Mama Mondays - Flourishing Family

Ok....So I know that I promised everyone an amazing STIR FRY recipe today....but I changed my mind. Here is why. I got to visit with my family this weekend and it reminded me what I LOVE about being a part of a flourishing family! I am gonna start a series every 3rd Monday of the month all about good family recipes! What I remember the most about growing up in my family, is that we homemade most of our food. All of my friends were jealous every time they came over and mom was making homemade bread!!! MMMMMM!!!!!! The whole neighborhood smelled good!

It got me thinking, bread is something that as kids we really depended on for a staple in our diets. No matter how many times my mom made it....and she made it pretty often, we were always excited to eat it!!! I remember that my mom could get us to try anything new, as long as it was accompanied by her yummy bread!!!

Now that I am grown and have my own little family, I love getting to provide the same thing for my family. We love making our own bread! We know exactly what is in it and that it is healthy! So today I am gonna show you just how easy it is to make your own delicious bread! You are excited right?!

Here is what you will need:

4 Tablespoons THRIVE White Sugar

4 Tablespoons Yeast

4 C. Warm Water

4 C. Warm THRIVE Milk

2/3 C. Oil (I love coconut oil!)

3 Tablespoons THRIVE Salt

18 C THRIVE Flour (I use a mixture of

whole wheat and white flour, but you can

 use any type of flour that you like...this is

easily adapted to gluten free with THRIVE rice flour)

 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Combine Sugar, yeast and warm water. Let sit for 15 minutes covered with a towel.

Combine milk, oil, salt, and 8 cups of your flour in a separate bowl. Add yeast mixture. Reserve 2 cups of flour to knead with. Slowly add the remainder of your flour.

Grease your pans and set aside.  

Pour dough out onto a floured surface and knead only a few times. (I usually only knead until I can handle the dough quickly without is being sticky) Form into loaves that are roughly ½ the height of your pan.

Put your dough into your pans and sit them on top of the stove. Cover with a towel and allow them to rise to double their size.

Bake @ 425 degrees for 10 minutes

Turn the oven down to 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Pull them out of the oven and rub them with butter right away. Let them cool then enjoy!!!

Simple Right!!! It will be a big hit...Promise!!!

 

Anytime we make homemade bread....we have to mix up some of this little gem!

THRIVE Butter

THRIVE Honey crystals

Cinnamon

It tastes like the stuff you get at Texas Roadhouse or Chuck-A-Rama!!! I LOVE it!!!

Happy Monday!!!

 

Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

T

With 4 cute kiddos around the home, we go through a lot of snacks throughout the day.  These kids may seem tiny, but they have quite an appetite when it comes to granola bars.I have never been a fan of the "name brand" Chewy Granola Bars, but bought them for the kids at Costco a few times a year because they only equaled out to about 25 cents a piece.  Bingo...$1 and the 4 are fed, right?  Well, sort of...

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The Kitchen Mill and Whole Wheat Bread that you just can't get enough of? You Bet!

Day 7- of the 30 Days of Faves

This baby is the Kitchen Mill Wheat Grinder.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!  I use it once a month and grind up a bunch of wheat at once, then freeze the wheat in freezer bags to keep those healthy oils fresh.  For anyone who loves fresh, healthy, straight from the source food, this is a dream.  You simply pour wheat in at the top, flip the switch to how fine you want the flour and let it work its magic.  There are a lot of grinders out there that you have to clean a certain way because of the natural oils in wheat corrode the parts, but not so with this one.  If you are new to the idea of wheat flour, you might be surprised to know that white flour comes from the same grain, it is just wheat flour stripped of all of the healthy nutrients so it is a cheaper alternative for companies for use in their products.  To learn more about the differences between white and wheat flour you can visit this site.

I will be doing some video clips for YouTube over the next few days for recipes that I use because I have this awesome tool.  I love that I was able to earn it for half price, and you can too-just ask how!  If you are someone who has tons of wheat for food storage without a clue of how to use them, stay tuned and I will help you learn how.  We'll start with this recipe for today!

Below is my favorite 100% Whole Wheat Bread recipe that I make in my bread machine a couple times each week.  This is perfect for all of you out there who feel like you don't know how to make bread or don't think you have the time, but would love bread with out all of the yucky preservatives.  This came from my Breadman Recipe Manual.

100% Whole Wheat Bread 1 Lb Loaf

1 Egg, room temperature plus enough water to equal  3/4 c

2 T Oil

2 TSugar

1 t Salt

2 1/4 c Whole Wheat Flour

1 T Vital Wheat Gluten

1 1/2 t Active Dry Yeast

or 1 t Bread Machine/Quick Rise Yeast

100% Whole Wheat Bread 1.5 Lb Loaf

1 Egg, room temperature plus enough water to equal  1 c

3 T Oil

3 T Sugar

1 1/2 t Salt

3 Whole Wheat Flour

1 1/2 T Vital Wheat Gluten

2 t Active Dry Yeast

or 1 1/4 Bread Machine/Quick Rise Yeast

100% Whole Wheat Bread 2 Lb Loaf

1 Egg, room temperature plus enough water to equal  1 1/3 c

1/4 c Oil

1/4 c Sugar

2 t Salt

4 c Whole Wheat Flour

2 T Vital Wheat Gluten

1 1/2 t Active Dry Yeast

or Bread Machine/Quick Rise Yeast

Note: I do the 2 lb loaf and I also add 1 t of dough enhancer.  Many people say that wheat bread turns out dense for them.  Gluten and dough enhancer are the magic that make your bread fluffy and moist.  To learn more about why these are important you can go to this independent site.

Not ready to make the plunge for an electric wheat grinder or are you looking for one that you can use in case there was an emergency and you had 0 electricity....here's an alternative, the Grain Mill Wheat Grinder.  Please note that anyone who has used a manual wheat grinder can attest to the fact that they are a lot more work.

If you like this post, you might also like Artisan Bread in 5 minutes.

To get this or any other product at rock bottom prices that even Costco can't beat, please email me with the subject line saying Shelf Reliance Discount Page or visit www.shelfreliancemom.shelfreliance.com/home.