Tag Archives: grains

Get Your Whole Grains On!

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To say we love whole grains at is an understatement! Lia has touted their benefits–for your health, for your taste buds–for years and she has made converts of the whole staff. In fact, winning us over to whole grains may well be one of Lia’s early successes as a NOURISH Evangelist. Not only do we relish the range of of hearty flavors and textures offered by whole grains. In fact, we now prefer them to their refined cousins and our kitchens are stocked with a variety of whole grains for meals from breakfast to dinner and snacks in between.

But if you’re new to whole grains, figuring out what to do with them can be confusing. (What the heck is millet, anyway? Keen-WHAT?) If you’re not sure exactly what a whole grain is, start with Lia’s Gotta Get Your Grains primer. Then dive into our “Get a New Grain” series to discover a world of whole-grain options beyond whole-wheat bread and pasta:

And if you think whole grains take too long to cook, think again. Here are 5 whole grains you can have on the table in less than 20 minutes>

Healthy Made Convenient

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By Alison Ashton

After Hurricane Katrina rolled through the Gulf States five years ago, a friend headed to his family’s home in south Mississippi to clean up the damage. While he was there, the military came by, distributing MRE (meals ready to eat) like they were edible Mardi Gras beads. My friend accepted some and passed them along to his wife, who was my coworker. She brought them to work, where several of us gathered in the communal kitchen to sample some guv’ment fare. It was OK–and probably very welcomed by thousands of overwhelmed souls busy setting up house in FEMA trailers. When time and resources are tight, your definition of “good” broadens” considerably.

At NOURISH Evolution, we advocate cooking from scratch with fresh, whole, seasonal foods. But we also live in the real world, where long days can make getting healthy food on the table for dinner challenging. We’ve offered cook-ahead strategies to stock the freezer, shared speedy recipes that come together faster than ordering a pizza, and suggested equipment like pressure cookers that make quick work of cooking beans and grains.

Sometimes even those are a stretch, though, and it helps to have some of the work done for you. Lately, I’ve notice a wider range of steamed, shelf-stable, refrigerated or frozen legumes, grains, and vegetables that make healthy cooking convenient.

healthy-convenience-postLegumes. I’ve become a fan of vacuum-packed, steamed, ready-to-eat black-eyed peas, lentils, and various kinds of beans distributed nationwide by Melissa’s (I’ve also found refrigerated and shelf-stable varieties at Trader Joe’s). They typically have less sodium than their canned counterparts (rinsing canned beans washes away only about a third of the sodium) and much nicer texture. These steamed legumes are firm and hold their shape.

Whole grains. We’ve sung the praises of Village Harvest’s line of frozen, cooked grains, including quinoa, brown rice, and wild rice. These have terrific texture, and you can pour out what you need and put the rest back in the freezer. (I’ve used the quinoa to speed up preparation of Curry Quinoa Cakes.) Trader Joe’s also has its own label of frozen cooked grains, as well as shelf-stable versions.

Veggies. While I prefer using fresh beets with a big bouquet of greens still attached to make something like Mama Kourtesi’s Beet and Green Salad, there are hectic evenings when I appreciate the convenience of peeled and steamed baby beets that I can add to a salad or slice over pizza. Items like steamed, sliced carrots also are a fast way to add color–and nutrition–to salads and side dishes.

Products like these make it a lot faster to eat healthily on crazy days, but there are some caveats. You’ll pay a premium for the convenience. For instance, a 20-ounce bag of frozen cooked brown rice is $5, which would buy you a 32-ounce bag of uncooked rice (uncooked rice from the bulk bins costs even less). And while many of these items have little or no added salt, others may have more. If salt’s a concern, check the sodium tally on the Nutrition Facts label.

This Mississippi “Caviar” isn’t quite an MRE, but with the help of some ready-to-eat components, it’s close. And it tastes a heck of a lot better, trust me.

alison-thumbA longtime editor, writer, and recipe developer, Alison Ashton is a Cordon Bleu-trained chef and the Editorial Director for NOURISH Evolution. She has worked as a features editor for a national wire service and as senior food editor for a top food magazine. Her work has appeared in Cooking Light, Vegetarian Times, and Natural Health as well as on her blog, Eat Cheap, Eat Well, Eat Up.

Fancy Food Show Roundup Part I

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Last weekend, the NOURISH Evolution crew scoured the aisles of the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco looking for companies that really embodied our values of enjoying food that’s healthy for our bodies and the earth. Here, the first in my three part series (I’ve got a lot to say and didn’t want to overwhelm you) on our 18 favorites:

Village Harvest Frozen Fully-Cooked Grains – You may not think of brown rice as cutting edge; but these are—and the quinoa too. In this truly unique product line, Village Harvest cooks various grains to perfection (honestly, Alison and I were both marveling how their quinoa was cooked better than ours at home), and then freezes them instantly. Which means all you have to do is heat and eat. I love the idea that I can have brown rice or a medley for dinner even if I don’t have 50 minutes to cook it. And if I need even more of a boost I can reach for their “Un” Fried Brown Rice or Spicy Thai Brown Rice, both of which have surprisingly few ingredients (all of which are readable), low amounts of sodium, and a clean, simple taste. Because these grains are flash-frozen and kept frozen, there’s no need for chemical preservatives—and you can truly taste the difference. Seek them out in your grocer’s freezer case.

Ayala’s Herbal Water – I’m not a soda person, so I’ve wholeheartedly embraced the influx of naturally flavored waters coming onto the market. But some of them taste like your Britta does when you come home from a two week vacation. Not this one. With a crystal fresh taste and flavors like Cloves Cardamom Cinnamon (just a hint of spice in the aftertaste) and Lemon Verbena Geranium (my favorite . . . gorgeously perfumed), these are just what I’ve always wanted in a water.

KIND Bars – I’ve been a fan of KIND bars for a while now. Where other bars are a lot of filler, KIND bars are essentially just dried fruit and nuts. They’re super-satisfying, low in sugar, reasonable in calories and packed with fiber, protein and healthy fats. A winner all around.

Dragunara Organic Sweet Chili Sauce – Finding this was kismet. The night before the show a Brussel’s Sprouts with Chile Sauce dish was a standout at dinner. But I was lamenting that all the chile sauces I’ve ever seen are loaded down with thickening agents.  Then the very next day I rounded the corner at the end of an aisle and found Dragunara, made with just five ingredients: water, sugar, chiles, vinegar and salt. Finally, a chile sauce with bright, zippy, natural flavor. I got so excited I think I freaked people out.

Chuao Chocolatier – Alison and I had just hit ‘overload’ when Brooke from Chuao (pronounced choo-WOW) Chocolatier deftly finagled us into a tasting. Which really wasn’t that hard to do once we’d eyed the flavors, like panko, caramelized chocolate nibs and anise. What struck me immediately was that these innovative flavors were paired with high quality dark chocolate, as opposed to the more common milk chocolate. During a grilling on production practices, Brooke taught us that despite being without Organic and Free-trade certification, the people behind Chuao chocolates (Venezuelan-born brothers) are working to ensure sustainable production and social responsibility within the Venezuelan cacao market. And, for those who have no will power with an open chocolate bar, Chuao offers individually-wrapped mini bites of just 100 calories each. I’ll definitely be seeking these guys out.

Field Roast Grain Meat Company — I have to admit; I walked right by these guys the first time. But then Nicki tasted through the line and was so excited by it that she all but ran me back to the table.  And I’m glad she did. Founder David Lee combines ancient Chinese and Japanese vegan preparations with the European tradition of charcuterie to create sausages, meat loafs and pates—all without meat—that are superb. The Celebration Roast, a vegetarian roast stuffed with a puree of butternut squash, apples and mushrooms, and the Italian sausage were my favorites.

Get a New Grain: Wheat Berries

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If you’re trying to get acquainted with more whole grains, add wheat berries to your list. Wheat berries are actually whole wheat kernels. It’s the wheat berries that are ground into whole wheat flour; white wheat berries create a lighter, tan-colored flour and red wheat berries yield a darker, tawny tint. (Click here learn more about whole wheat flours.) Left whole, though, wheat berries are a versatile addition to the kitchen.

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What They Look Like: You’ll find both white and red wheat berries, which carry the hues of their name. When cooked, they’re the size of plumped-up rice and have a buttery sheen to them.

What They Taste Like: Soft wheat berries (whether white or red) have a toothsome starchiness. Hard wheat berries retain a firm chewiness no matter how long they boil.

How to Cook Them: Wheat berries in general have a particularly tough bran that takes some time to soften, but cooking time varies significantly between soft and hard varieties. Just as there are different strains of wheat—hard wheat that’s higher in gluten and typically used for bread products and soft wheat with a lower protein content that’s used more for pastries—there are different types of wheat berries too. Soft wheat berries (whether white or red) cook up in just over an hour while hard wheat berries (again, regardless of color) can take hours to cook. You can also presoak them — as you would dried beans — to speed up the cooking time.

Cook soft wheat berries in a 3:1 ratio of liquid to berries. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer for 60 to 90 minutes, or until tender (drain off any excess liquid). For hard wheat berries, soak overnight and double (at least . . . keep an eye out to make sure the liquid hasn’t been absorbed or the kernels will scorch) both liquid and cooking time.

How to Use Them: Wheat berries have a sturdy texture and complex, wheaty flavor that make for wonderful salads and stir-fries. Subbing them for rice as a side dish is also a great way to get to know them.

Additional Notes: You’ll find hard red and hard white, and soft red and soft white, wheat berries out there (and wheat flours as well), but don’t let the label lead you into thinking these whole grains are refined. The “white” they’re referring to here is a class of wheat due to the color of the kernel, not a refining process. Confusing, I know, but “white wheat” berries or flour are whole grain products with all three parts of the kernel intact while “white flour” is processed flour with all but the endosperm stripped away.

Gotta Get Your Grains

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You’ve probably seen the stickers marking products made with whole grains on supermarket shelves and heard of their many health benefits (a growing body of evidence shows that even one serving a day of whole grains can help reduce the risk of several chronic diseases). But the realm of grains extends far beyond the horizon of whole wheat bread. Ancient grains like quinoa, farro, amaranth and bulgur are making a comeback in today’s kitchens, and those with former hippie appeal like millet and wheat berries are getting a thoroughly modern makeover.

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All hulled grains are made up of three parts—the bran, the germ and the endosperm—and each part performs a particular kernalfunction. The outer bran layer serves to protect the more vulnerable germ and endosperm and is equipped with fiber and antioxidants. The germ has vitamins, minerals, healthy fat and protein to nurture the into sprouting new life, and the endosperm is like the power generator, holding the carbohydrates and protein that fuel growth.

When grains are refined into the white form we’ve come to know, the bran and germ are stripped away along with all of their nutritive value. All that’s left is the protein and starch of the endosperm. But whole grains have all three parts—and the fiber, antioxidants, micronutrients and healthy fats that come with each—intact. It’s a powerful package. Reliable studies have shown that amping up whole grain consumption reduces all sorts of health risks, from type II diabetes to heart disease and even some cancers. So it’s worth it to get your (whole) grains.

As exotic as whole grains may seem, there’s no reason to fear; they’re infinitely easy to prepare. Start your exploration of whole grains with this one on farro . . . and get ready to discover an exciting new world of texture and taste.

Illustration of kernel courtesy ChooseMyPlate.gov.