Money Saving Biscuits

Money Saving Biscuits
Vegan; Soy Free; 25 minutes

In my quest to omit Earth Balance (see prior postings) from as many of my recipes, here is a biscuit recipe that I made last night. Since I used coconut yogurt, these come out super light. Here I used Spectrum Organic Vegetable Shortening. They have it printed right on the package "... Even better are the dozen of small family farmers in Colombia who cultivate and press our palm oil in an environmentally sustainable manner...." Not that I believe everything right off the package. But going to their website and clicking the link to their parent company; they have their corporate 2012 standards for transparency.

2 cups organic all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea-salt
1 teaspoon vegetable shortening
1 Tablespoon coconut yogurt
1 cup unsweetened hemp milk

1. Preheat oven to 425 F degrees.

2. In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add vegetable shortening and coconut yogurt. Taking either 2 butter knives or a pastry blender and cut shortening and yogurt into the flour. Slowly add milk and continue to combine till all the liquid is gone and a soft dough forms.

3. Drop dough, 1 1/2 inches apart, evenly onto baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes and cool. Serve with jam for breakfast!

How To Prepare & Freeze Fresh Pumpkin The Easy Way

How To Prepare & Freeze Fresh Pumpkin The Easy Way

I found this from the Farmers Almanac. Coming home from Hawaii, I had 2 small pumpkins that needed to be processed. Being afraid that they were turning, I followed the steps and it was SO easy! Hopefully this helps you as much as it helped me. I went ahead and pureed all 8 cups of pumpkin, and have been finding lots of recipes for it, let's just hope that I won't get tired of pumpkin.... ~_^

To Prepare Fresh Pumpkin for Baking and Other Uses:
Cut a pumpkin in half and then into fourths.

1. Use a large spoon or scoop to remove the seeds, and set aside (Seeds are edible and nutritious too. Save for roasting.)

2. Place the pumpkin skin-side down in a roasting pan. Add a little water to cover the bottom of the pan and cover.

3. Place in a 300°F oven. The pumpkin will take about 1 hour to bake, unless you are working with a small one.

4. Test the center of the pumpkin for softness with a knife. When the pumpkin is done, it will slice easily. Remove pumpkin from the oven when it's ready and uncover.

5. Allow to cool slightly to the touch. Cut the fleshly part away from the hard outside shell. Chop the fleshy part into 2” to 3” inch chunks.

6. If the pumpkin will be used solely for pies or breads, process the pumpkin cubes in a blender or food processor until smooth.

7. Store pumpkin in the freezer for future use. Freeze in storage containers or pressure-can in pint-canning jars.

To Freeze Fresh Pumpkin

You can enjoy baking your favorite pumpkin pies, pumpkin bread, pudding and pancakes just by freezing your fresh pumpkin. Here’s how:

1. Once the fresh pumpkin has been cooked and processed in a food processor, measure quantities for your favorite pumpkin recipes, usually 1 to 2 cup portions.

2. Measure pumpkin into freezer storage bags.
Label contents, date and quantity and store in freezer until ready to use.

To Defrost Frozen Pumpkin:

Fresh frozen pumpkin defrosts nicely and should be ready to use in only an hour after removing from the freezer. To expedite the thawing process:

1. Rip plastic freezer bag open and place pumpkin on a glass pie pan in the microwave.
Defrost 2 to 3 minutes or until soft.

2. Use defrosted pumpkin for any recipe that calls for pumpkin. It's a great substitute for the canned product.