Saturday, November 29, 2008

Pumpkin pie with whole wheat pie crust


Yesterday I tried a new recipe for a whole wheat pie crust. My husband thought it was good. I am not quite so sure. I used hard white wheat flour, and I think next time I would use either soft white wheat flour or spelt flour. I think the cook is always more critical than the taste testers. My husband likes most of my experiments. I would give the pie crust a 3 out of 5 star rating, but the pie filling definitely gets 5 stars. The pumpkin pie is actually made out of fresh yams instead of canned pumpkin. My daughter called it incredible!

Friday, November 28, 2008

Is it really whole grain?


This is my wheat grinder. My husband gave it to me nearly 10 years ago for my birthday. He probably wondered at the time if it was really wise to spend almost $200 on this gadget and how often would it really get used. I don't think that he has been disappointed. I have used this several times a week to make whole grain items. One of my pet peeves is that many "wheat breads" are not really whole wheat. Manufactures often times throw a little whole grain in an item to call it whole grain, but the item is really mostly processed white flour. I like to experiment to make baked goods without using white flour. I have made chocolate muffins with barley and spelt flour. I have ground white beans and used the flour in applesauce oatmeal cookies. Fresh cornmeal and hard white wheat flour make a delicious cornbread. A favorite of mine is chocolate chip cookies with oats and spelt flour.