Cookbook Review: 150 Essential Whole Grain Recipes

If you're familiar with this blog, you'll know that I'm a big fan of Canadian Living Magazine and that I'm a long-time subscriber.  Their recipes are pretty much fool-proof and I use them a lot in my kitchen.  And lo and behold, they have a new cookbook out that focuses on something I could definitely use more of in my life, whole grains.  It's called 150 Essential Whole Grain Recipes, and it comes to us via the vastly experienced staff at the Canadian Living test kitchen.

The book is divided into six chapters: Whole Grain Basics, which covers whole grains are and talks about health benefits and gluten free grains; Wheat, Spelt, and Kamut; Brown Rice and Wild Rice; Buckwheat and Rye; Quinoa, Corn, and Millet; and Barley and Oats.  If you are a person who cannot eat gluten, you'd probably really appreciate this book as it provides a lot of great gluten-free recipes and wheat alternatives.

I personally have made five recipes from this book so far.  First came the Whole Wheat Pecan Waffles on page 16.  Loved them, but then again, who doesn't love waffles?  For a indulgent treat one night, I made the Sweet Chili Popcorn on page 207. Loved it!  Though it could have used a bit more kick; perhaps I'd add some cayenne the next time I make this.  But it was basically like caramel corn with a chili-salt flavour and it was a really great accompaniment to a movie night. I made the Oatmeal Scones on pate 253, only I added fresh cranberries to the mix since it was near Thanksgiving and there were fresh cranberries to be had.  I love a good scone, and I'm happy to say that this recipe is a keeper.  It was also a hit with my roommate, who is also a  lover of a good scone. I made the Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies on page 255.  These came out quite dense and a little drier than I prefer my cookies to be, but they were a nice treat and I felt like I was eating something healthier for a chocolate fix.  My eight year old roommate really liked them, too.  Finally, since I am a quinoa fan, I made the Black & White Bean Quinoa Salad on page 181.

I made some substitutions, though, since I don't particularly like navy beans or cucumber.  So I put in a can of chickpeas instead of the navy beans and I diced up a green pepper instead of the cucumber. I also omitted the jalapeno pepper since I don't like those either.  But the dressing for this was very good and the end result was quite delicious!  My roommate liked it, too, and it made enough so that I could have a few meals out of it.  I will go back to this recipe again and again, I think.

Apart from these recipes I made, I have a whole bunch bookmarked in the book for future reference.  There are quite a few bread recipes I want to try and the Chunky Chili Corn Bread Cobbler on page 162 is calling to me!  I just have to wait until I can get a roast of beef at a decent price.  For you vegetarians out there, there are plenty of recipes that would suit a veggie diet and even a vegan diet.

This is a great all-round cookbook with a lot of yummt stuff in it, and as is usual with Canadian Living recipes, they all turned out how they were supposed to without any issues.  I definitely recommend this book and will be keeping it in my already overcrowded cookbook bookcase!

Quinoa "Mac & Cheese"

Tonight my roommate made dinner and she decided to try out a new recipe from our favourite place to get recipes & food ideas these days, Pinterest. It was a bit of a risk since her seven year old daughter had never had quinoa before and claimed the meal smelled "gross" while it was cooking.

The recipe is HERE.

Well, the seven year old wasn't exactly sold on the quinoa version of this favourite, though she ate most of what was negotiated in order for her to get dessert (I made ice cream sandwiches, but that's a future post). My roommate and I, however, thought this dish was a complete hit. We accompanied it with some asparagus and garnished the "mac & cheese" with salsa and sour cream.

This recipe is very versatile. T used red peppers and green onions, but the veggie options and accompaniments are limitless. I'm imagining a version with ricotta cheese and bacon, for instance, perhaps some spinach.

I have always liked quinoa and am glad I've found another tasty way to cook with it. Thanks T!

Magazine Monday #74: Quinoa & Chickpea Salad with Tomato Vinaigrette

After a disappointing last couple of issues, Canadian Living's March 2011 issue has a lot in it that I have bookmarked. This quinoa recipe is the first of a few recipes I plan on making. I love quinoa, and it makes me feel good to eat it because it's so nutritious. This was an easy salad to put together and I have lots around in my fridge for lunches & snack attacks.

I used fresh dill from my AeroGarden, which I had in abundance until I harvested it all a few days ago to make this dish and the borscht I posted about yesterday. Fresh dill is the shizz!

Quinoa & Chickpea Salad with Tomato Vinaigrette

1 cup quinoa, rinsed
2 cups green beans, trimmed & chopped
1 can chickpeas, drained & rinsed
1 red pepper, diced
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
(my addition - a whole pile of fresh dill, chopped)

Tomato Vinaigrette

1/3 cup bottled strained tomatoes (passata)
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp liquid honey
(original recipe: 1/2 tsp each dried Italian herb seasoning and salt)
1/4 tsp pepper
pinch cayenne (which I skipped)

In a saucepan, bring quinoa and 2 cups of water to a boil; reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 12 minutes. Fluff with fork & let cool.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan of boiling water, blanch green beans until tender-crisp, about 3 minutes. Drain & refresh in a bowl of ice water. Drain & transfer to a large bowl. (Fresh green beans at this time of year around here are scarce and not worth the money if you can find them; I used frozen beans which I steamed & then cooled.)

Stir in cooled quinoa, chickpeas, red pepper, and feta.

For the vinaigrette, whisk together all the ingredients and pour over the quinoa mixture; stir to coat.

This is an excellent salad, and the dressing has a hint of sweetness that nicely compliments the saltiness of the feta. Definitely a keeper recipe!

Magazine Monday (on a Friday) #73: Molasses Oat Bread

I'm trying hard to get back into making my own breads, just to keep my grocery bills low and to help me feel productive. For the last few weeks, I've managed to do this, and I'm also making two at a time so I can freeze one for later, too.

I came across this recipe for Molasses Oat Bread in the November 2010 issue of Canadian Living Magazine, in a segment on bread machine breads. I didn't use a bread machine, of course, just my regular method.

I'm not the biggest molasses fan in the world, but I fancied it for some reason. And it turned out quite well in the end. I didn't have any whole wheat flour on hand, so I just used white. It's sweet but not overly so, and will be just fine with a nice bit of ham & Swiss cheese!

Magazine Monday #61: Everyday Granola

I am really enjoying making my own granola. I can't remember the last time I purchased boxed cereal, and I kind of think that's a good thing. I have a few granola recipes I've amalgamated into something of my own, but I did take some time to make a new recipe that came out in the June 2010 issue of Bon Appetit.

A word about Bon Appetit. I used to subscribe to both it and Gourmet, but I let my subscription to BA slide because I didn't feel I was getting my money's worth from it, and I thought Gourmet was better bang for my buck. But, as you might know, Gourmet went belly up, and those of us with outstanding subscriptions to it had those subscriptions switched over to BA. I would rather have had a refund, personally, since I had cancelled BA for a reason. Now, my subscription is almost up and I have been bombarded with mail begging me to renew. I won't be. Although I have seen a marked improvement in the content of BA, I am over it and I don't want to spend my money on it anymore. I might, however, consider getting a subscription to the Food Network Magazine, but we'll see.

Anyway, the granola recipe I tried is here. I liked it, but I didn't love it. The spices were nice and it made a larger quantity than my other recipes, but it lacked punch and texture, and though it had nice flavourings in it, I found it a bit bland. I guess the other recipes I use are sweeter and contain a bit more oil, giving them that punchiness I think was missing here. Still, it filled the bill for me and with some yogurt it made a great breakfast, but I think I'll be sticking to my regular recipes.

Solstice Dinner, Part 2, and Christmas Eve Dinner

I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays this fine Boxing Day morning, and that you are all not too hung over from last night's festivities! I am just relieved this trying time in my life is over and that life can now return to normal.

Which includes posting here!

Let me just briefly finish my round-up of the Solstice meal I served on Monday (though the dessert will be Monday's Magazine Monday post so, really, I'm only covering the side dishes right now).

So, in addition to the sausage-stuff, bacon-latticed pork loin roast I served, I made three sides.

One was very simple, and that was steamed yellow beans from my garden, which I took the time to blanch and freeze immediately after picking in August. I was a little concerned about how they would turn out because when I removed them from the freezer, they looked odd...Not freezer burnt, but kind of translucent and splotchy. But, they steamed up just fine and were great!

I also made the same Brussels sprouts recipe I used last year. You can see that here. Really simple dish, even if slicing all the sprouts is a pain in the ass. Instead of the pine nuts, though, I used some of the pecans that came in the package from Jodi, and let me tell you, they totally elevated this dish to a new level! And once again, when I added these to the heat of the pan, they had an out-of-this-world aroma! Brilliant!
And then, finally, everyone's favourite, the Caramelized Onion & Brie Bread Pudding. Again, this was a smashing hit. I think a lot of people get potatoed-out over the holidays, and this is a great idea for a starch in your meal. In addition to using brie, and party because of the exorbitant cost of brie in these parts, I had a bunch of mozzarella left over from the pork loin, so I cubed it up and put it in, too. It was awesome and everyone was really happy with it.

So, apart from dessert, which as I said I'll post about on Monday, that's a wrap for Solstice 2009!
Now, onto Christmas Eve, which happens to be my father's birthday. We always have a big family get-together for this and my SIL does most of the cooking. Usually, Dad gets his favourite, steak & kidney pie, which is quite disgusting. This year, though, Shan decided to make another of Dad's perennial favourites, Beef Wellington.

But before we get to the main course, let's talk about the appies! Because we always have appies! First of all, Shan's aunt brought some West Coast prawns her brother had caught himself over the summer. These were to die for! There is absolutely no comparison between these prawns and the ones you buy frozen at the grocery store. They taste way richer, for one thing, and they have a much more tender texture and a more subtle colour. In the dish Shan's aunt brought, she paired the prawns with a sour cream mixture, cocktail sauce, and then topped with the prawns. We ate this with crackers and it was so good! Shan's aunt also makes a wonderful crab dip that has sambal olek in it. It was gone very quickly, I can tell you that. And finally, because my dad doesn't touch seafood with a 10-foot pole, Shan made him some stuffed mushroom cups, which were also excellent.
So, if you don't know what Beef Wellington is, basically, it's fillet mignon wrapped in puff pastry with shallots & mushrooms. Shan added gorgonzola this time, though not for me as I cannot stand moldy cheese. She did an outstanding job and everyone in attendance was thrilled to bits.For side dishes, we had steamed asparagus and green beans, salad, roasted butternut squash, and a risotto made with aged Asiago cheese.
This was a meal you'd pay a lot of money for in a restaurant, let me tell you! It was incredibly impressive. Thanks to Shan for all your hard work!

And yes, there was dessert. But that deserves a post of it's own, so you'll have to be patient with me!

Camping Grub 2009 Part 3

When my SIL Shan cooks a meal, she really cooks a meal. On top of her day job, she & her mom, C, also have a catering business, so Shan can cook, man, and there is always a ton of food. Camping trips are no exception. You know if you camp with Shan, you will get a huge, slap-up, tasty meal.

So for night #3, there was a feast: chicken marinated in white wine, garlic, and herbs; marinated grilled green peppers; fried potatoes; grilled corn on the cob; and sauteed asparagus.It was totally excellent! The corn, again, was sweet, tender, and delicious. The asparagus was a bit tough, but still good. My dad came for dinner this night, on his way back from Nelson, and he brought us a trifle for dessert from Save-On Foods. Sorry for the crappy night shot...Tomorrow's post: S'moreos! Woo-hoo!

Camping Grub 2009 Part 2

My SIL and I share the food duties while camping. The first night we kept very simple and had the ultimate camping food: smokies! These were really nice cheddar-filled ones and really hit the spot after setting up camp & having a dip in the lake to cool off. It was HOT that afternoon, let me tell you!

But it was night #2 where we got more ambitious and this is where I stepped up.

Recently, Dave of My Year on the Grill, had a great recipe for grilling tilapia in corn husks and I thought this would be excellent camping grub. So, this is my version, using red snapper my SIL had in the freezer.

The first step involved getting decent corn, which is a challenge. Remember my corn rant from the summer? Yeah, well, I wasn't optimistic about our corn opportunities, and indeed, when we got to the reasonably priced big box grocery store, the corn was in shitty, shitty condition. But, as we were about to give up, the produce guy came out with a whole new shipment of corn from Taber, Alberta, and it was peaches 'n cream - SCORE! Five cobs went for $1.98.

So, I carefully peeled back the husks, keeping them attached to the bottom of the cob, and discarded the silk. I secured the cob end of the husks with butcher's string. This was a bit time consuming and required patience and care - two things I actually had at the time, surprisingly enough. Next I soaked the whole thing in water for about 20 minutes. Luckily, the beer cooler had a lot of nice clean water in the bottom - it was perfect for soaking the cobs! While I was doing all this, our red snapper was happily marinating in some Barefoot Contessa Tequila Lime Marinade I found in the reduced bin at the local overpriced grocery store.

Next came the fun part: making corn husk packages with the fish tucked nicely inside. This was messy & time consuming, but it worked out better than I was expecting. Making sure the fish was covered well - as well as possible, that is - our two fillets were a bit too big for the husks, but this is camping grub, right? It doesn't have to be perfect! - I secured the ends with butcher's string.Then, onto the BBQ it goes:
It took about 20 minutes...
The results: spectacular!I made some rice to go with the meal, and it was wonderful! The corn, I am happy to report, was excellent - sweet, tender, juicy, and definitely the best I had all season.And the best part - no dishes! The cobs & everything just went right into the fire pit! Genius! Thanks Dave for this fantastic idea!

Camping Grub 2009 Part 1: Breakfast

Camping last week was excellent! The weather was perfect, except for the last night & the morning we packed up, when it rained. But other than that, it was hot and sunny, and the lake was still nice enough to swim in.

And of course we ate well! Let's start my 2009 Camping Grub series off with breakfast.

On Morning #1, we opted for a cooked, greasy camping breakfast of bacon & eggs, cooked over the camp stove. We also had toast made from a loaf of no-knead bread I made the day before we left. The camping toaster gadget was broken, so my SIL toasted the bread gently over the BBQ.There is something about cooking food on a camp stove out in the woods just makes everything taste way better!

On Morning #2, we had a super easy breakfast made by my SIL before we left: homemade peach crisp, made with local peaches. We had this with some vanilla yogurt and it was excellent!On Morning #3, it was raining, so we had breakfast in the trailer. I had made some granola at home and we had it with, again, vanilla yogurt. The recipe for the granola is here, but I used some coconut in it, and only used whole almonds as I was out of hazelnuts. Yum!
The full camping Flickr set, including all our food, some gorgeous scenery, and a gigantic bug, is here.

Breakfasts of Champions

Just a light Friday post, featuring some recent breakfasts.

But first, remember that Magazine Monday is coming up this Monday, so if you have made a magazine recipe you'd like me to link to, please send you submissions in by Sunday evening. My email is wandering_coyoteATyahooDOTca. Thanks!

Now, breakfast.

1. Huckleberry Gruel.

Sounds Dickensian - sort of - doesn't it? I think this sounds slightly more interesting than huckleberry oatmeal. But I do have to say, I like my oatmeal a little thinner than most people, so even though it's not as watery as a gruel, it's definitely not the stick-to-your-ribs kind of oatmeal that is more popular. I had this bowl with some maple syrup and it was a great breakfast! I love the colour huckleberries turn everything.

2. Ah, left over Chinese food - the breakfast of champions! On Monday, I went out on a girls night to have dinner & see a movie. Since the big theatre is in Castlegar, we chose to go to Chopsticks for dinner. Because of my appetite issues, this was great for me because I had such a wide variety of things to choose from, and I made sure to get stuff that I could take home as decent leftovers, too. I love leftover Chinese food for breakfast, just like I love leftover pizza for breakfast! So, I got a Wor Won Ton (the best!), only ate half of it, and had the rest wrapped up, and I got a combination plate that included chow mein, deep fried prawns, sweet & sour pork, and beef with greens. Excellent! I ate half of it, too, and brought the rest home for breakfast. It was fabulous!

Corn Update

Ok, so yesterday I went to a local fruit stand with my dad in Castlegar. The produce there comes from all over the place in BC, and there was a whole bunch of corn there labeled as "peaches & cream" from Chilliwack, which is in the Fraser Valley (about a day's drive east of here). It was 99cents/cob. While I think that's an outrageous price for corn, I was drawn by the "peaches & cream" claim and purchased two.

At home, I husked the corn and got this:WTF?

The top cob is indeed peaches & cream, but the bottom cob is most certainly not.

After cooking, I slathered my corn in leftover feta butter from the other night, and...

The peaches & cream was tough and absolutely flavourless. It was sooooooo disappointing.

The non-peaches & cream tasted sweeter and was much more tender, but it was still not much better than the corn from the previous night.

Well, that concludes my corn experimentation for this summer. It's either a shitty year for corn in the west, or I was just too spoiled out east.

Corn with Feta Butter

Sometimes the simplest things are the very best, eh? Take for instance this little side dish recipe that came from the August issue of Gourmet.

I love corn on the cob and often bemoan the fact that I don't live near any decent source of local corn on the cob. The corn down east was awesome! You could buy right off the side of the farm it grew on, picked that day. Peaches & cream was my favourite. If you couldn't go out into the countryside and get it, farmer's markets always had it, too. The best corn I've ever had came from the suburbs around Chicago for like 25 cents a cob.

25 cents a cob? I am not kidding. I got 2 ears of corn for $1.49 at the local overpriced grocery store yesterday. And it wasn't peaches & cream. And it kinda sucked. This is why I very rarely buy corn anymore (the other reason is that it's genetically modified and I'm trying to cut down on my GM foods).

Luckily, this feta butter made up for the suckage. I didn't use mint, but rather picked some cilantro from my garden - a herb I'll take any day over mint.

This was da bomb! And so simple! It was truly a treat, despite the mediocre corn. I had some BBQ salmon with it and it was a great meal. Definitely a keeper recipe.

Hawaiian Rice

So, the place where I work provides dinner for the residents, and dinner always includes a dessert. The menu rotates over 8 weeks, and last Monday happened to be Hawaiian Rice night. I've never been around for Hawaiian Rice night.

The relief cook hadn't been around for Hawaiian Rice night, either, because when he looked at the recipe, he was really skeptical. He thought it looked weird and was asking if I'd ever seen the regular cook make it before, and if I'd ever tasted it, etc. I said no, it was a first for me, too.

It does look strange - kind of like a combination of ambrosia salad and rice pudding. Here is the recipe.

Hawaiian Rice (makes 6 servings)

1 1/2 cups cooked rice
1 cup mini marshmallows
3/4 cup crushed pineapple, drained
- combine these ingredients and chill for 3 hours

Add: 1 cup cool whip or whipped cream and 3 tbsp sugar. Fold into rice mixture. Chill again. Sprinkle with coconut. Serve.

Here is step one...

Here it is just before step two...

My shift ended before the dessert was finished so I have no idea how this turned out. But I will see the cook again soon and ask him how it went.

What do you think? Does this appeal to you or not?

Puffed Wheat Squares

These seem to be normal coffee shop fare around these parts, and I first got addicted to them when I worked at a coffee bar in Trail about year ago. Now, I make them pretty regularly at my current job, where I help bake for the coffee shop at the hospital. I always lick the bowl! These totally hit the spot when a chocolate craving comes upon me!

Puffed Wheat Squares

1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp cocoa powder
6 cups puffed wheat

1. Melt the first 4 ingredients in a pot over low heat & bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

2. Measure the puffed wheat into a large bowl, and stir in the chocolate syrup mixture until well combined.

3. Press into a greased 8x8" square pan. Cool completely. Cut and serve.

Enjoy!

Magazine Monday #34: Hush Puppies

When I went to Florida five years ago, my friends and I ate at a gated community. Yes - a gated community. I don't know how we wound up there - we were all tourists - but someone recommended the little village within the gated community for lunch as there were a number of small restaurants there in addition to some shopping.

It was creepy, but perhaps that's another story. We chose a small restaurant and sat out on the immaculate patio as a black person walked by picking up non-existent litter. Really - but like I said, that's another story.

The food was good, but I can't remember what I ordered, though I do remember that it came with these things called Hush Puppies. My friend E, whom we were all in Florida to visit with, is originally from the deep south, and I asked her what a Hush Puppy was and she told me. I was intrigued. And when my meal came, I was totally digging the Hush Puppies. They were great!

Fast forward five years and I am still cringing at my gated community experience, and I still remember those Hush Puppies. And lo and behold, Gourmet's February 2009 issue had a recipe! I made them to go with a spectacular burger that will appear in Wednesday's post.

The recipe is here.

Aaaaaahhhhhh...the results were not good.

First of all, I didn't have stone ground cornmeal as specified in the recipe, so my batter wasn't the right texture. And they fell apart in the frying process. They were a complete and utter disappointment.

Perhaps my expectations were too high. Perhaps I needed finer cornmeal. Perhaps I need a new recipe.

Well, they cannot all be keepers can they? That's the whole point of Magazine Mondays - to sift through all those magazine recipes and see which ones are keepers and which ones to pitch. This one is getting pitched.

King Size Corn Muffins

My love affair with my king size muffin pan continues! I made these cornmeal muffins the other day and they were perfect! The recipe comes from Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse, where I've gotten some seriously wonderful muffin recipes, like these blueberry muffins and my all-time favourite, Coffee Chocolate Chip muffins. This cornmeal muffin recipe is extremely simple to put together and provided a quick fix for my muffin craving.

Corn Muffins (adapted by me)

Blend together:
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk

Sift in:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Add: 1 1/2 cups cornmeal

Once all ingredients are combined, scoop & bake @ 350F until a tester inserted in the centre comes out clean - 20 - 25 minutes for regular sized muffins (you'll get 12 of these) or 30 - 35 minutes for king size muffins (of which you'll get 6).

Enjoy!

Magazine Monday #32: Fish & Rice

Today's MM recipe comes from the March/April issue of Clean Eating Magazine, where there is a segment on fast, five-ingredient meals. This simple fish and rice dish caught my fancy because of its simplicity, and though the original recipe calls for tilapia, I can't seem to find any around here these days, so I substituted basa. I am liking basa; it was on sale at the local overpriced grocery store last week, and it really has great flavour. I also didn't use brown rice, but the last bit of basmati I had on hand.

Tilapia with Soy Sauce & Pineapple Scallion Rice

1 cup brown rice
4 x 6oz tilapia fillets - or basa fillets
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1 8oz can pineapple chunks, reserve juice
6 scallions/green onions, sliced
salt & pepper to taste

1. Cook rice.

2. Meanwhile, place fish in a baking dish either lined with foil or sprayed with cooking spray. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce with 3 tbsp of pineapple juice, then pour over the fish. Season with salt & pepper if desired (I did not so desire). Bake at 450F for 15 - 20 minutes.

3. In a skillet with a tad bit of oil or some cooking spray, saute the scallions/green onions for about 2 minutes. Add the pineapple chunks and cook for a minute. Fold into cooked rice.

4. Serve fish with rice, pouring any remaning pan juices over the top.

I really enjoyed this dish and would definitely make it again!

Enjoy!

Magazine Monday #31: Toasted Oat Granola Bars

A while back, I posted about the granola bars from Whitewater Cooks. These bars are totally awesome! When I got my latest issue of Canadian Living, there was a homemade granola bar recipe in there, too, and it looked very good. So, I decided to make them the other day.

The recipe for Toasted Oat Granola Bars is here.

Well, you'll definitely work off some of the calories in these bars just by chewing - because they're very chewy. They turned out OK, but they're definitely not as good as the Whitewater Recipe. I might make these again if I varied the ingredients somewhat. As it was, I didn't have any dates so I just added more cranberries, and I didn't have any sunflower seeds, so I added some sliced almonds instead. I think the whole oats made these bars way more chewier than they needed to be, so maybe quick oats might be a bit better. I don't know.

Anyway, not a failure per se, just not my favourite recipe for granola bars. If you make these, let me know what your experience of the recipe is!