organic whole-wheat flour

1/2 cup organic chia seeds

1/2 cup organic wheat germ

1 cup chopped almonds

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup organic flax seeds

1 cup organic agave

1 cup apple sauce (I used my home canned sauce from organic apples)

1 1/2 tsp organic real vanilla

Directions:

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  

Mix all the liquid ingredients in a bowl.  

Pour the liquid mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until distributed evenly throughout the mixture.

Line a sheet cake pan with parchment paper and spread out the mixture evenly.

With wet hands, clump some of the mixture together (that is if you like clumpy granola).  :)

Bake a 230 degrees Fahrenheit on bake or 210 degrees Fahrenheit on convection for several hours depending on the desired crunchiness, stirring every hour.

The goal is for the granola to turn a golden brown, not brown color.  

When stirring the granola, note if steam comes off the mixture.  If steam is present, the granola is not quite done.

The best way to obtain crunchiness is to allow the mixture to stay in the oven overnight to cool.  The next day, if it is not crunchy enough, bake a little longer at 250 degrees, but be careful not to over-bake.  Unfortunately, you can't determine how crunchy the granola will be until it cools.  If it's not crunchy enough for your taste, then bake again.   

I have a hard time keeping this granola on hand, as my son eats it regularly.  :)

* Since posting this, I have found that honey and brown rice syrup are higher in their glycemic index.  If you are concerned about the glycemic index of foods, use agave syrup instead.