Storing Grains

After the last post on grains, I received some great questions about how I store my grains and flours. Since I buy large amounts of wheat and a few other grains, there's no way that I would be able to refrigerate them. At least not without a walk in cooler. What I do is buy big Cambro buckets at the restaurant supply store (they're open to the public), which will usually hold 25 pounds. They are super handy, and the same buckets/storage containers that restaurants use. I started using them back when we opened our first bakery. They work really well, and are airtight with snug lids. They stack too! I also add a couple of bay leaves to each bucket, to keep bugs at bay.

Of course large glass jars are fantastic too. Depending on the size of the jar/crock, you can often fit a 5 pound bag of grains or flour in them. This is my fave for smaller amounts of grain and flour, and what I keep out on my counter. Large canning jars work well too (like the pic above).

I should add that I do refrigerate brown rice, because this does have the tendency to go rancid pretty quickly. But other than rice, the rest is stored safely in buckets. That reminds me, a cold garage this time of year is a great place to store your grains (which are sealed in buckets or jars, of course). Oh, and in the heat of the summer, I make sure to move the grains to a cool spot inside the house (pantry or closet), because the garage can become very hot that time of year.

Amazing Grains

I know that I've talked about it before, but I just have to share the love again. I am in complete and utter love with grinding my own flour. Not only is it economical and nutricious, but it's the freshest, best tasting flour I've ever used! I literally use all whole grain flours in my baking now, and the baked goods come out really light and delicious. The white wheat flour has a sweet and slightly nutty flavor.

One of my favorite flours to grind is white wheat pastry flour. It's truly unbelievable, and a flour that's not sold commercially. I start with soft white wheat berries (from Bob's Red Mill), which I buy in a 25 pound bag. Then about once a week, I grind the berries into a beautiful, silky white wheat pastry flour. I do the same with hard white wheat, which I grind into a really nice bread flour. It makes a fantastic whole grain sandwich loaf, which is my new, go-to bread of choice. Next up is home-ground spelt flour.

Of course there are many other flours that I grind regularly. Garbanzo beans, black beans, pinto beans, red lentils and yellow split peas all make great flours. With the bean flours, you can make instant refried beans and silky soups (including split pea). They're also great for thickening sauces, soups and gravies too. Oh and let's not forget rice. Rice flour makes a nice crisp coating for tofu, but it's also wonderful in gluten-free baking too.

The grain mill that I use for grinding flour is The Wonder Mill. It's easy to use, super easy to clean, can grind 100 pounds of grain in an hour and has a strong, powerful motor. I keep it in my cupboard and pull it out as needed. It's not heavy, so it only takes a couple of minutes to set out on my counter.

I can't help myself. I'm becoming a whole grain junkie!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Sorry for the little blogging holiday. It started with getting sick, but then after a series of snowstorms I just really enjoyed hanging out and playing with my family. It was fun not being able to drive, hunkering down in front of a fire, pulling out dusty board games and just really enjoying the relaxed pace.

You can rest assured though that I'm back. Fortunately during the snow storms I also had lots of quality time in the kitchen, which means fun new recipes coming up on Everyday Dish, not to mention a new addition to our site. I also spent some time working on upcoming magazine articles, and another top secret project (which I will spill the beans about soon). So, it seems that maybe I didn't relax quite as much as I thought I did. Funny how that happens.

Oh, and before I forget, there's a new recipe up on Everyday Dish for Rustic White Beans. It's one of my favorite recipes, and a deliciously healthy start to the new year. Try it, and let me know what you think. Don't worry if you don't have a pressure cooker, you can cook the beans in a pot on the stove, it will just take a bit longer to cook.

I hope everyone had an awesome holiday season!

Happy cooking!

Go Dairy Free

If you haven't yet heard about this book, you've got to check it out. I was blown away with all of the fantastic information, recipes and resources that are listed between it's covers. The author is Alisa Fleming (from godairyfree.org), and she has definitely succeeded at publishing an amazing compilation of great recipes, from homemade non-dairy cheeses and milks to breakfasts, brunch, smoothies, drinks, dips, puddings, soups, side dishes, salads, sauces, breads and decadent desserts. I think all of the 225 recipes are vegan, with the exception of two (which give vegan substitutions).

In addition to all of the recipes (many contributed by vegan cookbook authors and bloggers such as Bryanna Clark Grogan, Hannah Kaminsky, The Urban Housewife, myself and many others), Alisa also shares detailed information on grocery shopping, calcium-rich foods, health, everyday living (from skincare to supplements) and allergy and vegan-friendly resources.

So if you're looking for a great book to give for the holidays, look no further. You can check it out on Amazon here.

A Fun Homemade Gift

I have always loved making homemade gifts, whether it be bottles of hot chili oil or biscotti or truffles. So I am always on the lookout for fun gift ideas, especially when they can be made out of ingredients from my pantry. Well, I've got a great new one for you. We had a special guest come and film a couple of segments for Everyday Dish. Janice Cox has written some fantastic books on homemade beauty treatments. Although her recipes aren't all plant-based, loads of them are such as her fizzy homemade bath bombs. You've got to give these babies a try! The fun part is that you can customize the scents, colors and shapes to suit your tastes (or those that will be receiving your handmade wares). Janice even said that her daughter shapes them into cupcakes, which you can garnish with sparkly sugar. The possibilities are endless! You can check out the video and recipe here.

(Brian's Puerto Rican Soup with annato oil drizzle)

We also have a new segment up for a Puerto Rican Soup by chef Brian Igarta. It's really good, and just the perfect thing to warm our cold bones this time of year. Oh, and that reminds me, check out this pic of my dog Bruno in the snow yesterday. It looks like this might be a cold winter, so hot fizzy baths and warm soups are just the thing to turn to.

This was Bruno waiting at our back door to be let in. He absolutely loves the snow!

Some Fun News

First up, I have an article in the December issue of Cooking Light Magazine. The piece is on cooking with mulling spices, as well as making your own spice blend. I actually wrote the article a few years ago (about 4, to be exact), so I was surprised to see it as I was flipping through the magazine last week. I glanced at the recipes and thought "boy, those look familiar". Well, no wonder! The recipes are all vegan, with the exception of the rice pudding, where soy or almond milk could easily be substituted.

For the really exciting news, check out the January issue of Vegetarian Times magazine. They included Everyday Dish as one of their Veg 25, hot list of fresh voices, ingenious products and handy resources that make vegetarian life more fulfilling every day. Yay! We're really excited to be included in VT list.

A Big Tall Glass

Homemade soymilk. Oh yeah. I'm pretty excited to be making soymilk at home that's malty and delicious. Although I've always loved the idea of making it fresh at home and eliminating all that extra packaging waste (not to mention saving money), the flavor still eluded me. That is until I came up with this latest and greatest version. It's great for drinking or dunking or baking. It's just plain good stuff.

The recipe and video are up on Everyday Dish. I developed the recipe for my new filterless Soyquick machine, which I absolutely love. You can use a higher ratio of soybeans in it, which makes a creamier and richer soymilk. If you don't have a soymilk machine, you might want to add this one to your holiday list. It's awesome and makes fresh soymilk for pennies.

I plan to get working on tofu next. Oh, how I love fresh silky tofu!

I hope all of the Americans had an awesome Thanksgiving!

Julie