Mangoes. Peaches. Bliss. What better snack than a little mango-peach cobbler? Really, it was fantastic. It was also a much-needed way to use up a huge bag of mangoes we'd bought another bag of peaches we'd been given. I checked out a few recipes online to get some ideas, then I whipped this one up on my own.

Ingredients:
8 small peaches, sliced
8 small mangoes, peeled and diced
1 T. cornstarch
1 t. lemon juice
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 c. flour
1/4 c. wheat germ
1/4 c. oat flour
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 c. milk

First, I preheated the oven to 375 degrees. Then I combined peaches, mangoes, 3 T. sugar, the cornstarch, lemon juice, and cinnamon in a saucepan. I heated it until it boiled and then let it simmer for a minute or so until it was thick.

I poured it into a 10'' round baking dish while I mixed the flours, 1 T. sugar, baking powder, salt, wheat germ, and milk until it was moistened evenly.

I poured the topping onto the peach and mango mixture and baked it for about 30 minutes until it had browned on the top. This will certainly be appearing again in my kitchen this summer!

I found this recipe on a "From Scratch" website. I've got to admire the people who have multiple children, AND cook from scratch AND take time to blog about it AND, in those blogs, mention that they also think it's a great idea to have their own gardens, grow their own vegetables, and raise their own livestock!

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
2 t. oil
3/4 c. warm milk

Combine ingredients and knead until firm and soft. This took me about 5 minutes. Then I let it rest for 20 minutes.

I formed it into 8 balls and let them rest for another 10 minutes.

Then I rolled each ball as thin as I could (I was aiming to make 8" tortillas and usually got about 6-7") and then cooked them on a dry skillet for about 30 seconds on each side until lightly browned & usually a little bubbly. These weren't quite as flat as store-bought tortillas, but they tasted great and worked really well in a quesadilla casserole I made.

I've been waiting to post this one because some kid came over and erased the dry-erase board where I'd written the recipe, and I just recently found the original scrap of paper where I'd written my little experiment.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 t. garlic powder
1 c. + 1 t. flour
2 t. wheat germ
2 1/2 T. cheese powder
7 T. milk
1/4 t. baking soda
1 1/4 t. baking powder

I baked these at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes. It made 12 fairly large biscuits.

Millet. One of my new favorite foods, and an incredibly fun word to say.

I used a recipe I came up with for corn muffins, but substituted the cornmeal with millet. These were delightful, not notably moist or flavorful in and of themselves, but a great, healthy side to serve with soup or stew.

Ingredients:
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup millet
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 t. salt
2 Tablespoons oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk

I combined the ingredients and put this into a greased muffin pan.

These baked at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. It made 6 nicely-sized muffins, perfect to supplement our dinner and give us something to eat for breakfast the next day, too!

Pumpkin. Totally an autumn-esque food, but I just love it and can't keep myself from cooking with it year-round. I decided to try my hand at some pumpkin-spice scones. There are a bunch of recipes out there that look amazing, but unfortunately they all use loads of butter, which (a) we don't have here, and (b) just isn't going to be healthy at all. So, at the risk of having bunch of true scone connoisseurs stick up their noses at my baking, here's how I made mine. I adapted it from a recipe I found at this site.

Ingredients:
3 c. all-purpose flour
2 T. baking powder
2 T. white sugar (I reduced the white sugar and supplemented with brown sugar)
2 T. brown sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. cinnamon (I used cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg since I didn't have pumpkin pie spice)
1/8 t. ginger
1/8 t. nutmeg
2 T. oil (reduced from 1/3 c. oil)
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree/ mashed pumpkin
1 t. apple cider vinegar
raisins

I just combined all of the ingredients. (Raisins were my own addition, and I'm so glad I decided to throw them in. They added a great touch of flavor.) It took a while to incorporate all of the ingredients; at points it looked like there was too much flour, but in the end, it turned out great.

I formed the batter into 10 discs and baked them for about 14 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

When they were golden brown, I removed them from the oven. We drizzled a cinnamon & powdered sugar glaze over them before eating them for breakfast.

     My kitchen. Mostly a lab for humble experiments, sometimes influenced by a recipe found online, altered by substituting every other ingredient for a variation that we can find locally.
     Living in the land of creepily sweet bread (often stuffed with red beans or topped with "crispy pork flakes"), I'd like to improve at making my own bread.
     This month's experiment: pitas. These turned out well with a nice pita-pocket in the center of about 65% of the pitas that came out of the oven. I don't really know how that happens, but I think it's impressive.

     First, I mixed:
     -1 cup flour
     -1 Tablespoon wheat germ
     -2 teaspoons salt
     -2 teaspoons yeast
     -1 Tablespoon sugar.

     Then I added 1 cup of warm water and 1 Tablespoon of oil. I beat it vigorously for 3 minutes, then I added about another cup and two thirds until the dough was really moist but not ridiculously sticky.

I kneaded it for about 7 minutes, then formed it into a large, tight ball. I used my metal scraper to divide it into 8 pieces...

Then I formed each piece into a ball and covered them with a damp towel for 30 minutes to rest. While they were resting, I preheated the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. After 30 minutes, I used a rolling pin to flatten each pita to be pretty thin (I'm not really sure how thin... not like paper, but definitely thinner than 1/2 inch).

I placed them on tin foil because I read somewhere that this creates "softer heat" and then I put the tin foil directly on the oven rack and baked the pitas 5-8 minutes until they puffed up in the middle and were golden brown.

We have tried these with tuna, with jelly, with fruit and yogurt, and even as pita pizzas!

Oreos. One of the few "western"-style foods we can actually buy here. Nonetheless, on a home-alone evening when I most certainly did not feel like going out, I decided to have some Oreos waiting for precious Austin upon his arrival home. Here's how it happened:

-3 cups of flour (throw in some whole wheat so you feel better)
-1 1/3 cup of sugar
-1/2 cup cocoa powder
-2 teaspoons baking soda
-2 teaspoons salt
(The recipe I used from e-how was one of many recipes which calls for a box of chocolate cake mix, so I then had to google that, and the above is the starting base I found at a simplicity baking site, (Minus a little sugar).
-2 eggs
-2 T. oil plus some water (the recipe called for 1/2 cup oil, but that's way more than we ever like to use!

Mix it together, roll into small balls, about golf-ball shaped, and place on a cookie sheet.

Cook for 5-10 minutes at 350 degrees. If you cook for 5 minutes, they might seem a little undercooked... still delicious, but not as oreo-like. Cool for two minutes.

Add some frosting to the middle (If you live overseas, you'll have to make that from scratch too! :) ) Chill and enjoy with your favorite friend!

With Auntie Anne living on the other side of the world, soft pretzels are item 986 to be added to the "must make it yourself" list. :)

These are a tasty treat that have made it onto our weekly snack list... sometimes with requests a few times a week-- they're perfect for all of our little friends here who claim to be Chinese but must actually be aliens because they don't like sweet food. :)

An Original Recipe.

Dissolve 1 tablespoon of yeast in one cup of lukewarm milk. Add two beaten eggs, 2.5 cups of white flour, 1.5 cups of whole wheat flour, 1 teaspoon of salt and mix. Knead for 5 minutes.

Add extra flour as necessary, especially if the dough is too sticky, then roll the dough into pieces about 1/2 inch in diameter and 14-18 inches long.

Shape into pretzel shapes, or any shapes, really, and brush with a beaten egg. Salt with coarse salt. We've also cooked up some garlic and italian seasoning and added it at times-- this has turned out really well.

Bake at 420 degrees Fahrenheit for 12-15 minutes until golden brown! Enjoy!!!

With the arrival of my birthday came the arrival of a mini-muffin pan. Love it! (Thanks, family!) I've always loved mini-muffins at school functions, between-service treats, and socials, but this was my first try at making them myself.

I ran off to class in the morning and left a note for Austin, the dearest husband ever. "Austin, if you have time, can you find a mini-muffin recipe online?" He did, and this was the result:

INGREDIENTS:
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/8 t. salt
1/2 cup milk

I mixed it together, and filled the mini-muffin cups, then pressed a small piece of chocolate into the center of each muffin and baked them for 12-14 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. These were a big hit with Austin, me, and the students we had over for lunch. It makes lots of mini-muffins...

I accidentally forgot to mark the page where I took this recipe from... (sorry!) It's mostly the same above, but I made it just a little healthier (halved the sugar, removed the oil, made some of the flour whole wheat). The above printed includes my changes.

These tasty things were somewhere between a brownie and cake... Really thick, super delicious. I saw a recipe of sorts for something similar and thought of following it, but I made so many adjustments and changed ingredients so many times, this one can be safely labeled as an inspired original.

Ingredients:
1 c. Whole wheat flour
1 1/2 c. white flour
1 1/4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. ground red pepper
1/2 t. salt
1 1/4 c. sugar
5 eggs... I know, SO many!
1 1/4 c. mashed pumpkin (or canned pumpkin)
2 1/2 T. liquid (I used a combination of water and oil
2 T. cocoa powder
1t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg

Mix the first five ingredients together. Beat the eggs and sugar together for about 5 minutes until fluffy.

Add this to the flour mixture.

Divide the batter into two bowls. I made the mistake of an unequal split and got more pumpkin batter than chocolate. The pumpkin part is delicious, but I'd recommend an equal split, or a bit more chocolate than pumpkin.

Add the pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg to one bowl, and the liquid and cocoa powder to the other.

Layer and marble the batters into a 9 x 9 square pan or a 10 inch round pan... don't know if they make those in America. Sprinkle chocolate on top if you want. Bake at 350 Fahrenheit for 40-45 minutes.