Yes, I'm really writing about whole grains. It's pretty exciting. You think I'm being sarcastic...
For the past few years, I'd been playing the field with the usual suspects: brown rice, Israeli couscous, oatmeal...some steel-cut oats that I quickly rejected. About six months ago, I fell into an addictive relationship with popcorn, popped fresh on the stove and topped with nutritional yeast. During this time I also started seeing bulgur (cracked wheat) on and off, but never could commit to a regular thing.
But this week I decided to step up my commitment to the ol' whole grain by bringing the following into my life:
- Barley: Filling, chewy, delicious. Barley has appeared this week in a salmon/baby spinach/orange salad; as an entree with sauteed onions and mushrooms; and as breakfast with a sprinkle of sliced almonds, cinnamon, Mayan cocoa, and milk. It's a great alternative to my first love, oatmeal, in the morning.
- Kamut & Quinoa: Now, to be honest, I'd already seen quinoa quite a few times and knew that my pantry contained an abundance of this grain in a red-lidded jar. But it took a desire for better-tasting, healthy (i.e., not white) pasta for me to seek quinoa and friend kamut out in the co-op aisle. They're a twisted pair, those 100% organic, whole-grain fellows.
Truth be told, I was a bit apprehensive about this pasta after having a lackluster experience with whole wheat pasta, which is just kind of cardboard-esque and not even that good for you in the end.
But these guys! This twisted pair! They knocked my socks off.
After cooking the pasta to a nice tenderness, I added a few large fistfuls of arugula (I am OBSESSED with its peppery goodness), some diced tomato*, olive oil, sea salt, and pepper. Topped it all off with some grated Parmesan.
It came out pretty delish, if I do say so myself. I could tell straight away that K&Q and I were hitting it off. This twisted pair was nice and tender but not soggy. Nowhere could I detect the taste of cardboard, despite a robust 5 grams of dietary fiber per serving. Just like regular pasta, but better!
{I actually had to go look kamut up. The Interwebs tells me it's two times larger than regular wheat and has a rich, nutty flavor.}
*Yes, I know tomatoes aren't in season right now. It's a sad, sad fact of winter. So when I saw some shiny tomatoes at the farmers market last weekend, I pounced. Are they the best tomatoes I've ever tasted? Not by a long shot. Am I wondering where they came from? Yes. But neither of these things detracts from my enjoyment of their juicy goodness.
