We talk about everything from using draft horses, the real cost of food, and how to make your love visible.

Enjoy!

AWEtv from Seed to Scone with Adrie Lester of Wheatberry Cafe from shalini bahl on Vimeo.

On Saturday, we got up extra early and loaded both bread decks full of Local Loaf goodness. We filled our racks with cookies, scones, and local bran muffins, and drove with many helpers to enter the fray at the Northampton Winter Fare, put together by CISA. We had a 2010 grain share on display in glass jars, the electric stone mill and oat roller (which are usually on the counter at Wheatberry for customers to use), and bags of grains for folks to buy and mill (or take home to cook whole of course!). It was a great time, and we made lots of new friends. If we didn’t see you there, never fear – there’s a Winter Farmer’s Market in Greenfield on February 5th at the Greenfield High School, and we’ll be there, scones and Local Loaves hot from the ovens, and fresh grain ready to be milled!

This week, I’m sharing a recipe for Chicken Spelt Berry Soup.  You may want to glance back at my chicken stock recipe.  This soup is simple if you have stock already made, hearty, and nourishing.  It’s a favorite both at our home and at Wheatberry.  Spelt is an ancient kind of wheat, and some folks who are sensitive to wheat find that they can tolerate spelt – please note that spelt is not gluten free.

Chicken Spelt Berry Soup

6 cups chicken stock

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 large beet, peeled and chopped

2 onions, peeled and chopped

1 tbsp butter, fat, or oil

1 cup spelt berries (as usual, these can be substituted with wheat berries, rye berries, oat groats, barley berries, emmer, rice .  . . your imagination is the limit!)

This recipe starts the night before – begin by soaking your grains in 2 cups cold water.

The next day, melt butter in a large soup pot.  Add your onions, carrots, and beets, and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until they are fragrant, soft, and the onions are beginning to turn golden.  Add the chicken stock.  Drain the grains, and add to the soup.  Simmer, covered, for approximately 30 minutes.  When the grains are cooked they will be plump and juicy, and not crunchy at all.  Salt to taste, and serve hot.

Bon Appetit!

And now, before today’s recipe, a confession.  When we created the Pioneer Valley Heritage Grain CSA in 2008, we knew that we wanted to bake with locally grown flour, and we knew that we wanted a variety of grains, for nutritional health and for the health of the land (rotation of crops is important).  When we first got our share last winter, it was clear to us that this gorgeous grains deserved to be eaten as they were, not just cracked or ground into flour. 

But we had no idea how to do that.

The closest thing to whole grains I grew up eating was oatmeal (like many of us, I’m sure).   It seemed like a very big hurdle, to suddenly learn how to cook all these different grains and incorporate them into our family’s diet.  This is often what other families express to me, also, that they want to eat whole grains, but they’re intimidated.

So that’s why Whole Grain Weekends is here.  I’m going to be beside you in the kitchen, sharing some of the delights we have discovered.  What we found is that cooking whole grains is actually incredibly simple.  It’s delicious, and very filling in a way that flour products or even rolled or flaked grains are not.  A bowl of oat groats will satisfy you much longer than a bowl of rolled oats.  And, because they are so dense and packed with goodness, you also eat less.  Whole grains are an incredibly economic way to eat – you need to eat less of them, so you can buy less, and you can usually find them in bulk, saving on the packaging and processing costs.

Are you ready?  We begin with the super super simple.  I’m so glad to share this journey with you.

Ready and Waiting Warm Cereal

(aka Awesome Porridge)

1 cup whole grains (oat groats, spelt berries, wheat berries, barley, etc .  .. or a mixture!)

3 cups water

1 tsp salt

After dinner, while you’re cleaning up, rinse your grains, then throw the above ingredients into a crock pot and turn it on low.  In the morning, a warm and nourishing breakfast is waiting for you and your family.  Yes, it’s that easy.

Serve with a pat of butter and a drizzle of local honey or maple syrup, or some warmed fruit (we had ours with warmed blueberries from the freezer this morning).  Serve with yogurt if desired.

Variations below:

*  Need a simple breakfast for Christmas morning that will hold everyone until the big dinner?  Add 1/2 cup dried cranberries, substitute 1 cup cider or orange juice for some of the water, and you’ve got a hit.

* For a creamy treat, use 1 cup water and 1 cup half-and-half or soymilk, and add 1 tsp vanilla extract.

*  For a classic warm breakfast, add 1/2 cup of raisins or other dried fruit.  You can also add nuts, or fresh fruit such as diced apples or pears.

Bon Appetit everyone!  Can’t wait to see what you’re cooking up.  Blessings on your weekend.

Between this weekend’s distribution and the previous one, we moved Ten Thousand Pounds of local, organically grown grains into the eager hands of our CSA members.  There were over 200 people in my living room and kitchen Saturday afternoon scooping their shares, there were five fantastic folks helping us make it all possible, and one sweet toddler happily demonstrating the new electric mill by her daddy’s side.  We’re a little tired, but very, very happy.

Simple Shawl with undyed wool from Cranberry Moon Farm.

Fan and Feather Shawl from the book Folk Shawls, with luxurious lambs wool from Barberic Farm (handspun “in the grease”).

Two Socks at once from Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks.

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New to me – embroidery (it will be a clock!) from Meg’s awesome book Sew Liberated.

Getting all our grain trials labeled and ready for display at our Open Farm Day this Sunday (1-4 pm at 114 Wendell Rd in Shutesbury!).  Who needs a living room, right?

Today, we erected the frame while Cole looked on in amusement and nervousness,

and finished putting the roof on just minutes before the rains came pouring down onto the new dried bean harvest.  Hooray!

So much gratitude for all the crew who helped, the incredible Seth who surprised us all when he lept onto the bent like a monkey, for Ella who rode in the Ergo on my back while we raced to finish, and especially for Ben, who visioned it all and makes it all possible.

After I mentioned this combination last week, I made it again for family this weekend, and decided that I am officially obsessed with this combination.  Which means that I really need to share the recipe with you.

First, I should confess that I’m not a huge basil lover.  It’s a bit licoricey for me, but we have a crazy amount of it in the garden this year, so clearly it’s time I started liking it.  And then this recipe was born.  Very easy, only a few ingredients, and a nice way to get started with some whole grains if you haven’t already.  It’s delicious as a vegetarian entree, or a side dish.  You could add some sausage or bacon if you were so inclined. I made it with emmer (also called farro) first, then with wheat berries, and am confident that barley, spelt, or rye would also be delicious.  Clearly I’ll have to do some taste-testing.  Yes . . .

(Also, it may seem like a 1/2 cup of grain is not a lot, but grains expand a lot as they cook, and they are super densely packed with goodness – a small serving goes a long way!  This should comfortably serve 2 as an entree or 4 as a side dish).

Emmer with Basil Cream Sauce

1/2 cup whole grains (emmer, wheat berries, spelt, etc)

2 cups water

salt to taste

1/2 cup basil leaves

1-2 leeks (onions work well if you have no leeks)

1 cup cream

In a saucepan, bring 2 cups water to a boil and add your grains.  Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for 20-40 minutes, or until just tender.  (If you pre-soak your grains the night before, you can reduce your cooking time.)

While your grains are cooking, finely slice the white and tender green part of your leeks, and rinse in a strainer under running water to remove any grit.  Start sauteing the leeks in 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat, until they are meltingly tender.

Add the heavy cream, and just barely simmer the cream to allow it to thicken a bit.  Salt your sauce to taste, add cracked pepper if desired.  By now, your grains should be cooked, and you can drain off any excess water.  Salt grains to taste.  Once the grains are ready, finely chop the basil leaves, stir them into your sauce, and turn off the heat.

Serve with sauce poured on top of the grains, or serve in separate dishes and allow your dinner companions to combine them as desired.

Bon Appetit!

(P.S. Thank you for your kind words about Monday Night Menus – I’ll have to bring them back!  Suffice to say that this week I’ll be making this and this and this - yum! Oh, how the crisp fall air makes being in the kitchen a joy.)

Head on over to localgrain.org to see what we’re grateful for this week – the beginning of the bean harvest!