Archive for January, 2012

So. My family is sick. All of us.
The aliments range from a mild cough, to a sore throat, to croup and other more flu-like nastiness. Thankfully, I am on the luckier end of things with just the sore throat. Its no fun, as I’m sure many of you know, from experience no doubt. Despite the wide range of illness around here one thing we all have in common is a lack of desire to eat. Yep, you heard me… no one wants to eat. At least no one wants to eat normal everyday foods. My attempt at meal planning as gone straight out the window this week.

So this morning. Breakfast.

We had exhausted our supply of smoothie ingredients, and probably had one too many of those anyway. We’d done the pancakes & oatmeal. What was really sounding good was some nice warm Cream of Wheat® – notice that little registered trademark sign – what we really wanted was Cream of Wheat® – That highly-overpriced box of goodness that sits on the top shelf in the cereal isle. We didn’t have any. Frankly, its not something that we really stock on a regular basis. Maybe because its SO.DANG.EXPENSIVE. Its good though. And when you are sick and something actually sounds good it really is somewhat of a miracle. The problem… We are sick. Its been raining. And freezing. The lovely dirt road that leads to our house is covered in a solid sheet of ice. No one really felt like going to the store… especially given the weather and current driving conditions. We considered the 10 min. drive to the local market for some “real” Cream of Wheat® – but I figured that there had to be some knockoff recipe of sorts on the web somewhere. So, my dear friend Google and I spent a little bit of time together this morning.

There were a few different ideas out there. And a few different variations to the those ideas from reader comments.
Seriously, what did people ever do without the web?

So, I found one that sounded reasonable, and did my own tweaking based on various comments and suggestions I found.

And the result.

Well, I’ll be the first to admit that this recipe doesn’t taste exactly like the official real deal Cream of Wheat® that you find at the grocery store.

BUT, the good news is that its better!!! And significantly less expensive! Sweet!!!
Take that you silly little “®” – we don’t need you anymore!

Seriously, 2 bites in and Dave was saying – “This is better than the real stuff!”
SCHWEEEET!!! Coming from him that is big news.

So, back to the recipe.

The first thing… sort of a disclaimer, really.
YOU HAVE TO HAVE A FOOD MILL/WHEAT GRINDER (or access to one)
(I have this one, if you are looking to get one. I highly recommend it… very much worth the investment, in my opinion.)

The Wheat used in this recipe needs to be Hard Red Wheat. Ground on the coarsest setting.

Also, one difference that you’ll find with my recipe vs. others you may google for is that I wanted to basically create my own “mix” – you know “the just add water” variety – so we could make this again quickly and easily in the future.
I think that the result was fantastic!!!!

Cream of Wheat (without the ®)

The Mixture:
4 cups (coarsely ground) wheat
1 c. white sugar
1 c.  powdered milk

Whisk together and store in an airtight container

Preparation:
– 4 c. Water
– 1/4 tsp. Salt
– 1 1/2 Tbsp. Butter or Margarine
– 1 1/2 c. Creamy Wheat mixture (above)

Heat water, salt, and butter in a saucepan until just boiling.
Slowly stir in Creamy Wheat mixture, whisking continuously.
Continue stirring continuously (to avoid lumping) until the cereal has thickened (5 min or so).
Remove from heat.

Serve warn with milk. Sprinkle with sugar if desired.

Note: The official Cream of Wheat® preparation instructions call for 1/3c. cereal to 2/3c. water. The ratios in my recipe is slightly different. If you prefer a thicker cereal use 2c. mixture instead of the 1 1/2c. called for in the recipe.

So. There you go.
Creamy, wheat-y cereal that tastes BETTER, costs LESS, and it pretty certainly BETTER FOR YOU that its store-bought counterpart. I will probably never buy the box from the top shelf with that cute little “®” ever again.

I hope you make it and LOVE it! I know it hit the spot for this little family!

P.S. I didn’t. But you could easily use margarine powder in the mix in lieu of butter or margarine during preparation and have yourself a true FOOD STORAGE recipe here!

P.S.S. During my morning date with Google, I stumbled upon a number of recipes for cookies or muffins, etc., that call for Cream of Wheat® as an ingredient. Perhaps I will try some of those in the coming days!

This recipe comes from my childhood. Growing up my mom called them “blueberry biscuits” – but they seem a more like English Scones to me. . . thus the change in the name. They are pretty easy to make and super yummy. A word of advice – be sure to use FROZEN berries, not fresh. The fresh berries will lead to a sticky stained mess while cutting the dough.

Baked Blueberry Scones

2 C. sifted flour
1/2 C. sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/3 c. shortening
2 tsp zested orange peel
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 C. buttermilk
1/2 C. frozen blueberries

Topping:
3 Tbsp butter, melted
3 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
dash of nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
1. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt
2. Cut in shortening until coarse
3. Add orange peel and mix lightly
4. Combine egg & vanilla with buttermilk, and add to flour mixture
5. Stir enough to blend
6. Add frozen blueberries and stir gently
7. Transfer dough to a floured surface and fold 5 or 6 times.
8. Pat dough to 1/2″ thickness
9. Cut out biscuits with a floured 2″ biscuit cutter
10. Bake on a greased cookie sheet for 15 minutes.

Topping:
1. Combine all topping ingredients
2. Spoon over biscuits while they are still warm (not hot)
3. (OPTIONAL) add a second coating of the topping when the biscuits are almost cool.

YIELD: 1 dozen