2.03.2011

The New Whole Grains in My Life

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.

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