Whole Grain Waffles

I just can't believe how AWESOME these turned out!  Who would ever even believe that they are good for you?!  The kids devoured them!  And they have whole wheat flour, flaxseed and chia seeds :)
Gonna put these in the freezer so we have a quick healthy breakfast to pull out of the oven on school days...can't wait to top them with some fresh strawberries!

Whole Grain Waffles

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour or whole wheat flour
3/4 cup wheat germ (I didn't have this, so I used wheat gluten?)
6 Tbsp ground flaxseed meal
3 Tbsp chia seeds
6 teaspoons baking powder
3 Tbsp raw sugar, white sugar, or agave (I used raw sugar)
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 cups milk (we use raw milk)
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup canola oil
3 large eggs
3 tsp vanilla

Directions:
1.  Whisk together flour, wheat germ, flaxseed meal, chia seeds, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
2.  In separate bowl, whisk together milk, water, oil, eggs, and vanilla.  Add to the flour mixture and whisk together until smooth.
3.  Plug in (and pre-heat) electric waffle iron.  When hot, spray non-stick spray into an iron.  Laddle into waffle iron and cook according to your iron's instructions until golden brown.

(made about 20 square waffles for me, but each waffle iron will hold a different amount of batter...)

Soft Pretzel Rolls

Oh. My. Goodness!  These were SO good!  And so easy and pretty fast too!
Will definitely make these a lot more!  And with only a handful of ingredients they are so much better for you than any store-bought bread!  I'm gonna try them with whole wheat flour and see how they do...but GREAT!

I served these alongside cream of spinach and tomato soup and it was perfect!  But I can't wait to try these as a sandwich bread!  I was at a local Amish market this week and had a hot, soft pretzel ham and cheese sandwich and it was one of the yummiest things I think I've ever had!  So I will definitely be trying that soon!

Note - We cooked these at 425 as the recipe called for but by about 15 minutes in, they were already very dark brown.  And our oven is usually on the cool side...so next time I would probably lower the temp to 400 and start watching at 10 minutes.  But even with them being dark brown on top, they were wonderful, soft, and fluffy!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 c warm water
• 2 tbsp warm milk
• 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1/3 c light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp melted butter
• 4 c flour
• Pretzel salt, kosher salt, or sea salt. (I used sea salt.)
• 2 quarts cold water
• 1/2 c baking soda

Directions:
You will want to use a bread machine or stand mixer with a dough hook for this recipe.
Heat 1/3 c. water to 110°, add yeast and let stand until foamy.
Add remaining 1 c. warm water, milk, sugar and melted butter. Mix slightly to dissolve the sugar. Add flour and mix on medium-low speed.
Remove dough from mixer, or bread machine, once it forms a nice firm dough ball as shown above.
Knead dough for two minutes, roll into a 12″ log and cut into 12 equal balls.
Cover dough and let sit for 10 minutes.
Pat dough into rolls and set on a lightly floured surface (don’t skip the flouring part even if you have a nonstick pan), cover and let sit for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425°.
In a saucepan bring 2 quarts of water to a rolling boil and add baking soda.
Drop two rolls into boiling water, turning once, for 30 seconds. Remove from water and let drain.
Set rolls an inch apart. To get that x mark, use a sharp knife and barely break the surface of the roll in an x shape.
Sprinkle with salt.
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Creamy Avocado Dressing

I love avocado so much!  Especially on a nice big fresh salad!  But once I add that plus my favorite salad dressing (Pizza Hut's Romano Cheese dressing), that really adds a Lot of calories...about 300 to be exact.
So, I kept thinking would it be great if I could use an avocado to create a creamy dressing?!  So that I can get both the avocado flavor and the creamy dressing without all the calories?!  And so I finally tried one today from my favorite cooking blog and it was awesome!  It had a little heat, and a little southwestern kick, so I loaded up my plate with lots of salad mix and spinach, thawed frozen corn, salsa, and a few southwestern flavored Artisan Tortilla Chips, topped it with about 3 spoonfuls of the avocado dressing and that's it!  And it was AMAZING! 

I don't ever buy buttermilk anymore...I just take my measuring cup and add about 1 Tbsp lemon juice and then fill to whatever line I need with my 1% milk and just let it sit for about 5 minutes.  No need to stir or anything.

And I did add the spinach at the end.  It wasn't in the original recipe and I just figured it was a good way to sneak a little extra greens in!  :)  You'd never even notice it...so I'm sure you wouldn't notice if it wasn't in there. 

And I only added about 1/8 cup of olive oil mayo to this instead of the 1/4 cup...and it was divine!  Might try substituting low fat sour cream too, to see how that tastes and of course to lower the calories even more!  But, according to My Fitness Pal (the app I use for counting calories) as I wrote it below, there is only about 65 calories per 3 Tbsp...and that sounds great to me!!!!  :)

Servings: makes 2 cups

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 medium avocado
• 1 small jalapeno*
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• 1 lime, juice
• 1 green onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 3/4 cup buttermilk**
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise (completely optional)
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and ground
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup fresh spinach

Directions

1. Puree everything in a blender until smooth. Store in fridge and finish within a few days.

* Leave the seeds in for more heat or remove them for less.
** Use more buttermilk to make it thinner or less to make it thicker.

Red Lentil, Kale, and Bean Chili

I wanted to make a vegetarian meal tonight because we started fasting from meat on Wednesdays and Fridays like they do in Ethiopia, in preparation of bringing our son home...and so this is what I came up with and it was awesome!

Ingredients:
1 onion
1/2 tsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
1 large can petite diced tomatoes
2 soft chicken boullion cubes
2 - 15 oz cans white cannelli beans
1 - 15 oz can dark red kidney beans
2/3 cup dried red lentils
2 tsp Berbere (Ethiopian spice mixture)
4-6 cups chopped kale
light sour cream and cheddar cheese, if desired

Directions:
1.  In large pot, heat onion and olive oil over medium high heat until onion is soft.  Add garlic and stir for about a minute.
 2.  Add tomatoes, chicken bullion cubes, and 2 cans full of water (use the can from the tomatoes).  Stir.
3.  Add white beans, kidney beans, lentils and berbere and stir together.  Bring to a boil.  Watch the amount of water, and add as needed (the lentils will absorb a good bit of the water).  Keep the soup as brothy as you like it, as it cooks.  Boil for about 20 minutes.
4.   Add kale and stir.  Cook until kale is wilted.
5.  Serve with about a tsp of sour cream and just a little sprinkle of cheddar cheese if desired.

This was awesome with a piece of cornbread!

Lentil Wat (Ethiopian lentil stew)

I really wasn't sure what to expect with this dish either.  When we went to the two Ethiopian restaurants we've gone to so far, they both had some vegetarian lentils and yellow split pea stews that I wasn't a huge fan of.  They weren't disgusting or anything, I just didn't want to waste my belly-space on them when I could have such amazing chicken and beef stews!  :)
But this turned out really good!  I'm not ready to make a meal out of it, but I enjoyed it a LOT as a side!



Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp Berbere
1 cup red lentils
1 tsp crushed garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Mekelesha powder (I didn't have this so I looked up what was in Mekelesha and ended up
        sprinkling in a little cinnamon, cardemom, pepper, cloves, and nutmeg.  Not sure how accurate
        that is, but again, it was really good!)
water

Directions:
1.  In medium size sauce pan over medium-high heat, cook onion in oil until onions are soft.
2.  Add Berbere spice and 1/4 - 1/2 cup water.  Bring to a boil, adding water about 1/4 cup at a time to keep the mixture soupy.
3.  Once up to a boil, add 2 cups water and red lentils.  Bring to a boil with the lid on, stirring occasionally.
4.  Add about 1 cup water when the lentils start cooking and getting puffy, if needed.
5.  Add salt, garlic, and spices.  Turn heat to very low and simmer until lentils are soft (about 15 minutes maybe), adding small amounts of water as needed to keep them from drying out.  Remove from heat when lentils are cooked and dissolving.

Serve with Injera!

Shurro Wat (Ethiopian Bean Stew)

I have a confession to make.  When we met with our social worker a while back at an Ethiopian restaurant I bought this little container called Shirro, and thought it was going to end up in the garbage.  The owner is from Ethiopia and he was explaining how to use it and it sounded utterly disgusting when he told me how to use it.  All shirro is, is a powder made from dried and ground up beans.   But you then mix it with onions, oil, and water and turn it into stew.  It just sounds terrible.  But I decided that we need to get used to Ethiopian food (and all kinds of Ethiopian food!) because I won't know what Josiah's favorite comfort foods are until we meet him, and I better know how to fix his favorites when he comes home!
So, we tried it tonight, and I actually made a mistake and added spices that were supposed to go in the lentil stew...but not only did it work, it was really tasty!  I'm actually looking forward to making this on Sunday afternoons now!  And it's so simple!  It's probably supposed to be thicker than mine, but I wasn't sure...it was still yummy!

Little fact for the day - Ethiopians fast from meat on Wednesdays and Fridays, so their main source of fat comes from cooking oil.  So, in typical recipes (this one included), Ethiopians would put about 1/2 CUP of oil in it...but since we get our fat from, well, EVERYWHERE here in the states, I'm omitting most of the oil!

Shurro Wat (Ethiopian Bean Stew)

Ingredients:
2 onions, chopped
2 tsp olive oil
4-5 Tbsp Shirro (bean flour)
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cardemom
1/8 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp Berbere
 water
3 tsp crushed garlic

Directions:
 1.  Heat onions and oil in sauce pan over medium heat until onions are soft.
2.  Add 3 cups water and bring to a boil with the lid on.
3.  Whisk in shirro until fully incorporated.  If needed, add another 1/2 to 1 cup of water to thin the consistency (I didn't have to do this!).  Cover and cook.
4.  Add salt and other spices and garlic; mix well.
5.  Cover and cook again.  When thick, turn off burner, remove from heat, and cover.  Let sit for about 15 minutes before eating.

Doro Wat (Ethiopian Chicken Stew)

This was awesome!  I used the original recipe that I had found and switched out all the spices for Berbere seasoning (it's like the National Spice of Ethiopia, a blend of LOTS of other spices that are toasted together).  It's very spicy but it's got a ton of flavors in it and so it really adds a LOT of flavor to the stew!
Oh, and I'm sure the wine isn't really Ethiopian, so we should probably omit that, but it is really good!

Doro Wat (Ethiopian Chicken Stew)

Ingredients:
15 oz tomato sauce
1/2 - 2 Tbsp Berbere seasoning, depending on how much heat you can stand
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 onions, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 tsp ground tumeric
3 pounds chicken (I used a mix of boneless/skinless thighs and breasts), CUT INTO Bitesize pieces
1 tsp salt, optional

Directions:
1.  Make the sauce first by combining tomato sauce, red wine, and Berbere.  Set aside.

2.  In a large skillet, cook onion and garlic in oil until tender but not brown.  Stir in sauce, tumeric, salt (if desired), and chicken.  Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer about 40-45 minutes, stirring frequently.

Serve with Injera!