When you hear people say, “You need more grains in your diet,” they’re not talking about bleached, white, wheat flour. These include grains like oats, whole wheat, popcorn, barley, quinoa, sorghum, spelt, brown rice, rye, flax, and millet. You need seeds in your diet, like sunflower, pumpkin, flax, and sesame. Also, you should include nuts like soy, peanuts, walnuts, pecans, cashews, pine, and almonds.
Why do I need whole grains, seeds and nuts?
Grains are one of the best sources of phytochemicals and antioxidants, two substances that help you stay healthy and fight off disease. A few examples of phytochemicals are carotene, lutein, lycopene, and quercetin. Whole grains are high in B vitamins, vitamin E, magnesium, iron, and fiber. For you, that means eating grains reduces risks of heart attack, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and obesity (1).
Nuts and seeds are full of essentials to your diet. Because they can be hard to digest, you will usually find them toasted, milled or ground. Nuts and seeds are rich sources of protein, fiber, vitamin E, and minerals. They can be high calorie so they should be eaten sparingly (2).
It's easy to get your grains, seeds and nuts.
First of all, add these three to your diet slowly, as too much of a good thing can give you gastric distress. Try adding a grain to soup or stew. Try adding seeds and nuts to your morning oatmeal. Consider having a sandwich with natural peanut butter and banana on whole grain bread for lunch. Top salads and yogurt with toasted grain, seeds and nuts (3).
I always add barley to my vegetable soup. I figure I need all the nutrition I can get. Have you ever tried long grain and wild rice? Technically, wild rice isn’t rice at all but a real grain. You can buy this mix boxed with herbs and spices so all you do is add water and cook it. One of my favorite breakfasts is cereal nuggets made from whole wheat and barley then topped with yogurt, fresh or frozen fruit and a little honey. Why yogurt on top? I like the yogurt to soften up the nuggets. At my age, it pays to be cautious and not crack a tooth.
For more ways to get and enjoy whole grains in your diet, go to eatright.org (4). This is a PDF document, which you can view, save and print.
Soup anyone?
I love lentil soup and this one is so good and good for you. You can change it to meet your needs. I use the sun-dried tomatoes because they add richness to the soup. I rehydrate them and cut them in small pieces before adding to the soup. You may instead use canned tomatoes, keeping the liquid to add to the soup. Instead of spinach, try Swiss chard, kale or mustard greens. For broth try ham, chicken, beef, or vegetable. This soup doesn’t take long and does well in a slow cooker. Just be sure to add enough liquid as dried beans absorb a lot.
Lentil & Barley Soup
This soup is high in fiber, vitamins, and minerals. It is low in calories and cholesterol, and it is also delicious. Serves from 4-6. Eat and enjoy.
Ingredients
1 cup dried lentils (rinsed and checked for stones)
1 cup diced onions
1 diced carrot
1 cup diced, rehydrated, sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 cup quick barley
1 cup thinly sliced spinach
6 cups water or broth (for ham base use 6 teaspoons)
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper to taste
Directions
1. In a stockpot combine all ingredients EXCEPT barley, spinach, and vinegar.
2. Bring to a boil then simmer 45 minutes.
3. Add the barley and spinach and continue cooking until the barley is just tender.
4. Just before serving, add the balsamic vinegar.
Serve with warm bread and butter.
Nutritional Information Per Serving for a Similar Lentil-Barley Soup Recipe (5)
Calories 231 Cal. from fat | |||
% Daily Value | % Daily Value | ||
Total Fat 2.41 G | 4% | Vit. A | 20.13 |
Sat. Fat .07 G | Vit. C | 19.17 | |
Monounsaturated Fat .09 G | Calcium | 9.08 | |
Polyunsaturated Fat .17 | Iron | 9.5 | |
Sodium 1430.74 Mg | 60% | Vit. E | .88 |
Potassium 77.65 Mg | 2% | Thiamin (B1) | .05 |
Total Carbohydrates 47.69 G | 16% | Riboflavin (B2) | .03 |
Dietary Fiber 6.78 G | 27% | Niacin (B3) | 1.15% |
Sugars 6.03 G | Bit B6 | 3.25 % | |
Protein 23.96 G | 48% | Phosphorus | 55.25 |
Zinc | 3.55 | ||
Copper | .16 | ||
Manganese | .33 | ||
The Staff of Life
Bread is called the staff of life. Throughout the ages and in all cultures, bread is the one thing that was always a constant food. When there was nothing else to eat, you could eat bread and stay full and healthy. Today’s bread sold in stores bears no resemblance to the bread of old. You can find a few brands that come close, but nothing beats homemade, multi-grain bread. There is nothing more wonderful to smell and eat than homemade bread. Pick up a loaf, and it’s heavy. You could survive on this bread. It’s so full of nutrition; tasty and filling. If you’ve never had any of this bread, you might think, at first, that it tastes funny. That’s because you’ve probably never eaten anything like it. When you bite into a slice, you taste different grains, yeast, seeds, and nuts. Multi-grain bread isn’t just to carry jam or ham and cheese with mayo; it’s enough just by itself. This bread IS the staff of life.
No-Knead Multi-Grain Bread
I’ve been making bread for many years. When I developed arthritis in my hands, I bought a bread machine. I used the machine for kneading and the first rise then used a bread pan for the second rise and cooking. A few years ago along came no-knead bread. To my surprise, I found out you didn’t have to knead dough to make a great loaf of bread. My first tries didn’t go very well: the dough was too wet; I didn’t allow enough time for the yeast to make the dough rise; there was not enough salt; the final loaf was too dark or hard; the center wasn’t totally done.
That’s where research comes in. There are very specific things you need to do to make sure your bread comes out just right. Yeast is a living organism. Make sure the yeast date hasn’t expired or the dough won’t rise. The water should not be too cold; yeast won’t activate, or too hot; the yeast dies. The first rising takes between 12 and 24 hours so you can’t rush this. Some recipes call for salt and sugar; however, too much of either will kill the yeast.
I keep whole grains for bread in the freezer as they will get rancid. YUCK! And I keep my jar of yeast in the refrigerator. I wanted to add seeds and nuts so I bought toasted sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and walnuts. I put them in my food processor and pulsed until they were about half the size of a pea. Pulse too long and you’ll end up with seed-nut butter.
If you are using a cloche or Dutch oven with a lid, the moisture stays in, and your bread will not get dry as it bakes. However if you use a bread pan or baking sheet, take a fairly large baking pan with two inch high sides and put about one cup of water in the pan. This will keep your bread moist. Put this pan on the rack below the one where you will bake your bread. When you check the bread at about three fourths of the cooking time, make sure there’s still some water in the pan.
There is one very important point to remember. This bread has only ingredients you can pronounce. It has no preservatives so after two days, you must refrigerate it or you’ll see mold.
No-Knead Multigrain Bread (Makes one loaf)
Ingredients
1 1/4 cup warm water
2 tablespoons yogurt (no sugar added)
1 teaspoon salt (sea, Kosher, pickling)
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon active yeast
1 cup + 2 tablespoons 7 Grain Cereal (6) or King Arthur Harvest Grains Mix [see directions on package] (7)
2 cups white, unbleached, bread flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup seed and nut mix
Directions for the Dough
1. Mix the warm water, honey and yogurt together in either your measuring cup or small bowl
2. Mix the dry ingredient and the seed-nut mix in a very large bowl
3. Add about 1/2 of the liquid and mix well
4. Add the rest of the liquid and mix
5. If all of the dry ingredients don’t get incorporated, wet your hands and use them to mix them in
6. Form the dough into a ball (It doesn’t have to be perfect)
7. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and use a large rubber band to keep the wrap from slipping off
Directions for the Rise and Cooking
1. Place the bowl anywhere that convenient as long as it’s not drafty or cold
2. Write down the time and let the dough rise from 12-24 hours or until it’s doubled in size and the surface is dotted with bubbles
3. Scrape the dough onto a well-floured, large cutting board
4. Sprinkle flour on the dough and fold it a few times until you get roughly round shape
5. Some people like to put about 1 tablespoon of olive oil on their hands to finish off the shaping of the loaf, but it’s optional
6. Using a dinner plate or large baking sheet, place a piece of parchment paper on the surface and liberally sprinkle corn meal on the paper
7. If you are using a bread pan, cut the parchment paper to fit then sprinkle the paper with corn meal
8. Dust the dough with flour and loosely cover with plastic wrap
9. Let the dough rise until it has doubled in size—1 to 2 hours
10. About thirty minutes before time to bake, preheat your over to 450 F
11. If you are using a Dutch oven or cloche, pre-heat it, minus the lid, in the oven
12. Put the water pan on the lowest rack set at the lowest level of the oven if you’re using a bread pan
13. Pick up the parchment with dough then quickly and carefully transfer it to the Dutch oven
14. You can shake the Dutch oven or cloche a little to make sure the dough is evenly distributed
15. Cover the pot with the lid and bake at 475 F for 30 minutes
16. Reduce the temperature to 425 F, remove the lid, and bake uncovered for 15-30 minutes more or the bread is well-browned
17. Transfer the bread to a wire rack to cool, discarding the parchment (Try to wait for at least 15-20 minutes. I know it’s hard, but try)
18. Using either a very sharp regular knife or one with a serrated edge, cut off one slice, butter it, eat it, and prepare for a heavenly treat
Additional Information
Any heavy pot will do if you are okay with a round or oblong loaf of bread. It can be cast iron, enamel, Pyrex, stainless steel, ceramic, or a clay cloche. They all work as long as they are oven safe to the temperature needed to bake the bread. If your pan has no lid or you are concerned about the safety of the lid, used aluminum foil instead, pressing it tightly (don’t forget the oven mitts) and carefully around the preheated pot. I have two Dutch ovens. One is cast iron with a lid and the other is aluminum with a glass lid. I wouldn’t use the glass lid. Well, I don’t use the aluminum one anyway; it was bequeathed to me. Go figure that one out!
I know this looks like a lot of steps, but I tried to just put one thing at a time to keep it simple. This is really not difficult, and boy you can get your grains-seeds-nuts, save money and eat the best bread ever. Honestly, this bread is so good for you. You won’t feel guilty eating a slice, even with butter on it.
Nutritional Information of Homemade Multigrain Bread (8)
Endnotes:
- http://www.bobsredmill.com/cereals/ (I use Bob’s Red Mill 7 Grain Hot Cereal bought from Duffy’s in Mountain City)
© 2011, Katherine Hegemann
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