Millet: an alternative gluten free grain

Our oldest son Matthew has always been sensitive to gluten--- he becomes emotional with highs and lows and finds it hard to control himself if he eats processed grains very often.

To combat this, we eat only sprouted grain bread (Ezekiel bread is our favorite- found in the freezer section) which helps and we stick to the less glutenous grains like millet, brown rice and quinoa.

I have learned a lot about these ancient grains (more info at the bottom of this entry) as the boys and I have experimented with them.

Below are some pictures of the night we used millet in a stir fry.  I also made millet cakes (like potato pancakes) which is what the boys are popping in their mouths in the picture below.

Boys popping their millet pancakes in their mouths, giving me the thumbs up sign.

Whole Grains: Millet 

by Karen Railey

Karen is the author of the popular book, How to Improve Fading Memory and Thinking Skills with Nutrition.

Millet is one of the oldest foods known to humans and possibly the first cereal grain to be used for domestic purposes. It is mentioned in the Bible, and was used during those times to make bread. Millet has been used in Africa and India as a staple food for thousands of years and it was grown as early as 2700 BC in China where it was the prevalent grain before rice became the dominant staple. It is documented that the plant was also grown by the lake dwellers of Switzerland during the Stone Age.

see entire article below:
http://chetday.com/millet.html

The many faces of..."Mexican Fiesta"

Another way we make salads fun is to throw on a few beans, tortilla chips & sun-dried tomatoes and call it "Mexican Fiesta".

Some nights it's literally as easy as that... see below

Other nights, I slather fat-free re-fried beans on a soft sprouted grain tortilla, drizzle with corn and a few chips and that becomes our "Re-Fried Mexican Fiesta".

And still other nights I make a zesty black bean dip, top it with home-made salsa and wa-la, it becomes "Zesty Black Bean Mexican Fiesta".

The black bean dip is quick, easy and inexpensive.

Recipe:

• Put one can (or equiv if you cook the beans from dried beans) of black beans in blender or food processor
• Make sure and rinse beans if you use canned beans
• Add a can of mild rotel tomatoes to mixture and pulse until desired consistency is achieved
• Add chopped onion and minced garlic to taste
• Add chopped cilantro for a nice flavor option

Young Thai Coconuts

I think one of our families very favorite foods is the young thai coconut!  The health benefits are almost second to none and many books have been written about them-- I'll list some info at the bottom of this entry.

Young thai coconuts became a daily habit in our house shortly after our 3rd baby, Noah, was born.  At about 6 months old, I supplemented breast milk with a bottle or two of coconut water from the young coconut.  I would either purchase them at a local Asian market or even the local WM Neighborhood market carried them at the time (not sure any more?).  When I was weaning Noah, coconut water was a staple in his diet and we all enjoyed the delicious and tender coconut meat to either eat plain, dehydrate or use in smoothies.

Now that Noah's 6yrs old, this favorite family food is more of luxury than an every day food, due to cost (~$3 a piece) and effort it takes to get them open.  Gramma gave us a coconut for Christmas, so the boys and I got to splurge on some yummy meat and then used the coconut water to make what we call a "healthy orange Julius".  Although we don't always have young coconuts in our fridge, we always have raw, cold-pressed coconut oil/butter in our pantry and it's a part of our regular diet for a myriad of health reasons.

Young coconuts are much different than the traditional brown hairy mature coconuts. In their youth, they contain soft "spoon meat" along with approximately 8 -10 oz of pure coconut water. These plastic wrapped white coconuts are easy to recognize because they are cylindrical around the edges with a conical top.

To open these treasures, you'll need a sharp cleaver.  I bought the best one I've ever owned at the local Asian market (for roughly $8.00) where I bought our coconuts.  I found the easiest way to open them is to hold them on a cutting board and hit the cleaver hard at the base of the cone-shaped top, thereby cutting off the top of it.  From there you can turn the coconut upside down and drain out the liquid and then use a spoon to scrape out all the meat.

The coconut we had at Christmas yielded 8oz of pure coconut water.

One of our favorite beverages is what we named "Healthy Orange Julius".  The boys never had an "Orange Julius" from the mall like I had growing up, so they just went along with my suggestion of a name:)  But, seriously, for you folks out there that have had one, this healthy version tastes very similar!

Recipe:  Fill a blender up with 2/3 fresh juiced oranges and 1/3 coconut water.  Add ice and blend.  Enjoy this frothy, healthy snack!

  

Below is a list of some of the health benefits of Coconuts and Coconut Oil/Butter:

• 
  
  Easy to digest and can aid in normalizing blood sugar
• 
  
  Contains several anti-fungal properties-- those who suffer from candida or other fungal conditions could benefit from adding coconut oil in their diet
• 
  
  Contains no cholesterol and has been shown to actually lower cholesterol levels
• 
  
  Consuming coconut oil on a regular basis has been shown to restore healthy thyroid function
• 
  
  Coconut oil repairs and restores the skin by both consuming it and rubbing directly into skin... I often use it instead of lotion
• 
  
  I used coconut oil on my skin to prevent stretch marks when I was pregnant and I attribute not getting a single stretch mark to coconut oil in tandem with exercise and healthy diet
• 
  
  Book:  The Healing Miracles of Coconut Oil by Bruce Fife, ND

Hummus- a Middle Eastern dip

A very inexpensive way to make salads or dippers fun and filling is to make some hummus.  Hummus is made from garbanzo beans (also called chickpeas) and tahini (sesame paste).   It is delicious, in-expensive (especially when you buy the dried beans and cook them yourself), versatile and packed with protein.  We change the flavor by adding different spices or vegetables when we make hummus.

I learned how to make hummus by watching a video on You Tube (my husband and I also learned how to knit that way, but that is another story altogether).  I'll explain the recipe below, but if you have trouble with it and you have access to the internet, google hummus and you'll find some excellent recipes out there!

Recipe:

• A couple of cups of cooked garbanzo beans (you can make a "raw" version of this by soaking then sprouting the garbanzo beans-- it changes the flavor a bit)
• 1/4 cup Tahini
• 2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
• 3 - 5 TBS lemon juice
• A couple of garlic cloves
• Sea salt or Bragg Liquid Aminos to taste
• Water as needed

I really don't measure things too often and once you get the hang of making this, you'll know how much of each you prefer.  Some like more tahini and some less (the flavor will dictate).  Some like more water and some less (the texture will dictate).

Put garbanzo beans, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt or Braggs and minced garlic into either a food processor or blender.  Use a spoon in between pulses to stir and mix evenly.  Add water as needed for desired consistency. 

In the picture below, we added raw spinach to the above mixture, which didn't change the flavor and provided extra raw greens!  I often garnish with sun-dried olives (more on these another day-- they are AWESOME!)

The 2 pictures below contain lettuce leaves and celery stuffed with red pepper hummus.  Taylor made the carrot "roses" (he loves that little tool).

Carrot "rose" maker

Left over hummus can make a great after-school snack for the kiddos or a great light lunch for the office.

I usually make a big pot of garbanzo's so I can reserve some to use the next day to garnish our salads.  We call it "Garbanzo Delite".  Note:  soaking them overnight before cooking them cuts down on the gas-producing effects :)