Month: May 2021

Sunflower and Flax Seed Whole Wheat Bread

The Sunshine Inn Blog4 Comments

Sunflower and Flax Seed Whole Wheat Bread

  • Servings: 8-10 of 60 grams or 2 slices of 2 ounces each
  • Difficulty: Easy
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I started with white bread, moved up to whole wheat and now I’ve graduated to healthy multigrain bread. I’m having fun with bread. Who knew that making bread that you don’t need to kneed would be fun.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour (I use unbleached)
  • 2 tsp of salt
  • 1 tsp of instant or rapid-rise yeast
  • 2 1/4 cups of water (120-130 degrees Fahrenheit or 50-55 Celsius)
  • 1/3 cup of sunflower seeds
  • 1/3 cup of flax seeds (whole)
  • Vegetable oil spray

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt and yeast together. At this time you can add the sunflower and flax seeds and stir them around a bit.
  2. Pour water into the bowl and using a spatula mix in until it’s all incorporated.
  3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit on your counter for 12 to 20 hours.
  4. After rise time, spray an 18×12 inch sheet of parchment paper on counter with vegetable spray. Set aside.
  5. On clean floured counter use your cupped hands to drag dough in small circles to form smooth ball.
  6. Preheat oven at 425 and place dutch oven as your oven heats up (approximately 10 min)
  7. Transfer ball to centre of greased parchment sheet. Use parchment to lower dough into Dutch oven (let extra parchment hang over pot edges) Cover pot with lid and put back in oven for 30 minutes
  8. Remove lid and put back in until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes.
  9. Place on cooling rack to cool.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 213
  • Fat 0.374 g
  • Sugar 0.31 g
  • Carbohydrates 39.21 g
  • Protein 7.57 g
  • Fibre 5.1 g

Trick for yeast, make sure your water is hot enough but not too hot. Yeast is a living organism. Also got to find out that one of my issues with yeast was that I stored it in the cupboard next to the stove. Guess what, big mistake. I was killing it with the heat. Lessons learned.

Making this bread reminded me that with patience anything in the kitchen can be conquered. Seriously, this bread is so easy to make and it is good too. You add other seeds, just make sure to keep that in calorie count. I’m open to suggestions so help me with this. Have fun and make it your own.

Healthy Chocolate Pudding

The Sunshine Inn Blog1 Comment

Healthy Chocolate Pudding

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Chocolate pudding, healthy? I know right? Doesn’t sound correct. I’m expecting lots of sugar, but low and behold, that is not the case. I’ve traded a few recipes with this young man, who has the makings of one day being a great chef if he wishes, and this is one of his. His great aunt that lives with them is diabetic so he made sure to make this so she can eat this too.

Ingredients

  • 1 avocado
  • 2 bananas
  • 1/4 cup of cocoa
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
  • 6 tsp of maple syrup

Directions

  1. In a food processor put in bananas and avocado and pulse until creamy and without lumps.
  2. Add vanilla, cocoa, salt and maple syrup and pulse until well integrated.
  3. Put in ramekins and place in fridge for 30 minutes to cool.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 166
  • Fat 6.7 g
  • Sugar 15.5 g
  • Carbohydrates 29.4 g
  • Protein 2.5 g
  • Fibre 6.3 g

As you see in the pictures I added light cool whip about a tablespoon and berries. This is where you can have fun. Top it with whatever you like. If you are not diabetic, you can shave some chocolate on top.

I asked the young man why maple syrup instead of sugar? He told me that although calories are about the same, maple syrup has a lower glycemic index and maple syrup contains some minerals. For diabetics, this is still to be taken as a treat with a lower carb and sugar meal like a nice tuna salad and this for dessert. After all it is about choices and it all starts with a bite. So make your choice on the first bite so your last one can be sweet if you like. Again have fun with this and make it your own.