Mission Family Nutrition - Week Two

 

Week Two of Mission Family Nutrition at Coming Clean.  Last week my goal was to create and follow a menu.  Well, the menu was created, but I can't say that I followed it exactly!  Of course right after I make the menu Ally got the 24-hr stomach flu that RaeRae had last week.  Since my whole day was spent taking care of her the only thing that we ate from the menu that day was breakfast (eggs and whole wheat toast, but not the fruit salad).  But it worked out well later in the week, yesterday.   Since I forgot to pull the chicken out of the freezer to thaw for dinner yesterday, I substituted what we were supposed to have for dinner Tuesday.  ...Be flexible...be flexible...

 

Here's a recipe for Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits that we had last night.  It's from Sue Gregg's Eating Better Cookbook series Main Dishes.  (Very educational cookbooks as well as delicious recipes.  I highly recommend them!)

 

1. Blend together:

   2 1/2 cups Whole wheat flour (pastry preferred)

   2 teaspoons baking powder

   1/2 teaspoon baking soda

   1/2 teaspoon salt

2. Cut into dry ingredients with pastry blender or two table knives until crumbly like small peas:

   1/4 cup butter (unsalted preferred)

3. Blend egg and milk, then stir into dry ingredients just until blended; do not overwork dough:

   1 egg

   3/4 cup buttermilk (if using buttermilk powder combine powder with dry    

      ingredients in step one, and add water here.)

4. Knead dough lightly about 10 times on lightly floured surface with flour on hands.  Pat out to 3/4" thickness and cut biscuits with rim of floured glass.

5.  Place on lightly greased cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned.

These biscuit are better made with Whole wheat pastry flour (ground from soft white wheat that has less gluten) instead of normal whole wheat flour (ground from hard wheat).  All I had last night was the normal whole wheat flour and the biscuits were definitely not as light and fluffy as traditional biscuits.  You could also use half whole wheat flour and half unbleached white flour.

This week it's my goal to make a new bean dish.  Thanks to WIC we get plenty of legumes.   I didn't grow up eating many beans (except for chili or burritos), so it's a challenge for me to serve my family beans.  If you have any tips, I'd definitely appreciate reading them!