Happy Father’s Day to all of the dads and dads-to-be out there! Thank you for all you do to enrich our lives, to uplift us, to push us to the next level of greatness and for just being generally awesome! It’s no easy feat being a dad and we appreciate it!
Bob’s father, Ken, delivered Hostess products for a time when Bob was child. We’ve been loving this photo (albeit a bit grainy) around the office lately.
Train with Grain is designed to help fuel the workouts and boost the training efforts of dedicated athletes everywhere. The idea: create a well-fueled community where athletes of every level can share and learn and grow together.
It kicked off last year with Cyclocross, and this year we’re eagerly expanding into road racing and triathlons, two other sports that demand great nutrition and long-lasting energy.
Participants receive an awesome training kit, packed with a delicious variety of whole grains – including Honey Oat Granola, 10 Grain Hot Cereal, Quinoa and 7 Grain Pancake Mix – as well as their choice of a sweet cycling cap or running hat (plus a few other goodies). We’re including recipes and photos for how to use these products, so anyone can easily start making training-friendly food at home.
This year we’re also bringing in a handful of contributors to share their training experiences and war stories on our blog along the way. This team of road warriors and triathletes comes with varying years of experience, and is well prepared to talk about everything from biomechanics and hydration to etiquette and training schedules. Count on video diaries, horrific injury stories, tips on how not to get divorced while training, and a short film on leg-shaving techniques for men. They come from all over the country, and can offer perspectives on what it’s like to train and race in a variety of climates.
This crew will also provide cooking demos, meal plans and “night before” recipes based on the grains in your kit.
It should be a lot of fun.
We’ve also created a slick and ultra-user-friendly dashboard where you can login, choose your races, upload photos, and interact with everyone else. It’s connected through Facebook, so you can post every victory directly to your wall and encourage friendly competition (read: taunt) everyone you know.
It’s going to be awesome.
If you want to find out more, join the Train with Grain community right now. We’d love to have you on the team.
We recently announced our Gluten Free Top 10 recipe list. Today, we give you our Conventional Top 10 recipe list. This is a diverse list of recipes compiled from our most popular conventional recipes and we think you’ll just eat them up!
A long time favorite at Bob’s Red Mill, these vegetarian wraps can stand on their own as appetizers or pair them with roasted fava beans and this great tomato salad recipe from Jamie Oliver for a truly Italian dinner. These do take a little more time in the kitchen, but they are well worth it. Cheers!
Tuscan Quinoa Radicchio Wraps
Ingredients
Directions
Place quinoa into a large saucepan and dry toast over medium heat just until a few grains begin to pop. (Not necessary to wash Bob’s Red Mill Organic Quinoa Grain because it is pre-washed).
Add water, bringing to a boil, then cover, reduce heat and let simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the quinoa has absorbed all the liquid. Remove from heat and let stand, covered for 10 minutes, then fluff lightly with a fork.
Place cooked quinoa into a mixing bowl with beans, tomatoes, olives, onion, fennel and pine nuts.
Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice and zest, and minced shallot until well blended. Add to mixing bowl with quinoa mixture, tossing gently to blend. Season as desired with salt and pepper.
Spoon mixture into a small bowl; place on a large platter with radicchio leaves and basil. To eat, spoon quinoa mixture into radicchio leaf cups; top as desired with basil leaves, rolling the radicchio leaves to close (serve with plenty of napkins).
Makes about 12 appetizer servings.
The USDA released their new version of the Food Guide Pyramid, My Plate, last week, to reactions that varied from standing ovation to outrage. Initially, I was really excited about changing the way we looked at the food guidelines. A plate with portions for each food group to give a proportional view of how they should balance each other looked great! However, after a lot of feedback from you, I started to see what made this version less-than-desirable.
First, all of the portions look almost identical. Second, it does not give serving size suggestions and I couldn’t find that anywhere. So I’m left wondering, what size is this plate? Does this plate represent all the food I eat or just one meal? These questions make a difference- what if I want to eat a 10 oz steak? Does that mean I need to eat 12 oz of grains, 14 oz of vegetables and 8 oz of fruit at the same time? The only guidance they give us is to enjoy your food, but eat less and avoid oversized portions. If there is one thing that we don’t have a grasp on in the United States it’s portion control. It’s easy to tell us to avoid oversized portions, but that really does you no good if you don’t know what a proper portion should be.
While I do feel that we have responsibility as individuals to know what a portion should be and make the right choices about what we should eat versus what we should not, I think this plate simply fosters more confusion in an already muddled situation. Many of our Facebook friends voiced that parents should be educated enough to make the right choices about food for their children. I applaud those of you who feel sure enough in your own food education to stand alone without any guidance from the USDA. I would imagine, though, that our customers are a group of people who do have a better understanding of good nutrition than the average person. There are many Americans who do not know and do not understand proper portion control and this plate does nothing to help.
I think we’ll be hearing more from the USDA about MyPlate and start seeing portion size suggestions in the not too distant future. Until then, we would love to hear what you think, too.
P.S. It really bothers me that the grains category doesn’t mention whole grains on the plate. You have to dig around to find any mention of whole grains and that is a step backwards, in my opinion.
Over the weekend I made up a big pot of cranberry beans in my slow cooker. I’ve been trying to be more frugal and a great way to save some money is to cook dried beans instead of buying them by the can. Plus, they just taste better and undoubtedly have less sodium. Confession time- I bought cranberry beans as an experiment. I wasn’t very familiar with them and thought they would cook up and look just like pinto beans. So here I am on Sunday with a huge pot of beans that I wasn’t really confident on how to use. They are bigger than pintos when cooked and I was a little unsure if they would be good in burritos on their own. But they looked good and tasted good, so I decided I was going to try to make my own refried beans. I mean, how hard could it be??
Turns out, not very hard! I learned a few things in talking to our Twitter friends. “Refried” is a poor translation for refrito, which means “well fried” not the way we think of it as re-frying beans as if they’ve been fried before (thanks to Elise from Simply Recipes for the explanation). Nearly everyone who responded to my query said they were so easy to make and worth it!
I admit that I did follow the recipe from Simply Recipes, but it’s so simple it’s laughable! Basically, you cook your beans and mash them slightly. Then sauté a diced onion (I used only 1/2 of a large, white one) in some olive oil. When that is clear, add your beans and a small amount of water and cook until they liquid is absorbed. Flavor with salt, pepper and whatever other seasonings you like (I added garlic) and use as you would canned beans. It’s simple and SOOOO tasty!! They went over very well at my house and there were no leftovers. I urge you to try this for yourself. Since I left out something important, I’m sure, head over to Simply Recipes for a step by step recipe.
P.S. The Kitchn has a great method for cooking dried beans in the slow cooker. My only addition to their method is that I’ve found 1-2″ of water is quickly absorbed by the beans if you have not soaked them overnight and there’s no harm in extra water. I’d recommend 3-4″ of water to cover the beans.
We are in the heart of our annual Rose Festival here in Portland. This is one of the best events Portland delivers each year. There are carnivals, parades, races and concerts over a three week period in honor of our city’s favorite flowers- the rose! Portland is often referred to as Rose City and a visit to the city quickly unveils murals, art and establishments that pay tribute to the less-than-humble rose. Somehow roses just don’t seem like the most humble flower. They come in all shades and scents that range from non-existent to overpowering. My favorite are the dusty purple roses with just a light scent.
In honor of the Rose Festival, I want to share some great recipes for using roses and rose hips so you can have your own rose festival at home. Yes! You can eat rose petals and rose hips. In fact, rose hips are one of the best natural sources of vitamin c around. Here are some recipes to inspire from the simple to truly decadent:
I hope these inspire you to try something new in the kitchen and, if nothing else, remember to stop and smell the roses.
Seitan, not to be confused with the guy in red, is a meat alternative made using wheat protein (aka gluten). Pronounced “SAY-tan” (as opposed to “SAY-tun”), this easy-to-make “wheat meat” is perfect for using in stir-fries, sandwiches, soups and almost anywhere you might normally use meat. We like to put it on a bun, slather it in barbecue sauce and top with coleslaw for a deliciously messy sandwich ala Veganomicon.
Some may find this a bit intimidating at first, but let me assure you, making your own seitan is so easy you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner. (Not to mention making your own is WAY cheaper than buying it!)
Basic Seitan
Broth
Directions
Bring to a boil the water for the broth, molasses and soy sauce.
Mix together the gluten flour and spices. Add water to mixture and stir into a sponge-like dough. This should not be excessively wet. Knead dough a minute to make dough tougher and more elastic. Cut into 2 x 2 inch pieces and place into boiling broth. Cook in broth for about 1 hour, lowering heat as needed. Drain and use seitan for a stir-fry, sandwiches, stews and more. Makes 12 servings.
Looking for something fun for the family to do next weekend? We recommend the annual Celtic Festival in Newport, Oregon. The event is going to be loads of fun with a full set of Highland Games, authentic eats and even a Celtic Canine event. If you haven’t been before, it’s worth the trip to Newport. Among the many, many events, Bob’s Red Mill is sponsoring a baking contest for the best Irish Soda Bread, Shortbread and Oat Cakes. There will be festive music, highland cows to pet and a sand castle contest… what more could you ask for in the way of family activities?
So don your clan colors and come on out to brave the Haggis Bowl. We dare you!
If you’re not familiar with Newport, check out the city’s website for other amazing things to do there. I’ve always enjoyed the aquarium and a visit to Rogue Brewery for a quick pint.
Just today I was asked if Whole Wheat Graham flour could be substituted for Whole Wheat flour in a cookie or muffin. My reply was, “Yes!” There is much confusion about graham flour. Sometimes it can be confused with “gram” flour, which is garbanzo bean flour. I’ve noticed that even in our bulk bin area graham flour is sort of pushed off in the bottom corner.
With Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Graham Flour you will achieve a coarse, hearty texture. All parts of the wheat berry are present in this flour. So what is different? Graham Flour is quite simply just a coarsely ground whole grain flour. If you’ve been like many people that have ignored this unique flour for sometime, here is your chance to give it a try.
Contrary to popular belief graham flour is used in products other than the graham cracker. I remember my mother using it in molasses bread, raisin scones and Boston brown bread. Oh so delicious! The following recipe for Graham Crackers is entirely whole grain and gains extra texture with the addition of wheat germ and flaxseed meal. Whether you dunk your graham crackers in milk or cover them with frosting, this variation is delicious.
Happy Baking!
Whole Wheat Graham Crackers
Preheat oven to 350°F degrees. Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. In a stand mixer cream butter and sugar for about 2 minutes. Add dry ingredients and scrape down. After the dough starts to come together on speed 1, pour in the vanilla and warmed honey. When combined turn dough out onto a floured surface. Work dough into itself three or four times, and then cut into four equal parts. If dough feels too fragile to work with, wrap it and pop it in the refrigerator for an hour. This will help its workability. Roll each quarter until it is 1/8 of an inch thick. Cut into your desired shape- can use cookie cutters, pizza cutter or whatever you please. I used a pizza cutter to cut traditionally sized graham cracker. Gently place onto a parchment covered pan and score crackers with a fork. The crackers don’t spread much, so you can place them with about a ½ inch apart. Bake for 15-17 minutes. The crackers will be browned around the edges. Remember they are supposed to be crunchy. Cool completely and enjoy.
Yield: 25- 2 x 3-inch crackers
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