Sass - Whole Grains for Busy People : Fast, Flavor-Packed Meals and More for Everyone

Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way

Pressure Perfect

The New Vegan Cookbook

The Pressured Cook: Over 75 One-Pot Meals in Minutes

The New Soy Cookbook

Lorna Sass Short-Cut Vegetarian

Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure

Lorna Sass Complete Vegetarian Kitchen (formerly titled Recipes from an Ecological Kitchen)

Cooking Under Pressure

In Search of the Perfect Meal: A Collection of the Best Food Writings of Roy Andries de Groot (selected and edited)

Christmas Feasts from History

Dinner with Tom Jones

To the Queens Taste: Elizabethan Feasts and Recipes

To the Kings Taste: Richard IIs Book of Feasts and Recipes

Copyright 2009 by Lorna Sass
Photographs copyright 2009 by David Prince

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
www.clarksonpotter.com

Clarkson Potter is a trademark and Potter with colophon is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sass, Lorna J.
Whole grains for busy people / Lorna Sass. 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
1. Cookery (Cereals) 2. Grain. I. Title.
TX808.S273 2009
641.631dc22 2008016593

ISBN 978-0-307-40782-5
eBook ISBN: 978-0-7704-3536-3

v3.1

For Michael

The song is you

YOU HAVE PICKED UP THIS BOOK because you are a busy person who wants to incorporate more whole grains into your diet. No doubt youve heard about the health-promoting benefits of whole grains but may feel confused about selecting the best products in the supermarket. You may also be wondering how you will find the time to learn about cooking new foods when your schedule is already packed.

I wrote this book for youand for me, too.

Im also busy, and truth be told, Im an impatient cook. When I get hungry, watch out:

I want my dinner ready in a flash .

I want to eat tasty, healthy food .

I dont want to wash more than one pot after dinner .

So, for a follow-up to my award-winning Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way , I challenged myself to experiment exclusively with whole grains that cook in under 30 minutes. I also challenged myself to cook as many meals as possible in only one pot.

These challenges led me to try many of the new whole-grain products now in the marketplace, from brown rice pasta to quick-cooking barley. As you know, the choices can be dizzying, and it soon became my added mission to separate the whole wheat from the chaff.

Once I selected the best ingredients, I created dozens of main-dish soups, stews, salads, and skillet suppers that you can have on the table quicklymost in a half hour or less. And I couldnt resist whipping up some homemade mixes to have at the ready for easily creating whole-grain muffins, mini-loaves, scones, pie crusts, crumbles, and cookies.

The results of my experiments are the flavor-packed, kid-friendly recipes youll find in this volume. After trying them, I hope youll agree that introducing more whole grains into your diet is easy, tasty, and fun.

Happy cooking!

LORNA SASS

When the bran and germ are stripped away from a whole grain to produce white flour or white rice, 50 to 90 percent of the nutrients and phytochemicals are lost, depending upon the grain.

So why, you may wonder, did we start eating refined grains in the first place? The reason is simple: once the protective bran layer and the oil-rich germ are removed, grains and the flour ground from them remain shelf stable and last indefinitely. This stability is profitable for suppliers and grocers and convenient for us. Weve all gotten used to having white rice and refined pasta on our pantry shelves for years. They cook quickly and are pleasing to eat, so why bother making a change?

Because each part of the grain contributes different nutrients, scientists believe that eating all parts of the grain together is critical to disease prevention. Studies over the past decade have shown that people who consume at least three servings of whole grains per day reduce their risk of stroke, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancers related to the digestive system. Some studies have even concluded that whole grains are often a better source of disease-fighting phytochemicals and antioxidants than fruits and vegetables!

In addition to providing essential nutrients, disease-fighting antioxidants, and health-promoting fiber, whole grains are absorbed by our bodies more slowly than refined grains. Since slower absorption prevents spikes in sugar and insulin, eating three servings of whole grains daily can reduce the onset of diabetes and metabolic syndrome. (To stay abreast of current research on whole grains and health, visit www.wholegrainscouncil.org.)

Science and health aside, a fine reason to eat whole grains is that they taste so good! And now, with all of the quick-cooking grains and whole-grain products so readily available, its never been easier to eat delicious foods that also happen to be good for us.

What Is a Whole Grain?

Grains are edible members of the grass family of plants. Among the most common grains are wheat, barley, oats, corn (including popcorn!), rice, and rye .

Whole grains have three edible parts: the bran, the germ, and the endosperm. Each part of the grain contains essential nutrients and performs a vital function for the plant and for us when we eat it .

Take a kernel of wheat, for example. The bran is the hard, brownish layers of skin that protect the germ and endosperm from insects and disease. For us, the bran layers are a concentrated source of fiber, B vitamins, and trace minerals .

The tiny germ lies just below the bran at one end of the kernel. Although it accounts for only about 2 percent of the dry grains weight, it is the life source of the grain. For us, it provides vitamins B and E, essential fatty acids, trace minerals, phytochemicals, and unsaturated lipids .

The endosperm, or starchy center of the grain, supplies food to the growing seedling. Over 50 percent of the endosperm is starch and about 10 percent is plant protein. The endosperm contains relatively few vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals and hardly any fiber. To the plant and to us, it provides quick energy in the form of simple carbohydrates .

Whats Fiber and Why Does It Matter?

Fiber is the part of plant foods that the body cant digest. There are two types of fiber and each plays an important role. Soluble fiber dissolves in water and forms a gel that absorbs LDL (bad cholesterol) and eliminates it from the system, thereby promoting heart health. Insoluble fiber acts like a broom, sweeping out waste as it moves along, thereby improving digestion. Both forms of fiber create a sense of being fullan amazing phenomenon since fiber has no calories. Because eating whole grains results in this feeling of satiety, many people find it easier to lose weight when they add whole grains to their diets .