Last week, on Discovering Waldorf, we discussed the grain of the day for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Today we continue with Thursday...
Thursday-Jupiter-RyeWe’ve all had rye bread at restaurants or maybe you’ve even made some before, but it’s mostly just wheat flour with a little bit of rye. I wanted to make some muffins using only fresh rye flour, so I adapted an old favorite to highlight the bold flavor of rye. Any preserves will work in this recipe, but I had some homemade organic strawberry preserves on hand…so that’s what I used.
Strawberry Rye Muffins3/4 cup soy milk (or any milk you prefer)
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
2 cups rye flour (just grind your raw rye berries in a blender or coffee grinder – make sure you sift the flour first)
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp caraway seeds
½ cup coconut sugar (or sweetener of your choice)
½ cup coconut oil (or canola oil)
1 Tbs molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup strawberry preserves
Preheat oven to 325. Whisk the vinegar into the soy milk and let it stand for 5-10 minutes, or until it curdles a bit. In a large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and caraway seeds. In a smaller bowl whisk together the milk, sugar, oil, molasses and vanilla. Then add the wet ingredients to the dry and incorporate. Then fold in the preserves. Fill your muffin tray and pop it in the oven for about 20 min, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Serve them upside down as they do tend to fall in the middle from the dense flour and preserves.
Blink...and they'll be gone!
When I first started using rye berries I was a bit confused. Mostly rye is ground up and used in bread baking, but it turns out that cooked rye berries make a fantastic salad. I actually really enjoy the recipe that’s given on the back of the bag of organic rye berries I buy. So with permission from the jolly folks at
Bob’s RedMill I give you their recipe for Rye berry salad:
Rye Berry and White Bean Salad1 cup cooked rye berries
1 cup cooked white beans
½ cup green onions, chopped
½ cup celery, sliced
½ cup tomato, diced
Vinaigrette:
½ cup olive oil
2 Tbs fresh lemon or lime juice
2 Tbs vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar)
2 Tbs fresh parsley, chopped
1 Tbs honey mustard (I just use Dijon mustard)
2 Tbs shallot, minced (I skip it if I don’t have it)
¼ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
Mix the vinaigrette by combining all the ingredients with a whisk. Add it with the other salad ingredients and mix well. Let it chill overnight or at least a few hours to allow the flavors to develop. Serve chilled.
Friday-Venus-OatsEveryone likes oatmeal. That being said, it can be hard to make a steaming bowl of oatmeal in the dead of summer when it’s already 80 degrees outside and it’s not even 8am. One of my kids favorite breakfasts is cold overnight oats. They are simple to make and when you wake up, breakfast is served in under 2 minutes! This makes it a mama favorite too. I originally got the idea from Angela at
Oh She Glows. Here is how we make it:
Overnight Oats1 cup rolled oats
3 cups almond milk (or whatever milk you prefer)
1/4 cup chia seeds (or flax seeds if you can't find chia)
2 Tbs Hempshakes chocolate (or whatever superfood powder you prefer - optional)
small pinch of sea salt
Fruit toppings for presentation...of course!
At night before you
fall get into bed, quickly combine the oats, milk, chia, Hempshakes and salt. Give it a couple stirs to combine it, making sure to scrape the chia off the side so it is in the liquid. Pop it in the fridge and say night-night. When you wake up, give it a good stir and add any fresh fruit you'd like. Then serve it nice and cold!
Even if you aren't vegetarian, you really should give this recipe a try. It's hearty, filling, and fun to make! Although rice is also involved, the oats in this
veggie loaf stand out nicely and really bring everything together.
Crooked Moon Veggie Loaf1 cup cooked brown rice
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds, ground fine
1/2 cup flax seeds, ground fine
1/2 cup raw cashews, ground fine
1 medium onion
1 medium carrot
1/2 bell pepper
1 cup baby portobello mushrooms
2 Tbs fresh sage (or marjoram)
2 Tbs fresh parsley
2 Tbs Braggs liquid aminos (or tamari/soy sauce)
2 Tbs dijion mustard
freshly ground black pepper
Ketchup (optional)
Preheat your oven to 350. Mix together the rice, oats, ground nuts and seeds in a large bowl. Into your food processor goes the onion, carrot, bell pepper, mushrooms, sage and parsley. Pulse until everything is chopped pretty fine (don't make veggie juice though!). Then mix it with the dry ingredients. Add the Braggs, mustard and a few good cracks of black pepper and stir it all up again (feel free to use your hands...it's fun!). Press mixture into a well oiled loaf pan, or into a well oiled muffin tin. Bake your loaf at 350 for 40 minutes, then remove it and top it with ketchup if you'd like. It's not needed, but does enhance the whole "like-mom-used-to-make" feeling. Then back in it goes for another 20 min. If making the muffins, bake them at 350 for 30 minutes, remove and top with ketchup, then put them back in for 10 minutes. To freeze the little individual muffin loaves simply let them cool a bit, pop them out and wrap them in unbleached wax paper and then in an airtight container or ziploc bag.
Saturday-Saturn-CornWe'll end this week of grains with something simple. Corn.
Of course you think of cornbread or corn cakes, but I prefer much simpler ways to enjoy my corn. I'm not a big fan of cornmeal as it's a bit over-processed, but we are huge fans of POPCORN! One of our favorite morning snacks...
Crooked Moon Popcorn1/2 cup multi-colored popcorn
3 Tbs coconut oil
sea salt
dash of cinnamon
In a heavy bottomed pot, heat the coconut oil on med heat and add the popcorn. Cover your pot and wait for the pops to start. Every couple seconds I like to pick up the pot and give it a good shake to make sure the kernals are moving around a bit (use oven mitts darlings!). When you can't hear all the kernals shaking your popcorn is probably done. Always use your nose here...if you smell anything slightly burning...it's done!
Toss it in a bowl with some sea salt and the dash of cinnamon. You may add a bit of sweetener here too if you like...but we find it's not needed.
I hate to leave my last recipe so simple, but I feel it's important to highlight this:
Sweet raw corn.
Have you ever eaten corn raw? It's a bit of a different taste. Earthy, starchy, sweeter and really crunchy. We visited a farm a few years back and the farmer handed us a cob of corn right off the stalk and said "Eat it!". We thought it was odd, but after tasting it we realized how ingenius it was! I couldn't believe we'd never thought to try it like that before.
Grow some yourself, or find someone who is and eat some fresh corn right off the stalk...it just may become your favorite way to prepare it.
I hope you try some of these recipes and start incorporating the different grains into your days. Even if you can't make it a grain a day everyday, maybe you can pick a few days a week; like rice Mondays and millet Wednesdays. Then the next month choose barley Tuesdays and corn Saturdays.
For more information on using grains to nourish your body and soul I recommend the following books. I do not fully agree with everything in them...of course I do what works for me and my family...but it is a good place to start.
Happy healthy eating,
CrookedMoonMama
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Thank you Laura... you are a gem!
Laura's blog,
CrookedMoonMama, is totally delightful, packed full of great recipes, cool musings and pure sweetness from her super-cute family. If you haven't already, pop on over for a peek.
Here are the other great articles in our
Discovering Waldorf Series.
Thanks for sharing,
Blessings and magic,
Donni
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I used my glue gun to stick the wire in place at the base of the bottle. I used a spoon to stick the wire down... once the glue has cooled and stuck (takes only seconds) the spoon breaks away easily.
