Cooking with Whole Wheat

This past weekend I cooked several recipes from this book that I found at the library using whole wheat white flour to see how my family would adjust to change.

Source: 234.powertooldragon.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Friday afternoon we made popcorn on the stove top.  I followed the instructions on the popping corn bag and used coconut oil rather than the standard canola. I was amazed at how easy it was to pop and in just a few minutes we had fluffy popcorn.  We melted butter and added a little kosher salt and my kids agreed that this popcorn was better than microwave!  I was also surprised to find coconut oil at Meijer for only .20 an ounce and the King Arthur flour for less than than the Meijer brand.

Saturday morning I made the Blue Ribbon Pancakes and although they were not as fluffy as the Krusteaz pancakes my kids gobbled these up!  They melted in your mouth. I was too busy stuffing them in my mouth to take a picture!

We like cornbread and my usual go to is the blue box Jiffy.  I made mine following the recipe on the back of the corn meal bag and substituted 2/3 of the flour with whole wheat.  My family could not even tell the difference.  Bye, bye Jiffy.

Next on the menu was a chocolate cake and frosting for Matt's birthday... from scratch.  I have never made a cake without the help of Betty Crocker so I was a little nervous.  I used the Secret Agent Chocolate Cake and the Old-Fashioned Vanilla Frosting recipe.  We all agreed that the cake was good.  In my opinion better than boxed, but my husband thought that it was "dense".  

Sunday evening I made the Mega Mac 'n' Cheese.  This version of the classic uses whole wheat macaroni, shredded cheeses, and heavy cream.  My kids are used to the enriched white macaroni and half a package of Velveeta. This is one of Luke's favorite meals and when he tried the Mega Mac 'n' Cheese he said. "I do not like this. I want the yellow macaroni and cheese".  Matt laughed.  Madeline who tends to be pickier ate it up.  We thought that we would add a little more cheese and bake it next time as the cook book suggests for a crunchier version.  Matt definitely agreed that this had a lot of potential and that is encouraging because I knew that giving up Velveeta would be hard for some family members.