ACarroll Wellness Blog

Breakfast

As many of you know, I don't like to 'discard' any sourdough starter.  By keeping my starter in the fridge, I'm able to feed it every other day (or even every three days), but eventually, the jar starts to get full and you need to bake with it!  I'm always looking for recipes that use starter other than bread.  So I tried these sourdough muffins.  The recipe is for blueberry muffins, but I put shredded apple in mine instead.  The recipe comes from this website.

 

 

Ingredients:

1 C “discarded” sourdough starter
1 C whole wheat flour (sift flour prior to measuring)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon (optional) and/or other spices
1/4 C melted coconut oil or melted butter
1/2 C honey
1 tsp baking soda
~1/2 C blueberries 

Method:

Combine sourdough starter and whole wheat flour. Once the two are thoroughly combined, cover the dough with plastic wrap ensuring that none of it is exposed to the air. Let sit at room temperature for at least seven hours.

When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a muffin pan with papers or grease the cups.

In a separate bowl, mix together all other ingredients except for blueberries and baking soda. Add those ingredients to the dough in the mixer’s bowl and mix together. Once all the ingredients are mixed and have come together as a batter, sprinkle the baking soda in the bowl and mix batter again briefly to incorporate. Fold in blueberries and scoop batter into prepared muffin pan.

Bake for 20 min. Makes 8-12 muffins.

 

The muffins were good, I thought they were a bit on the 'oily' side. So if I make them again, I will reduce the oil.  You do need to remember to start these the night before you want to make them (as is typical with most sourdough recipes).  I also made some yummy juice to go with my muffins:  peach, apple, cucumber and spinach juice!  (I typically just juice whatever is in the fridge!)

CSA

My fall CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) started last week............ here is a picture of what was in my box:

 

 

I was excited that this year Pinckney Produce decided to offer a fall season.  I chose Pinckney's after being part of a different local CSA for a couple of years.  That particular CSA just didn't have a wide variety of produce (although I've been told they have improved now) and the pick up point was not very convenient for me.  Because my boys are both in school now, I chose to get the smallest share they offer - it works out to costing about $20 per week.  They also have a 'swap' box at the pick up location so that you can swap out anything that you might not eat.  This week, I was able to swap my eggplant and my okra for extra green peppers and cucumbers!  Do you belong to a CSA?  If not, you should consider it - you can check here for opportunities in your area:  http://www.localharvest.org/

Participating in a CSA program has many benefits besides getting good fresh local produce every week (which is a great benefit all by itself).  I love knowing that my fruits and veggies were picked just a day or two before I get them and haven't been sitting around in a truck for weeks somewhere.   It's a great way to support local farmers and keep your money in your community.  

Sourdough Banana Bread

I found this recipe on the internet......... I found it several places, so I think it's okay to post it:

 

1/3 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup mashed banana
1 cup sourdough starter
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp vanilla or 1 tsp grated orange rind

Cream together the shortening and sugar, add egg, and mix until blended. Stir in bananas and sourdough starter. Add orange rind or vanilla. Sift flour, measure again with salt, baking powder, and soda. Add flour mixture and walnuts to the first mixture, stirring just until blended. Pour into greased 9x5" loaf pan. Bake in moderate or 350 oven for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool before slicing.

 

 

This is some of the best banana bread I've eaten, and I'll be making it again............soon!  I modified it slightly, I used butter instead of shortening and I would have liked to have used sucanat instead of sugar, but I'm out until my co-op order goes in. So, I subbed 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup honey and I didn't use nuts because those aren't gastroparesis friendly!  I think this might work well with a gluten free flour mix, too!  If you try it, let me know how you like it!