Urban Survival Secrets

Getting Whole Wheat into your Diet

Looking for a way to make your Urban Survival experience better?  How about playing with your food?  This week – whole wheat.  Easy on the wallet and easy to cook with.  If you are allergic to wheat, do not bother reading this article – but send a link to your friends. 

Whole wheat is abundant and inexpensive.  I recently saw a bucket of whole wheat for about $0.45/lb being sold at Costco.  If you buy it on the spot market (thousands of bushels) you will pay about $0.10 pound plus shipping – just hope you have a grain silo!

Our society in general eats way too much processed foods.  White flour, refined sugar, corn syrup – yuk!  My wife and I were talking about our diets as kids.  she and her family ate alot of refined foods and did OK as the kids were outside all of the time. Fat kids in the 70s – ha!  Where as I was eating a pretty good imitation of the Mediterranean diet due to Dads hypertension and living the California lifestyle.  What has happened was the intro of computer games with processed foods and childhood obesity has exploded.  Want further evidence?  Go to any Indian Reservation (I live be several).  Diabetes is skyrocketing and obesity is prevalent.  Why – white flour, sugar and corn syrup in their diets, along with decreasing exercise!

While you ponder that, lets discuss adding whole wheat (a whole grain) to your diet.

Whole wheat (Try Spelt if you have a wheat allergy, but check with your doctor first) is a grain with the bran left on.  Remove the bran and you get just the germ which makes white flour.

Starting to eat whole wheat can cause your body to be gassy – you need to slowly introduce by increasing the whole wheat in small quantities.

Start with mixing a whole wheat flour with white flour at 1/3 to 2/3 whole wheat to white.

When I do pizza crust, I do a 50:50 blend to lighten up the crust!  I do this also because whole wheat is heavier than white.

When moving over to whole wheat, remember, that since it is heavier, you need to add extra leavening (what make the stuff rise)  With yeast, you will need to give an additional 30 minutes of rise time (do not forget to add a little sugar to boost the efficiency of the yeast – 1 teaspoon should do).  For recipes with baking powder, add one teaspoon additional BP for every 3 cups whole wheat flour.  If you are using baking soda, no adjustments are needed (but I still use a pinch extra!)  For baked goods using eggs, separate the eggs, beat the whites until stiff peaks form and gently fold in.  If this baked goodie is still to heavy/dense, add an additional egg white!

You can also take whole wheat grain (not the flour) and cook it on a stove.  Mix at the ratio of 1 cup wheat to 3 cups of flour.  Bring water to a boil, add the wheat, lower to a simmer.  Cook for 1 hour.  You can eat it like oatmeal.

Another good use is as a hamburger extender.  We used to sneak it into the kids hamburgers when they were being picky eaters.  Smash it up and add to your hamburger.  Works great in spaghetti sauce, sloppy goes, in lasagna and other casseroles and in burger patties!

Take time and play with your recipes.  whole grains can help with your overall health and lighten the burden on your bank account..

Until next time, I bid you Peace!