WonderMill

WonderMill

http://www.thewondermill.com/

The WonderMill is an electric Grain Mill that will allow you to grind your own flour from the comfort of your home.

The WonderMill Electric Grain Mill has the capacity to perform big jobs. You can grind over 100 pounds of flour in an hour.

The WonderMill Electric Grain Mill is extremely easy to use. Simply fill the hopper and out comes flour. There are no small parts or gaskets to misplace, and the self cleaning WonderMill is quick, easy, and virtually dust-free. There is no need for additional attachments to bag your flour simply put a plastic bag in the canister and grind – easy, clean and at no additional cost to you!

The WonderMill is also great for making gluten-free flours such as brown rice, white rice, sorghum, quinoa, soy, millet, amaranth, bean, corn, and more.

My Thoughts

I was quite curious on how I could use an electric mill in my home and make my own flour.   The setup of the machine was quite easy to do.

After trying to figure out what kind of recipe I could do for the first post of this machine, I decided to make cookies based on popcorn flour and oats.  The first steps was definitively to make flour our of our popcorn kernels.

So I poured out a bag of popcorn kernels to make some popcorn flour.

Within minutes the WonderMill has gone through the kernels and given me some popcorn flour.

 

My son Alexandre has found a recipe for cookies based on popcorn flour.  However, I didn’t have any milk in our fridge when we made them and instead I put water in the recipe.   Also I didn’t know what rolled oats was so I decided to take the oats I had at home.

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup of shortening

2 tbsp milk

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup white sugar

1 tsp baking soda

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups popcorn flour

2 cups rolled oats

Cream the shortening.  Add sugars and blend.  Mix in eggs, add vanilla, milk, baking powder, soda and salt.  Blend well.  Stir in corn flour and rolled oats.   Bake on greased cooke sheets at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Here’s the cookies before being cooked.

Because of my modification in the ingredients, I think the result was not what it was supposed to be.   Mind you, it was tasty and different of what we were used to.   Turned out that the cookies cooked on the flat side of things…   so instead of eating them as cookies, we included them in yogourt and ice cream.  It was still good. 

The WonderMill is a powerful tool to make your own flour  based on various grains.    Finding a place where you can buy the grain is a bit tricky in our area.  Though I have found a place that is about 40 minutes from our home, I wish it could be available at Bulk Barn or other health stores.    I didn’t have the time to travel to get spelt or other grains to test the machine and I turned to popcorn for now.   The results were not what we expected because I didn’t have all the ingredients required to do the recipe.   I will definitively redo this recipe and see if the cookies will be more chewy when I use milk.

I am definitively impressed with the performance of the machine and hope to be able to use it more in the future.    As I said, finding corns are not an easy thing for a beginner but I have discovered one store near the downtown area where I could purchase the grains.   I can even purchase the grains in the 10 lbs bags if needed be.   My husband is also trying to figure out if it is financially worth it to make your own flour or not.    One of the grains I would like to try out is the spelt for sure.

The WonderMill is available for purchase at the following vendors in Ontario - BERRY HILL LTD in St. Thomas,  Canadian Family Resourses in Newton, Castor River Farm in Metcalfe,  Cradlerock Homestead in Desboro, and Quality Marketing in Brantford.   The price of the WonderMill is 299.99$ Canadian.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the product for review purposes from WonderMill. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Popcorn Treats

Popcorn Treats – delicious recipes for savoury snacks & sweet treats
By Hannah Miles
Published at Ryland Peters & Small

About the book

Too long hidden away in dark cinemas, popcorn is a treat that's ready to take a leading role! And on hand to give this humble kernel a star makeover is the wonderfully creative Hannah Miles, who shows how popcorn can be dressed up in a riotous variety of fabulous flavours!

Sweet nibbles range from classic Butter Toffee to indulgent Raspberry and White Chocolate. For those who prefer Savoury flavours, the Pumpkin Seed, Chilli and Thai Spiced varieties are all great healthy snacking options. But it is the Gourmet flavours that are not to be missed: try Margarita, Black Truffle or Salted Caramel popcorn for a truly decadent treat. Or simply combine this favourite snack into other treats such as Cookies, Cupcakes or Lollipops for the best of both worlds. The possibilities are endless and the preparation is simple, so join in the fun and start popping!

Who is Hannah Miles?

Hannah Miles was a high-flying legal eagle working for a top City lay firm when a friend emailed her with details of a “dream cottage” in the Bedfordshire countryside.  Instantly besotted with the thatched stone cottage, Hannah and her husband ditched London life and headed for their rural idyll.  In 2007, Hannah competed in BBC television’s hugely popular MasterChef programme, in which she won the hearts of the nation and the adulation of the judges: John Torodo said of her: “I think Hannah is one of the most naturally gifted cooks I have seen in a long time.”  One of the three MasterChef finalists, Hannah’s food career has since taken off, though she still also practices law.  She has a monthly column in Country Kitchen and Country & Town House magazines, writes for delicious magazine and continues to make both television and MasterChef Live (Good Food Show) appearances.  She is the author of Milkshake Bar, Mini Cakes, Sundays & Splits, The Gluten-free Baker and Whoopie Pies, all published at Ryland Peters & Small.

Our Thoughts

When I saw this title in the catalogue of Ryland Peters & Small, I immediately thought that my husband and kids would love it.   Why?   Well, popcorn has a place of honor in our house for snacks.    I was looking forward to discover the fun recipes included in this little book.     In this out-of-the-ordinary cookbook (after all it is all dedicated to popcorn!), you will find sweet popcorn recipes which will calm your sweet tooth, savoury popcorn recipes which will open up a whole new world of flavors, popcorn treats recipes which will incorporate popcorn in desserts as well as gourmet popcorn recipes which will expand your taste buds in your mouth.

There are many recipes that caught our eye while we flipped through it.  The first reaction of my husband was: “Cool! Something different…”   Once everyone had gone through the book to check out the recipes, we agreed to try out the Banana Maple Popcorn.

Banana Maple Popcorn

This popcorn ingredients are essentially: banana chips, butter, maple syrup and popcorn kernels.   After putting part of the banana chips in the food processor and crushed them in a fine powder and melting the butter with the maple syrup in a pan, you pour all of it on the freshly made popcorn and include the rest of the banana chips.   The recipe is easy to do – even my oldest son could do it.   However, I am uncertain of the result.   The popcorn taste different – more sweet – but the texture is bizarre as the butter has shrunk the popcorn when I poured it.     Maybe we just are a family who are not enjoying sweet popcorn that much…

Crumbled banana chips.

Maple syrup with butter.

The final product.

The next recipes we will more than likely do is the paprika smoky bacon popcorn as well as the thai spiced popcorn.   And one of my boys really want to try to popcorn nachos topped with tomatoes, avocados and cheese.  The picture looks fabulous so we will more than likely try it as well.

Each recipe has a photo of the final product which is a wonderful thing because I like to see what the recipe should be looking like in the end. 

I think this little recipe book contains interesting recipes and that there are a wide range of them to please any popcorn lover.    If your family loves popcorn but is a bit tired of the regular popcorn that you eat every time you make some, I would suggest that you try out the Popcorn Treats cookbook.  You might find a new favorite for your family!

Popcorn Treats is available at your favorite bookstore, even amazon.ca.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book for review purposes from Thomas Allen. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Busy Mom’s Guide to Family Nutrition

Busy Mom’s Guide to Family Nutrition
Published at Tyndale

About the book

With almost everything you need to know to care for your family available on the Internet or at the library these days, how do you sort through the wealth of information available? How do you narrow down your web search? And how many pages are in that reference guide? It can be overwhelming to look for specific information. Relax—we have the cure for the common search. The information you need is at your fingertips in the practical and easy-to-use “Busy Mom’s Guide” series.

Using a question-and-answer format, Busy Mom’s Guide to Family Nutrition provides bite-sized pieces of information, including nutritional basics, the skinny on fats, interpreting food labels, exploring popular diet plans, and much more. Improve your family’s health quotient with the quick reference material found inside, and enjoy your healthy family!

Some content previously published in the Complete Guide’s Family Health, Nutrition, and Fitness.

My Thoughts

How do I get my family to eat healthy food?

Which weight loss plan is right for me?

How do I help my overweight child?

How do I cut through the hype about health & nutrition?

These are all interesting questions that are listed on the cover of the book.    And every mom should worry about these because essentially it is important to teach your kids to make healthy choices so that when they are alone they will continue to make such choices.   But how can you find answers that you can trust to your questions especially from a Christian perspective?   That’s why this book has been published.   Essentially, this book will provide answers to your questions, guidance on how to select healthy food for your family and improve your family’s health on the long run.  This book is divided into sick chapters which will guide you in making sensible choices for your family.

Chapter 1 will introduce you to the nutritional basics.  It covers everything from the sugars, fats and proteins to the more complicated information like enzymes and explanation of lactose intolerance.  Chapter 2 will give you guidance on how to make healthy food choices for every member of your family.  In this chapter, you will read about the importance of eating together as a family as well as learn quite a bit about what is healthy and what’s not.  Chapter 3 will highlights the importance of vitamins and minerals while chapter 4 will concentrate it’s information on the weight problem and how to put a strategy in place to help you control it. Chapter 5 will provide information on the various diets, medications and surgery to help control the weight problem. Finally chapter 6 will guide you in how to help your child or teenager who might be overweight.   It is a well known fact that being overweight can affect the spirit of a person.  Helping a child or a teenager to feel confident even though he/she might be overweight is important I find.   This book will provide you tips and tricks on how to encourage your child to exercise and eat healthy.

I find this book talks about such an important topic that I consider that every family should own a copy.     However, while reading the book and searching information on specific subjects that would interest me more, I realized that this book was essentially a short version of the information found in the Complete Guide to Family Health, Nutrition and Fitness which I had purchased last year in a clearance bin at a store in town.    So since I have the large book in hand, I decided to compare the text of this book to the other one.   And it is compatible – to the point that if you already own the Complete Guide to Family Health, Nutrition and Fitness I don’t think I would suggest that you purchase the Busy Mom’s Guide to Family Nutrition unless you really desire to tuck it in your purse and carry it around with you.   On the other hand, if you are curious in knowing more about family nutrition, the Busy Mom’s Guide to Family Nutrition is the perfect book for you.    You can trust the information you will find in it because it is an official book from the Focus on the Family Physicians Resource Council in the U.S.A.  

The Busy Mom’s Guide to Family Nutrition is available at your favorite bookstore, even amazon.ca.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book for review purposes from Tyndale. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Flavors of Asia

Flavors of Asia
Published at DK Canada

About the book

The second book in DK's series with the CIA covering the "Worlds of Flavor" International Conference and Festival, The Flavors of Asia culls recipes from 40 leading chefs from Asia, India and the U.S., including Masaharu Morimoto, Suvir Saran and many others. By transforming the "Worlds of Flavor" festival into a cookbook, the Culinary Institute of America --- one of the best culinary schools in the world --- brings the conference's superb culinary talent right into the home kitchen. Award-winning restaurateur, chef, and author Mai Pham joins the CIA in presenting 125 accessible recipes, from Ammini Ramachandran's Spicy Fritters with Coconut Chutney to Fuchsia Dunlop's General Tso's Chicken, from Myung Sook Lee's Korean Lettuce Wrap with Spicy Beef to Elizabeth Andoh's Kabocha Squash with Red Beans. The chefs' cooking techniques and regional notes appear in feature spreads throughout the book. An enthusiastic foreword by conference chairs and culinary experts Suvir Saran and Fuchsia Dunlop as well as an introduction by Mai Pham, describe Asia's rising influence on world cooking round out this must-have book.

Our Thoughts

Easter 2012.   I had planned to get an ham for supper on Sunday.   We had already invited friends over for supper.   But my husband challenged me to make something different.   So Indian Food it was decided based on two recipes from the flavors of Asia as well as two recipes from Around the World CookBook.  I won’t expand on the recipes I took from Around the Word Cookbook but I can tell you that it was the tandoori chicken and the raita sauce!

From the book the flavors of Asia, I had selected two recipes: Naan bread and Masala Shrimps.

Apparently bread is an integral part of Indian cuisine.    So to make our meal complete, I thought it would be fun to make Naan bread.    The process of making this bread is very easy but take a long time.

Naan – serves 8

1 pound 8 ounces of all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup yogourt
2 tbsps melted butter or vegetable oil, plus as needed for garnish
3/4 tsp yeast
1 or 1 1/4 cups warm water, or as needed

The first step is to mix all the ingredients (except the water) in a bowl.    And then you gradually the water and knead until you get a smooth, soft dough.   This will take about 10 minutes.   I will admit that I cheated a bit here as I took my Kitchenaid mixer with the dough hook to do this part.  It was faster and I could proceed to do something else at the same time.

After 10 minutes of kneading, all you have to do is put the dough aside in a warm place and wait six hours.    In the meantime, you could prepare the rest of your meal if needed be.

Six hours later, we made tennis ball size pieces of dough and let it stand once again in a warm place for one hour.

Here’s what the dough looked like an hour later…

The next step consist of flattening each ball and spread it whether with a rolling pin or by hand.   I did it with my two hands and stretched the dough one at a time.   I them placed them on a cookie pan and asked my son, Dominic – age 8, to brush them with a little bit of melted butter.

The oven must be preheated at 475 degrees to cook them for about 4-5 minutes.   I think my dough were too thick as it took about 10 minutes to get them golden.   I also re-heated them when the time for supper was closer.

 

The second recipe I made for our Easter meal was the Masala Shrimps.   Here’s the recipe.

Masala Shrimp

1 tsp cayenne pepper or Indian chili powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp sea salt
1 pound and 8 ounces shrimp, peeled and deveined
1tbsp vegetable oil
1 key lime, cut into eights
24 cilantro leaves
1 small avocado, cut into small-dice

The first thing you need to do to combine all the spices together and rub the mixture on the shrimps.  Once that’s done, you set the bowl aside for 15 to 30 minutes. 

Then in a large sauté pan containing the oil, fry the shrimps over medium-high heat until they lose their translucency.  This is quite fast and be careful not to overcook them.

The final meal including the tandoori chicken, the raita sauce (both taken from the Around the World CookBook. ) and the pieces of avocado.

Though I realized that having more vegetable would have been preferable, we had a great time with our friends and the meal was delicious.    I’m happy it turned out perfect and than everyone went for seconds!

Afterwards, we did a little Easter egg hunt with the kids including our friends’ son who did it for the first time as he is not even two years old yet.

The recipe book contains recipes from China, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.     You will find everything to plan a meal with your family and friends.    The table of content will indicate the pages where you can find the

• appetizers & small plates
• soups & noodle soups
• salads & vegetables
• meats
• seafood
• noodles, rice & breads
• chutneys, pastes, & sauces
• sweets, drinks, & desserts

The recipes are easy to follow and are mouthwatering.   The only disappointment I would have is that there isn’t a picture on each recipes.   I personally prefer seeing the final result in a picture.   I find it motivate me more to do the recipe if I like what I see.    It doesn’t have to be next to the recipe though.  It could simply have a series of pages containing the different meals in them set up as a table for example.   Needless to say, this cookbook is inspiring and I am looking forward to try out new Asian recipes like the Vietnamese spring rolls or the Korean lettuce wrap with spicy beef for example.

If you are tired of always making the same meals every day, I would like to challenge you in trying something new and out-of-the-ordinary.   The flavors of Asia is definitively the cookbook that will bring new flavors in your mouth.  

Flavors of Asia is available at your favorite bookstore, even amazon.ca.

Disclaimer: Thanks to DK Canada for sending me the above mentioned product for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.