Whiteley Creek Homestead

I love challenges, no matter how simple. Today I started my most recent one… to try different recipes for hamburger macaroni hotdish. It's such a basic comfort food but with so many variations. I googled it and chose a recipe link from the first few in the list that popped up. This one is from simplyrecipes.com. In 30 minutes, you'll be sitting down to a hearty meal.

Hamburger Macaroni Hotdish #1

1 lb ground beef (I use buffalo from A & J’s Buffalo Ranch near Pequot Lakes, which is 17 miles from Brainerd, that I cook by adding a little water to the pan then brown after the water has evaporated. Buffalo is so low in fat that either oil or water is needed.)

1 onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced 

½ tsp seasoned salt (I use Johnny’s seasoning salt.)

Dash crushed red pepper

½ tsp celery seed

2-14 ½ oz cans diced or stewed tomatoes with basil and garlic

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (I use Bragg’s Liquid Aminos.)

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley or 4 tsp dried parsley

2 cups uncooked macaroni (I used *Eden Organic Kamut Spirals.)

Cook macaroni according to directions on package. Brown ground beef (or buffalo) in oil or water. Add onions and sauté during final few minutes of browning time. Add remaining ingredients except macaroni and simmer for about 10 minutes. Mix in cooked and drained macaroni. Simmer for another 5 minutes. (For reheating leftovers, add a little water. I like to use the liquid byproduct from steaming veggies like broccoli.) Serves 4.

*Eden Organic Kamut Spirals is made from whole grain kamut wheat. Kamut (pronounced kuh-MOOT) is “an ancient grain revived by an organic farmer in the 1940s. Its plump, high protein golden kernels make whole grain pasta of surprisingly smooth texture. Many with sensitivity to modern wheat can enjoy kamut because of its highly water soluble gluten.” 

 *Eden Organic Kamut Spirals is made from whole grain kamut wheat. Kamut (pronounced kuh-MOOT) is “an ancient grain revived by an organic farmer in the 1940s. Its plump, high protein golden kernels make whole grain pasta of surprisingly smooth texture. Many with sensitivity to modern wheat can enjoy kamut because of its highly water soluble gluten.” 

For my year long cake-of-the-month challenge I set for myself, I sketched out a loose plan at the beginning of 2009 deciding what kind of cakes, cupcakes, and coffeecakes would be appropriate for each month taking into consideration in-season fruits and holiday or seasonal themes. For May I just knew it must be rhubarb, therefore May's cake-of-of-the-month is Rhubarb Almond Coffeecake. I used a recipe from allrecipes.com, but I tweaked it by reducing the sugar and oil, adding three different spices, increasing the amount of rhubarb, and adding coconut in the topping. The recipe called for 3/4 cup rhubarb which I increased to 2 cups because each spring I have a seriously large amount of rhubarb to use up. I increased the flour amount to compensate for the additional rhubarb. There's no reason to be afraid of rhubarb's tartness. With a little sweetener, this early season treat adds such a wonderful moistness to baked goods. The aroma of the cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves wafting from the oven is reason enough to bake this moist delectable coffeecake with spring's first offering from the garden. 

Rhubarb Almond Coffeecake

Serves 12.

¾ ½ cup packed brown sugar

1/3 ¼ cup (coconut) oil or unsweetened applesauce

1 egg

½ tsp vanilla

1 ¼ cups flour 2 ¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour or a mix of  (The extra cup is needed to absorb the moisture from the increased  amount of rhubarb that I chose to add to the recipe.)

½ tsp salt

½  1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp nutmeg, ½ tsp cloves (my own recipe additions)

½ cup milk (I used buttermilk.)

¾ cup 2 cups chopped rhubarb (approx. 4 large stalks)

Topping:

¼ cup sliced almonds

½ cup coconut (my own recipe addition)

3 tbsp white sugar (I used coconut sugar.)

1 ½ tsp butter, melted

1 tsp cinnamon (my own recipe addition)

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease one 9-inch round spring form pan. (I find that the cake is easier to remove if you line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper cut into a circle then oil the paper a bit.) In a large bowl beat brown sugar, oil, egg, and vanilla together until smooth. Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and spices; add to sugar mixture alternately with milk. Beat until smooth. (It’s not proper procedure, but I skip the alternating flour/milk step and mix all the milk at one time into the sugar mixture then mix in all of the flour at once. I find this prevents over-mixing the flour.) Fold in rhubarb. Pour into prepared pan. In a small bowl, combine topping ingredients and sprinkle evenly over batter. Bake for 35-45 minutes until a toothpick poked into the center of the coffeecake comes out clean.

I don't often use mixes because I find it's difficult to match from-scratch cooking in taste and nutritional quality, but I spied a gluten-free cranberry orange muffin mix that I decided to give a whirl. Some gluten-free baked goods tend to be tough, chewy, and flavorless… not this product. The muffins are especially good warm from the oven but still very tasty at room temperature. Dick gave them a thumbs-up, too.  

INGREDIENTS: brown rice flour, potato starch, white rice flour, sweet dried orange rind, sweet dried cranberries, turbinado sugar, sweet rice flour, Montina™ pure flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, vanilla powder, sea salt, xanthan gum.

The muffin mix has 2 grams of fiber per serving. To pump it up, I added 2 tbsp ground flax. Also, for the 1/2 cup oil called for on the package directions, I substituted 1/4 cup applesauce plus 1/4 cup oil.

The mix contains Montina. I learned from the Gifts of Nature web site that Montina™ is a native bunch grass called Indian Ricegrass, which is high in fiber, protein, and iron. It is marketed by the company as a baking supplement and it is also an ingredient in their all-purpose flour blend. Both products are available online. I purchased my muffin mix at Jewel's Health Food Store in Brainerd (Minnesota) which stocks a wide selection of gluten-free products.