Whole Wheat Skillet Focaccia Bread

I love making Focaccia because it's the low-maintenance girlfriend of the bread world. It's delicious, adapts to suit pretty much any topping you like, and only takes about an hour to make from start to finish. We're pretty hard core about sodium in our house so I didn't add any to the dough, but if you'd like a little hint of salt with your bread, feel free to sprinkle a small amount of Kosher Salt on top before baking.

Whole Wheat Skillet Focaccia Bread
Serves 4-6

1 cup warm water (between 105-110 degrees F)
2 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 tbsp honey
2 1/2 tbsp olive or avocado oil, plus more for greasing pan
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp dried crushed rosemary
1 tsp dried onion flakes

Preheat oven to 200 degrees, and grease the inside of a 12" cast iron skillet with oil.

In a medium bowl, combine water, yeast, and honey. Let sit for 5 minutes until yeast is dissolved and the surface is bubbly.

In a separate bowl, combine flours and seasonings. Stir to combine.

To the yeast mixture, add the oil. Stir in half the flour mixture, and once combined, stir in the remaining half. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, continue roughly stirring the dough for about 5 minutes, or until it becomes smooth and isn't sticking to the sides of the bowl as much. You can also turn it out onto the counter and knead by hand, but focaccia is meant to be a soft, slightly sticky dough, and it's easy to add too much flour if you knead by hand.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and roll into a roughly 12" circle. It doesn't have to be perfect, because you can work it a little to make it fit once you place it in the skillet. Cover with a damp towel, and place in the oven for 20 minutes to proof.

Remove from oven, and increase the temperature to 400 degree. Using your fingers, or the floured end of a wooden spoon, press small dents into the top of the bread. Sprinkle the top liberally with oil, and whatever seasonings you desire (I usually top it with a little more dried rosemary and some dried onion flakes).

Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top. Let cool for 2-3 minutes, and then remove from skillet to a cooling rack.

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Dried Fruit & Seed Muesli Buns

Ray absolutely loves the Protein Bistro Boxes at Starbucks, and they're honestly one of the few healthy/low sodium options we can find for him when it comes to eating out. But at $6 a pop, they aren't the most budget friendly option. He especially loves the little muesli buns inside them, but when we looked up the company that makes them (thinking that buying bags straight from them would be more affordable), we discovered it was $5 for a bag of 8 tiny buns (which would last all of 2 days in our house). So we went searching for a comparable recipe on the internet, and found this one by Sweet Phi. I modified it to our needs, removing the salt and upping the oats, dried fruit, and seeds. They're a great little grab & go snack for any time of day, and they freeze really well! If you have access to a Whole Foods or Fresh Thyme, it's *much* cheaper to buy the dried fruit & seeds from the bulk bins than purchasing pre-packaged ones at a regular store. I spent about $20 on the dried fruit and nuts at Fresh Thyme, and have only used half my stash after 4 batches of these buns - I'm thinking I'll be able to get 8-9 batches out of $20 worth of ingredients, so it's well worth the money!

Ingredients
Makes 21-24 rounds

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 packet instant yeast 
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup dried apricots, diced
1/3 cup dried apples, diced
1/3 cup dried currants
1/3 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup flax seeds

Instructions
Combine warm water, yeast, honey, and oats in a large bowl, stir once or twice, and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes until the mixture is foamy on top.

Slowly stir in the flours, and mix until dough just begins to form. You can do this with a stand mixer with a dough attachment set on low, or by hand (which is what I do). 

Add in the chopped dried fruit and seeds, and stir a few times. 

Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for 5-8 minutes, until the fruit and seeds have been incorporated evenly into the dough. 

Put the dough ball into an oiled bowl, cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap, and allow to rise for an hour.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and shape it into a large rectangle. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut the dough into 21-24 squares.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, take each dough square in hand, tuck the corners under to round them out, and place on baking sheet. When all the dough squares have been made into rounds, cover the baking sheets with plastic wrap (spray it with cooking spray first to keep the dough from sticking to it), and allow to rise for another hour.

Preheat oven to 375. Remove plastic wrap from the baking sheets, and bake the bread rounds for 15 minutes, or until the bottoms are slightly golden. Remove from oven and let cool on racks before eating or storing. (To freeze, let cool and place in Gallon Freezer bags. To defrost, allow them to come to room temperate on the counter, or microwave for 30 seconds).

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No Sugar Added Sweet Potato Muffins

 

I am not a morning person. "Cave troll" would probably be the most accurate description of what I'm like in the morning. But now, with having to make all our food from scratch, it took me about 2 days to discover I didn't want to wake up early enough to make breakfast for the family every.single.morning.

The answer? Making muffins and overnight oats the evening before. They have been my savior. Not only that, but my picky toddler will actually eat muffins because she thinks they're "cake cake". This recipe was  born out of my desire to make muffins that are actually healthy, but have *just enough* sweetness to continue tricking my toddler. I know you feel me moms of toddlers ((fist bump)) 

These aren't overly sweet, but I promise they don't taste like your typical "healthy cardboard" muffins. They're really dense and moist, and I imagine if a sweet potato pie and a muffin got together and had a baby, this is what would happen. 

And if blueberries aren't your thing, I think toasted pecans would be an amazing substitute! 

No Sugar Added Sweet Potato Muffins

Makes roughly 1 1/2 dozen

About 2 1/2 cups boiled and mashed sweet potatoes 

2 eggs

1/2 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Preheat oven to 350. 

In a medium bowl, combine mashed sweet potatoes, eggs, honey, and vanilla. Stir in baking powder and baking soda (I know it's weird to add them to the wet ingredients, but it actually distributes the levening agents better than mixing them with the dry, which is important because these muffins are dense and need all the help they can get).

Add the flour and cinnamon, and stir until just combined. Right before spooning into the muffin pan, gently fold in blueberries. 

Spoon batter into muffin pan, filling almost to the top (these won't rise much). Bake for 25-30 minutes, erring on the lower end because baked goods make with honey instead of sugar tend to brown faster (but it all depends on your oven). 

Remove from oven and let cool on rack for 5-10 minutes. Enjoy!

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