cooking with wheat

Wheat grinders are really great for using wheat, but you can still use wheat if you don't have one. Recently I have been experimenting with cooking wheat and then using it in my recipes. Here's how to cook it (similar to boiling rice):

1. Measure some whole wheat kernels into a large pot (I usually do 1-2 cups). It helps if it has a transparent lid so you can see without lifting the lid.
   
2. Cover the wheat with water--I add about 4 cups of water for every cup of wheat.
3. At this point you can add spices if you want. I have added chicken bouillon (about 1/2 tsp. or one cube) and thought it was really good. Most of the time I just add 1 tsp. salt and spice it later depending on how I'm using it.
   
4. Bring it to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer it until the water is absorbed and the wheat is soft. You can add more water if it looks like you're going to run out of water before it's soft enough. The wheat kernels will burst a little. This takes quite a while (as in, a few hours).
   

I hear you can also cook wheat in your crockpot. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm sure it works. I would just put the wheat, water, and salt/spices in and cook it till it's done.

After the wheat is cooked, you can store it in your fridge in tupperware containers until you want to use it. Two cups of wheat yields a lot of cooked wheat.

Here are some ways I have used cooked wheat:

• I made meatloaf and added some wheat to the mixture before baking. It was great. RT liked it too.
• I spooned some into chicken soup in the last few minutes of cooking.
• I add milk, brown sugar, and maybe cinnamon, then microwave it for one minute, and eat it like that for breakfast or lunch (kind of like oatmeal). You could also add fruit to this, and I think that would be very good.
  
• I put it in the microwave for one minute (possibly with a little water), then eat it plain with a little more salt, or with spices (a sprinkle of onion powder is very good).

There are lots of other things you can add cooked wheat to, such as stir-fry, many different soups, breads and quick breads, and chili. The other day I even sampled something from Costco that had cooked wheat in it.

Cooked wheat does have kind of a different texture. I think it's a good idea to take it slowly so you can get used to it and learn to like it. Adding it to dishes like soup and stir fry helps because there are a lot of different colors and textures already in those, so you won't notice the wheat as much.

I love this idea because it's a way to get the nutrients of grains into your diet while still having a variety of foods, and it doesn't take a lot of work to toss a half cup of already-cooked wheat into something you're already making. Plus, wheat is very inexpensive. At the cannery, a 25 lb. bag of red wheat costs $6.35 and a 25 lb. bag of white wheat costs $5.80 (you can find LDS canneries, also known as home storage centers, here, and download the order form here). 25 lbs. of wheat can go pretty far, and for that same price you can only buy a few boxes of cereal (although coupons do help a lot for cereal).

If this sounds complicated, I dare you to try it anyway, and I think you will see that it's pretty easy. Try the crockpot method--that's pretty simple.

K's favorite things

Power cords, shoelaces, headphones . . . anything long and cord-like
Wet washcloths
Door stops
My hair
Fingers and toes (very nice sizes for sucking)
Keys
Paper
The sensation of his nails scraping skin
Anything he can chew or suck or lick

Adam and Eve

Last semester in my English class I read Paradise Lost and wrote a paper about it. If you haven't read it, it is an epic poem about the fall of Adam and Eve. I thought it was a very interesting work, but it was also extremely bothersome because of the truths that are missing or distorted. There has been a lot of damage done throughout the history of the earth because people didn't understand or know the whole story about Adam and Eve. A lot of people think that Adam and Eve's choice to eat the fruit was a sin and that if they hadn't done it then we all would be in the garden living care-free lives. Many people have interpreted the story to mean that women are sinful or less intelligent than men or an inferior sex, which has led to women being unappreciated or suppressed. They don't know or appreciate that the choice to eat the fruit was a wise one, that it was a necessary step in order to bring about God's great and marvelous work on the earth.

The bible dictionary says that "The aggregate of the scriptures certifies that his transgression in the garden of Eden, although designated as a 'fall,' was necessary to the advancement and spiritual progress of humanity on this earth, and Adam rightly should be honored, not denigrated," (Adam) and that "Latter-day revelation confirms the biblical account of Eve and gives us an awareness of her nobility." (Eve) I love that--Adam and Eve should be honored for the choice that they made. I think I've always had a sense that they were noble and great people, not wicked and disobedient. They made a choice that was necessary so that all of us would have an opportunity to continue our spiritual progress on this earth by obtaining physical bodies. After they had left the garden, Eve was happy because she realized, "Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient." (Moses 5:11) If they had remained in the garden and not partaken of the fruit, they would not have been able to have children and they wouldn't have been able to understand the gospel. Our spiritual progression would have been stopped, because there were things we could not learn or do unless we had the opportunity to have a body. 2 Nephi 2:25 confirms that the fall happened so that God's spirit children could come to this earth: "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy."

I am grateful for our wise and noble first parents and the great choice that they made, a choice that made it possible for me to continue in my spiritual journey towards eternal life. The choice they made was hard, because it meant that they would have to leave the garden to work hard, have children, suffer pains and trials, and ultimately face death. But they had faith and were loyal to Heavenly Father and committed to obeying His commandments, and because of that we can all receive eternal life, "the greatest of all the gifts of God." (D&C 14:7)

new breadmaker

Today I finally decided I was going to buy a bread machine. I've been making it by hand, but I don't have the time or motivation to make it as often as we need it, so we've been going without bread sometimes lately. I didn't want to pay $60-200 for one, and I had heard success stories of people getting them at thrift stores, so I went to the PTA thrift shop and bought one. It looks practically new, it has the manual, and . . . it was $10. We tried it out tonight, and, lo and behold, the result was bread. And it tasted good.




If you look closely at the lid, you can see where the bread started baking against the top of the machine. That's probably my only complaint, but with a little experimentation that can probably be fixed.

something I just figured out

One of things I would like to do better is to read the lessons for Sunday School and Relief Society. Our leaders anticipated that the Gospel Principles manuals might arrive late in our ward, so they sent us the link to read it online. As I was reading the first lesson online, I realized that it is so easy to read the additional scriptures because you just have to click on the link, and the scriptures come up in a new window, with the ones you are supposed to read highlighted in yellow. That means it's a lot faster and easier to do the reading because you don't have to flip through pages--very convenient when you're also holding a baby whose favorite things to grab are the things he shouldn't have. I think I will be much more inclined to read the lesson this way. I also found the Sunday School study guide online. I guess I always knew these things were on lds.org, but it never occurred to me to use them. I'm going to put the links to them on my blog's sidebar so I can get to them easily.

new beginnings

Today several people in our ward spoke about new beginnings as they bore their testimonies, and it made me think of something I learned when I was about ten years old. I thought I would share the story and what I learned.

It was the day of my sister's baptism, and we were having a celebration after returning home from the baptism. Everyone who had already been baptized wrote their congratulations and possibly some advice on cards, and she was reading them to us. On my card, I told her that she shouldn't wait too long to repent of her sins, like I did. I explained that I had waited too long to repent of some of my sins, and now I couldn't remember what the sins were anymore, so I couldn't repent of them. I had a very sad and hopeless feeling, looking at my sister, who was now clean and pure through her baptism, and believing (falsely) that I was doomed and could never be clean again like my sister. Looking back, I think that was one of the most horrible feelings I have ever felt--believing that there was no hope for me. I think everyone got a good chuckle out of my mistake, and then someone explained to me that I could still be forgiven for the sins that I had forgotten. After having this clarified, and also having a few other experiences and lessons, I received a confirmation that I really could receive forgiveness.

The next step was to actually repent. It took me a while to feel a desire to repent. I wanted to want to repent (make sense?), but at the same time I felt unwilling for some reason to make the changes in my life. Perhaps I sensed that if I repented I would gain a stronger testimony and therefore more would be expected and required of me, and I wasn't quite ready to make that commitment. I had to learn to be humble enough. But I remember when I finally gained the desire to repent. It was singing time in Primary, and we were singing I'm Trying to be Like Jesus. A powerful feeling entered my heart--it was so strong that tears filled my eyes and I was so happy that I could not longer sing. I felt great love from my Heavenly Father and had a strong desire to serve Him and obey His commandments. That was the one of the first experiences I ever had with repentance, and I don't think I had ever felt the Holy Ghost so strongly before.

Today as I was thinking back on that experience and listening to people talk about new beginnings for the new year, I felt grateful that the Atonement makes it possible for all of us to have a new beginning as long as we are willing to confess our sins, repent, and "sin no more," as Christ said to the woman who had been discovered committing adultery. Nobody is beyond the cleansing power of Christ's great sacrifice--because of Him, there is hope for all of us, and He did it because He loves us and wants all of us to receive eternal life.

"10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;
11 For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.
12 And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance.
13 And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!"
--Doctrine and Covenants 18:10-13

K's explorations

K can army crawl. He's still perfecting the art, but he can definitely go places. I thought I'd give a short documentary of one of his adventures.

It began on the floor by the kitchen. He rolled over and made his way towards the hallway and the pile of waiting laundry.

He then made a discovery:

After a while he moved on. Eventually he reached a crossroads and had to make a decision: Mom and Dad's bedroom, or the bathroom? Both sounded interesting, as well as off limits.


Pausing to take a rest:


Before he had made up his mind, he discovered another springy doorstop and had to stop to investigate.


And finally, he made his decision.

K eating

K is really enjoying his rice cereal. He has never made a face--he just begs for more, as fast as we can shovel it in. I guess he was ready. Feeding him is definitely near the top in my list of funnest things I have ever done.

Christmas

Here are some of the details of K's first Christmas:

K being happy and adorable in his Christmas sleepers (handed down from a cousin):


K opening his Christmas present: (This is a video--click here to see it if you get this by email)

A while later . . .


This is serious business.



Discovering the wonders of blocks. (Okay, so mostly he just likes to taste them right now.)


After a while, he had some breakfast.


And now, K will tell you all about his Christmas: (another video)

Merry Christmas, everyone!