Almond Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

I had this idea for a cookie running around in my head for a couple days, but as we've all been hit with the flu at our house, I only got around to making them yesterday. It was worth the wait! I took my favorite cookie recipe and totally changed it up to take it from regular chocolate chip to the ultimate cookie in my opinon.

Here it is!

Almond Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

3 tbsp peanut butter

2 cups flour

1 cup quick oats

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup chocolate chips

3/4 cup sliced almonds

Cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, then add peanut butter.

In a seperate bowl mix together flour, oats, soda, cinnamon, chocolate chips, and almonds. Mix into butter mixture.

Spoon onto cookie sheets and then roll to give them a good shape.

Bake at 350 for approximately 9 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.

Honey Almond Granola

Every couple of weeks I make my own granola. Freshly made I love it just plain and eat it by the handfuls, but it is Travis who finishes off the bulk of what I make. Every morning he eats it for breakfast and as soon as it's gone he's begging for more!

Here's my own recipe

Honey Almond Granola

4 cups rolled oats

1 cup wheat germ

1/2 cup wheat bran

1 cup sliced almonds

1 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 cup flax seeds

1/4 cup oil

1/2 cup honey

1 tsp. vanilla

In a large mixing bowl add together dry ingredients, stirring well.

Heat the oil, honey, and vanilla to boiling in a saucepan, then add to dry ingredients.

Mix everything together really well and spread out onto 2 greased or non-stick cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes at 325 degrees then stir and flip and bake for another 5 minutes. I watch mine carefully to make sure it doesn't burn or get too brown. When it is a nice golden tan color, it is done.

Let it cool, then store in an airtight container. Keeps for weeks.

Bulgur Yeast Bread

loaves rising

All done and cooling!

Today I spent a couple of hours making this bread! It was a lot of work and took a lot of time, but I wanted to try something new and I think it was worth it. We had bulgur for dinner and so I thought I would try out this bread at the same time. This was the first time I have ever had bulgur, and believe me, on it's own it's amazing, and in bread it's fantastic!

The bread takes a while to make and has lot's of steps but it turns out beautifully so in my opinion, if you have the time, try it out!

There are a couple things I would do differently next time... for one I would substitute some of the white flour for whole wheat, and I probably wouldn't bother to scald the milk, just warm it up. I also added coarsely ground flax seed to these loaves and that added a nice flavor and a bit more texture so next time I'll probably add some wheat germ and wheat bran as well.

You can find this fabulous recipe here

Roasted Red Pepper Salmon with Angel Hair Pasta

4 (4 ounce) fillets salmon

lemon juice

1 red pepper

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 tbsp. cornstarch

2 tsp. minced jalepeno peppers (or more depending on how spicy you like it)

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 cup chicken broth

angel hair pasta

Chop red pepper into 4 large peices, and spread out in a glass baking dish. Bake, covered, at 400 for approximately 30 minutes. Peppers should be soft and turning brownish black when ready.

Cook salmon, sprinkled with lemon juice, at 450 for approximately 15 minutes, or until cooked through.

Cook pasta in boiling salted water as per package directions.

In a blender or food processor, blend together cooked red peppers, parmesan, cornstarch, jalapeno, garlic, and chicken broth until smooth.

Pour into a medium size frying pan and stir over medium high heat until boiling. Reduce heat and cook for a few minutes to allow flavors to mix well.

Pull salmon fillets apart with a fork into small peices, then add to red pepper sauce.

Spoon sauce over the angel hair pasta and serve with fresh bread and butter, and a glass of red wine!

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This is probably one of my favorite ways to prepare salmon. Except of course, freshly caught and fried in butter over a camp fire!

Travis and I love this recipe, and over time I have slowly altered it bit by bit to perfection! It's actually quite simple and quick to make too.

Not too much new on the family front, we all just got back from a long walk in the pouring rain. Travis needed to return something to Home Depot and we both wanted to hit up the library so we put Kaed in our covered stroller and Brayer in a carrier, put a leash on the dog and away we walked! It didn't start raining till we got to Home Depot but then it poured the rest of the time so we were all pretty soaked by the time we got home, with the exception of the kids who were well covered. I sure thought it would be nice to join Kaed in his cozy stroller at one point!

Enter Your Blog!

Hey all,
I just entered my blog to the Martha Blog and wanted to share her blog with you if you are into Baking/Crafting etc.

Whole Wheat Bran Bread with Coarse Ground Flax

This is my own recipe. I make bread nearly every other day for lunches and toast so I am always trying out new things to create more interesting and more nutritious sandwhiches. I love adding wheat bran to my breads, because really, everyone needs a little more fibre, and flax is one of my other favorite additions to much of my baking. I love the crunch of flax seed, but seeing as your body doesn't really digest flax seed in it's true form, you need to grind it in order to get the nutritients. In this recipe, I take flax seed and throw it in a coffee grinder I have specifically for grinding flax, and put it on the coarsest setting. This way I get some of the crunch and all of the nutrients. It also makes for some prettier bread as it has some golden and some brown flecks all throughout the dough.

A couple slices of the bread with peanut butter smooshed inbetween and cut up for my son.

Here's the recipe!

Whole Wheat Bran Bread With Coarse Ground Flax

1 ½ cups warm water
3 tsp. active dry yeast
2 tbsp. skim powdered milk (optional)
2 tbsp. organic cane sugar
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 ½ tsp. sea salt
3 ¾ cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup wheat bran
Coarsely ground flax seeds

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Pour into mixer bowl. Add powdered milk, cane sugar, olive oil, and sea salt. Mix well. With a dough hook on a mixer, add flour, wheat bran, and flax seeds. On lowest setting, let mixer knead dough for approximately 5-7 minutes. Cover bowl with damp cloth and let rise till double. Punch dough down, and let rise again for 15 minutes. Repeat one more time. Knead dough out for a couple of minutes, then shape into well greased bread pan. Let rise to desired loaf height and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 15-20 minutes, or until brown and hollow sounding when tapped on top.

Home Again

We just got home from a weekend spent in Herbert SK, where Travis' parents live. It was a great trip and we loved getting to see everyone again. Trav's two sisters, Kara and Shelly, came, along with Kara's boyfriend Kelly, and Shelly's hubby John. We spent some time out at the parents cabin and some time shooting Trav and I's compound bows. The weather was great and suprisingly not that windy for Saskatchewan!

I am currently reading The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart, so look forward to some new bread recipes to come!

Here's some pictures of our trip out east!

Kaed and Brayer in their matching pj's from Grandma Numan
Kaed was playing with ladybugs one day, picking them up and throwing them in the pond!
Brayer sleeping peacefully on Travis' legs
Uncle John snuggling with Kaed after his nap
Kelly and Travis Shooting some arrows. Travis was attempting shooting from 77yards, which is the same length that olympic athletes shoot at. He was actually very accurate!

Hanging out behind the cabin.

Travis and Brayer having a snuggle in front of the parent's cabin.

Buckwheat Sunflower Bread

Someone asked me to post my recipe for Buckwheat Sunflower Bread, so here it is!

1 1/3 cups warm water
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp honey
3 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup buckwheat flour
2 tbsp wheat gluten
2 tbsp wheat germ
1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sea salt and honey. Slowly add in 2 cups of the whole wheat flour and the buckwheat flour. (I do this all in my kitchen aid mixer with the dough hook on it's slowest setting) Add wheat gluten, germ, and sunflower seeds, then add final cup of whole wheat flour or enough until it's a good consistency. (not too tacky)

Let rise until double in a greased bowl covered with a damp cloth. Punch down and let rise 15 more minutes. I usually do this a couple times, punch down, let rise 15 minutes, punch down, 15 minutes, etc. up to 3 times. Place in greased bread pan, covered with a damp cloth, until a decent size.

Note: This bread may not rise very high as buckwheat flour has no gluten in it. I have had some loaves rise fairly well and others not that well, but even as a denser loaf it tastes great, just slice it thin!

Bake at 350 for approximately 20-30 minutes. I check it every 5 minutes after 15 minutes just so I can get it to that perfect golden brown.

** for more information on Buckwheat go here

SO BUSY!

Okay life has been crazy lately and I have friend visiting... I will update with new recipes soon!!