Cooking with Flax
Cooking with Golden Flax is incredibly
easy. It can be added into almost any meal or recipe, bringing a pleasant
nutty/buttery flavour to the food. It can compliment anything; from bread,
to burgers; from soups to salads. It is both versatile and delicious.
In it's whole seed form, it can be sprinkled
over any salad, added to soups, mixed into a very wide variety of baking
or included in more exotic dishes, just to give you a few ideas. After
grinding the seed in a normal coffee grinder, it can be spread over your
favourite breakfast cereal, slipped into most cooking or baking recipes,
and even used to replace a few other ingredients as well. For example,
3 tablespoons of ground flax can replace 1 tablespoon of butter, margarine
or cooking oil. Be sure if you are grinding the flax, to use it quickly,
or freeze it, to preserve the nutrients and flavour.
The best idea, though, is to just let your imagination discover something
unique, something you can call your own. Bon apatite.
Healthy Eating
Flax, especially golden flax seed, is
becoming more and more recognized as an incredibly healthy food choice.
Even now, research continues to discover the benefits of eating golden
flax.
There are 3 major proven properties
of golden flax that make it a healthy choice: high omega-3 fatty acid,
high fibre and high lignans.
Omega-3 is fast becoming a catch-phrase for healthy eating. Tests have
shown that this fatty acid helps prevent heart disease, several types
of arthritis and cancer, eases many skins problems including eczema and
psoriasis and lowers stress and depression.
Flax seed also contains about 12% mucilage
(a mild, natural laxative) that lowers blood cholesterol and helps prevent
cancers of the colon.
Flax also has 100-800 times more lignans than any other vegetable or grain.
Lignans are phytoestrogens that have anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal
and anti-cancer properties. Lignans also have been shown to block tumour
formation.
Recipes
Oma's Favourite Flax Cookies
125 ml (1/2 cup) - ground flax seed
750 ml (3 cups) - oatmeal (dry)
375 ml (1 1/2 cups) - all-purpose flour
250 ml (1 cup) - brown sugar
250 ml (1 cup) - white sugar
5 ml (1 tsp) - salt
7 ml (1 1/2 tsp) - baking powder
5 ml (1 tsp) - baking soda
250 ml (1 cup) - margarine or butter
2 - large eggs
90 ml (6 tbsp) - water
30 ml (2 tbsp) - vanilla
· Cream margarine, white and brown sugar. Add eggs and beat.
· Add water and vanilla and beat thoroughly.
· Put flour, ground flax, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl and blend well. Add to first mixture and stir well.
· Add the oatmeal and stir well.
· Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) .
· Place 5 cm (2 inch) balls of dough on a cookie sheet, allowing room for them to expand. Bake for 9 1/2 to 10 minutes.
Yields 60 to 70 cookies
Note: These are chewy cookies. If you wish something crispier, double the amount of flax.
Delicious Flax Buns
This recipe is courtesy of Winnie's Winning Ways.
150 ml (3/4 cup) - ground flax seed
75 ml (1/3 cup) - brown sugar or honey
1 l (4cups) - whole wheat flour
2 ml (1/2 tsp) - salt
30 ml (2 tbsp) - instant yeast
750 ml (3 cups) - warm water
3 - eggs
1 l (4 cups) - all-purpose flour· Mix crushed flax, whole wheat flour and yeast in a bowl and set aside.
· Beat eggs well in a large bowl. Add sugar and salt and beat again.
· Add warm water and wheat flour mixture and beat for 5 minutes.
· Knead in the regular flour and knead for another 8 minutes.
· Cover bowl and let rise in a warm, draft free area until double in size.
· Punch down and shape dough into small balls the size of an egg.
· Place on a greased pan, allowing room for them to rise. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 12 minutes or until nicely browned. Remove from oven and pans while hot. Cool on rack or towel.
Yields 3 - 4 dozen
For more of Winnie's healthy recipes go to
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