I Dare You To Eat It

Storage Ingredients

2 c. cooked whole wheat berries

3/4 c. Cream Of Wheat (non-instant variety)

1/2 tsp. salt

4 c. water (1-2 c. dehydrated milk powder may be added for extra creaminess and nutrition)

Bring water and salt to a boil. (Or, if using milk, bring just to a boil.) Gradually add Cream Of Wheat, stirring constantly with wire whisk until well blended. Return to a boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer, uncovered, 2-1/2 minutes or until thickened, stirring frequently. Add cooked whole wheat berries. Serve with brown sugar or honey and milk.

This is a crazy little hot breakfast porridge that isn’t quite as intense as a bowl of whole wheat berries, straight up. The leftovers can be stored in a square cake pan and cut into pieces, sort of like bread pudding, (right) and microwaved on an as needed basis all week long.

First, a little vocab: Cracked wheat is wheat that has been processed, coarsely ground or broken, into smaller …noogies. Stay with me. Whole wheat berries are the whole, whole wheat kernels after they have been cooked in water. It looks like chubby rice, in little brown blazers. All of my recipes use whole wheat berries. Cracked wheat is more like mush when it’s cooked. The only way I have ever heard of cracked wheat being served is as a hot breakfast cereal. Whole wheat berries can also be served as a hot breakfast cereal but it is more like a 100% natural version of Grape Nuts. Good?

If you’ve heard those scary stories about what happens when you eat wheat, I just want to make a small public service announcement that it may not be the wheat that’s the problem, but rather our current diets that are the real problem. I set a goal for my family where I serve something prepared with cooked whole wheat berries once a week. So eating our wheat isn’t a problem, and we’re even improving our health.

See www.wheatfoods.org and click on “Why eat whole grains” for more nutritional info. Bottom line….ahem, is that we should all be eating more wheat.

If you’re ready to experiment with serving wheat to your family, please oh please start with a wonderful recipe! I’ve completely gone against the recommendations of my editor and posted the recipe, from the book, for the Fiesta Wheat and Bean Salad. One of my dear friends, and Stake R.S. President, Laurie Little, just posted a great comment about this salad. (scroll down to the recipe and you can read it for yourself)