Kristen's Recipes

Mini Seed Bagels

1 C. warm water

2 tsp. yeast

1 T. granulated sugar

3/4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. sunflower oil

1 C. all purpose flour

1 C. whole wheat flour

Toppings: sesame, poppy, or flax seeds (optional, if you want them plain)

1 T. brown sugar

Start by place water, yeast, and sugar in the bowl of stand mixer. Stir with a wooden spoon to dissolve yeast and honey, let sit for 5-10 minutes or until mixtures begins to foam. (If this does not happen your yeast was either old or your water was too cold or hot.) Once yeast is ready, add oil, salt, and whole wheat flour. Begin to knead with dough hook, adding the white flour as needed until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl (dough should still be kind of soft, just not sticky.) Continue to knead for 10 minutes. Roll dough out onto a mat or cutting board. Cut eight equal size pieces of dough (this is for a slightly smaller bagel, roughly 125 calories each.) Cover with a towel and let rest 20-30 minutes. Pre-heat your oven to 425˚ and bring a large pot of water to a boil with a T. brown sugar. I started my water right before I rolled the bagels into circles. Taking one piece at a time, roll out each piece of dough into a long line. Wrap the dough around your fingers and pinch/seal the seam. Also, make sure your whole is about 2 inches across- the bagel will close up as it continues to rise and boil. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover and let sit for another 20-30 minutes. Taking however many bagels you can fit in your pot of boiling water, boil the bagels on one side for a minutes, flip, and boil for another minute. Place the seeds in a small dish and dip the tops of each bagel in the topping as it comes out of the water. Place seeded side up on a tray covered in parchment paper. Repeat until all the bagels have been boiled and topped. Bake for 10 minutes, flip, and bake for another ten minutes until bagels are golden.

Sunflower Seed Granola

5 C. old-fashioned oats

1½ C. raw sunflower seeds

½ C. ground flaxseed meal

½ C. dark brown sugar

¼ C. pure maple syrup

¼ C. raw honey

2 T. vegetable oil

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. fine sea salt

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°, lightly oil a large rimmed baking sheet. Mix oats, sunflower seeds and flaxseed meal in a large mixing bowl. Heat brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, oil, cinnamon, and salt in a small saucepan over medium-low, until melted. Add in vanilla extract, pour over oat mixture, stir until fully mixed. Spread on baking sheet, smoothing out. Bake for about 25 minutes, stirring halfway through. Let rest on a cooling rack until fully cool, stirring a few times to break up clumps. When cool, store in airtight container.

Homemade Bran Flakes Cereal

1 C. wheat bran

1 C. whole wheat flour

2 T. ground flaxseed

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 C. water

3 T. maple syrup

1/4 C. non-dairy milk

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until everything is combined and a dough forms. Separate the dough in half and place one half on one prepared baking sheet and the other half of the dough on the second baking sheet. Rip off a large sheet of wax paper and lay it over top of the dough on one of your baking sheet. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out as thin as you can by rolling on top of the wax paper. The dough is really sticky, so the wax paper keeps the dough from sticking to your rolling pin. You want your dough to be so thin that it almost becomes see through it. Once your dough is completely rolled out, slowly pull off the wax paper. I’ve found that the dough is still really sticky at this point so in order for me to get the wax paper off, I pull it back at a 180 degree angle. Repeat this process with the second half of the dough until you have two very thin layers of dough on your baking sheets. Place the baking sheets in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the dough is starting to brown in places. Watch carefully after 10 minutes, because you don’t want it to burn completely and it depends on how thinly you rolled out your dough. Some brown spots are fine.

Remove the sheets from the oven once they are done and let them cool completely. Reduce the heat in your oven to 275 degrees. After the bran sheets have cooled they will feel slightly rubbery in places and hard and crispy in others. Rip up each bran sheet into bran flakes and place all the bran flakes back onto one of the baking sheets. Place the bran flakes back into the 275 degree oven and let the flakes bake for 15-20 minutes more, stirring the flakes every 5 minutes. If any of the flakes are really brown and crispy you can remove them early. Let the flakes cool completely after baking and store them in an air tight container. Add raisins or other fruit when serving.

Homemade Wheat Flakes Cereal

2 C. Coarsely Ground Whole Wheat Flour

2 C. Water

1 tsp. Salt

½ C. Sugar, optional

Parchment Paper

Can add 1 tsp. Cinnamon and/or Nutmeg

Mix all ingredients lightly with spoon until free of lumps. Beat just until mixed; it should be the consistency of thinned paint. Pour onto cookie sheet or jelly roll pan (lined with parchment paper, if you have it), using ½ C. batter on a 12 x 15” cookie sheet. Tip sheet back and forth to cover entire surface. Drain excess (as much as a ¼ C.) from corner into batter bowl, leaving a thin film. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. If outer edges cook more quickly than the center (they shouldn’t if your battle is even), you can break off edges and return pan to oven to finish. When done, break into bite sized pieces and store in airtight container. If there were areas that were too thick when cooked (they’ll feel a bit leathery after being cooled and won’t crisp into flakes), place back onto the baking sheet (bottom side up) and bake another 7-10 minutes

Wheat Nuts Cereal

3 C. Coarsely Ground Flour

2 tsp. Baking Powder

½ tsp. Salt

1 C. Sugar

1 C. Reconstituted Milk

Combine all ingredients to make a sticky dough. Grease a baking sheet and spread dough to ½ inch on the sheet. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes until firm, but not crisp. Cut cereal into large chunks. Turn them over and return to warm oven until dried out completely. Grind in meat grinder with coarse disk, or pound with meat mallet until desired nugget size.

Cran-Orange Hot Cereal

3 C. bulgur

1 C. dried cranberries

½ C. dried blueberries

¾ C. Thrive Life Orange Bliss Drink Powder*

1 C. toasted chopped walnuts, optional

6 C. water

Bring 6 C. water to a boil. Stir in bulgur, dried fruit, and orange drink powder. Cover, remove from heat, and allow to sit about 20 minutes. Drain off any excess liquid, stir in nuts and serve.

*You can also process dehydrated oranges through a blender to create a powder. Or even use Tang or Crystal Light Orange although it’s not as tasty, with that processed chemically aftertaste.

Cornmeal Mush

Want a warm, filling and inexpensive breakfast? Try cornmeal mush. This recipe makes 4 to 6 servings. And of all the breakfast foods that you can buy, this one is the cheapest.

1 C. cornmeal

1 C. cold water

1 tsp. salt

3 C. hot water

Combine the cornmeal and cold tap water in a bowl to keep it from getting lumpy. Meanwhile, in a pan, combine the salt and hot water. Bring it to a boil over high heat. While the water is heating, add the cornmeal mixed with the cold water. When the water and cornmeal boil, reduce the heat to low. Allow the mush to simmer for about 10 minutes, or until it is nicely thickened.

Spoon mush into bowls and serve with pancake syrup or honey, if desired. Don’t forget to set aside the leftovers to go with lunch and dinner! To fry, pour mixture into a loaf pan and chill completely. Remove from pan, slice and fry in a small amount of oil over medium-high heat until browned on both sides. Fried corn meal mush tastes great with soup!

Oatmeal with Raisins & Apples

3 1/4 C. water

1/4 tsp. salt

2 C. instant rolled oats

1/2 C. raisins

1/2 C. canned apples

1 T. brown or while sugar

1/4 tsp. cinnamon (optional)

In a medium saucepan bring water and salt to a boil. Stir in rolled oats. Reduce heat if possible and simmer uncovered, for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat. Cover and let stand for 2 minutes before serving. This allows the oats to absorb any remaining liquid. Sprinkle with brown or white sugar and cinnamon (if using) and stir in the apples and raisins.