Our GF Cornbread Mix is incredibly versatile- try the recipe below for a real treat!

If there is one of our mixes that I find myself continuously purchasing, it is our Gluten Free Cornbread Mix. The first time I tried this mix, I was  preparing a chili and cornbread feast for my family. In an effort to temporarily stay off gluten, I decided to make the meal free of gluten for all! The cast iron skillet was piping hot and the cornbread came right out, baked to perfection. Not only was it gluten free, but vegan as well. It was a big hit with my family and I can almost guarantee yours will love it too!

Multiple egg substitutes work well for this mix, but applesauce in particular makes a nice looking top to the bread. The Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Cornbread Mix is also very versatile. Every Saturday, in the Bob’s Red Mill bakery you can find a delicious Sweet Potato Corn Muffin that is sure to satisfy. Another treat we are making from this mix is a Tart Cherry Orange Corncake. This variation will be available on Mondays in the Wheat-Free case. Perfect for a breakfast sweet or later in the day topped with some ice cream. Let’s just say I have tried the ice cream accompaniment a few times. Following, you will find a recipe for the Gluten Free Sweet Potato Muffins. Hope you enjoy them and feel free to ask any questions.

Gluten Free Sweet Potato Corn Muffins

1 Package (1 lb. 4 oz.) Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Cornbread Mix
1 cup rice milk
¾ cup applesauce
¾ cup brown sugar
1/3 cup oil
2 medium size sweet potatoes, cooked, peeled and mashed

Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients together in a bowl until well incorporated.  Scoop batter into a lined muffin tin and bake for 20-25 minutes. Yield: 12 muffins

Come join the fun at the Bob's Red Mill Cooking School

If you live in the greater Portland area or are looking for an excuse to come visit our World Headquarters, why not sign up for one the fantastic cooking classes we offer. Each month our store hosts three or four fabulous chefs from all over the country to bring you cooking classes on everything from basic bread baking to the secrets of Indian cuisine.

Here is what we have on the docket for September. Call 503-654-3215 x 208 today to sign up, spaces go quickly! All classes are taught in the Bob’s Red Mill Whole Grain Store located at 5000 SE International Way, Milwaukie, OR 97222. Click here for directions. Sign up to receive class schedules by email here.

Fabulous Favorites with Chef Amelia Hard!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010 • 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Join Chef Amelia Hard for a special class featuring the recipes her students have raved about! We’ll start with Cornmeal & Walnut Focaccia, a delicious crisp and chewy fl at bread that you can eat as a snack, an antipasto, or an accompaniment to a meal. Then we’ll make a richly-flavored Barley Risotto with Wild Mushrooms, as delicious as it is healthy. And while the risotto is being stirred, a fragrant pot of Bulgur & Green Lentil Pilaf will be simmering on the stove, spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom. Then to top off the evening we’ll fi nish our time together with a wonderful Greek Wine Cookie. These are recipes you’ll want to make again and again as the weather turns chilly. Note: All of these recipes are vegetarian.
Supplies to bring: enjoy the sampling! ………………………………………………………… Class Fee: $40.00

Great Ways with Whole Grains with Chef Ivy Manning!
Thursday, September 23, 2010 • 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Come celebrate the first day of Autumn with local cookbook author, Ivy Manning. She’ll share her secrets to
help you get more whole grains into your diet and share recipes for 4 great meals to jump start your healthy diet deliciously. Southwestern 4 Sisters Stew (Quinoa, Corn, Anasazi Beans, Squash), Sweet Corn Grits with Jump In The Pan Shrimp or Tofu, Crispy Millet Cakes with 3-Pepper Sauce, and Crunchy Kasha Cheese Burgers. Vegetarians and Omnivores welcome.
Supplies to bring: enjoy the sampling! ……………………………………………………………. Class Fee: $40.00

Fall Comfort Foods with Chef Thomas Hartwell!
Thursday, September 30, 2010 • 5:00-7:00 p.m.
The days are shorter as the temperatures begin to drop…hard to believe fall is here. This is the time of year we all look for foods that bring us comfort on a cool autumn day and Chef Thomas Hartwell has just the foods to
satisfy your palate. His menu includes: Butternut Squash and Corn Bisque, Barley and Acorn Squash Salad,
Baked Spaghetti Squash with Basil Pesto, Deep Fried Chickpea Fritters and Roasted Kombocha Pumpkin with
Basmati Rice and more. Come enjoy an evening of healthy foods that are sure to please family and friends alike!
Supplies to bring: enjoy the sampling! …………………………………………………………….. Class Fee: $40.00

World's Best Porridge

For all the fuss we make over our specialty dish for the Golden Spurtle World Porridge Championship, the big prize really goes to the best bowl of porridge. The simplest of dishes takes home the biggest prize. For the traditional category, each contender can only use oats, salt and water. Nothing but oats in their purest form- no toasting or roasting or pan frying- just plain and simple oats.

Unfortunately, making a great bowl of plain and simple oats can be a bit challenging for some. Almost every time I serve oatmeal to out-of-town guests, I hear, “You make these so well, how come they don’t taste like this when I make them?” Truth is, I don’t think about it much any more—just boil water, throw in oats and salt, and stir (clockwise, of course).

To help you find the path to your perfect bowl of oats, here is our winning recipe from the 2009 Golden Spurtle Competition. Enjoy!

Basic Steel Cut Oats

Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups Water
1/4 tsp Salt
1 cup Bob’s Red Mill Steel Cut Oats (Organic, Gluten Free, or Regular)

In a medium saucepan, bring water and salt to a boil. Add steel cut oats and reduce heat to low. Stir frequently and cook for 20-30 minutes, depending on how chewy you like your oats. If the oats begin to look too dry, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water. Top oats with milk and brown sugar and enjoy!

The Bikes for Kids program needs your support. Photo courtesy of Community Cycling Center.com

We’re teaming up with our friends at the Community Cycling Center this Saturday, August 28th for our second annual bike drive. Come on out between 9 am and 1 pm to donate a new or used bike in good condition and receive a coupon for a free breakfast at our Whole Grain Store. The Community Cycling Center uses the donated bikes to teach children about bike safety and maintenance. The program helps kids in need get bikes and fosters a lifelong love of biking. What more could you ask for?

Our goal this year is to collect 100 bikes. All bike donations are tax deductible and a voluntary donation of $5 will help the Cycling Center get the bikes into good working order for the Bikes for Kids program. So bring those bikes sadly collecting dust or those that are just too small for your tikes on down to the Bob’s Red Mill Whole Grain Store on Saturday. Those bikes will make some kid very happy and get all the love they deserve!

Bob’s Red Mill Whole Grain Store
5000 SE International Way
Milwaukie, OR 97222
503-607-6455
Click here for directions.

Are you the best bread baker in Clackamas County?

Tomorrow, Friday, August 20, 2010 is one of our favorite events of the year! It’s time again for the Bob’s Home-Baked Bread Contest at the Clackamas County Fair.

Every great baker knows that great bread starts with superb ingredients. Start your recipe for this contest with Bob’s Red Mill flours, cereals or grains and you will be well on your way to baking a blue ribbon loaf! Lori Sobelson, Program Director, and Matt Cox, Marketing Manager, will be on hand to personally judge all bread entries.

Bread should be delivered to the judging pavilion between 10 a.m. and noon. Judging begins at noon. Everyone who enters a loaf of bread will receive free admission to the Clackamas County Fair on the day of the contest.

If you’re located near Canby Oregon, be sure to come by and submit your best loaf for the chance to win cash prizes. If you’re not ready to enter a loaf tomorrow, you still have more than a week to prepare your recipe for the Bob’s $1,200 Best Home-Baked Bread Contest. That event, held at the State Fairgrounds in Salem Oregon will be on August 31st, 2010.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR ENTRY
• Use one or more of Bob’s Red Mill flours, including Bob’s Whole Wheat or Unbleached White and, at the contestant’s option, one or more of Bob’s Red Mill specialty whole grain flours, meals and cereals.
• Bring your bread, as fresh from the oven as possible, along with your recipe. Please include name, street address and town on the entry.
• Recipe must be typed or neatly printed on a piece of paper and must include proof of purchase of Bob’s Red Mill product(s) (e.g. receipt or product label).
• Bread recipes must be made from scratch (no bread mixes or diet restriction type breads) using fresh ingredients and Bob’s Red Mill products.

Bob’s Savory Oat Fritters!

Thank you to everyone who participated. We had a lot of fun bouncing names around and chose this particular name because it’s simple and sounds wholeheartedly American. We’ll be getting out a prize pack to Kim Philpott who suggested this name. If you haven’t seen it, check out her wonderful blog at Made With Love Baking.

Our content has been a little sparse this week, but we’ll be back in action with loads of great articles next week. Have a great weekend everyone!

What would you call this dish?

Yep- it’s that time of year again. We can hardly believe that it’s almost been a year since we claimed the title of World Porridge Champions in the 2009 Golden Spurtle World Porridge Championship. A few weeks ago, we broke out the boxes of supplies from last year and started sorting through ideas for our 2010 specialty dish. Last year we won with our traditional porridge, which consisted of water, salt and oats. We also competed in the specialty category with our Oregon Orchard Oats Brûlée- a concoction of oats, cherries, pears and hazelnuts topped with a candy crust.

This dish embraces Italian flavors while staying true to the oats.

After some serious taste-testing (ah, life is rough) and a bit of research, we’ve settled on a savory oatmeal dish for our 2010 specialty entry. We’ve based this year’s dish on Arancini, a finger-food that originated in Sicily. Arancini is typically a risotto ball that is coated in bread crumbs and deep fried. The ball usually contains a red meat sauce (Ragù) and mozzarella. In place of a rice-based risotto, we are using an oat-risotto that contains pancetta, Parmesan and porcini mushrooms. If that doesn’t sound delicious, we’ve wrapped the risotto around a creamy Pecorino, rolled the arancine in fresh bread crumbs and deep fried them. Talk about decadent! These little balls of gooey oat goodness pair perfectly with a simple red sauce. Watch for the recipe in a few weeks so that you can try them at home.

WE NEED YOUR HELP! What should we call this fancy dish? Fried oat balls doesn’t sound very appealing.  Oat-incini is a bit confusing and doesn’t really tell the judges anything about this dish.  Please help us name our entry for the competition. Leave your idea here in the comments or you can contact us through Twitter and Facebook. We’ll accept names until midnight (11:59 pm PT) Thursday, August 12th, 2010. We’ll pick a name from all the suggestions and the winning name will receive a beautiful spurtle pen from the makers of our myrtle spurtles, as well as a myrtle spurtle, a case of our famous steel cut oats and a $25 Bob’s Red Mill gift card.

For Friday we thought we’d share some beautiful photos taken by Neil Koberstein, and Lynn Destefano, while visiting Sheelar’s S&S Farm in Forest Grove, Oregon. This gorgeous 2,000 farm is currently harvesting some of the Soft White Wheat that will make it into your baked goods. We’re delighted to share some of these great photos with you. We certainly have been enjoying beautiful summer weather, and we hope you have been as well.

2000 acres requires a lot of machinery

Over the generations that have worked this farm, the biggest change by far has been the evolution of farm machinery.

Lynn Destefano

Soft White Wheat

Blueberry pancakes are one of our favorite food at Bob's Red Mill.

Pancakes are one of those breakfast dishes that seem very simple on the outside- heck, they’re just flat bread- but require a certain finesse to find a balance between fluffy and flat, lightly browned and burnt, and fully cooked and gummy. Here are a few tips to help you reach perfection in a pancake and treat your family to a healthy, delicious breakfast that will leave them feeling loved.

• It can’t be said enough, you need to be sure to have a good pancake pan. A seasoned griddle is ideal, but any non-stick pan with a full flat bottom should work well.
• Try to keep mixing to a minimum. You want the pancakes to be fluffy- not rubbery. Too much stirring will activate the gluten in the flour and cause your pancakes to become overly tough and firm.
• You can never underestimate the value of practice and patience. By practice, we mean making a first pancake to test the pan for the right heat. If it works- great. If not, you didn’t waste anymore batter than you had too. Patience is key- your pancake will be lightly golden at the edges with small bubbles dotting the uncooked side. Once flipped, the pancake should be done in about 30-60 seconds.
• Do not, I repeat, do not press the pancakes down once they have been flipped. Pressing down will fight the leavening process and ruin your chances at fluffy pancakes.
• For extra fluffiness, separate the egg yolks from the whites. Add the yolks with the other wet ingredients, and then beat the whites until light and fluffy. Fold the whites into the batter to give your pancakes a little extra lift.

Here is are some great recipes that will produce delicious pancakes. If you’re not up for trying a recipe, we’ve put some of our pancake mixes on sale for August to make pancakes an easier experiment.

Blueberry Yogurt Pancakes
Gluten Free Fluffy Pancakes or Waffles
Bob’s Cornmeal Mountain Pancakes
Banana Nut Pancakes
Vegan 10 Grain Pancakes
Gluten Free Oatmeal Pancakes

Blueberry Yogurt Pancakes http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes_detail.php?rid=943

Breakfast doesn't have to be fancy, but fancy tastes pretty good.

Last week we were pleased to see that our company made a list of top hot cereal brands in the Wall Street Journal. We weren’t number one, but we made the list. It was pretty exciting for us to realize that we’re now playing with the big boys in the hot cereal arena.

Perhaps more interesting than being ranked among the top selling hot cereals, was the statement that Jaya Kumar, president of Quaker Food and Snacks, made regarding the reality of breakfast. Kumar stated that, “Only 40% of Americans eat breakfast… even though 97% consider it the most important meal of the day.” That number bothers me. This means that 57% of people do not eat breakfast even though they acknowledge its importance.

Does this discrepancy come from simply not making time for breakfast, or do people lack the full understanding of why breakfast is so important? I have trouble getting up just like the next person, but I absolutely cannot function if I don’t have breakfast. Low blood sugar levels are as good a reason as any to eat breakfast, but the science behind the first meal of the day makes it clear that breakfast is possibly the best thing you can do for yourself all day.

Our brains rely heavily on glucose to operate. The brain uses approximately 70% of the glucose we consume every day in the form of carbohydrates. Your brain needs to be ‘fed’ with new glucose supplies about every 12-16 hours. On average, Americans eat dinner between 6 and 7 pm. Most of us get about 8 hours of sleep a night. If you eat at 6 pm, rise at 6 am and don’t eat anything until lunchtime (which these days runs between noon and two), you’re brain is hitting that 16 hour mark around 10 am. Fueling your brain (and tummy) first thing in the morning will improve mental clarity and memory retention in a way that a cup of coffee just can’t.* I’m not knocking the java, but it offers your brain absolutely no fuel. Yes, it will get you running, but you’ll be more irritable and less attentive than you would be with a solid breakfast.

Whole grains are one of the best carbohydrates you can eat for breakfast.

If time is your excuse- try a cup of yogurt, a banana or a quick piece of whole grain toast (heck, just eat the bread if it takes too long to toast it). It doesn’t have to be fancy- just fuel. The worst excuse is that you’re not hungry. “I just don’t feel like eating in the morning.” You know why? Because your body has already stopped sending you hunger signals. It sent them while you were sleeping and got no response, so it stopped for a while. Eating first thing in the morning is like putting fresh logs on a dying fire. You immediately get your inner fire (aka metabolism) going which actually helps with weight management. You have to eat to burn calories. Additionally, people who do not eat breakfast tend to overeat later to compensate because their bodies think they are starving.

If these aren’t compelling reasons to eat breakfast, I don’t know what would convince you. Tomorrow morning, grab a piece of fruit on your way out the door or take a few minutes to enjoy some whole grain cereal and see how much better your day will become.

*To read a great study published in the The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition about the effects of breakfast on cognition and the long-term effects of breakfast on general health, click here.