Life Long Learners Sample Whole Grains

The participants in the life long learning class at West Virginia University know how to cook, yet love to sample new things. On this Whole Grains Sampling Day, we sampled grains A-W with the purpose of finding a new grain to enjoy.

As the instructor for this class, I was one who learned many things about grains-where they're grown, where to find them and what to do with them.  On day trips, I stopped at bulk food, gourmet food and farmers markets in hopes of finding another grain.  Recipe sources were endless-on packages, in the current magazines and on the internet.  Seems what's old-as in ancient grains-have become new again.

In the classroom, we previewed whole grains A-W. with a PowerPoint of meals I made at home.  Samples of most of the grains were passed , displaying the grain in it's dry state.  For 6 of the featured grains- I gave everyone a recipe and enough of the dry grain to prepare a recipe at home.  

  

At break. a whole grain soup, flatbread cracker and dessert were set up in a buffet in the office for participants to try.  For the Butternut Squash, Millet and Teff Soup, I used the recipe on the Whole Grains Council website, Curried Sweet Potato and Millet Soup, and substituted local Butternut Squash for the sweet potatoes.  The recipe for the Double Chocolate Cupcakes was inspired by Forks Over Knives, for which I added a touch of ground black beans to the whole grains in the dry mix.  I love the date, fig and cocoa icing in this recipe.

I'm fairly certain the enthusiastic "students" will not have to wait until next year to sample a whole grain!