Eat Grains

Archive for April, 2007

Tip #3 – You do WHAT? Why bother? – Part Three

Now that you have triedthe previous tips and attempted to reason with friends and family that it is more healthy, and you can make a cheaper/healthier loaf of bread and that the storage life is longer, you may be, like I was, trying to convince yourself that you can DO this (Ican, right?). Here are a few more little tips I have learned to show myself why to bother:

Relax. EnJOY it!Now not only are you convinced because of these little tips, but your friends and family will see the confidence in you and not worry that you will soon begin brushing your teeth with sugar or go back to believing the world is flat, just because you mill grains at home. Milling grains at home is notold fashioned, it just makes good sense.To purchase a quality mill, visit our site at: http://www.grainmiller.com

To purchase a quality mill, visit our site at:

Here's a continuation of our previous post..

Tip #2 – You do WHAT? Why bother? – Part Two

If you already read Part One of this tip, then you may or may not have peaked the curiosity of former nay-sayers. You may still need more explanation for why you are thinking of or currently milling at home. After all, inquiring minds want to know.

The second tip to answering the questions of why you bother to mill at home is the benefits of cost and storage. Sure, we can buy whole wheat bread at the store. Sure, dead bagged flourlasts for a good while. Are these reasons to dismiss home milling all together? Hardly! In fact, look closer and you can see why milling at home is better.

Health benefits aside, which is the MOST important one in my opinion, storage and cost come up on the convenience end of considering milling at home. The whole wheatloaf of bread we can buy in the store is not only made of old, processed whole wheat, but by the government regulations only has to be at least 51% – or mostly whole wheat – to be labeled as such. I digress, this is also a health reason. The cost of said loaf is approximately $2.29. A home milled, fresh WHOLE GRAIN flour, loaf of bread costs me about $.75 to make and that is using all organic (a bit pricier) grains and sugar. Also, I know what is exactly in that loaf!

Storage is the other thought. Admittedly, my fresh baked loaf does NOT last as long , not due to shelf-life but that we eat it so fast (no one in the house can resist cutting into a warm loaf when they smell it), but the grains last for years! Dead bagged flour cant say that. Either weevils, mites or simply staleness can render a dead bag of flour useless inmere months. The Creator made a perfect protection for that grain, the husk. There have been grains found in pyramids that were over 4000 years old that when planted, they grew just as they were intended. Hows that for storage. Just keep the grains in a sturdy container and from getting wet and you can store them for years. I dont think you will be needing them in 4000 years though.

This is Part-1 in why I believe it is very important to mill grains at home. There are many reasons I will talk about in future posts, but for this writing I'm only going to focus on two.

First are the health benefits and second are the storage/cost effect benefits. In this tip we will focus on the health reasons.

When grains are processed into flour for shelf storage, most of the grain partsare removed to slow the spoilage time. When those things are removed, the flour is stripped of the Wheat Bran, Middlings, Wheat Germ and Wheat Germ oil. As we read that list – we see at least three things that are now sold in health food stores across the world. The Bran and Middlings provide the fiber (and more), the Germ and oil provide the vitamin E (and more), two things missing in the typical diet of the twentieth century.

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The additives to dead bagged flour can be just as bad or worse than what is missing. To make that white appearance, at first the manufacturers were actually using chlorine bleach! Now a new chemical has been approved., but chemicals are chemicals and not found IN the grain. Since the grain is stripped of so many nutrients in the processing – synthetic vitamins have been added. Personally, since I wouldnt eat polyester, I also dont want synthetic vitamins.

This is simply the tip of the health iceberg when it comes to the reason to mill grains at home. The list related to your families health goes on and on. Check out some of our other articles and studies for the healthy reasons to bother with milling at home. At least this is a tip to help you answer those questions when friends and family think youve slipped back into the dark ages.

These are such a tasty treat to add to a semi-ho-hum meal (in our house that would be soup)!

Also they work GREAT for taking to a pot luck or brunch as your contribution.

FIRST if you don't have Buttermilk add 1 TBS of either lemon juice or vinegar to regular milk and let it sit while you work with all the other ingredients…..now…here are the ingredients:

1 Cup Buttermilk or Soured Milk (as directed above)

1/4 Olive Oil

2 Cups FRESHLY MILLED FLOUR (1C Hard White Spring + 1/2C Soft Wheat in the Hopper at the same time gives you just enough)

1/4 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Garlic Salt

2 TBS Eco Sweet Evaporated Cane Sugar

1-2 Cups shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

 

Mix all DRY ingredients together in a large bowl.  Add Shredded Cheese and toss a bit to cover strands.  Now make a 'well' in the milddle. Combine the oil and buttermilk (or by now soured milk) and pour liquid into the well and mix until just combined.  Do not over mix – they should still be lumpy – just mix until all is moist.  Drop by spoonfull or ice cream scoop on cookie sheet. 

IF you would like to make them 'cut' bisuits you may turn them out on a heavily floured surface, pat until about 1 inch thick and cut with biscuit cutter.  These you would lay side by side touching in a baking pan.

Brush melted buttter or place a dolup of butter on top of each.

Bake at 425 for 10 minutes.  Makes about 1 Dozen depending upon how big you cut/drop them!

SOOO GOOD!

For more great tips  on using whole grains and saving money while doing so – go to our other site: MILLERS GRAIN HOUSE

 

Sandwiches are boring, soups don't make the grade as lunch food around our home too often and today I could not get excited about eating another wrap either. I had to get my creative juices flowing so…. I improvised a lunch.

Whole grains are quite abundant in our home (Millers Grain House) so with a surplus of already cooked Organic Long Grain Brown Rice in the refrigerator – I began to rack my brain for ideas.

A sweet, widowed, neighbor had given us a can of tomatoes that were in a LOT of juice. We always like free food! We also had mystery bag of okra in the freezer (no one knows how it got there, could have been aliens or elves, we‘re not sure). Theyat appeared to be a bit frost bitten, but still good. Something called 'succotash' came to mind, which I know is NOT what I came up with – but I began to think that these three main ingredients might be a good dish together.

I browned a bit of onion in olive oil, tossed in our free jar of tomatoes, the block of okra (no one eats okra here) and one of the three plastic containers I had of already cooked Organic Long Grain Brown Rice, a pinch of sugar, some garlic salt and a teaspoon of vinegar. The smells and textures all started to meld together and simmer on low for about 15 minutes….

I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. So were two of my three kids!

One thing I will do to make this a more complete meal though is, after cooking my Organic Pinto Beans tomorrow night – I’m going to toss the left over Pintos in there with some of this made up mixture. That will make it a complete protein (rice and beans) and I’ll be set for several days of lunch!

No one’s refrigerator is scarier than mine! If I can find something to eat – so can you!

Necessity is truly the Mother of Invention.

Blessings!

Millers Grain House