Category — Great Grains

Millet’s history can be traced back thousands of years: it was the chief grain in China before rice became popular! It continues to sustain people across the globe, including Africa, China, Russia, and India, because it’s a hardy crop that grows well under harsh or dry conditions.

I’m very new to millet myself, but I consider it a “great grain” because it’s tasty, nutritious, and gluten-free, making it an option as a side dish or in baked goods for anyone with a sensitivity or intolerance for gluten.

More characteristics that make millet great are:

• High in protein, fiber, iron, magnesium, and potassium
• Contains silica, which helps keeps bones flexible in aging process
• Soothing, especially for indigestion or morning sickness
• Anti-fungal; helps ease Candida symptoms
• Improves breath
• Warming; good to eat in cool or rainy weather
• Supports kidneys and stomach

When cooked and served in the most basic way (below), it has a flavor that is reminiscent of crumbled cornbread, and in baked goods can be used as a flour (replacing up to 30% of the flour) or whole to give an extra crunch to a muffin or bread.

Selection and Storage

Raw millet is a small, round, usually yellow grain (although there are red, white, and gray varieties). It is often found in the bulk section of health food stores or in the “natural foods” or “health foods” section of regular supermarkets. It can be stored in an airtight jar or glass container for 6-9 months.

Preparation

How to cook basic millet:

Remember, the texture of millet, like other grains, can be changed depending on whether you boil grain and liquid together, or add it to the already-boiling water. For a softer, more porridge-like consistency, boil the grain and liquid together.

Recipes I’ve Tried and Recommend

• Banana Chocolate Chip Millet Muffins
• Millet and Wheat Berry Salad

Recipes I Have Not Yet Tried — if you try any, please leave me a comment and let me know how they turn out!

• Millet Soup—Foodista.com
• Curried Millet—Institute for Integrative Nutrition
• Autumn Millet Bake—101 Cookbooks
• Tomato, Basil, and Millet Salad—Whole Foods

Millet Information Sources: Health and Beyond, Whole Foods, Wikipedia, and the Institute for Integrative Nutrition student educational materials

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I recently tried our next “great grain,” oatmeal, for the first time.

OK, that’s not totally true…but it wasn’t long ago that I tried REAL oatmeal for the first time. I’m not talking about the instant stuff that comes in the little paper packet and you add hot water and call it breakfast. I am talking about true, honest-to-goodness oatmeal, made from steel-cut oats. And it was delicious.

Now, if the instant is all you’ve got, that’s still a better choice than most breakfast cereals, but you are missing out on some serious nutritiousness. Plus, check out that label and notice all the extras put in there. Unless you have the most plain, boring, unflavored kind, you’ve got flavoring in the form of added ingredients that you truly don’t need! Nor do you want them…because I can tell you much, much better ways to get flavor in your oatmeal.

Forms and Health Benefits of Oatmeal

Oats are milled into six basic forms that you can typically find at the grocery store: whole oat groats, steel-cut oats, Scottish oats, rolled oats, oat bran, and oat flour. Each form has a different texture when prepared, different nutritional characteristics, and different cooking time.

I recommend either steel-cut oats (pictured, on left) or old-fashioned whole rolled oats (pictured, on right). Both are fantastic for you! I tend to keep oat bran in my cupboard as well, because it’s great in certain recipes, as you will see below.

Here’s the run-down on good stuff about oats:

• They are nutrient-dense: they contain fiber, protein, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, manganese, and iron
• They have a low glycemic load, which means it has a low impact on blood sugar
• They contain more soluble fiber than any other grain, resulting in slower digestion and an extended sensation of fullness.
• Finally, remember taking oatmeal baths for chicken pox? Well, that was one way of taking advantage of the antioxidants in oatmeal, which decrease inflammation in the body.

Oatmeal Preparation

I find whole rolled oats preferable for a raw treat or for baking, and steel-cut or oat bran for cooking. Raw rolled oats can be mixed with yogurt or almond milk, with nuts and berries added, for a “cereal” that is way more nutritious and filling than anything you can buy in a brightly-colored cereal box!

Cooked steel-cut oats are my favorite. Even throughout this summer, I have been enjoying cooked oatmeal in the mornings. I either cook it and eat it warm, or, more frequently, I cook a big batch of it once during the week and then keep the extra servings in the fridge and enjoy them cold in the mornings. So there’s my tip for anyone who says they don’t have time for “real” oatmeal…make it once, and you can eat it all week!

Now I know you are wondering how I make oatmeal taste so delicious that I have become, well, nearly obsessed with it. I’ll get to that in just a second, but first, here are the basics on cooking your oats:

1. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil
2. Add 1/2 cup of steel-cut oats
3. Simmer with the lid on for 20-30 minutes (check it, you may like it more or less chewy than I do)

This will result in 1-2 servings, depending on how much you want!

“Recipes” for Oatmeal Deliciousness

These are not carefully measured recipes, but they are delicious combinations I have tried out and encourage you to try as well! The basic idea is, take any fruit or nut butter, add to oatmeal with milk (almond, soy, or regular), toss in extras like almonds, raisins, shredded coconut, protein powder, and spices/flavorings like vanilla and cinnamon, and you have a delish combo for breakfast (or lunch, or a snack, or even a dessert!)

• Peaches + milk (almond or regular) + few drops vanilla and/or vanilla protein powder + oatmeal = Peaches & Cream Oatmeal
• Strawberries + milk + few drops vanilla and/or vanilla protein powder + oatmeal = Strawberry Shortcake Oatmeal
• Maple Syrup + Cinnamon + milk + oatmeal = Brown Sugar Cinnamon Oatmeal (without using brown sugar!)
• Peanut Butter + raw cacao powder + milk + oatmeal = Peanut Butter Cup Oatmeal
• Shredded carrots + milk + cinnamon + few drops vanilla and/or vanilla protein powder = Carrot Cake Oatmeal (raisins optional but fun!)

Get creative…think banana bread oatmeal, coconut cream oatmeal, bananas foster oatmeal, blueberry pie oatmeal…so many possibilities!

Oats also feature prominently in some of my favorite baking recipes for breakfast and treats:

• Oatmeal Pancakes (rolled oats)
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough “Babies” (rolled oats)
• No Need to Count Calories Carrot Muffins (oat bran)

More Oatmeal Recipes & Ideas—from other creative people who share my love of oatmeal!
If you try any of these, please leave me a comment and let me know how they turn out!

• Peach Cobbler Custard Oatmeal—Honoring Health
• Katie’s Better-n-Kozyshack Oatmeal Pudding—Chocolate-Covered Katie (like me, Katie loves oatmeal…check out her other posts about oatmeal while you are there!)
• Warm Gingery Oatmeal—Institute for Integrative Nutrition
• Tribute to Oatmeal—Kath Eats Real Food (TONS of mouth-watering oatmeal ideas here!)
• Easy Homemade Granola—The Amateur Gourmet

Oatmeal Information Sources: Answer Fitness, Wikipedia, Institute for Integrative Nutrition Educational Materials

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Next up in our Great Grains series is brown rice. Brown rice is by no means the superstar grain that quinoa is, but it’s absolutely a better choice than white rice. If you love quinoa, I wouldn’t suggest switching to brown rice, but if you are used to having white rice frequently, I urge you to switch to brown!

Here’s the deal: white rice is simply brown rice that has been stripped of the bran layer, leaving only the starch (read: nutrient-lacking, empty calories). Ever wonder why you feel hungry again so soon after eating a meal with lots of white rice? It’s because you didn’t eat the whole thing! Brown rice is a whole food, so it takes longer to digest than white rice. This means it will give you a more sustained energy boost, because you are eating the whole grain.

The bran layer of the rice is the portion that contains the good-for-you stuff: fiber, niacin, B6, magnesium, manganese, selenium, and vitamin E! Although the FDA requires that food suppliers “enrich” their white rice with most of these vitamins and minerals, this means more processing, more artificial quality to the food, and the nutritional value is still not as high. I’ll take the natural version any day.

One thing that is not added back in to enriched white rice is magnesium. One cup of cooked long grain brown rice contains 84 mg of magnesium, while one cup of white rice contains only 19 mg. Magnesium is important for bone strength and nerve and muscle function, and although I usually recommend getting it through green leady vegetables, avocados, and bananas, if you have the option to have the rice that contains it, why wouldn’t you?

Another plus for brown rice is that it contains the highest amount of B vitamins out of all grains, and B vitamins are important for energy, cell growth, and nerves. Brown rice is also high in fiber, low in sodium, and it’s composed of 80% complex carbohydrates. NaturalNews recently reported on Temple University research that found a compound in brown rice which lowers blood pressure and may prevent heart attacks!

Besides generating energy, here are a few more things brown rice can do for you (who knew?):

• Promote good digestion
• Quench thirst
• Alleviates diarrhea caused by spleen-pancreas deficiency
• Relieve mental depression

So now you may be thinking, “Brown rice sounds fantastic! Bring on the brown rice!” However, it’s important to remember that any rice is still a high-glycemic food, which means it raises blood sugar quickly, so it’s a good idea to consider it a side dish to be eaten with protein and vegetables, and keep your portions reasonable.

Types of Brown Rice

• Short grain brown rice: Once cooked, this is a stickier rice, because it tends to be more starchy. It’s a good choice for using in soups and creates a delicious brown rice pudding.
• Medium and long grain brown rice: These are less sticky when cooked, so they are great for rice dishes when you don’t want your rice sticking together.
• Brown Basmati Rice: Basmati comes in both brown and white, but as with other rices, the white is nearly devoid of any nutrients, so go for the brown!

Preparation: to soak or not to soak?

The reason people soak their grains is to eliminate the phytic acid, a naturally occurring organic acid in the outer layer. All grains contain phytic acid to some degree, but brown rice contains a relatively high level. When brown rice with untreated phytic acid enters the intestines, the phytic acid mixes with calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc. The chemical reaction that takes place prohibits those minerals from being absorbed and utilized by the body.

So some say that eating whole grains with untreated phytic acid is counterproductive, since our body is not absorbing the good stuff. Some also believe that, because calcium and magnesium are two of the nutrients that don’t get absorbed, eating a lot of unsoaked grains will cause the body to lose bone mass and will eventually lead to overall mineral deficiency. Soaking brown rice and other grains will eliminate the consequences of phytic acid by producing beneficial enzymes, raising the amount of nutrients present, and enabling us to absorb them.

However, some believe that un-soaked grains are healthier, as it stays in the digestive system longer than soaked grains, thus providing more energy. Some also say that soaking the grains leeches the nutrients out, so even though you are better able to absorb them, there are less to absorb! There’s also the argument that unless your grains are your main source for nutrients, you don’t really need to worry about soaking them, and that especially in grains (as opposed to beans), the phytic acid level is low enough not to cause major concern.

I usually do soak my brown rice, because it’s not that hard. Some say you can just use water, others say to soak the grains at room temperature for about 12 hours in some water with 1-2 tablespoons of an acidic medium (I use lemon juice or vinegar, but you could also use whey, buttermilk, yogurt, or kefir).  When it’s time to cook, just rinse the grains to remove any acidic taste to them, and use fresh water to cook.  This post by Laura on Heavenly Homemakers gives a little more info on soaking, and her philosophy is basically the same as mine: if I do forget to soak my rice (or other grains), I don’t cancel my dinner plans…I just cook it without soaking and move on!

Cooking

How to Make Basic Brown Rice (yields 3 cups, serves 4):

1. Soak or not, as desired!
2. Rinse 1 cup of brown rice rice in a bowl of cool water and strain.
3. Place rice along with 2 cups of water or broth in a pot with a tight fitting lid.
4. Bring to a boil and reduce heat.
5. Cover and let simmer for 50 minutes. If you are not experienced with cooking rice, you’ll want to check the rice 10 minutes before the anticipated finish time so you don’t burn it.
6. Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes.
7. Fluff with fork and serve.

Note: May also be prepared in a rice cooker with the same ratio of ingredients.

Recipes I’ve Tried and Recommend

• Brown Rice Pudding
• Crunchy Vegetable and Brown Rice Salad
• Cheesy Rice and Chicken Casserole
  

Recipes I Have Not Yet Tried — if you try any, please leave me a comment and let me know how they turn out!

• Coconut Brown Rice—Institute for Integrative Nutrition
• Brown Bismati Pilaf—Institute for Integrative Nutrition
• Tacos with Refried Beans and Spanish Rice—Let’s Be Green Together
• Ten Minute Tasty Asparagus and Brown Rice—101 Cookbooks

Brown Rice information sources: Wikipedia, VeganCoach, Institute for Integrative Nutrition Educational Materials

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For the next month or so, I’m going to feature one grain each week and share nutritional information, buying and cooking tips, and, of course, recipes. Grains are an extremely versatile food, and in the right form (whole!) they are good for you, but too many people only think of white breads and white rice when trying to add grains to a meal, so I’m going to explore and share information about grains you may think of regularly (rice, oats, wheat, etc.) as well as those you may not have heard or tried before (quinoa, millet, etc.) We’ll start with quinoa!

Quinoa

Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) is considered a grain, but in reality it’s a seed, and it’s a great source of protein! Quinoa is an ancient food, related to leafy vegetables such as spinach and Swiss chard. It originated in the Andes Mountain region of South America, where it has been cultivated for more than 5,000 years. The Incas referred to it as “the mother grain,” or “gold,” and it’s an ideal food for endurance and energy.

Quinoa has a mild and slightly nutty flavor. It’s small and hard before cooking, but after cooking it has a fluffy texture. The outer germ surrounding the seed breaks open to form a crunchy coil while the inner grain becomes soft and translucent.

Here are some basic facts about quinoa:

• It contains all of the essential amino acids, making it a complete protein and a great meat substitute.
• It provides us with B vitamins, iron, zinc, potassium, calcium, fiber, magnesium, and vitamin E—and more of most of these than other grains.
• Since it’s not actually a grain, it’s gluten-free and considered easy to digest.
• Adding quinoa to your diet may reduce the frequency of bad headaches or migraines, because it contains magnesium (a mineral that helps relax blood vessels, preventing the constriction and rebound dilation characteristic of migraines) and riboflavin (vitamin B2), which has been shown to help reduce the frequency of attacks in migraine sufferers, most likely by improving the energy metabolism within their brain and muscle cells.

Selection and Storage

Quinoa is becoming easier and easier to find in local stores. Look for boxes of it in the same section where you’d find rice, or if you shop at a store that sells grains in bulk, check the prices there—it’s likely to be an even better deal. Quinoa is typically a tan color, but it also comes in other colored varieties. The most commonly available seems to be a red variety which has a slightly earthier flavor. Once cooked, it has a light brownish color. Try both varieties to see which one you prefer. If your quinoa comes in bulk, like most grains it is best stored in a glass air-tight container in a cool, dry, dark place.

Preparation

Quinoa should always be rinsed to remove a coating of saponin, a naturally-occurring bitter coating. Native South Americans used to scrub the quinoa and then use the soapy rinse produced by the saponin as a hair rinse! Quinoa is rinsed before it is packaged and sold, but it is best to rinse again at home before cooking with it. Place quinoa in a fine mesh sieve and rinse thoroughly with cold running water.

The basics of cooking quinoa are simple:

Preparation Tips/Notes:

• The texture of quinoa, like other grains, can be changed depending on whether you boil grain and liquid together, or add the grain to the already-boiling water. For a softer, more porridge-like consistency, boil the grain and liquid together.
• For a delicious toasted flavor, quinoa can be dry roasted for 5 minutes in saucepan before cooking in liquid. Stir continuously during the toasting to prevent burning and to toast the grains evenly.
• Instead of water, try boiling your quinoa in broth or coconut milk to enhance the flavor.
• You can also use a rice cooker to prepare quinoa, treating it just like white rice (for both cooking cycle and water amounts).
• Cooked quinoa keeps well in the refrigerator. Cook a few cups on the weekend and store in the fridge for use in various salads and dishes throughout the week!

Recipes I’ve Tried and Recommend

• Quinoa Salad with Chickpeas and Mint
• Lemony  Zucchini and Basil Quinoa Pilaf with Chicken
• Simple Quinoa Salad
• Quinoa Loaf with Mushrooms and Peas
• Garlic Gingered Stir Fry and Quinoa
• Warm Quinoa Salad with Shrimp and Asparagus
• Quinoa with Mushrooms, Kale, and Sweet Potatoes

Recipes I Have Not Yet Tried — if you try any, please leave me a comment and let me know how they turn out!

• Thai Quinoa—Institute for Integrative Nutrition
• Warm and Nutty Cinnamon Quinoa—101 Cookbooks
• Barley, Oat, and Quinoa Pancakes with Raspberry-Peach Topping—Veggie Meal Plans
• Quinoa Salad with Shrimp, Asparagus, Fresh Corn and Herb Lime Vinaigrette—Former Chef
• Spring Quinoa Pilaf—Choosing Raw
• Quinoa Garden Cakes with Lemony Yogurt—Whole Foods
• Quinoa Zucchini Waffles—The Daily Dietribe

Quinoa Information Sources: Whole Foods, Chet Day’s Health and Beyond, Wikipedia, Vegetarians in Paradise, Ezine Articles: Health Benefits of Quinoa, Institute for Integrative Nutrition student educational materials

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