Whole Grains

• Look for "whole grain" on labels to be sure you're not buying white flower with caramel coloring
• Barley and brown rice take 45 minutes to cook, so make extra and freeze in portion sizes.
• Pressure cookers can cut cooking time in half. Try 35-45 minutes for wheat berries; 16 for pearl barley; 20 for pot barley; 30 for brown rice; 35 for spelt.
• Microwave rolled oats for a quick and filling breakfast.
• Substitute whole-wheat flour or barley flour for half the white flour in recipes for cookies, muffins, quick-breads, and pancakes.
• Add 1/2 cup of cooked bulgur, wild rice or barley to bread stuffing for roast poultry or stuffed rolled roasts of pork or lamb.
• Add rolled oats to meatballs and meatloaf (gives a wonderfully smooth texture to the meat), and use them in toppings for fruit crisps, macaroni and cheese, etc.
• Use whole grain pita bread or tortillas as a pizza base.
• Serve bulgur, barley or brown rice cooked in broth as a side dish instead of white rice. Bulgur cooks in only 12 minutes!
• Add 1/2 cup of cooked wheat or rye berries, wild rice, brown rice, or barley to soups.
• Coat chicken fingers and top macaroni and cheese with toasted whole-wheat breadcrumbs. Make whole-wheat croutons.
• Make risotto and pilaf with barley, brown rice, bulgur, millet, or quinoa. Mushrooms and thyme complement grains wonderfully. Canned and tetra-pak broths are handy to cook whole grains in to add a rich flavor.
• Toss together a grain salad with cooked bulgur or barley and couscous or wheat berries. It's great for a lunch and will last a week in the fridge.
• Try locally made whole-grain breads and rolls.
• Plain popcorn makes a healthy whole-grain snack, or zing it up with a light spray of olive oil and your favorite spices.
  
  
Did you know...



By mid-life an ancient Egyptian’s teeth had been ground down from eating bread containing grit. They were unable to make bread without grit because they ground their grain on friable (brittle) stone.

I'll never complain about dry bread again...