Yesterday I got a midday call from my mother. She was on her lunchbreak and wanted to talk about the upcoming family reunion. As the conversation shifted into what’s new at work, I told her about some of our current projects like our new Hemp products, our cyclocross bike races, and the 2009 Mail Order Catalog. “Iwas looking at your catalog,” she said, “and it has this phrase, ‘whole grain cereal for every meal.’ Are people supposed to eat that much cereal?” Eyes rolling, I reminded her that it’s whole grain FOODS for every meal of the day, not just cereal. “Oh, so would wheat bread for dinner be ok too because I just can’t eat that much cereal.

After the call, I started wondering whether our tagline comes off a bit too didactic and with too much assumption about the public’s knowledge of the variety of ways to get whole grains into the diet. Has our endeared phrase been queued on the dusty shelf behind Floss Your Teeth, Buckle Up for Safety and Do Unto Others? If my mother, who I have been inculcating with whole grain zeal for the past seven year didn’t quite get it, what about you? As a nerdy marketer and connoiseur of whole grains, I forget that they probably don’t mean as much to “Joe Plumber” as they do to me.

I think we can all check breakfast off as the simplest place to get whole grains. Choosing whole wheat bread for your lunchtime sandwiches is fairly easy to pull off, too. But supper is where whole grains are most often forgotten in lieu of the perennial mountain of mashed potatoes. Aside from more whole wheat bread, here is a simple, tasty way get whole grains into your evening meal. My wife and I love to make Amaranth this way, but you can use any whole kernel grain you like, such as brown rice or quinoa.

Matt’s Basic Whole Grain Pilaf
Brown small bits of onion, mushroom and garlic ina bit of vegetable oil in a saucepan. You can use olive oil but it tends to set off my smoke alarms. Add the grain and cook briefly, coating it in oil. Then add some vegetable both in the exact amount called for on the package and simmer until all the liquid is absorbed. Super easy.