Reindeer Cupcakes

Okay, seriously, could these be any cuter? My kids loved making these, even my 3 year old son could do it! My kids made the second plate shown above. As I said before, we took them over to a soldier's family and gave them out and thanked them for their service. It was such a fun, neat night!

I found this idea in a Family Fun magazine. I believe it is one of the very best magazines for kids crafts, recipes and fun for the entire family. We have gotten it for years and it is so much fun! Here is the link with directions for the cupcakes:

http://familyfun.go.com/christmas/christmas-recipes/christmas-desserts/christmas-cupcakes/rudolph-and-friends-953325/

Oh, and don't forget to use my whole wheat chocolate cake recipe, which is posted on this blog for the cupcakes!

Remember???

Remember that Turkey Soup Continental I told you about that uses the leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. Well, here's a picture of it. We had it tonight. This one is loaded with fiber and B vitamins because I added the puree to it. Notice there is NO texture change??? My kids and husband devoured it and raved about it, telling me I should make it more often. They loved it so much and I loved knowing how healthy it was for them!

P.S. Just wait...this week I'm going to post the cutest idea using my whole wheat chocolate cake. They are the cutest reindeer cupcakes. We made them tonight and my kids honestly thought they were just a blast! Even my 3 year old was able to make them and even his was just adorable. Afterward, we took them to a soldier and his family that we know. So...we had fun together and then performed some service...what a great night!!!

Let's Welcome in the Christmas Season!!!

This is my favorite time of year. Its my favorite time for baking, shopping, watching movies, cooking, hanging out with family, playing games, etc. Honestly, this really is my favorite time of the year. I like to keep my kitchen stocked with goodies for everyone that stops by and I LOVE to take things around to neighbors. Last year, I took around mini-loaves of pumpkin chocolate chip bread (pg. 68). We are in charge of a Christmas party breakfast coming up and for that, I'll be making Applesauce Muffins (pg. 65) and maybe some Streusel-Coated Pumpkin Muffins (66) and the Sausage and Egg Casserole (pg. 25). I LOVE to have goodies for my family, but its so much more fun for me, when I know the goodies are made of whole grains. So, why am I telling you all of this...well, because I have a few recipes I'll give out that are NOT in my cookbook that are perfect for the holidays. I am also considering doing a few YOYO recipes. A YOYO recipe is one, like the Thanksgiving post, where I put them out there and then pull them back. So...you better check often to find the YOYO recipes.

Here is one of my all-time favorite cookie recipes and this one is not in my book, but will be in my next one:

Mint Chocolate Cookies 
 


¾ C butter


1 ½ C packed brown sugar


2 T milk


2 C chocolate chips (1 C semi-sweet and 1 C milk chocolate)


2 eggs
2

¾ cups finely ground and sifted whole wheat flour


1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda

¼ tsp baking powder


1 tsp salt
40 Andes mints



Put butter, brown sugar and milk in a sauce pan. Melt over low heat until butter is completely melted. Add chocolate chips and stir over low heat for about 30 seconds or until chocolate starts to melt and mixture begins to turn brown. Remove from heat and stir constantly until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is smooth. Let chocolate mixture cool for at least 15 minutes. Add one egg and beat at high speed for one minute. Add the other egg and beat at high speed for one more minute. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and mix at high speed for about 2 minutes. Refrigerate dough for about 20-30 minutes (cover with foil first). Drop by tablespoons on a greased cookie sheet. Spray cooking spray on the bottom of a glass and flatten each cookie. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven. Put one Andes mint (or half if you desire less chocolate) on each warm cookie. When Andes mint has melted, use the back of a spoon to spread the melted chocolate all over the top of the warm cookie. Let cookies cool for at least 15-20 minutes before transferring. Makes about 40 large cookies.

What to do with all of that turkey...Insiders...check out the Turkey Soup Continental...you won't be disappointed! For added fiber and health benefits...add the wheat berry puree...don't feel like boiling the wheat and pureeing it...leave it out. Either way, it is wonderful!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

I thought I might give out some of my all-time favorites...just for a few days...if you want these, you better copy them NOW because I'm going to remove them right after Thanksgiving...this is because it is one of my all-time favorite "insider" recipes. This roll recipe is absolutely wonderful...so if you want it, copy it now. I'm also going to give out my tip for adding fiber to my mashed potatoes (which is completely undetectable)! I think I'll also give out my recipe for a whole wheat pie crust that I really love. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Quick and Easy Buttery Rolls

1 C lukewarm milk (you can warm it in the microwave for about 30-45 seconds) 1⁄2 C butter, softened 1⁄4 C sugar 1 T honey

2 eggs 1 tsp salt 31⁄2 C whole wheat flour (sifted) 2 tsp dough enhancer 1 T gluten 1 packet yeast or 21⁄2 tsp

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put ingredients as listed above in bread machine and choose the “dough” option. This will knead and heat your dough to the perfect temperature for rising. When dough is finished, roll into 11⁄2-2 in. sized balls. Butter a baking dish and line with dough balls. Cover with saran wrap and let rise about 20-25 minutes. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until tops are golden brown. Using a butter knife, spread softened butter over the rolls until tops are coated. Delicious! Makes about 20 dinner rolls.

Variation: Roll out into a large circle about 1⁄4 inch thick or less. Cut dough like a pizza with large triangles. Roll from fatter side to thinner side to make crescent rolls and follow directions above for rising and baking. Note: If you don't have a bread machine, just knead the dough on medium speed in your stand mixer for 10 minutes and then let dough rise for an hour. Form dough into balls and continue as instructed above. You HAVE to use a machine to knead as the dough is too sticky to knead by hand.

Deluxe Mashed Potatoes **V**

6 potatoes, peeled and cubed water to cover potatoes 1⁄2 C wheat berry puree 1⁄4 C nonfat dry milk

1⁄4 C softened butter 2 tsp salt

Boil potatoes for one hour and then drain off water. Add wheat berry puree, salt, dry milk and butter and mix with mixer to desired consistency.

Variations: Add 1-2 cloves of minced, cooked garlic and 1⁄2 C cheddar cheese

Remember...for the wheat berry puree...check out the section titled Ways to Use Your Wheat

Fabulous, Flaky Whole Wheat Pie Crust

1 C + 2 T finely ground and sifted whole wheat flour 1 tsp wheat germ (optional) 1⁄2 C shortening (substitute part or all with Butter Flavored Crisco...it is MUCH BETTER!) 1 T sugar (or to taste) 1 T cold water 1/8 tsp salt (or to taste)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Sift whole wheat flour twice. Cut shortening, salt, sugar and wheat germ into flour. Add cold water and mix with hand. Put ball of dough between two large pieces of saran wrap and roll in a circle until about 1/8-1⁄4 in. thick. Pat dough into pie pan, and prick with fork every inch of sides and bottom. Bake for 10 minutes.

If it is a filled pie, bake for 45 minutes to an hour, according to recipe directions. Until pie filling is finished cooking and pie crust is golden brown. You may need to cover the edges of the crust with foil if they appear to be getting overdone. Note: If making a quiche or dinner recipe with pie crust, you can choose to half the sugar to reduce the sweetness of the crust.

Chocolate Chip and Cinnamon Raisin Bagel Recipes!!!

To those of you who are not yet "insiders" I apologize for all of the "insider" posts. I'll be posting some great recipes all week...some will be for everyone and some will be just for the insiders. Don't worry...after today, there will be some GREAT tips for adding fiber and vitamins to your Thanksgiving meal through whole grain foods...so just keep on checking this week!!!

Refer to instructions on page 63 of your cookbook:

Chocolate Chip Bagels:

Follow above instructions, EXCEPT, add 3/4 C more sugar after making a sponge with the yeast, water and 2 T sugar. Increase gluten to 2 tsp. Knead and let rise as stated above, then after punching down dough, knead in chocolate chips. They may melt a little, but that is okay. Bake as directed above. (This recipe is better if you use milk chocolate chocolate chips)


Cinnamon Raisin Bagels:

Follow instructions in cookbook, EXCEPT, add 1/3 C + 1/4 C sugar with the oil. Then, add in 1/3 C cinnamon sugar mixture. Also, add in 2/3 C raisins with the flour, dough enhancer and gluten. Bake as directed above.

Note: You may need to increase the flour a little bit.

Honey Whole Wheat Nine-Grain Bagels

Here it is...the recipe for the Honey Whole Wheat Nine-Grain Bagels:

Follow instructions on page 63, EXCEPT, add in 2/3 C honey with the oil and sugar. Then, with the flour, add in 3/4 C nine grain cereal. Increase the gluten to 2 tsp. You will probably have to increase your flour a little, too (1/2 C - 1 1/2 C). Bake as directed....mmmmm.

You can see the bags the bagels are stored in. These are normal bread bags and can be bought at most health-food stores. They are perfect for storing and freezing your bagels.

Keep checking...I've got recipes for chocolate chip bagels and cinnamon raisin bagels, too. Bagels are one of the easiest, quickest, and now healthiest breakfast foods for rushed mornings!!!

BAGEL MANIA!!!

Alright...its been bagel mania week at the Allen household this week. This will be an insider post because it has to do with the bagel recipe on page 63. The last picture shows the basic bagel recipe, baked. The first ones show pictures of the actual instructions. Tomorrow, I'm going to give out a recipe for an amazing Honey Whole Wheat Nine-Grain Bagel. I will also be giving out recipes for Chocolate Chip Bagels, and Cinnamon Raisin bagels...mmmm...

The cool thing about bagels is you can have them for breakfast, lunch or dinner. You can also freeze them until you are ready to eat them. These are so good, healthy and easy to make!!!

ALERT!!!!! My cookbook is on sale for the Holidays!!!!

Want to make whole wheat cinnamon rolls, bagels, holiday cookies, pastries, rolls, etc. for the upcoming holidays??? You can now purchase my cookbook for $10 through my link...just for the Holidays!!! From now until December 25th, you can take advantage of this offer! That is $3 cheaper than it has ever been! So, if you are looking for a present for someone out there who is trying to make a change to a healthier (whole grain) lifestyle...buy one today!!! Did I mention...at that point, you become an INSIDER!!! You will have access to all insider information and recipes!!! Buy today!!!

P.S. This picture is an "insider" recipe for an eclaire dessert that is wonderful. My friend Stacey gave me this recipe years ago and I simply adapted it with whole wheat and NO ONE EVER knows!!! It is fabulous for ANY holiday get-together!!!

Need a fabulous appetizer for a crazy football game???

I wish I had a picture of this fabulous dip, but I have not managed to photograph it quick enough and it is eaten so quickly...I would need to do it immediately!!! So...I have chosen to give you a picture of the baguettes that I eat WITH the dip (it is intended for chips, but the baguettes are AMAZING with it...and healthier)! This recipe is in my cookbook, but I'm going to share it anyway. In my cookbook, I add extra wheat to the dip by adding in some wheat berry puree (which is undetectable in flavor and bakes just fine, too!). However, it can be made without the puree (you don't need to change anything else...just omit the puree and it works the same...if you want to add the puree refer to the instructions in Ways to Use Your Wheat on my blog) and if you make the Whole Wheat Baguettes on page 62, you are still getting the benefit of the whole grains!!! Here is the recipe for the Buffalo Chicken Chip Dip (I prefer this spicy and I add the whole bottle of hot sauce).

Buffalo Chicken Chip Dip **L**

4 C cooked chicken (or canned is easy and worked too) 2-8 oz. pkgs. cream cheese, softened 1C either ranch or blue cheese dressing 5 T (or to taste) Frank’s Hot Sauce
2 C Cheddar cheese
1⁄4 cup wheat berry puree
Combined all ingredients except for the cheese. Mix and put into a 13 x 9 pan. Sprinkle cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips (or Whole Wheat Baguettes!!!), but don’t forget the celery! **L** Use light cream cheese and ranch dressing

Here is what the American Diabetes Association has to say about whole grains...

I was reading over the American Diabetes Association's website in reference to whole grains. and here is what they had to say:

"If you are going to eat grain foods, pick the ones that are the most nutritious. Choose whole grains. Whole grains are rich in vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and fiber. Reading labels is essential for this food group to make sure you are making the best choices.

Every time you choose to eat a starchy food, make it count! Leave the processed white flour-based products, especially the ones with added sugar, on the shelves or use them only for special occasion treats.

What is a whole grain? A whole grain is the entire grain—which includes the bran, germ and endosperm (starchy part). The most popular grain in the US is wheat so that will be our example. To make 100% whole wheat flour, the entire wheat grain is ground up. "Refined" flours like white and enriched wheat flour include only part of the grain – the starchy part, and are not whole grain. They are missing many of the nutrients found in whole wheat flour. Examples of whole grain wheat products include 100% whole wheat bread, pasta, tortilla, and crackers. But don’t stop there! There are many whole grains to choose from."


So, what can we take from this...when eating grains...MAKE SURE THEY ARE WHOLE GRAINS!!!

If you want to read more: http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=American+diabetes+assoc.+whole+grains&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Light and Fluffy Breadsticks

Just for the Insiders:

These breadsticks use the roll recipe on page 54. By the way, the rolls are INCREDIBLE...as I stated before I'll give some tips on those closer to Thanksgiving. So, follow the instructions for the rolls, EXCEPT use the following instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put ingredients as listed above in bread machine and choose the “dough” option. This will knead and heat your dough to the perfect temperature for rising. When dough is finished, roll into approx. 4-5 in. ropes. Grease a cookie sheet and place rolled dough breadsticks on the cookie sheet. Cover and let rise about 20-25 minutes. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until tops are golden brown. Using a butter knife, spread softened butter over the tops of the warm breadsticks. Delicious! Makes about 20 breadsticks.

NOTE: For extra delicious flavor...mix in 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp Italian seasoning and 1/2 C shredded Parmesan cheese before kneading. After the breadsticks have risen, sprinkle extra Parmesan cheese on the breadsticks, add the almonds and bake.

These are fabulous dipped in marinara sauce!!!

Green Smoothies

First of all, let me apologize for the spilling of the drink on the outside of the cup. It looks pretty gross...but as you can see...my children love it! So...what is it???

I have officially jumped, along with many of my friends, on the Green Smoothie train. These are smoothies that taste wonderful and just happen to have TONS of raw greens in them!!! This morning, we ate spinach, kale, and collard greens and my kids LOVED them. Really, when did you last eat that for breakfast and have your kids ask for more. Another plug for the green smoothies...berries, apples, bananas...almost ALL of your fruits and veggies for BREAKFAST!!! So..my green smoothie for today had blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, banana, kale, spinach and collards and 1 C of soy milk (I like milk, I don't think the green smoothie girl adds this). Anyway...for me...I added NO sugar. For the kids, I added a little of the Sucanat (remember from my sugar post it is natural sugar cane with MANY vitamins and minerals). I believe the green smoothie girl uses stevia, a natural herbal sweetener. Anyway, my kids loved this as shown by the picture of my pickiest daughter devouring it! What the Green Smoothie Girl actually says that was the kicker for me is that there is more evidence that fruits and veggies prevent cancer than there is that smoking causes it...so why not start now and give your kids added protection for now and for the future. I promise...you WILL feel better...I know I do!!!!!! Why am I advertising green smoothies??? I am not getting anything from the girl who came up with this idea...I just know how much better I feel and I LOVE feeding this stuff to my kids. And...like I said before, I am definitely focused on whole grains (primarily whole wheat), but I am also expanding to an overall wellness site. So, if you are here for whole grains...don't worry...there will be numerous whole grain recipes...but if you are interested in more...I'll report as I learn!!!

greensmoothiegirl.com

Oh what to do with all of this HALLOWEEN CANDY???!!!

Halloween candy is one of those necessary evils (well, maybe not necessary, but certainly fun) for our health. We buy it to give away, but what do we do with the huge quantity that is both leftover from the "give away" stash and with the mass quantities collected by our kids? I usually let my kids have one or two good days of eating the candy and then...I'm at a loss. I don't want them to keep eating it...it isn't good for them...so what do I do???

My mom sent me a cool set of websites with things you can do with all of your leftover Halloween candy. Here are all of the ideas:

Science Experiments: Learn why some candy bars melt faster than others or why M&Ms melt in your mouth and not in your hands or why pop rocks pop. Go to this website: http://www.candyexperiments.com/p/experiments.html for some fun science experiments you and your kids can perform using leftover candy.

Baking with your candy: You can use many of your leftover candy bars to bake cakes, cookies and pies. Sounds pretty good, huh. There are also salads, which use candy as one of the main ingredients. Go to this website: http://www.recipegoldmine.com/candybar/candybar.html. These are GREAT to get rid of the candy and wonderful to take to neighbors and friends or get-togethers.

You can also give it to homeless shelters and food banks.

Here is my favorite idea: Send it in a care package to the soldiers!!! I can get addresses and shipping information, or you can bring it to me, if you are near, and I'll ship it for you. How fun for them to receive your leftover Halloween candy. Chocolate is discouraged...EXCEPT for M&Ms (did you know they were actually invented FOR the soldiers BECAUSE they don't melt!!! I just found out about that tidbit of information!!!)

Monday: I'll post my healthy little secret that gets my kids eating the veggies and fruits...so stay tuned!!!

Gooey Cheese Bread

Follow directions for Delicious Honey Whole Wheat Bread (under Yeast Breads heading), EXCEPT after you have kneaded the dough, roll it out into a rectangle of whatever thickness you desire (not too thin or the cheese will poke right out). Put 25-30 cubes of cheese (1/2 in) on the rolled out dough and slightly press in the dough. Roll up into a loaf and let rise as normal. You will probably have to increase the baking time 5-10 minutes because the inside takes longer to cook with the cheese in there. My kids went crazy over this one!!!

Oh, the breadsticks were wonderful, I'll post them in a couple of days. Tomorrow, I'm going to give out tell you about green smoothies, a really cool way for your entire family to get all of the fruits and veggies they need for the day!!!

Trying out some new breadsticks tonight...

Tonight, I'm going to try out some breadsticks that I think will be wonderful. For my insiders...it is my Quick and Easy Buttery Rolls recipe on page 54. These are the lightest, most delicious rolls ever...I'll give some more specific instructions a little closer to Thanksgiving. I'm going to try to make these into breadsticks tonight...I'll let you know how it goes. I'm hoping for wonderful results!!!

Is there anything else you are looking for? I'd love to know what people are looking for in the whole wheat recipe world. I'm still working on coming up with more recipes all the time. I have a fabulous chocolate peanut butter cookie I can give out at some point and some fantastic chocolate mint cookies, too. Neither of them are in my book, so I have no problem giving them out on my blog. So, just keep on checking!!!

PLEASE...If you have any recipes that you LOVE that are whole wheat and you wouldn't mind sharing them. Email me at suziessweetwheat@hotmail.com. I'd love to try them out and post them and maybe feature them in my next book with your name next to the recipe. Thanks to all of my loyal followers!!!