GRAIN-ola Bars

I've made these bars twice now and continue to add and adapt the ingrediens to what I currently have on hand. Don't sweat it if your out  don't have sesame seeds, swap 'em out for almonds or dried buckwheat instead.  These bars can be prepped and in the oven in under 20 minutes.  I like to cut, wrap, and freeze them so I can eat or pack the bars as needed.

Many of you have enjoyed the funny comments that my husband, Ben, makes about me trying to continuously feed him grains.  I'm happy to report that this recipe is "Ben Approved".  I slipped a wrapped one in his coat pocket the other morning and at 9:35AM, I recieved a text from him stating the following, "Just ate the granola bar, yum, yum!".  My response, "I knew you secretly loved sesame, buckwheat, wheat germ, almonds, and sunflower seeds."  :)

GRAIN-OLA Bars
Adapted from: Bird Seed Energy Bars by Amy E.

Ingredients

• 4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed - I used about 3/4 cup and did not pack down the sugar. 
• 1 cup wheat germ
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup honey - I used 1/4 cup of honey and filled the rest of the measuring cup with applesauce
• 1 cup canola oil - (Still adjusting this - I used a combo of oils (coconut, olive oil, and vegetable oil - I still feel this is a bit much)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup flax seeds (I used a 1/2 cupped of leftover cooked quiona)
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds (I used 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds, 1/4 cup of dried buckwheat)
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• I added 2 handfuls of slivered almonds           

 Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x14 inch ovenproof baking dish.
2. Mix the rolled oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, and flour together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, honey, canola oil, vanilla, and salt until evenly blended., and stir into the oat mixture. Stir in the flax seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and chocolate chips. Use your hands to mix the ingredients, and press the mixture into the prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven until the edges are golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool completely in the baking dish before cutting into 2 inch bars.               

Enjoy!  -amy w.

Breakfast "On the Go"

I'm up everyday at 5:40 and out the door by 6:40.  By the time I pack my lunch, grab yoga clothes, and make a fruit protien shake for mid-morning, I'm left searching for what I can eat in under 5 minutes.

The past two weeks have been a breeze.  Lorna's 5-minute steel-cut oats with gingered fruit compote on page 247 was exactly what I needed.  In her introduction to the recipe, she explained how everything could be prepared in advance.  On Sunday night, I brought 4 cups of water and a dash of salt to a boil.  I stirred in the cup of steel cut oats and cinammon.  After everything was combined, I placed the lid back on and turned off the heat.  The pan was left out on the stove overnight and I woke up the next morning to breakfast for the entire week.  It took me 10 minutes from start to finish by the time I heated the oats back up, stirred in milk and divided everything into small containers.  I can't wait to add fresh peaches and cherries from the Farmer's Market!

Inspired by the 5 minute prep time, I took steel cut oats to the next level and found an oatmeal/fruit bar recipe (pictured above).  Once again I prepared everything on Sunday night, cut and wrapped the bars so I was ready for the week. I even had extra to freeze. This recipe can be found on one of my favorite blog sites, Nourished Kitchen.  Enjoy!  -amy w.   

Early Morning Grains

I have been eating unique varieties of grains now for nearly 6 years! I can hardly remember a time when I didn't have a pantry full of bulgur, millet, quinoa, amaranth and 5 kinds of rice.  Yet I still have moments when I eat plain, lightly-salted grains for breakfast.  I generally start my day fairly early, but try not to leave the house with a healthy hot breakfast in hand.  I am the girl with the "crazy grains" as some of my classmates would say, and it feels odd to have anything else for breakfast (OK, bacon is always an acceptable substitution!).  But, it can be hard to be creative at 5:30 am, and if I did not prep the earlier in the week, salted bulgur with nothing else will be my morning meal along with my 12 ounces of french press coffee.

This week however, was a strong one, a moment of hope in a gray grain world.  On Monday, my weekly prep day, I cooked a few cups of barley from Finn River Farms. For three days, I reheated the barley with roasted acorn squash (cooked with a sauce of butter, brown sugar and orange juice) for a delicious treat. It was fantastic! Of course then the end of the week hit, I was tired and sick of repetition and resorted to plain old quinoa this morning, not bad in my eyes, but not terribly exciting for a culinary student to be cooking up!

I love pairing my breakfast grains with veggies, something I picked up on a detox diet when I was first introduced to the world of whole grain goodness. This meal planning habit is now second nature to my AM food ritual. When I allow time to actually make something tasty, these are some of my favorite combinations:
Quinoa with Broccoli or Peas
Barley & Acorn Squash (new favorite!)
Amaranth & Zucchini
Corn Grits & Sweet Potatoes (this one was a Karen invention and I love it...and she does a better job than me too!)
Buckwheat & Peas
Millet and Steamed Carrots

The list goes on and on. Fresh herbs & Homemade Seasoning salt (Yum!) add another flavor dimension to experiment with.  Keeping prepped grains, along with frozen and/or pre-roasted veggie options will help you toss together a quick and nutritious breakfast. Even if you're barely awake, the sun hasn't rose and you're tiptoeing around the house, so as not to wake the still sleeping roommates...my daily routine ;)
OK, I've actually made several dishes from the grain book lately too, so more to come!  The kids loved the Kibbeh too, so I'll be making that again.
-Vicki

Recipe Gone Grains - Tortilla-Crusted Goat Cheese-and-Asparagus Quiche

Ohh yes I did take a Rachael Ray recipe and add grains! Go ahead and give it a try.

Four 7-inch whole wheat tortillas
10 asparagus stalks, trimmed and cut into 1-inch prieces
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
Salt and pepper
4oz. log of goat cheese
3 eggs + ***fresh basil
1/2 cup plain yogurt, Greek-style
*** 1 cup of cooked oat groats

Preheat oven to 375.  In a greased pie pan, overlap the tortillas to make a crust, place on a rimmed baking sheet. 

Steam aspargus for 2-3 minutes.  In a skillet, add the olive oil and heat over medium-high heat.  Add the onion and mushrooms.  Season with salt and pepper and cook until mushrooms are golden, about 3 minutes.  Stir in the asparagus; season with salt and pepper. 

Spread evenly in the tortilla crust and add the cooked grains, then crumble the cheese on top. 

Whisk together the eggs, yogurt, basil, and season with salt and pepper; pour into the tortilla crust.  Bake on the baking sheet until just set in the center and lightly golden, about 30 minutes.  Let rest for about 10 minutes before serving.

Fruit-and-Nut Oatmeal Bars, pg. 281

I can be shopping at REI and suddenly NEED a $2 Larabar.   The chewy fruit where sweet meets tart......luv it!  I made a batch last night and now have 15 Lara-like-bars to satisfy my cravings in the days to come. 

This recipe uses honey and orange juice concentrate instead of sugar.  The rest of the recipe consists of rolled oats + apricots + cranberries + raisins + almonds + sunflower + flax seeds.    Tami, a friend at work liked the texture, sweetness of the fruit and crunchiness of the nuts.  She stated, "I think this was pretty good. I am not sure I could eat a lot of it, but I think this is a great morning treat, bet it would be great with yogurt! I give this 3 grains up!"

My husband gaining the nickname "Mr. Ben" decided he liked the bars rating them a 3.2/5 grains.   He described the taste as "eating a handful of trail mix with raisins and grains instead of nuts." (I guess he could not taste the toasted almonds).

I must say part of the fun with this blog comes from Ben stating every night he would like to eat "normal" food.  I then present the dish with my recipe book opened and a pencil in hand.  Before he's done chewing his first bite, I've usually asked him "Soooo, what do you think?" at least 3 times. Usually by mid meal, his comments and remarks become so funny that we can't stop laughing.  If you've met the Whipple's, Captain Crunch is considered a grain, Kool-Aid is 100% juice, and M&M's are a vegetable. 

I feel like I need to apologize to Lorna.  I think that's why Vicki won't let me write the author and tell her about our blog.  Vicki, we could be the next Julie & Julia!!!      - amy

Date-Nut Muffins, Pg. 266

I think when Lorna said, the best eaten warm, she meant wait more than 30 seconds before prying them out of the pan because they smelled so good! One thing I hated when I was little, but fully appreciate as an adult is crunchy things in my baked goods. There are dates, walnuts and tiny pieces of crystallized ginger & I love all the flavors and fillings in these muffins! I just devoured it!

I did make a few small changes…well a big one. I used Rice Milk instead of buttermilk and added about a teaspoon of vinegar to make up for the missing acid. I don’t notice any lacking in texture or flavor lacking, so it appears that my substitution worked. The other fat in the recipe comes from Canola oil instead of butter so I didn’t have to swap it out. I chopped my ginger into very small pieces to help spread out the flavor more because it is a flavor I don’t like in the raw form, but it works in this recipe very well. I used very fresh spices and ground my allspice from the full seed which helped the intensity of flavor come through in the muffin. I also used whole grain spelt flour, so the texture was hearty and healthy…but totally delicious J

These muffins are definitely a crowd pleaser! Everyone that tried them, thoroughly enjoyed the spicy and sweet flavors throughout. Definitely a new favorite! -Vicki

2-1-10

What girl takes back a beautiful pair of earrings and matching necklace for a Nutrimill grinder?  Apparently a gal that loves to cook, buys 50 pounds of wheat, and grinds whole grains in her spare time.  I was secretly waiting for Vicki to pick a baked good recipe so I could use the Nutrimill.

 

Loved the muffins!  I would ommit the crystallized ginger. I've come to terms that I'm just not a fan. Husband Rating: 3.5/5 grains.    

 -amy

Creamy Wheat Berries with Honey, pg. 300

I forgot my grocery list in the car when I ran into Whole Foods...and yes, I could have gone out and grabbed it, but we were having one of those torrential downpours, and I figured I would wing it.  Somehow I forgot the recipe called for dried dates, and bought dried figs instead, but they worked!  Now I know I enjoy dried figs in hot grains, who knew!

I can't say this received amazing reviews.  My roommate Karen, who has a textural issue with creamy-like foods, told me she wouldn't even try it (only based on texture!) and Jeff took such a small bite I can't imagine he could taste much, but said it was good.  It's sweet and chewy, although I'm not sure it was actually cooked all the way and it's not very "creamy".  I enjoy the flavor, but want it a bit more cooked than the recipe called for.

Ironically, in my first attempt at cooking from the book, I have a dish with Milk as the first ingredient! I'm not tolerant of lactose, so I intend to cook through the book with as little dairy as possible.  This time I used rice milk instead (2 cups original, and 1 cup vanilla).  I imagine the fat content of rice milk vs. 2% is substantial enough to affect the creamy consistency of this dish, so I'm interested to see how Amy's real milk version will compare.  I also didn't top it with whipped cream, although it sounds delicious!  Overall I enjoyed the flavor of the finished product, but think I need to cook it more.  I'll be heating this up for breakfast in the morning.  A yummy start to a day all about food!   -Vicki



1/20/10

This recipe called for chopped dates. I thought a date was some sort of plum that was dried.  Ben said it was the root of a plant or vegetable.  We were both wrong!  "A date fruit is the product of a date palm, a tree native to Northern Africa and the Middle East, although it is also cultivated in other parts of the world. In addition to being eaten fresh, the date fruit is dried and eaten whole as a snack or included in an assortment of desserts." -wisegeek.com

I was pleasingly surpised at how this recipe turned out.  I cooked the wheat berries using my pressure cooker. Goodbye to soaking grains overnight!  Hooray for putting water, a tablespoon of oil, and berries in my Fagor pressure cooker for 35 minutes.  Next time, I may consider adding extra cinnamon and sugar into the water before cooking.  Is that allowed....or will I start a sugar stove fire?

After Ben's first bite, he said it tasted as if he was eating warm apple pie that was mixed with melted vanilla ice cream.  After a few chews, Ben said the flavor goes back to being a grain with the texture of corn.  He would prefer Craisins instead of  dates.  Husband Rating: 3.8/5 grains.

This recipe yields around 3-4 cups so be prepared for breakfast leftovers!  -amy

Buckwheat Hash with Bacon & Eggs - (pg 254)

"It's no Oreo cookie" were the first words out of my husband's mouth after his first bite.  Ben proceeded to tell me that this dish had all of his favorite things in it minus the buckwheat.  He thought that adding some paprika or chili flavor would midigate the fact that the grain had no flavor.   Yes, I have one of the best food critics and husband a gal could ask for!  Husband Rating: 2/5 grains.

Would I make this recipe again?  Yes. I ended up buying chopped buckwheat instead of whole so I'll take the blame for not following instructions.  I recommend using whole buckwheat like Sass states.  Next time, I would cook the buckwheat and potatoes seperate.  Due to adding boiling water to the grains and potatoes at the same time, I believe that this caused the dish to lack flavor.  Going foward, I would cook the diced potatoes with the onion and add paprika, basil, garlic, parsley, salt, and pepper to give them a nice flavorful coating.  Then, I would mix in the buckwheat. 

On Sunday morning, I fried up the rest of the bacon and ground the remaining buckwheat in my wheat grinder.  I made delicious pancackes using my favorite recipe found on allrecipes.com.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fluffy-Pancakes-2/Detail.aspx -amy

1/23/10

This evening I made the buckwheat hash for dinner and I really, really liked it! I will agree with Amy & Ben, it is in need of more flavor which I would probably achieve by sautéing the potatoes and crisping them up before stirring it into the cooked buckwheat in the end (Karen’s input J).  Lorna’s recipe has you simmer the potatoes and buckwheat together, which means you’ll only use one pan, but doesn’t help flavor either of the ingredients very well.  I added some paprika (thanks for the suggestion Amy!) to the grains and potatoes before the water, but still wasn’t enough to flavor it very well.

This upcoming week in school I have to showcase my amazing breakfast cooking skills…and by amazing I mean I hope I at least pass this portion!  I have a lot to do still to perfect my egg skills.  This recipe looked like a perfect opportunity to practice poaching eggs, which I’ve never done before.  I’m surprised she didn’t suggest that as an option, because it was so good! The poached egg, when broken over top added so much flavor and texture to the hash, it was awesome!  And, who doesn’t like eggs topped with bacon?!  I’ve cooked buckwheat many times, and this recipe far surpasses any of my plain old cooked in salted water and mixed with peas for hot cereal ideas.

Oh and one more thing, Lorna suggested to keep your buckwheat from falling apart, mix it with fat of some kind (butter, egg or bacon grease) before cooking it to help keep it from becoming mushy in the dish.  In this case, the buckwheat is added after you cook the onion in 1 Tbsp of bacon fat which worked perfectly! It stayed together so well.  Thanks for that tip J   Amy, I took a picture of the “raw” buckwheat so you’d see what it should look like when you pick it up from the store!  -Vicki