Friday, August 21, 2009

Real (Junk) Food

After years of consuming stuff from a box we've been switching to real food, you know, things that come out of the ground or from an animal. Real food taste different. It has more texture and deeper flavor and, for the most part, does not turn to mush in your mouth.

The question we've faced from our kids and even from our own "inner children" is, "But does it taste good?" I can confidently tell you, "It depends." Some things are just too strange for our tastebuds. Some things take getting used to. Other things are amazing from the get-go.

I get most of my recipes from other bloggers and today I figured I'd share the wealth by listing some of our favorite real junk food.

Alton Brown has the best recipe for onion dip. Move over Heluva Good and pass the kettle chips!

Kimi's "Mounds" Bars are my husband's favorite candy treat. They're very rich; I put mine in mini muffin tins.

Who can argue with oatmeal that tastes like peanut butter cookies? I swap sucanat for the brown sugar but otherwise make Lynn's Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal as written.

We had Laura's whole wheat cinnamon rolls for Bubba's birthday breakfast. They also make a delicious desert. Yum.

A while back we switched from soda pop to Naleczowianka sparkling water with a splash of juice or a slice of lemon. Over the last few months we've taken a liking to kombucha, a fermented tea explained by Betsy Pryor. It's fizzy and tart and probiotic to boot!

8 comments:

Monica said...

Thanks for the links!

Rebecca said...

Real food does taste better! I remember being at your house and trying to pronounce the name of that Polish water. I did it again while reading your post!

Got any recipes for rutabaga?

Saralyn said...

I don't even know what a rutabaga is!

Jenna said...

I just went to check out the cinnamon roll recipe. Looks amazing and healthyish (for cinnamon rolls I mean!). My main question when wanting to make cinnamon rolls from scratch - do you folks who do this wake up at 5:00am to serve them at breakfast time? Do you make them partly ahead of time and finish them in the morning - and if so HOW!?!? Or, do you scrap the whole breakfast thing and just serve them at some random point mid-morning?

Thanks for the recipe link. Depending on your answers to the above questions - I may make them soon : )!

Saralyn said...

Believe me, I haven't seen 5am in a l-o-n-g time! I make cinnamon rolls the night before, cover the pan with foil, and put it in the fridge to rise overnight; it rises slower at a lower temperature. In the morning I pull the pan out about 30 minutes before baking them to bring them closer to room temperature. Then I pop them in and serve 'em hot, usually with a drizzle of icing. Yum!

Saralyn said...

One more thing...you can also freeze cinnamon rolls. The recipe makes a lot so I usually make one pan for us to eat and then put a pan's worth on a cookie sheet as I slice them (before they rise the second time), pop them in the freezer, and once they're hard, toss them into a Ziploc.

When you want to eat them, put the frozen rolls in a greased 9x13, cover with plastic wrap, and let them thaw and rise. This can be done in the fridge. Then bake as instructed.

Jenna said...

I am so glad to finally know how to make these ahead of time! Perhaps I can pull it off for our first day of school . . .

I will post the homemade syrup recipe later today!

AmyR said...

Thanks for these Saralyn. Last night we tried the whole wheat cinnnamon rolls, and everyone loved them! I thought they were a bit wheaty, but if kids like them, they're a hit! They sure are a mess, but I have two pans in the freezer for some other time too, it makes a LOT!
Amy