Sneaking More Wheat Into You

I'm back--with a few ideas for sneaking more wheat into your meals via wheat berries, since they are so nutritious and since meals otherwise have very few whole grains (unless you eat whole brown, black or red rice every meal-boring).


The first is pizza. That doesn't sound very nutritious at first but lets begin with what you need:

1. Crust (I use Boboli which I buy and freeze. Also sometimes I use a packaged bread mix or Rhodes frozen dough. Homemade crust is obviously the most delicious besides American Dream, but it is a question of diminishing returns after you spend all that time just to make pizza.)
   
2. Sauce (I rotate between tomato or pasta sauce, BBQ sauce, and olive oil, but we use BBQ sauce the most-it's also surprisingly, the cheapest.)
3. Wheat berries (boiled until soft, in any proportion you desire-or can add without your guests noticing).
4. Toppings (for example, kalamata olives, cilantro, eggplant, artichoke, peppers, veggie sausage, mushrooms, fresh tomatoes, canned tomatoes, onions, green onions, etc. Whatever you feel like.)

That's all. This is one of the easiest meals in the world actually. My mom makes boboli pizza every Friday night, that's EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT! Imagine how much this simplifies the weekly grocery list and the weekly cooking anxiety. And all it takes is a bunch of yummy veggies and some pre-cooked wheat berries. Anyway, I make pizza about once a month, but for some reason I don't have a pic-so I guess you'll have to imagine what it looks like in all of it's simplicity too!

The second dish you can sneak wheat into is pie. Let's just begin with the crust and I'll throw out some things I've tried. Crust itself can require prohibitive effort, or it can be a matter of no effort at all in exchange for a few dollars. Here are some options:

1. Make your own crust. I'm sure there are recipes online, some of which require food processors, but I'm not going to link you to them because I don't believe in making crust.
2. Buy a crust mix. I do this at Winco where they have bulk crust mix (Winco is only available as the name suggests in Washington, Idaho, Nevada, California and Oregon-once again-sorry Utahns) for something like 50 cents a pound. That is delightful! A pound of crust for 50 cents! And it is at least as delicious as I could possibly make myself (knowing my ability to wreck stuff-it is likely far more delicious than a me-made crust). Crust mix also comes in boxes that are surely sold at all grocery stores, even in Utah. You just add a few tablespoons of water and mix it with a fork, then roll it out and cut it into a pie shape. Could it be simpler?
3. Yes. Buy a pre-made crust. This will cost (at Winco) up to $2.77, but is more delicious (probably at least a little less healthy) and is the simplest of them all. I use Pillsbury.
   

Now, for the filling. Here are two ideas:

1. We had some leftover mashed potatoes from Sunday dinner. Now these potatoes had been mashed on Saturday night, and it was already Tuesday. They were rock solid. So I used a pre-made crust and put one layer of crumbly crusty potatoes on the bottom with a bit of Worcestershire sauce (but now that I think about it, BBQ sauce would have been another excellent choice) and on top of that was a layer of frozen (defrosted) mixed veggies, and wheat berries. Then another layer of potatoes with sauce, and repeat veggies and wheat. Then another crust on top with air vents, bake for 40-50 minutes and we came out with the pie in the picture at the beginning of this post (notice the layers). Quite good, and doubtless better if fresh mashed potatoes had been used, but chopped baked potatoes would have been delicious too, (see phyllo strudel post).
   
2. Garth's parents have an apple tree and therefore, too many apples for two people to eat. So while we were in Corvallis two weeks ago, we stocked up. Unfortunately we were also unable to eat the apples faster than they were rotting, so I salvaged as many as I could by chopping them all up and making apple pie filling. Now there are exactly one zillion apple pie recipes but they almost all use the same ingredients (I used the one on the Pillsbury box) namely, 6 apples per pie, spices, brown sugar, flour, lemon juice and butter, or "butter." I added a handful of wheat berries to each batch of apple pie filling and froze them. Now I have already had three opportunities to take the frozen crust and filling out of the freezer and throw an apple pie together in 5 minutes (plus the hour to bake). AND, this pie is not only filled with delectable and nutritious fruit, but also you get a handful of wheat berries too. (I actually used Kamut, an ancient Egyptian wheat buried with a mummy, that's appetizing!)

More from Squash, Get the Most Out of Your Squash

This is an excellent way to squash (chuckle) every food group into one dish. I like to serve it to guests because after trying it out once, it's really easy and then all you have to make is a dessert- (which is the pear strudel I told you guys I was going to try-I'll put it up later).
You need:

• two acorn squash, cut in half, cut sides brushed with butter and sprinkled with brown "sugar"
• a handful of raisins or currants soaked in apple juice.
• one sour apple chopped
  
• a handful of chopped green onions
• one half of a red pepper chopped
• cinnamon
• "butter"
• a handful of slightly broken cashews (hit the bag with the back of a spoon a few times)
  
• one cup vegetable stock
• one half cup millet
• salt and pepper

1. Bake the squash according to the instructions on the last squash post.
   
2. While you're baking the squash, put the onions and two table spoons of "butter" in a large saucepan on medium heat for about two minutes.
3. Add the millet and stir until its all coated with "butter."
4. Add the apple, the raisins, and the bell pepper and a couple of shakes of cinnamon.
   
5. Add the stock and cover the pan, reduce heat to low.
6. Cook on low for 20 minutes and then remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes with the cover on.
   
7. Add the cashews and a few shakes each salt and pepper.
   
8. Spoon the mixture into the fully baked squash shells (that you put in the oven before you started chopping-or about an hour earlier.
   
9. Serve. (or you can cook the millet the night before and then bake it inside the squash for the last 15 minutes)

Like I say-this dish gets easier and easier the more times you make it-and it's really filling. Remember to make the most out of your squash.
P.S. Hey you aspiring quilters-check out the product from a quilter with no experience whatsoever.