Chef Brad & cooking with grains

This week I was able to attend a couple of days at BYU education week. My top priority class was taught by Brad Petersen who is a chef dedicated to eating healthy and feeding your families according to the Word of Wisdom. I have come home with a wealth of information and can't wait to get into the kitchen! I will keep the post short but you can go to his website to learn more. He offers all his recipes on the website, but unfortunately you have to pay an annual membership to get the full benefit. After listening to him lecture, and attending his cooking demonstrations I personally think it would be a very worthwhile investment. He is an advocate for grains, teaches all about them including their history, nutritional value, how to store and prepare them and all the ways they can be eaten. I was also finally educated on the wheat dilemma of hard red vs. hard white. In short, if you are wondering, buy hard white.

Check him out. www.chefbrad.com

Whole grain pasta

We are trying to introduce more whole grains and whole wheat into our diet. This week we tried whole grain pasta. At Harmon's, Barilla was by far the cheapest brand and the ingredients were all natural. Plus it's the brand recommended by Backpacker magazine (woohoo!) I'm a little vague on definitions, though, and hope to glean from the vast amount of knowledge. First of all, I noticed that it is whole grain, with about 50% whole wheat (oats were also listed as ingredients). Is that less nutritional that whole wheat pasta? Also, how much of a difference is there, nutritionally, between whole grain pasta and white pasta? 

I was a little apprehensive, but we used the Barilla whole grain pasta in the Ginger Sesame Noodles with Broccoli recipe and it was fabulous!

Whole Wheat Basil Pesto Pizza

The other night I made this and it turned out really well.  I couldn't find a battery for my camera and so didn't get a picture, darn it.  It looked delicious and tasted even better.  The kids loved it.  (I know I say this often, but it is an old running family joke: 'It's so easy and the kids just love it...")

Anyway, the crust was good and you can use it for any old kind of pizza you like:

1 tsp honey

1 1/2 c warm water

1 Tbs active dry yeast

1 Tbs olive oil

1 tsp salt

2 c whole wheat flour

1 1/2 c white flour

(I always make dough in my kitchen aid mixer.  Just make the dough in whatever you usually make dough in and knead it how you usually knead your dough). Dissolve sugar and yeast in water.  Add salt and olive oil, and the wheat flour and 1 cup of the white flour (or 1 1/4 cup of white flour if you are using your kitchen aid to knead the dough).    Knead until smooth.  Place in oiled bowl, cover with towel and let rise double twice.  Divide dough in half and roll out thin.  From here you make whatever kind of pizza you want and bake it at 425 degrees for 16-20 minutes.

I like to make a BIG batch of pesto and freeze whatever I don't use in small portions to use in pasta or for other recipes.  It is a forgiving recipe and can be made to taste.  Add more cheese or less pine nuts of it suits you.  For the pesto:

1 large bunch organic spinach washed (remember spinach is one of the "dirty dozen" when it comes to pesticides)

about 1 cup basil leaves washed

about 1/2 cup pine nuts

2-3 cloves peeled garlic

about 1/2-1 cup paremesean cheese 

about 1-2 Tbs olive oil.

Combine it all in a food processor and grind it up.  Add the olive oil last and add until it is the consistency you desire (I like it sort of a buttery consistency).

For the pesto pizza, spread a generous amount of the pesto onto your uncooked crust.  Top with grated mozzerella and paremsean cheese, and place sliced tomatoes on top.  Bake according to the directions above.

Wheat Grinders

First, I want to say thanks to Anna! Great blog topic and I'm really looking forward to some cool collaboration with all of you--and great recipes too.

I was making a comment on the earlier post about wheat in response to Millie's question about wheat grinders when I thought that perhaps it would be better to get some of this information in another post as to not detract from the discussion about finding organic wheat, etc.

Also, because it seems like there are dozens of options out there: from stone grinders with serious horsepower, to grinder attachments for your stand mixer, to simple hand grinders. Depending on your need or interest and budget, there is a lot of information to be sifted. For a basic explanation of the different kinds of grinding options available, I found this website. I haven't done any other serious searching except to find out that the grinder I currently have is just like this one being sold on Ebay. It is a work horse and apparently it can grind more than just wheat, like corn. I hadn't ever thought about stuff like that, but it gets me thinking......

Anyway, this is just to help organize any information found on this topic.

Whole Wheat Flour

Most of you already know this, but just a little fyi, whole wheat flour goes rancid so it needs to be stored in the fridge or freezer.  If stored in the freezer let it warm up a bit before adding it to a recipe.

Banana Wheat Bread

I found this recipe in the hopes of coming up with alternatives to processed breakfast cereal, and lo and behold my kids will actually eat it.  It isn't light and fluffy, but it tastes good.

In a bowl or mixer combine the following ingredients:

2 1/2 Cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 Cups brown sugar

2/3 Cups plain yogurt (I didn't have any on hand and substituted Daisy brand sour cream...it only has one ingredient: milk, unlike most brands which have all kinds of crap in them)

2 eggs (I use vegetarian fed eggs where the chickens haven't been fed antibiotics)

1/2 cup canola oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

2-4 super ripe bananas

Mix until well blended.  Pour into 2 greased 8x4 loaf pan or 1 9x5 loaf pan.  Bake at 350 for 50-60 mns (8x4) or 60-80 mns (9x5).  Cool for 15 mns.

My 8x4 loaves were pretty short, so I would probably go for the 9x5 pan next time.