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  • From: Robert Waldrop <rmwj@soonernet.com>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] [bettertimes] Even more fun with whole wheats
  • Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2004 13:14:15 -0500

Robert Waldrop <rmwj@soonernet.com>

from Robert Waldrop

Well, I have this nice library of sustainable living books, and I thought, "I
bet there's a recipe for making your own cold cereals."

Sure enough, one of the books on my shelf is "Feed a Family of Four for as
low as $10 per week and Enjoy a Nibble of Independence," by Marlynn Phipps,
Jan Woolley, Venecia Phipps, Jenny Phipps. They apparently also have a
larger book, "A Bite of Independence" from which this book is drawn.

It is dated 1991, so presumably inflation would increase the low budget
grocery bill a bit.

The food budget is based on extensive use of wheat, and of course making
everything from basic ingredients, and by "everything", the authors mean
"everything". Including cold cereals, tofu, soy milk, and various kinds of
"fake" meats made using wheat gluten.

Reading the book yesterday (it's short but packed with info, well worth the
purchase price if you can find it used, try www.bookfinder.com or
www.booksearch.com , it's also available from the famous Walton Feed of Idaho
at http://waltonfeed.com/feed4.html , you can find a LOT of other EXCELLENT
sustainable living information resources at that website, including quite a
bit of free online content besides of course their catalog pages) reminded me
of my good friend Kaylin Robinson of Herriman, Utah, from whom I learned many
sustainable living techniques (she alas was killed in a house fire four years
ago). Kaylin was a vegetarian, and could make a chicken fried steak "without
the beefsteak" that was very close to the real thing, using "gluten meat"
made from flour. (She also taught me how to dumpster dive, but that's
another story for another day.)

The book has great advice for convenience and labor-saving techniques for
cooking from basic ingredients. It has a description of how to make 21 meals
in 2-1/2 hours work! The meals are lasagna, spaghetti with wheat meat
meatballs, chili mac, enchilada dinner (including making tortillas), hominy
casserole, two cheese pizzas, turkey and dressing, chicken strips, chicken
chunk casserole, chicken salad, shrimp dinner, salisbury steak, waffle mix,
tofu crepes mix, tofu for 2 "extended eggs" breakfasts, homemade cereal for 3
breakfasts, 3 loaves of whole grain bread!!!!!!!! The structure of the work
is described based on a demonstration conducted by the author's 16 year old
daughter. I may transcribe that section too. The authors I think are
Mormons, which usually means family/trans generational/institutional
information on the practical implementation of what we today call frugal or
simple or sustainable living. (I lived in Utah 1975-1993.) The Mormons have
done better than most in maintaining institutional, family, and cultural
tradition of this kind of prudent living (other than perhaps folks like the
Amish, Hutterites, and Mennonites, Bruderof of course).

And it has a section on the old fashioned way of making hominy (and thus
hominy grits) using builders lime, and also for making soy grits and soy
flour from whole soy beans. I wonder if any of our producers are raising soy
beans. I know one of our members makes her own tofu and soy milk, we should
add that to list the classes we need to schedule.

Anyway, back to "more fun with whole wheats", here are a couple of recipes
for cold cereal from this book. If anybody tries these, please report back
to the group. The recipes use whole wheat flour, which of course can be
bought through the co-op, some of them also ask for oat flour which they
suggest you get by simply grinding rolled oats.

WHOLE WHEAT FLAKES

2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brown sugar

Mix ingredients with a spoon until the consistency of thin paint. Pour onto
a greased baking sheet. Tip the sheet to cover the surface with a film,
pouring the excess back into the bowl. Bake at 350 degrees about 15 minutes
until crisp and golden. Pull off sheet and let cool before breaking into
flakes. If desired, add bits of dried fruit and store in an air tight jar.

OAT FLAKES
2 cups oat flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1-1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup soy flour

Follow the procedure for wheat flakes, but due to the ifne texture of the oat
flour, you may have to adjut the amount of water. An almost syrup-like
consistency is desired. Pour thinly on the sheet, for it too thick, it
becomes leathery instead of crisp. For variety add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon to
the batter.

GREAT NUTTIES (hmmm, sounds like Grape Nuts to me)
3 cups sifted whole wheat flour
1/2 cup barley flour (run pearled or whole barley through the mill on fine
grind)
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk soured with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or vinegar

Mix dry ingredients together. Stir in the milk until well blended. Spread
dough 1/4 inch thick on a greased cookie sheet. Bake 15 minutes at 375
degrees. Let cool, then run through the meat grinder or food chopper.
Return to the oven to complete drying, stirring to ensure it doesn't burn.
It needs to just toast lightly. Let cool thoroughly, then store in an air
tight jar.

There are also recipes for MERRIOS (like Cherrios) and Bran Flakes, but I
will wait to send those until I transcribe the directions for doing gluten
meats, as both require "byproducts" from the gluten making process such as
wheat starch and bran water. RMW

www.oklahomafood.org/bobsblog/





  • [Livingontheland] [bettertimes] Even more fun with whole wheats, Robert Waldrop, 07/13/2004

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