Each month, excepting July and August, we hold fabulous cooking classes at our Whole Grain Store in Milwaukie, Oregon. I know this is only truly relevant to those of you who live nearby, but they are really definitely worth checking out if you are in the Portland area and looking for something to do. We get some top notch instructors and cover some really neat topics on everything from basic gluten free baking to ethnic cuisines (Lebanese, Italian, Ethiopian… to name a few) to artisanal breads. Some classes are more informational (with tasting of course!) and some are more hands-on.

Here are the classes for September. Check ‘em out and if you’d like to sign up, call 800-553-2258 x 208.

End-of-Summer Harvest with Amelia Hard!
Thursday, September 8, 2011 5:00-7:00 p.m. 

Celebrate Oregon’s end-of-summer harvest with popular chef Amelia Hard. She’ll show you how to prepare six delicious dishes using fresh ingredients from your garden or your favorite farmers market: Salmorejo (a rich ripe tomato gazpacho), sweet and crunchy Grated Raw Beet and Carrot Salad with citrus vinaigrette, crisp homemade Olive Oil Crackers, Rustic Crêpes (made with spelt and garbanzo flour) filled with sautéed seasonal vegetables, Wheat Berry Salad (flavored with cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, almonds, and shallot vinaigrette), and a luscious Brown Butter Almond Cake topped with caramelized fruit.

Note: All the dishes in this menu are vegetarian. There will be variations included in the recipes for the crêpes and the wheat berry salad for those who prefer to add meat.

Supplies to Bring: enjoy the sampling!       Class fee $40.00

The Wonders of Millet with Dan Brophy!  Thursday, September 15, 2011 5:00-7:00 p.m. September is our month to focus on Millet and boy do we have a fabulous menu for you!  Chef Dan Brophy is back to share his culinary expertise on how easy this grain is to prepare. Although millet is most often associated as the main ingredient in bird seed, it is not just “for the birds.” It was millet, rather than rice, that played an important part of the prehistoric diets in Indian and Chinese societies.  Chef Brophy’s menu will include: Millet Tabbouleh, Millet and Black Bean Salad, Millet Pilaf with Saffron and Lemon, Millet Flat Bread, Millet Crackers, Millet and Yellow Split Peas

Don’t miss this opportunity to experience the delicious ways to enjoy the whole grain goodness of millet!

Supplies to Bring: enjoy the sampling!       Class fee $40.00

Alright, without further ado:

The finalists who will compete in Bob’s Red Mill’s Ultimate Oatmeal Throwdown are:

• Merry Graham from Newhall, California Black Bean Porridge Patties
• Rachel Kimbrow from Portland, Oregon Gingerbread Oatmeal
• Jim Schafer from Kohler, Wisconsin Nutty Coconut Oatmeal

The three finalists were chosen from the nearly 50 home cooks and professional chefs who submitted video recipes that featured Steel Cut Oats. I know the judges had a very hard time making a decision and spent a few hours watching the videos over and over again looking for just the right dish and the right personality. And no, I was (thankfully) not one of the judges. You guys know me- I would have flown out all 50 entrants and met them all face to face… then where would we be?

Now, the finalists will be flown to Portland where they will compete in a live cook-off on Friday, August 26. The finalists will prepare their recipes from scratch in front of an audience at Bob’s Red Mill’s Whole Grain Store. The grand-prize winner will be selected by a panel of celebrity judges (we’ll tell you who soon) and will travel to Scotland to compete in the Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Championship.

So how did the judges select the winners? I know some folks will be wondering why the video with the most votes didn’t win. This is what I have heard from the judges themselves.

A variety of criteria was used to select the finalists, including site visitors’ votes, use of Steel Cut Oats as a featured ingredient, ability to appeal to the Scottish judges’ taste-palates and whether the recipes could be prepared in the competition’s allotted 30-minute time frame. On top of that, they took into account how the person handled themselves. It’s a lot of pressure to be under during the Golden Spurtle- you have cameras and microphones in your face during your 30 minutes.

Congratulations to the finalists! I cannot wait to see these dishes being created! We will be working to get all of the recipes from all of the videos on our website soon, there are so many delicious uses for steel cut oats (again, see why I’m not a judge??)!  In the meantime, check out the winning videos and the rest of the great entries at www.sparforthespurtle.com.

I will also be posting more info about the Portland cook-off in the next few days so you can come out, if you’re around and watch the fun for yourself.

Cheers!

Kitchen gadgets: everyone has them taking up room in their drawers, cupboards and pantries. If you’re like me, you have five pieces of kitchen junk for every one gadget that you use regularly. I have a whole drawer in my kitchen dedicated to the gadgets that see the light of day once or twice a year, some that may never even leave the drawer. Some have come to me as gifts, while others I may have purchased thinking it was the miracle solution to some kitchen conundrum that I had. When we moved two years ago, many got purged and donated, but just as many odd gadgets have come to take the place of their predecessors.

To think I had not two, but THREE of those egg boiling timers (you know, the ones that look like eggs and change color). Do you think I’ve ever used them? Maybe once, only to discover that they’re pretty hard to read at the bottom of a boiling pot full of eggs! I have three completely different solutions to peeling garlic, although I only really use the knife-smashing method. I have bowl scrapers, bench knives, pasta measuring tools, an avocado scooper/slicer, TWO boiled egg slicers (one was clearly not enough) and on and on. While I should just purge them, who knows when I’ll need an extra egg slicer? What this makes me realize, though, is how many gadgets I use frequently and absolutely love- like my zester/grater and my immersion blender. What gadget do you break out frequently and love?

In honor of another gadget that I love, even if I only use it on choice occasions, I’m giving away a classic rolling pin. Just a plain and simple, wooden rolling pin. To make it an even sweeter prize, I’m throwing in a set of flour-sack towels and a classic whisk, too. You can truly never have enough towels in a kitchen, especially soft light towels. I use these towels for everything from pressing tofu to covering bread dough while it rises.

How to enter:

Simply leave me a comment here on the blog (comments on the Facebook post will be counted as well) and tell me your favorite kitchen gadget. It doesn’t have to be fancy or long, just a plain and simple “I love my ___.” I’ll select a winner at random from all who enter by 11:59 pm on 07/18/11.

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!

Honey Oatmeal Bread

Oatmeal Cookies with Whole Wheat

Homemade Granola

Scottish Buttermilk Oat Scones

Banana Cake

Whole Grain Power Bars

High Fiber 7 Grain & Bran Bread

Bran Flax Muffins

Textured Vegetable Protein Burgers

Bob’s Favorite Scottish Oatcakes

I had hoped to give y’all a good recap of what happened at BlogHer Food over the weekend in Atlanta, GA. Truth is, it’s kind of hard to boil it down into 500 words or less! Let’s just say this- we met so many amazing people and left inspired to work with everyone and find ways that we can uplift the food community to make our world a better place. I can’t even list all of the amazing writers and their blogs! I don’t want to leave anyone out! I got to meet David Lebovitz (and embarrass myself) and shared some of our spelt berries with him. David Leite from Leite’s Culinaria taught us how not to steal recipes. You’d think that was easy, but turns out it’s a very gray area and making sure you don’t accidentally steal something is a challenge. I got to chat “food love” with Faith from The Kitchn and Kelly from Evil Shenanigans. Andrew from Eating Rules got us jazzed up about changing how America eats and I was delighted to meet (and gush to) Mrs Q from Fed Up with Lunch (we recommend checking both of them out!). That’s just a small smattering of people I met.

If you’re a food blogger and you couldn’t make it to this great conference, check out the live blogs for great info!

I’ve got a lot of follow up to do, but I hope to bring you great guest writers, share even more recipes and show off some of the great food writing you can find online these days.

On Monday, I shared the Quinoa recipe that we served at the conference. Today, I’d like to give a little shout-out to Sala at Veggie Belly for letting us share her amazing recipe using pearl (aka Israeli) couscous on our website. Instead of posting it here, I want you to go find it there. It’s super simple and really something special. At the conference, we used our whole wheat pearl couscous instead of the plain that she calls for in her recipe. If you want to use whole wheat, just increase the cooking time from 5-7 minutes to 15-20 minutes. This recipe has quickly become a staple at my house. I always hope to have leftovers for lunches, but that has yet to happen!

Veggie Belly is just full of amazing recipes to inspire. It’s become one of my new favorite blogs to read and the perfect go-to for Meatless Mondays! What is your go-to blog for great recipes?

Most know Bob’s Red Mill whole grain goodness from the shelves of their local grocery or natural food store.  It is no secret, however, that Bob’s Red Mill has long provided an extensive collection of Whole Grain, Organic and Gluten Free Grains, Flours, Cereals and Mixes to a wide variety of regional and national food service establishments.

Food service can be simply defined as anywhere where someone eats away from home.  This includes restaurants, diners and coffee shops; cafeterias at hospitals and health care facilities; schools, colleges and universities; in hotels and resorts; at businesses and corporate campuses and so on.  It is reported that foodservice accounts for nearly half of the money spent for food in the US.

Now, Bob’s Red Mill is taking aim to increase the consumption of Whole Grain Foods for those eating out and about, and, we have some good things going on.  Bob’s Red Mill products have made their way everywhere from Disney Resorts, to dining facilities at Nike, Google, Intel and Amazon.com, to hotels such as Hilton, Marriot and Hyatt and to Universities like Oregon State, UC Davis, Syracuse and Ohio State.  This is just a hint of the dining facilities where Bob’s Red Mill products live up to the motto of Whole Grain Foods for Every Meal of the Day.

Tim Steiner represents our company in the food service sector. He works diligently to bring our products into restaurants and other eateries so that you can have the very best whole grain options.

My personal favorite, Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls. Photo courtesy of Crave Bake Shop.

Last August we received a call from our good friend Kyra over at Crave Bake Shop here in Portland, Oregon. She desperately needed help getting a shipment of her preferred gluten free flours down to LA for an appearance on The Food Network’s Cupcake Wars. We were so excited for Kyra, but had to keep her participation on the show top secret until she was given clearance from The Food Network.

Kyra uses many of our flours in her decadent treats at Crave Bake Shop and we’ve been lucky enough to sample some of them from time to time. Not only is this the first baker we’ve personally known who has appeared on Cupcake Wars, but she was also their first gluten free contestant. We rushed to make sure she had each and every ingredient she needed on the set before filming began and then had to sit tight for FOUR MONTHS to find out how she did.

Beautiful gluten free cupcakes that are hard to resist. Photo courtesy of Crave Bake Shop.

Kyra’s bakery was featured in the season premier, Tree Lighting, of Cupcake Wars in early December. She didn’t win, but she did make it into the final round.  Win or lose, she performed admirably and left the judges craving more, which is no small feat for a gluten free cupcake. Having tasted her amazing creations, I wasn’t surprised to hear the praise- but I was surprised to hear how well they held up against their gluten containing rivals. Just goes to show you that gluten free can still taste pretty darn amazing.

You can find a few clips from the show on the Crave Bake Shop website. I couldn’t find a good source of the entire show online, so you’ll have to wait for it to air on the Food Network again. You can watch a clip of her making champagne cupcakes on a local news program here.

If you want to try her cupcakes yourself, visit her shop at www.cravebakeshop.com to place an online order. Trust us, it’s worth it!

We are so proud to be a part of Crave Bake Shop and the many other wonderful bakeries and restaurants around the country that use our products to create outstanding fare for their customers.

The second part of this two part series on integrating whole grains into your kitchen deals with baking.  There are so many ways to add whole grains to your baking with wonderful and delectable results.  Here are some tips to get you started.  If you find yourself with more questions, please let us know!

Tips for Using Whole Grains:

• Replace up to 50% of your baking with whole wheat flours.  When a recipe calls for white flour, you can use half white flour and half of a whole wheat flour for an easy way to increase whole grain goodness.  For breads, use Whole Wheat Flour or Hard White Whole Wheat Flour and Whole Wheat Pastry Flour for baked goods leavened with baking powder or baking soda.

• Use Whole Wheat Flour for breads and Whole Wheat Pastry Flour for pastries such as muffins, cookies and cakes.  Whole Wheat Flour is made from hard red wheat berries and pastry flour is made from soft white wheat berries.  The hard berries contain more protein, which makes it ideal for bread which rely on the gluten found in protein for rising.  The soft wheat berries allow baked goods to be less dense.

• For whole grain nutrition with less whole wheat taste, use Hard White Whole Wheat Flour in your baking.  Use as you would Whole Wheat Flour.  This flour is made from hard white wheat berries.  It performs the same as traditional whole wheat flour, but is lighter in color and taste.  This is because it contains less tannin than hard red wheat berries which gives it the distinctive taste and darker color.

• Replace up to 25% of your recipes with whole grain flours such as Quinoa, Barley, Millet and Spelt Flours.  If this simply means adding just ¼ cup of a whole grain flour to the recipe, that would be equivalent to one serving of whole grains.  There are a large variety of whole grain flours which can be added to baked goods that not only add nutrition, but flavor as well.

• Integrate whole grain dry cereals into your baked goods.  You can replace up to 20% of a recipe with oats, multi grain cereals, farinas, cracked or rolled grains.  The cereals add nutrition as well as texture to baked goods, may it be breads, muffins, cookies or other baked goods.

• When using all whole wheat flour, use 7/8 cup per 1 cup of white flour for best results.  This is for when you want to convert a recipe to use 100% whole wheat flour.  Since the flours are denser, a little less flour is required.  For breads, you may also want to add Vital Wheat Gluten Flour for best results.

Whole Grain Recipes:

• WOW Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Whole Grain Power Bars

• Bran Flax Buns

• Blueberry-Yogurt Pancakes

• Whole Grain Corn Muffins

• Oatmeal Cake

• Breakfast Muesli Bars

• Honey Oatmeal Bread

• Oatmeal Pancakes

• Whole Grain Waffles

For New Year’s, we often try our hand at ways to improve our health and happiness.  Integrating more whole grains into our lives is a delicious, easy way to start.  Intact foods are packed with essential vitamins, minerals and fiber, which are just a few of the benefits of whole grains that your body will surely thank you for.  During the month of November, I avoided all processed foods and sugars and noticed that I had more energy and felt better overall.  I partook in my share of holiday treats during December and I could tell that my body wasn’t happy about it.  I look forward to starting the New Year once again with a focus on whole grains.  If this sounds like a good New Year’s resolution to you, here are some ideas for introducing more whole grains in your diet. 

Whole grains can be added to both your cooking and baking for delightfully delicious foods.  This two part series of helpful hints starts with cooking with whole grains. We’ll tackle baking next.

Whole grains Millet, Spelt, Amaranth and Quinoa

Tips for Using Whole Grains:

• Eat barley, quinoa, brown rice, kasha or another whole grain as a side dish instead of white rice or potatoes.  All you have to do is cook them according to the directions for a more wholesome side kick to your meal.

• Use grains such as quinoa or barley in entrees like risotto, pilaf and stuffed peppers.  Bob’s Red Mill has many such recipes available on the Recipes portion of our website.

• Add whole grains to soups, stews and salads.  You can follow a recipe or simply add ½ cup of cooked whole grains to your favorite dishes.  Depending on the recipe, more could be added.

• Soak whole grains in the morning to cut down on cooking time for dinner preparation.  Simply place the grains in a pot, cover with water called for in the instructions and let soak 4-8 hours.   When ready to cook, prepare as usual, except the cooking time will be less and vary depending on the grain.  

Whole Grain Recipes: 

• Bean and Barley Burgers

• Szechwan Peanut Salad

• Whole Grain Polenta

• Creamy Mushrooms & Grain Soup

• French Beans & Berries Salad

• Wheat Berry Minestrone Soup

• Kasha Scramble

• Quinoa Salad

Thanks to everyone who sent in submissions for the recipe photo contest!  With all the enticing pictures we received, deciding on winners was a challenge.  All the tantalizing photos will surely inspire kitchen creations. 

The grand prize winner was quite simply the most stunning and beautiful photo; we were entranced and drooling over the pears!  Congratulations Cathi Iannone for this amazing photo!

An ARGENTINIAN LOVE a PEAR!

Here are the other great photos which won for the different categories. 
Congratulations to all the winners!

Breads

Sprouted Whole Wheat Rolls
by Lindsay McSweeney

Rose’s Gluten Free Prune Bread
by Sarah Youssef

Breakfast

Blueberry Muffins
by Jean from Delightful Repast blog

Gluten Free Savory Breakfast Muffins
by Silver Jones

Desserts

Oatmeal Gingerbread Men
by Julie Smith

Double Chocolate Pumpkin Brownies
by Noelle Kelly with An Opera Singer in the Kitchen blog

Main Dishes

Savory Bean Stew with Cheddar Corn Dumplings
by Amanda Livesay

Peanut Sauce Vegetable Stir Fry with Tofu
by Tina Chen

Soups/Salads/Sides

Polenta Cakes with Rosemary Skewered Scallops and Greens
by Ray Moody

Wild Rice and Millet Seasonal Stuffing
by Danica from Soundly Vegan blog