whole grain mix
I’m just a bit of a health junkie in the sense that I enjoy reading about all things health-related. I like to research the healthiest things and ways to eat and the most efficient and holistic ways to exercise and train. The most frustrating part of this research is how much of it conflicts with other parts!
All of that to say that I’m confused on the topic of grains. People are increasingly finding that they have gluten allergies or sensitivities. Many paleo diet proponents, raw foodies, and many others advocate eliminating grains. Weston A. Price advises careful preparation of whole grains before eating. My problem with all of this reading? I really enjoy whole grains! I stay fuller longer when I eat them, and I don’t seem to have gluten sensitivities. All bets are off right now because I’m pregnant, but I do plan to experiment going grain-free for a month or so post-baby. I’ll keep you posted on my efforts.
What are your thoughts on the subject?
If you aren’t going grain-free anytime soon, make some of this whole grain mix from Kim Boyce’s new cookbook. Every recipe I’ve tried so far has been delicious. I made a huge batch of her whole grain mix a few weeks ago, and I’ve been having fun thinking up things to make with it to experiment.
Multigrain Flour Mix
From Kim Boyce’s Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole Grain Flours
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oat flour
1 cup barley flour
1/2 cup millet flour
1/2 cup rye flour
Measure all of the flours into a bowl and then mix together. I typically quadruple the recipe, and then store the leftovers in a big flour jar marked “whole grain flour” to use in place of regular flour in recipes.
To make the barley and oat flours, I just put the same amount of rolled barley or rolled oats in my blender and pulverized them into a fine powder. So to make a cup of oat flour, I put a cup of organic rolled oats into the blender and turned the blender on high for a minute or two until the result was a fine powder (I think the food processor would work just as well). Kim recommends sifting the flours as you combine them.
One of the ways I “used up” the whole grain mix was with these delicious cookies…
Multi-Grain Peanut Butter Reese Cup Cookies
Adapted from The Curvy Carrot
Ingredients
1 3/4 cup multi-grain mix (see above)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1 happily-raised egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp milk
6 ounces chocolate chunks (I used dark chocolate, but feel free to use whatever you have on hand)
10-12 miniature Reese cups, chopped (we had some leftover Easter candy that I wanted to use up)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the dry ingredients. Cream the butter until smooth, and then add the honey, sugar, and peanut butter and mix until smooth. Add the egg, vanilla, and milk, mixing completely. Then add the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Finally, add the chocolate chunks and Reese cups, stirring gently. Drop the cookies onto baking sheets. I have noticed that the whole grain mix takes a bit longer to bake, so keep an eye on any baking you do when you sub out the whole grain mix. These cookies took about 14 minutes or so per batch.
