Sweet or Savory Millet Biscuits

I am a believer of a completely balanced diet. I don’t like low carb or grain free diets, vegetarian, paleo, low fat, low calorie, etc. I think you should eat a balanced diet and have all (healthy) foods in moderation. So we do eat a lot of whole grains, but they are unprocessed whole grains that are traditionally prepared by soaking or sprouting. I also  vary those grains and not focus on just wheat and rice like most of America. We eat rice, quinoa, barley, amaranth, etc.

Another grain we eat is millet, but Dave and I arent huge fans of it plain. It just has a very dry texture, no matter how much liquid is added while cooking. I made a big batch for dinner, as I do with all our grains to use in lunches the rest of the week, but neither of us really wanted to eat it. So I decided I would repurpose it. I completely winged it and made some delicious biscuits/fritters. Alyssa now says millet is her new favorite grain over amaranth. I made them savory the first time with thyme and cheese and the second time with a little honey. The honey ones ended up tasting like cornbread. So if you have a corn or wheat allergy, this would be a perfect cornbread substitute.

I made these twice just to get rid of the huge batch of millet I had made and now I’ll have to go buy more millet just to continue making them!

Sweet or Savory Millet biscuits

makes 12 biscuits

3 cups cooked millet (little less than 1 cup dry millet, soaked then cooked in water)

1/3 cup kefir or buttermilk

3 Tbs butter, softened

2 eggs

1/8 tsp salt

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Sweet version: 2 Tbs honey

Savory version: 1/3 cup shredded cheese, 1/4 tsp thyme, couple shakes of pepper

Place millet, buttermilk, butter, egg, and salt into high powered blender or food processor. Process until uniform consistency and millet is completely pureed. If using honey, add that at the beginning too. Once pureed, add baking soda and baking powder and give it a quick whirl just enough to combine. If using thyme and cheese, stir that in after everything is pureed.

Put in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or overnight. Spoon onto silpat baking sheet.

Bake at 400 F for 25-30 minutes.

 

Nutritional Information: honey. thyme and cheese in parenthesis

Calories: 106                          (108)

fat: 4.3 g                                    (5.3)

sodium: 193 mg                     (213 mg)

carbohydrates: 14 g               (11.6 g)

fiber: 1.3 g                                (1.3 g)

sugar: 3 g                                (0g)

protein: 3 g                              (3.6 g)

Chicken Marsala

I don’t know why I ever ask, but I do. “Dave, what do you want for dinner?”. “I don’t care” is his one and only answer. Which is true, he doesn’t care. He will eat anything I cook and is appreciative. He is not picky at all and  it makes him very easy to cook for. But for me, I don’t really like deciding what to cook. I love to cook, but I don’t like the deciding. That was one reason I started reading blogs, for the inspiration and great ideas.

Well when I asked him what he wanted for dinner yesterday, I expected the same answer. But instead he responded “Chicken Marsala”. I had some mushrooms that were on their last leg and an opened bottle of wine. Then Dave says “What is chicken marsala anyway?”. He had no clue. He was good for the idea at least!

Chicken Marsala:

1.5 lbs chicken breasts

1/4 cup flour (sprouted or whole wheat) (substitute 1 Tbs organic corn starch if avoiding flour)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp oregano

2 Tbs butter

1 Tbs olive oil

8 oz sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup sweet red wine (Marsala wine technically, but I just used a semi-sweet red)

1/2 cup chicken broth (or stock)

 

Trim the fat from the chicken then pound it until about 1/4 inch thick. Sometimes instead of pounding it, I will just slice it in half length wise to make 1 thick chicken breast into 2 thin ones. Make sense? That way I don’t have to go through the mess of pounding chicken and I am left with smaller pieces, not huge flattened out ones.

Mix the flour, salt, pepper, and oregano together. Heat butter and oil in frying pan over medium heat. Dredge chicken in flour mixture then brown chicken on both sides in hot butter and oil. Once browned, add mushrooms, wine, and chicken broth. Make sure some of the liquid gets under the chicken so the chicken doesn’t get stuck to the pan while it finishes cooking.

*If omitting the flour, season the chicken and cook in butter. Mix the corn starch in with the cold chicken broth before adding. The flour that’s coating the chicken aids in thickening the sauce so the cornstarch takes the flours job)

Cover pan and let cook until chicken is cooked through, roughly 10 minutes, flipping chicken over once.

Serve over sprputed spaghetti, brown rice, mashed potatoes, or spaghetti squash. Top with freshly grated parmesan. I served it with a side salad for a little color and veggies.

I am glad Dave randomly pulled this dinner idea out of thin air. Its one of those meals that I always have ingredients on hand for but somehow forget to make. It really is simple and very healthy! Enjoy!