Grain Gain: Another pantry post this week

One of our local supermarkets has been reorganizing, and they put a bunch of odd (mostly organic and health-food) items on a clearance table. We picked up some fancy packages of tea, snacks, and rice, all for half price. 

This is organic arborio rice, which is lovely, but not something we use a lot. 

I was browsing online and found a recipe for "risotto mix in a jar" at Food.com. While not authentic or anything, it did sound like something we'd eat. I bought a package of sundried tomatoes to chop into it.

The only real problem was getting bouillon powder that didn't have MSG (that's an issue for us), but I did find some at Bulk Barn. Anyway, short version, I used up the whole bag of rice (I increased the seasonings to make it work). That filled six sandwich-sized Ziploc bags.

I cooked up one of the packages for dinner (along with fish sticks, corn on the cob, and leftover salad). It made a big bowlful: looks like we're having risotto leftovers tonight.

We also got two packages of "Ancient Field Blend," which we haven't tried yet. One of the suggested recipes for this blend of grains and sprouted lentils is veggie burgers, which you make by cooking up the grains and blending them with squash and a few other ingredients. (Helpful hint when you buy something unfamiliar: see if there's a website with directions or recipes.)

I do have a bag of frozen squash, but I have other plans for that (probably cooking it into puree and then making muffins). But that recipe made me think that this grain blend sounds like it's going to be pretty heavy-duty, maybe more than we typically want as just a carb side dish. And some of those grains might not be the taste-testing favourites around here, though they're undoubtedly nutritious; so disguising them a bit with seasonings would also be a good idea.

And what that made me think of was the Hillbilly Housewife's Taco-Style Lentils and Rice, which was first posted by Miss Maggie, the original HH. We used that recipe quite a bit over the years, such as when vegan relatives came for tortilla night. Anyway, I haven't tried using the ancient-grains blend yet instead of straight-up lentils and rice, but I'm planning on doing a test run soon. If we like it, I'll put some small bags of grain and seasonings together, like the risotto mix, and keep them in the pantry.

Another way to use up a protein-packed grain blend like that might be to cook it as Crockpot Cereal, something I learned from my friend the Deputy Headmistress, a.k.a. Wendi. Again, it's something I think you'd have to experiment with, perhaps adding some kind of sweetener, dried fruit (like cranberries), or other flavouring. I'm not sure how well wild rice would go over at breakfast, but maybe it would be delicious. A test run is probably a good idea.

A third way I think it would be good, especially in the fall, would be using some of the cooked mixture to stuff an acorn squash. (Not with taco seasoning, although that could work too--but maybe with onions and celery, as you would for wild-rice stuffing.)

Well, anyway, we haven't cracked open those packages yet, but I will do that soon and let you know how it goes.