Whole Grain Corn Bread

This is, hands down, my favorite corn bread.  It's sweetened, but not sweet.  It's made with freshly ground corn and wheat, so it's filling.  It's soft and hearty and moist, with little crunchy bits of corn, and so, so good.  The original recipe is from the side of the Alber's Corn Meal box.  I've doubled it, and substituted freshly ground grains.

This is fantastic with chili or beans.  I like it plain, and some in my family smother it with butter and honey.  I remember, growing up, drizzling molasses over my corn bread- I highly recommend it!  (Plus, molasses is a good source of iron.)

Whole Grain Corn Bread
1 heaping cup popcorn, ground into coarse flour
1 heaping cup winter white wheat, ground into fine flour, plus more (see below)
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
2 cups milk
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten.

Measure out 2 cups of corn meal and 2 cups of wheat flour.  (I normally grind a bit of extra wheat flour, to make sure I have 4 cups of grain flour total, since I can more easily use up excess wheat flour than corn meal.)  Mix with dry ingredients in a bowl.

In a large measuring cup, combine liquid ingredients- stir to beat eggs.  Mix the wet ingredients into the dry, with as few strokes as you can.  As soon as everything is wet, stop mixing- lumps are OK!

Baked in a greased 9x13 pan, at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes until a knife inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs.

Brown Rice Jumble Bowls

This is an easy, super yummy, weeknight dinner idea.  Everyone in the family enjoyed customizing their own bowl- I set out the rice and bowls of toppings, and let the kids just go to town.  Ernie didn't mix anything at all, just had little piles of everything she loved (rice, parmesan, chicken, and cucumbers) and Mimi just chose rice and shredded cheddar cheese- I didn't list the cheddar below because it doesn't quite fit with the flavor profile, but I knew Mimi would eat it!


  This has unlimited variations, but this is what I used.  You could substitute other grains- quinoa or wheat berries would be amazing, or even pasta!  If the toppings you use are chewy or unwieldy, chop them small- I chose to cut my mushrooms and chicken rather finely, but left the cucumbers and tomatoes big enough to grab with a fork.  An asian-inspired bowl would be delicious, with steamed edamame and a ginger-sesame dressing.


Remember when you cook brown rice that it takes much longer than white rice.  I cooked two cups of brown rice with three cups of water in my rice cooker on the "brown rice" setting, and it took about an hour.  I love the flavor and chewiness of brown rice, but often forget to leave myself time to cook it!

Cooked brown rice
Chopped tomatoes
Chopped cucumber
Finely chopped cooked chicken
Finely chopped white mushrooms
Minced chives
Grated Parmesan cheese
Balsamic vinaigrette

Survival Bars

According to hermana Taylor, these will last 5 years, and in a desperate situation 1 bar is enough to sustain a person for 3 days.  It wouldn't be fun, though, since these are tiny!  Dense little guys though, and super tasty- they really taste like milk and honey bars, but not too sweet.  These are very filling!

She used brown paper that she found in the paint section at the hardware store, a roll of thin-ish brown paper about 8 inches high, like what a painter would tape up to block paint from splattering on the floor.  It wasn't exactly what she wanted, though.  I imagine parchment paper would work- this paper was thin but crisp, and she cut it into 8 inch squares.  And certainly cheaper than parchment, I would imagine.

Survival Bars
Ingredients:
3 cups oats
2 1/2 cups powdered milk
1 cup brown sugar (not packed)
3 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp plain gelatin
2 Tbsp warm water
1/2 cup liquid milk, warmed

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, using your hands if necessary, gently adding one ingredient after another.

Scoop out about 2 Tbsp balls, and form into bars.  Roll each in a paper square, and fold the ends in.  When all the dough is formed and wrapped, place in a large pot on a steamer basket, with boiling water underneath, and tuck a plastic grocery sack over the top of them, and cover the pot with a lid.  Steam for 30 minutes.

After they have steamed, remove the bars from the pot and unwrap- they are finished if they easily come off the paper.  They will be quite dense.

Let cool for two days on a plate covered with a towel.

Wrap each bar in a new square of paper, and then in aluminum foil.  Mark each bar with the date, and store in a cardboard box (like a shoe box.)

These will last for 5 years, and one bar can sustain a person for 3 days.  (But I imagine your children will be MUCH HAPPIER if you had three bars a day for them!!)

Survival Atole

A very nourishing whole-grain drink, served hot.  It's delicious and comforting, and perfect for a cold day!

The recipe here would make enough to serve probably a hundred!  USE THIS AS A RATIO GUIDE.  Our teacher was using Tablespoons of ground, toasted grains to make enough for everyone in the class to have a taste.

Survival Atole
4 pounds wheat
2 pounds rice
2 pounds garbanzo
2 pounds millet (or more wheat if not available)
2 pounds peanuts
2 pounds lentils

Toast each seed or grain separately in a skillet, and grind separately into powder in a blender.

Combine desired amounts of ground grain/beans/etc. in a pot with water and a cinnamon stick.  Add milk or condensed milk or powdered milk, and heat.

(I'm sorry this recipe is vague- I think it's just to taste.)

Meatball Soup (Albondigas de Trigo)

Spicy broth, and enormous meatballs.  This is a complex soup, and delicious.

Broth:
Blend chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (available canned in the hispanic section of the grocery store) with 5 or 6 medium tomatoes, and some garlic.  Pour into pot with about 8 cups of water and bring to a boil.  Add salt to taste.

Meatballs:
Mix 2 cups cooked wheat berries with:
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup oats
a little salt
a little cumin

Form meatballs around 1/4 pieces of hardboiled eggs, and drop into simmering soup.

Let cook until  meatballs are fully cooked.

Breaded Fried Steak (Milanesa de Trigo)

The recipe calls for 1 pound of ground beef, but I've sampled these prepared with just a handful of meat and with no meat at all- you just can't go wrong, either way.  Anything breaded and fried, with this many savory elements going on, is going to be amazing.  The entire class was kind of going nuts over these, they are amazing.

Milanesas
1 pound ground beef
2 cups cooked wheat berries
diced onion
diced parsley (about half a plateful)
salt and pepper
4 eggs
bread crumbs

Blend wheat with eggs, incorporate remaining ingredients in a bowl, and make into small balls.  Roll in the breadcrumbs, flatten very thin (1/4 inch), and fry in a skillet with oil.

These are good on their own, with pico de gallo or salsa, or wrapped up in a corn tortilla.

Wheat Hamburgers (Hamburguesa de Trigo)

These patties are completely meatless, and completely delicious.  I wouldn't say this tastes like a hamburger, but it IS amazingly yummy- you'd be hard pressed to find someone who would turn down one of these sandwiches down.

Wheat Hamburgers
2 cups cooked wheatberries
1 cup chopped mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, minced
pepper
1 spoon mustard
2 eggs
salt

Blend wheat and eggs.  Add remaining ingredients.  Form into hamburger patties and cook in a skillet.

Serve on buns with lettuce, tomato, and american cheese.

Pico de Gallo with Wheat (Pico de Gallo con Trigo)

The cooked wheat berries add a nice heft to this salad/topping.  And...because this class was taught to latinas, the point was more that you could add wheat, because everyone already knew how to make a basic pico de gallo, so no amounts are given in our handout!

Pico de Gallo
Onion
Tomato
Cilantro
Avocado
Serrano chile peppers
Cooked wheat berries
Salt
Lime Juice

Combine first five ingredients, then add the cooked wheat berries and add salt and lime juice to taste.

(To prepare wheat berries, soak overnight and let drain 24 hours.  Cook in boiling water 15 minutes.)

Wheat Jam (Marmalada de Trigo)

I learned this recipe at a cooking class held by the Relief Society in my Spanish Branch.  It doesn't taste like oranges, and it doesn't taste like wheat.  It kind of tastes like cinnamon apple sauce....impossible to describe, but  exceptionally delicious!

Wheat Jam

1 cup cooked wheat berries

1 cup sugar

Juice from 2 oranges (a glass full)

1 stick of cinnamon

In the blender, mix the wheat with the orange juice.  (It should still be fairly lumpy.)  Add cinnamon and sugar to taste, and blend.  Cook in sauce pan on stove over low heat until thick.

(To prepare wheat: Soak overnight, and let drain 24 hours.  Cook for 15 minutes in boiling water.)