grains

I went to a GRAINS class last week and it was fabulous. My friend Lynette is quite the lady and she has become interested in all kinds of funky grains and how to cook with them. WOW! I can not begin to report what I learned, but I will report what I have done since the class!


I bought some red quinoa last week and put it in with our taco meat. Joe remembers the last time I loaded taco meat with something other than meat, but Matt loved this time around! Red quinoa can be used to add to meat, you can grind it up and put it in with your bread flour, you can put it in cookies, you can throw it in with a pasta dish, you can make a quinoa salad, etc etc. I tried all of the above the other night at Lynette's.

Lynette gave us a few recipes to try and I was going to make the red quinoa cookies on Saturday, but I looked at the recipe and it calls for 4 cubes of margarine or butter! HOLY SMOKES! I could not put that much butter into one recipe. I just could not bring myself to do it. So, I must figure out what would be great for the remainder of the pound of red quinoa I bought!

Lynette had a bunch of wheat mills/grinders at the class for us to try. We tried about 5 electric mills and 3 hand mills. I have heard horror stories about hand grinders, but I was pleasantly surprised - it was not THAT bad! I think I need to purchase myself a grinder/mill. The one I liked the best was WonderMill brand. If I get one, I can grind up red quinoa, white quinoa, buckwheat, kamut, spelt, amaranth, and whole host of other fun, healthy whole grains and make some delicious bread and cookies in no time at all. Get this - if your grind up popcorn you get the best looking cornmeal imaginable. My life has been forever altered!