March 16, 2020

The Perfect Hot Cereal

As a young boy we lived on hot cereals. Pretty much cracked wheat or germaide is unheard of in todays cold cereal kingdom, but when I was a boy cracked cereal was a staple. The funny part is that now it is easier then ever to have any grain cracked and eaten for breakfast. I grew up in a small community where you went to the mill to buy the cracked grain or the local stores carried cracked wheat from the mill. It’s pretty hard to find now days. With the gluten thing it is even harder to find cracked grains that one can actually eat.

With todays high speed blenders and mixer’s that have grain attachments or even hand mills, cracked grains for breakfast are so easy. Add an electric instant pot or pressure cooker to the mix and there really is no excuse not to eat hot cereals often. It only takes moments to grind the grains and they cook even faster.

Grains are packed with nutrition and fiber leaving you not craving something soon after you eat. They fill you up and guess what, grains are an absolutely a more economic way to live. Price per serving they blow the competetion out of the water for price and nutrition.

My favorite attachment is the grain mill for my Wondermix. It is amazing. I can crack any grain at anytime in any amount I want. So for me it is as easy as placing the attachment on my mixer and cracking what ever grain I need or feel like for breakast. I crack up a few pounds and use it often until I need more.

I also love the Wondermill Jr. It is amazing when it comes to cracking grains and actually grinding flour. Everyone should own of these mills. I do love electric, but we never know when we will need a hand mill. I use this meal even with electric. It is easy and does an amazing job, not only on grains, but nuts, and even coffee if you are a coffee drinker.

My blender will crack, but with all blenders it is often uneven, from flour to large piece, so I prefer to use my grain attachment or hand mill.

One of the reasons cracked grains fell out of fashion was the time it took to cook them. Let’s face the facts, we want things right now and really don’t want to wait. If a cracked cereal takes to long to cook we are going to go to the quick option. Speed and time makes most of our choices.

That is what I love about combining my grain mill with my instant pot pressure cooker. I can crack the grains and literally have them cooked in just a few minutes. From wheat to barley and almost every grain out there I have enjoyed hot cracked cereal for breakfast.

I love combining my grains for breakfast cereals. My personal favorite is cracked Kamut. I will add brown rice, oat groats, Einkorn, spelt, and even unpopped popped corn to my blend. I love every blend I have tried. I will add amaranth and quinoa to my blends often also to add more nutrition. They all work well, just try what you have on hand and enjoy.

The real secret for cooking grains is to use your instant pot or pressure cooker. An easy way to do it is to start it before you go to bed and you wake up to hot cereal ready to eat. I normaly cook mine 4 minutes on high pressure and I use a three parts water to one part grain, adjust to your liking. I add a dash of salt and virgin coconut oil to the pot and I have a wonderful whole grain breakfast. Topped with agave, honey, brown sugar, or maple syrup and my choice of milk. This is a breakfast that satifies so many areas of my life.

If there is left over, there are a couple of options. It does make a great meat extender for later in the day. The leftover cereal also is great added to breads, muffins, and rolls. So don’t throw it away. Just place it in the refrigerator and use it later in something else. You will be adding fiber and minerals to other foods increasing your families nutrition.

Just one more thought. Don’t be afraid of being creative. Nothing wrong with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on a bowl of hot cereal.