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Today in Laurie's Kitchen - Cereal and Mayonnaise (but not cereal WITH mayonnaise!)

Finding an easy, but healthy breakfast is always a challenge. Presently I have daycare kiddos who don't care for eggs, nor do they like oatmeal. Pancakes are messy and involve prep, not to mention that the kids want their pancakes to drown in syrup. The kids also arrive at various times. We try to wait for all our friends to arrive before having breakfast but sometimes we are too hungry to wait. Cereal is easy. Pour as needed and it doesn't get cold while it waits for everyone to arrive. Every once in awhile I serve toast and fresh fruit for breakfast but mostly the kids just want cereal. Unfortunately, store bought cereal is often overpriced and is almost always filled with sugar. I try to reserve our sugar consumption to occasional afternoon snacks of homemade cakes, brownies, and cookies. Check out this article comparing cereal to ice cream:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1174591/Named-shamed-The-cereals-sugar-bowl-ice-cream.html

I've spent much time in the cereal aisle reading the ingredient lists. Rice krispies (I buy the generic brand so this is relatively less expensive) has the least amount of sugar and has become the staple for my breakfast "cupboard". BUT rice krispies may have some competition as I stumbled upon the following recipe and am hoping the kids will love it! If they do, I will no longer need to buy cereal (WAHOO!).

I have ground my wheat berries, added the milk, water and whey which will now sit on my kitchen counter until tomorrow morning, as which time I will add remaining ingredients and bake. By Wednesday morning we will be feasting on homemade cereal!

Breakfast Cereal

6 cups of whole wheat flour
3 cups of milk
1 cup water
1/4 cup whey
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. maple flavoring (I used REAL maple syrup)
1/2 cups melted butter or coconut oil
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon

-Mix flour, milk, water and whey-cover and let set overnight.
-Add remaining ingredients in the morning.
-Preheat oven to 350
-Grease two 9X13 pans with coconut oil
-Bake 35-45 mins.
-Remove from oven and lower temp. to 200.
-Cool the cakes and crumble on baking sheets.
-Bake until dry and hard. (About an hour)


CEREAL UPDATE (5/18/11)
First round in the oven produced this lovely "cake-like" deliciousness. I couldn't resist and enjoyed a piece slathered in honey. After my delicious breakfast, I crumbled up the cake onto my cookie sheets and baked my crumbles for two hours (the directions recommended one hour but I felt it needed to be a little more crisp/dry....my old oven also tends to need more time than most.) I was a little skeptical...my cereal looked like bread crumbs/tiny croutons. I was worried about the sog factor, as well as the kid friendly factor. During the afternoon I enjoyed eating it dry...by the handfuls. :) Even hubby liked it this way. This morning I tried it with milk. Yum. It remained crisp and didn't get soggy, even when I was interrupted several times from my breakfast. The true test....the kids ate it!
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A year or so ago, I attempted to make homemade mayonnaise....and it was a flop. This morning I decided to try again. SUCCESS! This recipe from Nourishing Traditions is wonderful! I will never buy mayo again. :) I think the garlic grapeseed oil added an extra yum to this recipe.

MAYONNAISE

1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk (room temperature)
1 t. Dijon Mustard (I was out so I used regular mustard)
1 1/2 T. lemon juice
1 T. Whey
3/4 c. extra virgin olive oil (also out of this so I substituted 1/4 c. Wildtree Roasted Garlic Grapeseed Oil + 1/2 c. Wildtree Natural Grapeseed Oil)
generous pinch of sea salt

I added everything but the oil in my blender. Blend well. Removed lid (or little "pour lid" thingamajiggy) and very slowly began to pour in oil while still blending (this is the trick - SLOWLY add oil!).

If whey is added, leave on kitchen counter for 7 hours before putting in the refrigerator. With the whey added, the mayonnaise will keep for several months. Without the whey, the mayonnaise will keep for about two weeks.

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Tonight my son and I will be attending a Boy Scout potluck so I used my homemade mayonnaise in the broccoli/cauliflower salad that I will be bringing to share.

Broccoli Salad

1/2 Red Onion, diced
Handful of Grapes, cut in fourths
Handful of Sunflower Seeds
Couple Stalks of Broccoli, cut into bite size "chunks"
Head of Cauliflower, cut into bite size "chunks"

DRESSING:
1 c. Mayonnaise
4 t. Red Wine Vinegar
4 t. Sugar

Throw cut up grapes, veggies, and seeds into a bowl. Whisk together dressing ingredients and pour over "veggie bowl". Toss to combine. Store in refrigerator. So easy and I am all about easy.



Shared at Delicious Obsessions.....

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