Plain Yogurt

2 quarts milk (we prefer 2% or whole milk)
1/3 cup powdered milk (optional)
1/4 - 1/2 cup sugar or honey (optional)
1 tsp unflavored gelatin (optional)
1/2 cup plain yogurt with active cultures

In a large pot, combine milk, powdered milk, and sugar or honey (if using).  Sprinkle gelatin over the milk and let soften for 5 minutes.  Stirring constantly, heat milk until it comes to a rolling boil.  Let boil for 1 minute and remove from heat.  Place pot in clean sink and fill sink with cold water to the level of the milk, stirring ocassionally.  Cool milk to 110 degrees F (I just use my little finger - when the milk feels lukewarm to my little finger it is ready).  Combine plain yogurt with 1 cup of the cooled milk and whisk to combine.  Pour yogurt mixture into the pot of milk and whisk thoroughly to combine.  Incubate yogurt for at least 4 hours and no more than 12 hours.  (The longer it incubates, the tangier it will be.)  At the end of the incubation period, place the yogurt in the refrigerator.  Serve plain, or with fresh fruit or granola.

A note on incubation:  If you don't have a yogurt maker, it is easy to incubate the yogurt in a small cooler.  Simply pour the yogurt mixture into clean jars with lids and place them inside a small cooler.  Fill the cooler with hot water up to the level of the lids, but not over the lids.  Close the cooler and let sit.  (You can drape a bath towel over the cooler to help insulate even better, if desired.)  Check the water temperature in the cooler after a couple of hours and replace with warmer water if necessary.  (Hot water from the tap is sufficient - do not pour boiling water over the yogurt or you risk killing the cultures.)

A note from Rachel:  All you really need to make yogurt is milk and active cultures.  I like to add powdered milk for added protein and substance, and honey for sweetness and flavor.  I have found that 1/3 cup honey makes the yogurt sweet enough to be yummy without really being sweet.  Also, the yogurt will thicken as it incubates, but it will not be the consistency we Americans are accustomed to - it will be thick and runny, rather like a milkshake.  The gelatin helps to firm it up so you can eat it with a spoon rather than drinking it.  Alice made this, then made it into frozen yogurt in an ice cream freezer.  Serve a scoop of frozen yogurt with fresh fruit for breakfast, and your kids will think they're getting dessert for breakfast!!  

A further note from Rachel:  If you do not want to add gelatin to your yogurt, and you want the thick, creamy consistency without draining it, add 1 full cup of powdered milk to your milk and honey, then process as usual.  The extra proteins from the powdered milk make a thick, wonderful yogurt - Greek style without all the fuss. 

Super-Chunky Granola

New and improved!!  I recently found this amazing recipe for granola that out shines my other granola recipe by a mile!  Not only does this one have more flavor and more crunch, but there is no stirring, so I can put it in the oven and walk away.  Life is so good...

1/3 cup maple syrup (or honey)
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
5 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups raw almonds, chopped coarse
2 cups raisins or other dried fruit, chopped if necessary

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees.  Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly spray with cooking spray.

Whisk maple syrup (or honey), brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small mixing bowl.  Whisk in oil. 

In a large bowl, combine oats and almonds.  Pour maple syrup mixture over oats and stir until oats are thoroughly coated. 

Transfer oat mixture to prepared baking sheet and spread across sheet into thin, even layer.  Using stiff metal spatula, compress oat mixture until very compact.  Bake until lightly browned, 40 - 45 minutes, rotating pan once halfway through baking.  Remove granola from oven and cool on wire rack to room temperature, about 1 hour.  Break cooled granola into pieces of desired size.  Stir in dried fruit.  Store in airtight container.


Note:  I like to substitute unsweetened coconut for 1/4 of the nuts. You can also substitute sesame seeds or sunflower seeds for some of the nuts if you prefer. 

Variations:  Pecan-Orange Granola with Dried Cranberries
Add 2 TB finely grated orange zest and 2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon to maple syrup mixture.  Substitute coarsely chopped pecans for almonds.  After granola is broken into pieces, stir in 2 cups dried cranberries.

Tropical Granola with Dried Mango
Reduce vanilla extract to 2 tsp and add 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger and 3/4 tsp nutmeg to maple syrup mixture.  Substitute coarsely chopped macadamias for almonds and 1 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut for 1 cup oats.  After granola is broken into pieces, stir in 2 cups chopped dried mango or pineapple.

Blender Pancakes

These pancakes are surprisinly light and mild. And the best part is that they are 100% Whole Wheat!!! They are the favorite pancake at the Brewer house.

In blender, process on high (or grind) for 3 minutes:
1 cup whole wheat kernels
1 cup milk

Add: 1/2 cup milk - and grind for another 2 minutes

Add: 2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup oil
1 TB baking powder
2 TB sugar

Process until well combined. Pour about 1/4 cup batter per pancake onto a hot griddle. Bake on the griddle until the cakes are full of bubbles on the top and the undersides are lightly browned. Turn with a spatula and brown the other side. Serve with butter and syrup, jam or honey.

English Muffin Bread

We LOVE this bread!  We use it for french toast and breakfast sandwiches and just about anything else you may need bread for.  We've tried several English Muffin Bread recipes and this one tops them all.  It freezes nicely...in case you like to make all your bread at once as I am prone to do.

Ingredients

• 5 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups warm milk (120° to 130°)
• 1/2 cup warm water (120° to 130°)
• Cornmeal

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, yeast, sugar, salt and baking soda. Add warm milk and water; beat on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat on high for 3 minutes.
• Stir in remaining flour (batter will be stiff). Do not knead. Grease two 8-in. x 4-in. loaf pans. Sprinkle pans with cornmeal. Spoon batter into the pans and sprinkle cornmeal on top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes.
• Bake at 375° for 35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire racks. Slice and toast. Yield: 2 loaves.
  

Amish Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients:
1 pound sliced bacon, diced
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
6 eggs, lightly beaten
4 cups frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed
2 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 1/2 cups small curd cottage cheese
1 1/4 cups shredded Swiss cheese

Directions:
In a large skillet, cook bacon and onion until bacon is crisp; drain. In a bowl, combine the remaining ingredients; stir in bacon mixture. Transfer to greased 9x13 baking dish.
Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until set and bubbly. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

My modifications:
Instead of frozen hash browns I made my own by just grating the potatoes. I also used only Cheddar Cheese since that's what I had on hand. I sprinkled over the top onion powder and garlic powder; I thought this tasted fantastic...no one else noticed the powders.

This got 6 thumbs up here!

Granola

16 cups oats (rolled or quick)
1 1/2 cups each sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, walnut pieces (or almonds or pecans), cocnut, dry milk
1 1/2 cups wheat germ (optional)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup honey
1 cup oil
2 cups apple juice (I prefer pineapple juice)
1 TB vanilla

Mix dry ingredients in LARGE bowl. Microwave honey and oil 1-2 minutes on high to soften honey, then beat well. Add vanilla and pour all liquids into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir until thoroughly combined. Bake in 5 batches at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes. Add dried fruit (raisins, chopped apricots, etc) after the granola has cooled. Store in airtight container.

Note: This make a LOT of granola, but it doesn't usually last very long at our house. I like to almost double the amount of liquid (oil, honey, juice). I just think it makes better granola. This makes an excellent breakfast or snack!!!

Monkey Bread made with Amish Bread

Amish Bread (this is a sweet bread)

• 2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 6 cups bread flour

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.
2. Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
3. Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

Once you have the Amish bread made then you gather these things and do this:

Brown Sugar: 1/2cup will be needed
* 2 sticks of butter (1 cup)
* Bundt Cake Pan (feel free to use dorky shapes)
* Cinnamon: 2-3 teaspoons
* 3 cans of Buttermilk Biscuits (the non-flaky ones)
* Sugar!: 1 cup

Now before you do anything…go ahead and preheat that oven to 350 degrees You’ll need this in about 10 minutes.

Open up all three cans of biscuits and cut each biscuit into quarters. (Or in our case cut up your bread dough into small pieces.)
At this time you’ll want to combine the 1 cup of regular sugar with 2-3 teaspoons of cinnamon. I use 3 teaspoons of cinnamon and this gives it a fairly strong cinnamon flavor. If you’re not so hot on cinnamon, cut it back to 2 teaspoons. Dump these into a 1 gallon zip bag and shake to mix evenly. Drop all of the biscuit quarters into the cinnamon-sugar mix. Go ahead…all of them. Yes, they’re sticking together right now, but just trust me.
Once all the biscuit quarters are in the bag, seal it and give it a vigorous shake. This will get all those pieces unstuck from one another and nicely coated with the cinnamon-sugar. You might have some excess sugar left over and that’s okay.
Spread these nuggets out evenly in your bundt pan. I suppose you might want to grease this pan before doing this, but I’m pretty sure the gallon of butter we are about to add will keep it safe.
At this point, you’re going to want to melt those two sticks of butter together with 1/2cup of brown sugar. This can be light or dark brown sugar. Stir together over a medium-high heat until the two become one.
Once the brown sugar butter has become one color, you can pour it over the biscuits.
At first…it’s going to look like too much. It’s okay though.

Bake this @ 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes until the crust is a deep brown on top.

If you have the willpower, allow this to cool for about 15-30 minutes before turning it over onto a plate. If it doesn’t slide right down onto the plate, give it a few love-taps until it plops. It’ll hold.


If you'd like a tutorial (probably because it just looks SOOOO yummy) click here.

Morning Glory Muffins

½ cup raisins, packed
½ cup fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped
1 cup fresh or canned crushed pineapple, drained
1 tart apple, peeled, cored, finely chopped
½ cup shredded coconut
About 4 large carrots, peeled and grated (2 cups)
½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup oil
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon

TOPPING
brown sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all fruits, coconut, carrots, and nuts. In another large bowl whisk together the eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and add to wet mixture. Stir until just blended. Stir in fruit mixture. Divide among muffin cups, filling almost to top. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until done. Cool in pans at least 10 minutes then remove. Serve warm. NOTE: you can refrigerate batter over night to let the flavors blend. Makes 16-18 muffins

Decadent French Toast

2 (day-old) croissants
¼ cup cream cheese
8 fresh strawberries
3 eggs
½ cup half-and-half
3 TB sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Butter or margarine for frying
Confectioners’ sugar

Slice croissants lengthwise to make a butterfly shape. Spread 1 tablespoon cream cheese on the inside of each croissant half. Slice 4 strawberries and place slices on cream cheese. Fold halves together to reform croissants. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, half-and-half, sugar and vanilla. Soak croissants, dipping both side in batter, but do not allow them to become soggy. In a skillet, fry croissants on both sides in butter or margarine until thoroughly cooked and golden brown. Garnish with remaining berries (sliced). Dust with confectioners’ sugar. Makes 2 servings.

Monte Cristo Sandwiches

2 TB honey mustard, divided
12 thin slices white or egg bread, divided
4 oz sliced deli turkey breast
8 thin slices (4 oz) Swiss cheese, divided
4 oz smoked sliced deli ham, divided
2 eggs, beaten
¼ cup milk
dash ground nutmeg
2-3 TB butter or margarine
Powdered Sugar
Strawberry or Raspberry preserves

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

To assemble 3-decker sandwich, spread ½ tsp mustard over 1 side of each of 3 bread slices. Place ¼ of turkey and 1 cheese l slice over mustard on 1 bread slice. Top with second bread slice, mustard side up.

Place ¼ of ham and 1 slice cheese on top of bread. Top with remaining bread slice, mustard side down, pressing gently together. Repeat with remaining mustard, bread, turkey, cheese, & ham to make 4 sandwiches.

Combine eggs, milk & nutmeg in shallow dish or pie plate.

Melt 1 TB butter in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Dip both sides of each sandwich briefly in egg mixture, letting excess drip back into dish.

Fry sandwiches until brown, turning halfway through cooking. Transfer sandwiches to greased baking sheet. Bake sandwiches 5 to 7 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted. Cut each sandwich in half diagonally; sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar. Serve immediately with preserves.

Makes 4 servings.

Three-Grain Flapjacks

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup yellow cornmeal
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ cup regular rolled oats
3 TB brown sugar
1 beaten egg
1 ¾ cup milk
½ cup plain yogurt
3 TB cooking oil
½ cup dried blueberries or currants (optional)

In a large bowl stir together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. In a blender container or food processor bowl combine oats and brown sugar. Cover and blend or process until oats are coarsely ground. Stir oat mixture into flour mixture. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture.
In a medium bowl, combine the egg, milk, yogurt, and oil. Add the egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter will be lumpy and thin). Let stand for 10 minutes to thicken slightly, stirring once or twice. If desired, gently fold in dried fruit.
Lightly coat a nonstick griddle or heavy skillet with cooking spray. Heat over medium heat. For each pancake, pour about ¼ cup batter onto the hot griddle or skillet. Cook over medium heat for 1 ½ to 2 minutes or until pancakes have bubbly surfaces and the edges are slightly dry. Turn pancakes; cook for 1 ½ to 2 minutes more or until golden brown. Makes 16 to 20 pancakes

Rachel's note: These are a nice alternative to regular pancakes.

Cinnamon Rolls

One batch traditional roll dough
1/2 c melted butter/margarine
1 c brown sugar
cinnamon
raisins
chocolate chips
chopped nuts

Roll dough into rectangle 1/4 inch thick. Spread with butter. Sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins or chocolate chips, and nuts. Roll up the dough and slice into 1 inch thick rolls. Place rolls in 9x13 baking pan and let rise for 30 min. Bake at 375 for 25 min. Remove from oven and immediately invert onto foil. These cinnamon rolls do not need frosting because of all the butter and brown suger. If you want gooier cinnamon rolls just use more butter and sugar.

Ham Quiche

1 pie crust, baked according to directions
4 ounces ham, cooked and diced
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Cover bottom of crust with ham. Beat eggs, cream and seasoning. Pour into pie crust until 3/4 full. Randomly cover top with little butter pieces (1/2 inch cubes) and sprinkle with pepper. Cover edges of crust with foil and bake at 375 degrees about 30 minutes or until golden brown. (Quiche should not move when you shake it).

French Toast Strata

4 cups day-old French or Italian bread, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1/3 cup golden raisins
1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, cut into cubes
3 eggs
1-1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup maple-flavored pancake syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Additional maple-flavored pancake syrup (optional)

Spray 11X7-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Place bread cubes in even layer in prepared dish; sprinkle raisins and cream cheese evenly over bread.

Beat eggs in medium bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until blended. Add milk, 1/2 cup pancake syrup and vanilla; mix well. Pour egg mixture evenly over bread mixture. Cover; refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine sugar and cinnamon in small bowl; sprinkle evenly over strata.

Bake, uncovered, 40 to 45 minutes or until puffed, golden brown and knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cut into squares and serve with additional pancake syrup.

Aimee's note - James calls this dessert. Also we prefer it without the raisins and with more cream cheese. I have made this when I only refridgerated it for half an hour and it seemed fine.

Light as a Feather Pancakes

This recipe is from a cookbook that Ellen got for her birthday. She helped me make these for breakfast the other day and they were good.

1 c flour
1 T sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
1 c buttermilk
2 T oil

Put dry ingredients in a bowl and mix. Combine egg, milk, and oil in another mixing bowl and beat with whisk until ingredients are well mixed. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until dry ingredients are wet. The batter should be somewhat lumpy, not smooth. Cook pancakes on a griddle or skillet. To check if the griddle or skillet is ready, carefully sprinkle a few drops of water on the surface. The water will dance across the surface when the griddle is hot enough. Cook over medium heat until pancakes have slightly bubbly surgaces and the edges are slightly dry (about 2 min.) Turn over and cook until bottoms are golden brown (2 min. more).

Aimee's note - I triple this recipe for our family and it is just enough to feed all of us. Yes I am intentionally putting a dinner label on this. We have pancakes for supper way more often than we do for breakfast.