Bonnie Matthews - The Freekeh Cookbook: Healthy, Delicious, Easy-to-Prepare Meals with Americas Hottest Grain

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ISBN: 978-1-62873-616-8 e-ISBN: 978-1-62873-970-1 Printed in China In memory of my brother, Larry, my mom, and my dad and for my friend Ann Marieall of whom remind me to make time to share great food and conversation with the ones I love. Both are to be savored. Bonnie Contents introduction A home cooks take on whole-grain recipes Ive been asked many times how I found this whole grain with a funny name. The answer is that it sort of found meand just when I needed it most. Although my chance meeting with this ancient grain occurred as part of a whole-body transformation in my mid-forties, my history with food began much earlier. Growing up with a food culture I grew up in a Southern household where my father was a great home cook.

To this day, I still have no idea how he made such perfectly golden, crispy fried chicken. Food was a festive part of our household, especially around the holidays. My dad was a self-taught baker and made amazing cakes, cookies, and fudge. My father had a bit more patience than I, and I remember watching him so very meticulously create every single rose out of icing for my sisters wedding cake one summer. I, on the other hand, preferred simply to eat the cake, rather than make it! And thats where I got into trouble. Over the years, I continued to pack on the pounds as I navigated through my young adult life.

College pressures soon gave way to work deadlines as I put my fine arts degree to use at a design firm and, later, as a freelance illustrator. By the time I was 43 I weighed upward of 270 pounds. A feeling something had to change I was proud of the career I had built as a childrens book illustrator, but I began to realize I needed to move more and sit less if I was going to keep a heart attack at bay. My dad and my creative inspiration had suffered four heart attacks before he was 50 years old. As I began creeping closer to that age, my doctor told me I was on my way to having one as well if I didnt start eating better. It was then, around 2007, when I decided to break the family tradition; the Matthews Way had always just been to accept that we were all overweight.

But suddenly, for the first time in my life, I made a conscious decision to actually pay attention to what I was eating. There have been days when I would have traded anything to have my dad back in the kitchen, preparing a batch of his neighborhood-famous chocolate fudge, but there have been many other days of learning to feed my new lifestyle. How a food store helped me lose weight Just as my weight-loss journey was taking off, the economy was making its 2008 downturn, and childrens book illustration projects were hard to come by. Newly single with a mortgage to pay on my own, I took a part-time job as a food-demo cook at Trader Joes. It was this job that literally saved my life. Tucked in the back corner of that store, I worked to create recipes that showcased our products and taught customers how to do the same.

What I got in return was a new appreciation for creating delicious recipes in a healthier way than I had in the past. And thats where I first discovered freekeh! Any Trader Joes customer who knows me will tell you I fell in love with this new product. I loved that it had high fiber and high protein, two things I was paying attention to on labels as part of my new lifestyle. And no cholesterol. Bingo! It was such a no brainer; you can use it as a substitute for rice in recipes. Rice has less than a third of the protein and fibereven brown rice doesnt compare.

Fast-forward about two years, and lo and behold, I had burned off about 130 pounds through my newfound love for fitness and healthy cooking! I was literally melting away before my customers eyes. The whole store and community were losing weight, too! Everyone was inspired and eating healthier. It was awesome! They said, You should have your own cooking show. I ended up being featured on The Dr. Oz Show in 2010 and celebrated my weight loss story. As part of my segment, I shared some of my healthy recipes, and many included freekeh.

That is when the freekeh buzz started in the United States. Dr. Oz whispered in my ear and said, Get used to this, Bonnie, because you are going to be doing a lot more TV. Who knows? But he made me a Wellness Warrior blogger on their website, and my dream came true. I was able to inspire others and share my passion for healthy cooking and fitness with the nation. Sadly for viewers, however, prior to the show being aired, Trader Joes had discontinued freekeh due to poor sales.

No one knew what it was yetit was just a little too soon. But I was determined to figure out how to get it back on store shelves. I thought, if I can help people to not be afraid of unfamiliar, healthy food and still enjoy eating and still lose weight, that would be awesome. Through a lot of channels in the natural food world, I met Troy DeSmet, president of Natures Organic Grist. He, too, shared a passion for freekeh, and with hard work and determination, we formed Freekeh Foods. Through a lot of trial and error, we were able to produce freekeh organically in the United States in 2011 and hit store shelves in 2012.

About the book I have created this book of recipes to inspire folks and encourage them to cook freekeh, not just as a plain side dish, but as a marriage with vegetables and spices as one-pot meals like lemon dill chicken, or a great side dish like Mandarin freekeh salad. Because of my art background, I truly love color and texture and flavorfood is really like another art form that should be enjoyed and shared. I had decided when I was in the process of losing all that weight that I was not going to allow food to be an enemythat I wanted it to still be pleasurable and not drink my way to weight loss using shakes or pills. This book shows off some healthy ways to enjoy food that you can share with friends, divide up to take to work and save you time, and even help get your kids to eat whole grains in foods that they will have fun trying! I am not a trained chef, so I hope that these recipes are approachable for any level of cook. Many ingredients I share in the book can be found in most grocery stores or health food stores. I mention a lot of ingredients from Trader Joes since I know their products so well, but many of them can certainly be found in other places as well.