One thing that I'm probably overly concerned about is eating High Fructose Corn Syrup, and other refined sugar -- it's REALLY bad for you. So I've taken to making my own bread. I make bread, pitas, and bagels at home, and all of them are so easy. Here are the recipes, if anyone is interested:

Monique's Bread

4 cups flour (unbleached white, or two cups each white and wheat)
4 cups warm water
3 tablespoons yeast

mix the above ingredients together and let sit for 10 minutes. Return to bowl and add 1/3 cup olive oil, 1/3 cup honey, and 2 tablespoons of salt. mix together, then add one cup of flour at at time, blending completely, until the mixture is no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl. Remove from bowl and knead on floured surface for 10-15 minutes. Form into a circle and cut into four parts. Shape each section into a loaf and drop in a greased breadpan. Let each loaf rise for one hour, or until it has doubled in size. Bake at 350* for 30-35 minutes. Voila! AMAZING bread. Also, if you brush the tops of the loaves with egg before you bake them, it will make the tops brown and shiny.

Whole Wheat Pitas

* 1 cup warm water
* 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
* 1 tablespoon honey
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
* 1 1/2 cups all purpose unbleached flour
* cooking spray
* cornmeal for dusting
1. In a bowl mix the warm water and yeast. Let sit 5 to 10 minutes, then gradually mix in the whole wheat flour and soy flour. Add the salt and honey. Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead until smooth. Place in a large bowl lightly coated with cooking spray. Cover with a towel, and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
2. Punch down the dough, and knead for 5 to 10 minutes. Divide into 6 pieces. On a lightly floured surface, flatten each piece to about 1/8 inch thick with a rolling pin. Cover with a towel, and let rise 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Warm a baking sheet in the preheating oven for about 2 minutes, then remove from heat and sprinkle with cornmeal.
4. Arrange the dough rounds on the prepared baking sheet, and bake 6 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from heat and cover the bread with a moist towel to soften. When cooled, slice in half and use a knife to cut pockets in the bread.

Bagels

* 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
* 1 1/4 cups warm milk (110 to 115 degrees F)
* 1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
* 2 tablespoons sugar
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 egg yolk
* 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add the butter, sugar, salt and egg yolk; mix well. Stir in enough flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down. Shape into 12 balls. Push thumb through centers to form a 1-in. hole. Place on a floured surface. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes; flatten. In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil. Drop bagels, one at a time, into boiling water. When bagels float to the surface, remove with a slotted spoon and place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. You can play with this by using half wheat flour, or adding apples and cinnamon, or raisins, cheeses, whatever sounds good to you.

Enjoy!

Does anyone else have healthy, yummy recipes?

Thanks! I LOVE making my own bread but usually rely on the bread machine. I'm definitely going to try these out!

WOW thanks sooo much - being a regular breadmaker, I will DEFINATELY give these a shot, thanks so much for sharing these recipes Monique...interested in a yummy vegetarian lasagna recipe? It is divine!

I have never made bagels before and would love to try.

One question, do we really have to put butter, margarine or olive oil kind of thing into the mixture? Would it be better to cut all of them?

I know that you can substitute fats with applesauce in cakes, but I'm not sure about breads. All I know for sure is that I love bread, and these are all healthier than the stuff you buy at the store. I suppose you could try substitutions, but I don't think the bread would come out if it didn't have some sort of fat or oil in it. I actually use coconut oil a lot as a substitute, it's actually rather good for you.

Anyone have better ideas?

And Samantha, I would LOVE to try your vegetarian recipe. Post it for everyone!

Monique, do you have the nutritional "data" (i.e., calories, carbs, protein) for your recipes?

This looks great, thanks! I've been meaning to start making bread at home, though for anyone with a health store (or organic section in your regular grocer), I have found some really great breads that do not have HFCS - Alvarado St Bakery, sprouted grain breads....

I Have a Recipe Program that once I type in a new one it will give me the nutritional Data, I'll try it and let you know how it turns out.

monique-coconut oil is good for you? i thought that was one of the "bad" oils? just curious.

ok made a mistake confusing it with something else. you are correct monique.