April 28, 2013

Whole Wheat Recipes (recent faves)

In the last several months I've started cooking more and more with whole wheat. It all started with a desire to reduce my intake of refined products such as white sugar & flour.  What I thought would be a difficult change has really been fairly easy. I haven't bought a bag of white flour in that same amount of time. There are just about as many awesome whole wheat recipes out there as white flour. I have my theories about why that might be, but why bother—the point of this post is merely to share a list of favorites that I've accrued since last fall. So here they are:

Great whole wheat pizza crust (never fails)
http://taste-for-adventure.tablespoon.com/2011/05/09/whole-wheat-pizza-crust/

Cranberry Orange Wheat Scones
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cranberry-orange-wheat-scones/

Beer Battered Fish with whole wheat flour (1/2 the recipe—it's incredible but makes a ton)
http://discover.winecountry.com/food/2009/03/napa-smith-beer-battered-fish.html

Whole Wheat Pasta (I tried this once, with ravioli, and it was tricky and needs more experimentation)
http://www.sugarlaws.com/whole-wheat-pasta

This recipe didn't call for whole wheat flour, but I substituted half WW for regular (sifted) and it turned out great. I often substitute at least 1/2 WW flour for some of my traditional recipes such as coffee cake.
http://www.vuedemonde.com.au/index.php?action=news&nid=2926 

I lost my whole wheat pancakes recipe, and haven't seen a good WW pie crust one (it'd preferably not call for shortening)...so if anyone has either of those that they love, pass it on please. :-)

And finally, THE BEST banana bread I've ever tasted. Not sure of the source, but a friend gave me this one. And, it's 100% whole wheat!

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup mashed bananas
  • 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 cup hot water
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
  2. In a large bowl, beat oil and honey together. Add eggs, and mix well. Stir in bananas and vanilla. Stir in flour and salt. Add baking soda to hot water, stir to mix, and then add to batter. Blend in chopped nuts. Spread batter into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan.
  3. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes. Cool on wire rack for 1/2 hour before slicing
 Happy Eating ;-)