New York Style Whole Grain Bagel Tutorial

Last week we had some great classes on how to make homemade bagels! This is a great tutorial on how to make them at home with your Bosch Universal Mixer.  

Whole Grain Bagel Recipe

Ingredients:
2 T active dry yeast
1/4 cup sugar
3 cups of warm water
7 cups fresh milled hard wheat flour ( plus extra for kneading)

Optional Toppings: Caraway seeds, coarse salt, minced fresh garlic, minced fresh onion, poppy seeds, or sesame seeds.

Directions: 1. Put 3 cup of the warm water, sugar and yeast in the bowl of a Bosch Universal Mixer.  Let sit for five minutes.

2. Add the flour and salt to the bowl and mix on speed 3 4-5 minutes.

3.  Remove from mixer and form into a bowl. Place in a large gallon sized bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow tor raise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down and allow to rest about 10 minutes. 

4. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Take the dough and press gently against the countertop in a ball. 

6. Coat a finger in flour, and gently press your finger into the center of each dough ball to form a ring. Stretch the ring to about ⅓ the diameter of the bagel and place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet. Repeat the same step with the remaining dough.

7. After shaping the dough rounds and placing them on the cookie sheet, cover with a damp kitchen towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 425ºF .

8. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Reduce the heat. Use a slotted spoon or skimmer to lower the bagels into the water. Boil as many as you are comfortable with boiling. Once the bagels are in, it shouldn’t take too long for them to float to the top (a couple seconds). Let them sit there for 1 minute, and them flip them over to boil for another minute. Extend the boiling times to 2 minutes each, if you’d prefer a chewier bagel (results will give you a more New York Style bagel with this option).

9. If you want to top your bagels with stuff, do so as you take them out of the water, you may use the “optional toppings” (listed above).

10. Once all the bagels have boiled (and have been topped with your choice of toppings), transfer them to a lightly oiled baking sheet.

12. Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Cool on a wire rack (or if you’re impatient like I am, slice one of these babies open, and spread some softened butter on it. 

Have fun making some great homemade bagels! 

We look forward to seeing you at our Cooking class!

Avocado Lime Mexican Deviled Eggs

This is another great egg recipe that we made for our egg class. Eggs are such a great source of protein and totally delicious! If you missed our post on cooking eggs in a pressure cooker you can find that here. 

As the weather starts heating up, this is a great recipe! 

Avocado Lime Mexican Deviled Eggs

You will need:

12 whole eggs, hard boiled and shelled

1/2 cup cilantro leaves

2-3 green onions

1/2 jalapeno pepper, cut into pieces

juice of 1/2 a lime

1 tsp salt

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 pinch paprika

Worcestershire sauce, to taste

 Place the eggs in a pressure cooker on a trivet with 1 cup water. Bring water to ta boil. Place pressure lid on and bring to second ring (high pressure) cook 3-5 minutes. Let the pressure drop on its own and then run cold water in pan until cool. Slice eggs in half, remove yolks, and put  yolks in a Vitamix 750.

Add the avocado to the yolks. Isn't it odd how much an avocado looks like a yolk-less egg? Green eggs and ham...Right?

Blend the yolks and avocado until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and blend until just combined. This makes it so there is still some pretty texture with the herbs and the eggs. 

Place the yolk mixture in a pastry bag and squeeze into the empty eggs...

Serve chilled.

We hope to see you soon!

Upcoming Classes!

Killer Bacon and Egg Salad

Wanda, the amazing instructor at our store made this outstanding salad in our egg class and we had to share it! Simple egg salad is something everyone should know how to make, but a killer egg salad is one that people will talk about, beg to have for dinner, and will be used for years to come at your house.  This is one of those egg salad recipes you cannot live without!  Wanda has used it for years and it is now a staple at our house as well! 

Here's the simple recipe:

Wanda's Egg Salad

1/2 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/2 cup sliced olives

1/2 cup dill pickle relish

12 boiled eggs, peeled and diced

1/4 tsp garlic pepper

2T yellow mustard

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Boiled eggs in the pressure cooker
12 eggs
water
Place eggs in pressure cooker on trivet with 1 cup water (2 cups water if boiling more eggs in a larger pressure cooker). Bring water to a boil. Place pressure lid on and bring to second red ring (high pressure) for 5 minutes. Let the pressure drop on its own. run under cold water in a pan until cool or place eggs in ice water.

Combine egg salad ingredients. Chill. Serve as sandwich filling or stuffed in tomatoes.  We love it with a drizzle of hot sauce and some extra blue cheese crumbles. Your family will love this!

Did you miss this class? Come visit us! Upcoming Classes!

Easy Overnight Cheesy Spinach Breakfast Bake

This last week here in our amazing Free Cooking Classes, we had an Egg-travaganza showing some great dishes to make with eggs! Eggs are a great price right now, especially with all the Easter events.

People ask us all the time what we do with day-old bread or whole wheat bread if it didn't turn out the way we would have liked. This is a great way to use up some extra cubes of whole grain happiness...

 Easy Overnight Cheesy Spinach Breakfast Bake

2 packages fresh spinach (9 oz) chopped
6 green onions sliced thin
2 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream (or half-n-half)
9 eggs
1 1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1T salt
1T Italian Seasoning blend
8 cups whole wheat bread cubes

Directions: 

In a large pot, bring 2 inches of water to a boil.
Place spinach in a colander in the boiling water. Cover and steam for 3-5 minutes until wilted. Drain well.
In a large bowl combine all ingredients except the bread cubes. 

 Add the bread cubes and coat well.

 Transfer to a 9 inch by 13 inch baking dish.

Cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes (or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean). Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Scoop into serving dishes and drizzle with your favorite salad dressing if desired. We really loved it with ranch dressing. 

There it is! Simple, convenient, and delicious!
We hope to see you soon at one of our free upcoming classes!! 

Perfect Quinoa 101

 What in the world is quinoa anyway? 2013 was declared the The International Year of Quinoa. Did you miss the memo?  If you haven't yet tried this remarkable super-grain you're going to be in for a few surprises.  We hear a lot of questions about how to cook it and what to do with it. Enough so, that we had three classes on how to cook it and add it to your healthy life. Here's what you should know about the nutrition of Quinoa.

It is a complete protein and a wonderful source of fiber.

How do you cook it?

 You will always need to rinse and drain quinoa thoroughly in cold water before cooking, unless it is in a package that says, "pre-rinsed". It is easiest rinsed in in a  finer meshed colander. This is a smaller grain and it will easily slip through the cracks. 

Rinsing is not an optional step. Why?

 In its natural state quinoa has a coating of saponins, which gives it a bitter taste. This bitterness can have beneficial effects in terms of cultivation, as it is a crop that is relatively untouched by birds and thus requires minimal protection. The presence of saponin is obvious by the production of a soapy looking "suds". This also represents the major antinutritional factor found in the grain. Fortunately, most of these saponins are concentrated in the outer layers of the grain (seed coat, and a cuticle-like layer) which facilitates their removal industrially by washing the grains with water. (See more here)

Basic Quinoa

2 cups red or white quinoa, rinsed well

4 cups water or chicken broth
salt to taste

Directions: 

Pressure Cooker: In a 2 1/2 liter pressure cooker add the Basic Quinoa ingredients. Bring to a boil. Seal lid and pressure at high for 5 minutes. Allow pressure to drop on its own. Store cooled quinoa in the fridge for up to a week. 

Conventional:  In a 1 and a half quart (6 cups) capacity heavy pot with a tight fitting lid, boil the water and the salt, that is when the bubbles don't stop even when you stir it. Add the grain, cover the pot, and turn the burner to the lowest setting. Set your timer for 15 minutes. Don't stir it. Just let it simmer. This will produce perfect grain every time if you follow the instructions.

Now, if you feel pretty crazy and confident, try using chicken or vegetable broth in place of the water. It will add a lot of flavor. Some people don't like a flavor to their grain, beside the grain. We also like using coconut milk in place of the water in Hawaiian dinners, along with 1/4 cup minced onion. Garlic adds a nice touch too, even just one or two cloves pressed into the broth as you add the grain.

One final note. You can use quinoa anywhere you use rice. It is also remarkable added to your baked goods in small amounts. Keep it to about 1/2 cup of cooked grain to every dozen muffins or pan of quick bread.  

See you soon at one of our Free Cooking Classes!

Slow Cooker Carrot Cake

Last week we had our vegetable festival and for one of the dessert recipes we made a really fun slow cooker carrot cake in our Fagor 3-in-1 Pressure Cooker.

This pressure cooker has three functions in one appliance so it can work as a rice cooker, pressure cooker, and also a slow cooker.  Because the insert is metal and removable with a non-stick coating, it is perfect for this carrot cake recipe. No additional pans are needed and it bakes this carrot cake perfectly in 2 hours without an oven! This is great for anyone who is using their oven for other foods or simply doesn't want to heat up their kitchen. We haven't tried it with other recipes yet, but we're anxious to see what else we can bake in our slow cooker!

We also adapted this recipe from the original recipe that called for dead white flour and replaced it with fresh ground whole soft white wheat flour. Using a Nutrimill will give you the ability to retain all the healthy nutrition of the whole grain. 

We love being able to control the texture of our flour. For this cake, we go with the finest setting possible. Soft wheat, with the lower protein content, is perfect for cake.

The other thing we do is use the flour sifter for our Bosch Universal. Sifting out some of the bulky fiber will give this cake a lighter texture.  This is how it works: 

Slow Cooker Carrot Cake

1 Cup grapeseed oil

3 eggs

2 Tbsp hot water

1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract

2 Cups fine grated carrot (about 4 carrots)

1 ½ Cups soft white wheat flour (bran removed if possible)

1 ½ Cups sugar

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ tsp nutmeg

1 Tbsp cinnamon

½ tsp ground cloves

1 cup walnuts, chopped

1 Cup golden raisins, plump with 1 cup boiling water 10 minutes, drain well

Directions: In a Bosch bowl with the cookie paddle, combine the oil, eggs, water and  vanilla. Turn off the mixer. Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon. Mix on speed 1 until combined. Add the carrots, walnuts, and raisins using the moment speed until incorporated.  
Pour batter into a well greased  Fagor 3-in-1 Pressure Cooker. Turn on the slow cook function on high for 2 hours. Allow to sit for at least 30 minutes before opening lid. 

The cake will be moist and remarkable. 

There you go! Make some amazing slow cooker carrot cake! We look forward to seeing you at one of our next cooking classes!

3 Ingredient Pressure Cooker Hawaiian Kaluah Pork

This is perhaps one of the simplest and most delicious Polynesian pork recipes you will ever try. The secret is having a great pressure cooker and 3 basic ingredients.

Kuhn Rikon 5 "Cadillac" Pressure Cooker boasts a generous 11 inch waffle-textured cooking surface for fat-free browning and sautéing. Its wide shape means more surface area in contact with heat so the cooker comes up to pressure faster. This  5 quart pressure cooker is every cooks' must-have all-purpose tool.

 

For this recipe you'll need three basic ingredients. One of them is salt. We just got in some really delicious gourmet specialty salt.

Black Hawaiian Sea Salt 

Have you ever used Hawaiian black salt? Black Hawaiian salt enhances food with a crisp, bold taste. These salts are harvested from pacific waters using traditional methods of solar evaporation, allowing the salt crystals to form with the much desired trace minerals intact. The salt obtains its natural and dramatic coloring from activated coconut shell charcoal which is infused with the salt for its numerous health benefits which include antioxidant properties and enhanced digestive health. Because of the color and flavor is best used as a finishing salt for foods and desserts.

KALUA PORK

Ingredients

3 lbs boneless pork shoulder butt 

1T liquid smoke (plus a couple more drops)

1 1/2 tsp  Hawaiian salt (black or pink)

Directions:

• Cut slits into the pork shoulder then sear on all sides in a 5 quart pressure cooker, waffle bottomed pressure cookers allow browning and are ideal for this dish.  You can also use a Fagor 3-in-1 electric pressure cooker*.
•  Brush 1T liquid smoke on the seared pork and then sprinkle with salt on all sides.  Put the pressure lid and pressure at the second ring for 60 minutes, medium heat. *Fagor cook 60 minutes high pressure, natural release.
• Remove the pork from the pan and shred. Reserve the liquid. Skim the fat off the top and add a couple drops of liquid smoke. Add liquid back to pork to moisten.

 We shredded the pork today, but it is also amazing simply served in big chunks of meaty glory! Try it with delicious basmati or jasmine rice and a drizzle of coconut milk. We look forward to seeing you at one of our Upcoming Cooking Classes!