I got a new cook book from the library the other day - Renee Elliot's 'Me, You and the Kids too'. I had seen a couple of recipes from it in a free health magazine I picked up at our local health food store and thought it looked pretty good. (If the recipes are successful I'll definitely be buying it as it will be a great help when we have another baby).The only problem I've found straight away is that some of the ingredients necessary for the recipes can only be found in specialist stores and are therefore pricey. Renee Elliot is an advocate for organic whole foods, which is great, but not exactly affordable for everyone.
However, I would love to start adding some of her suggestions to our diet (though I'll have to be sneaky or Mike will refuse to eat them - he's 25 and I have yet to cure him of his fussy eating!), and I'll have to be careful that it doesn't take us over budget.
So, first thing I did was check out her list of 'wonderfoods'. Most of them are already staple parts of our diet - apples, avocados, broccoli, garlic, nuts, oils, sardines, seeds, yoghurt. Others I had seen in the health food store but wasn't sure how to use them and some I didn't have a clue what they were - amaranth, kefir, kuzu, miso. I may eventually get around to finding them, but it really isn't high on my list of priorities, and I have a feeling they're going to be too expensive anyway.
I decided I'd nip to the health food store and grab a couple of the ones I'd seen - buckwheat (for anyone who is on a gluten-free diet, the name is misleading and it is actually related to rhubarb) and quinoa to begin with because she says that they contain magnesium, which should be great for my migraines, and I shouldn't have too much difficulty using them. 500g of each cost me just over £2 for the buckwheat and £3 for the quinoa (I used 'Tree of Life Organic' for both), so it was more than I would generally pay for porridge oats or rice, but I shouldn't need to use as much of them.
I haven't used the quinoa yet (I'm probably going to put Renee Elliot's 'Quinoa-Stuffed Tomatoes' on our menu board for next week as a way to introduce it to Mike), but the buckwheat was a definite success for me and Nathan.
BUCKWHEAT PORRIDGE
I soaked 60g of buckwheat at room temperature overnight in 1tbsp of natural yoghurt and 310ml of warm water*, as suggested in 'Me, You and the Kids too' (this ensures that you get the best of their nutrition). I also got out a handful of frozen blueberries to defrost to go with it in the morning.
*I think next time I will use at least part milk, as I prefer a creamier taste to my porridge.
The next morning I put the buckwheat and liquid in a saucepan and brought it the boil before simmering for 25 minutes. This gave a texture similar to rice pudding. I also put a chopped apple in another pan with a little water and stewed it for a while before mixing in the blueberries and a small pinch of ground cinnamon.
As the buckwheat wasn't as creamy as we like, and also to make the meal more economical, I then made up a small amount of Ready Oats (Asda's own brand) with milk, in the microwave. I then mixed half of the buckwheat porridge into this (I put the rest in the fridge to do the same the next day) and mixed in the fruit.
Delicious and extremely good for you, and I wasn't hungry until gone 11 o'clock, which is amazing for me!
Sheena x
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