Posted by kathryn in Grains

Melbourne is having its first ever gluten-free and wheat-free food show – what a great idea! It’s a public Food Expo showcasing only gluten free foods with about 100 exhibitors. Melbourne Exhibition Centre 9.00-5.00pm Saturday 12th August. For more details go to the website: www.coeliac.com.au .

Read more 26 July, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Blogging and Grains

And if you do have a problem with gluten, have a look at one of my favourite blogs: Gluten-Free Girl . Shauna’s blog is one of the most beautifully written that I’ve come across. She’s based in the States, so some of the brands aren’t available here, but her blog is packed full of thoughts, recipes and information about living, cooking and eating gluten free. There are also links to a whole lot of other gluten-free sites and resources.

Read more 26 July, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Vegetables, Recipes, Grains, Dinners and Spring

As I’ve said before I love a one-pot meal. To be able to make a healthy, quick meal and only dirty one saucepan, is a good thing. Which makes risotto a good option – everything goes in together, to make a beautiful rich and creamy textured meal. However, for me, most risotto recipes just don’t include enough vegies. One way round this is to serve it with a salad, but sometimes I just want one bowl of steaming risotto goodness. …

Read more 29 September, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Legumes, Recipes, Grains, Dinners and Vegan

I’ve been cooking a lot with split peas over the last two weeks. While I favour split mung beans when making dal, Richard always uses split yellow peas. Some time ago he went through a dal-making craze and and we ended up with a cupboard full of the little critters. Trouble is, I’m not a huge fan, so two large jars of yellow split peas have been stuck at the back of the cupboard for quite some time now. I …

Read more 02 November, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Grains

I’ve just found out from a gluten-intolerant friend, that the first gluten-free beer is now available in Australia.  It’s called O’Brien’s and is brewed by a gentleman called John O’Brien, who was himself diagnosed with coeliac’s in 1998. They make four varieties – lager, brown ale, pale ale and a light.  While O’Brien’s is not yet widely available, in Sydney can be found at: * Blacktown Cellarbrations – 9621 2849 * Midway Cellars (Denistone East) – 9888 1354 * Duke …

Read more 10 November, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Grains

In August, the Coeliac Society are presenting a Gluten Free Expo: bq. The Gluten Free Expo is the only Sydney event presented by The Coeliac Society and is the only Sydney event that showcases exclusively gluten free products. You can be assured of a completely gluten free environment! . . . Come and sample the latest gluten free foods. All manner of gluten free products will be available for you to purchase. Dates: Friday 17th&Saturday 18th August 2007 Location: Sydney …

Read more 01 May, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Grains

Gluten-free Girl has a post about why going gluten free is not the end of the world. Look at all the beautiful food photos she’s included in her post – they’re all gluten free dishes. Shauna also points to two online quizzes, to check if you might be coeliacs.  Filling out an online quiz won’t give you a definitive diagnosis, but it can give you an idea of whether gluten is a problem or note. The quizes are: the National …

Read more 24 May, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Grains

Last question for this week: bq. I’ve just been told to eat a gluten-free diet, but what actually is gluten? I had assumed it just meant I needed to avoid wheat, but now I’ve been told there are a whole lot of other grains I also have to steer clear of – why is this? Gluten is a protein – well technically it’s a mixture of proteins. The gluten in wheat is made up of gliadin and glutenin. It’s found …

Read more 26 July, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Grains

This weekend there’s a gluten free expo in Sydney. Organised by the Coeliac Society of NSW, it’s one of the only Sydney events that’s completely gluten free. You’ll be able to both taste and buy gluten free foods, find out where to shop and get lots of information about excluding gluten from your diet. * Dates: 17 & 18 August 2007 * Venue: Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park * Show hours: Friday 17 August 4pm-8pm and Saturday 18 August 9am-5pm …

Read more 14 August, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Grains

While it’s becoming a lot easier to eat gluten-free foods and supermarkets stock an ever widening range, it’s certainly not cheaper. In this article from the Sydney Morning Herald, one gastroenterologist estimates it costs $1,000 more per year to eat exclusively gluten-free. It’s interesting to note that gluten-free foods are subsidised in Italy, Finland, England and New Zealand.

Read more 01 September, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Grains

Next in Q & A Thursday, Ann has asked for some guidelines on how to cook with non-wheat flours: bq. I was wondering about substitution of alternative flours – wholemeal spelt, white spelt, amaranth, barley etc – in recipes calling for wholemeal or white flour. Are there any general rules? And are some grains or combinations better substitutes than others for wheat flour? There are more and more people out there avoiding wheat, and fortunately there are now a …

Read more 04 October, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast, Ethics & Sustainablity, Grains and Vegan

• Gluten-free cooking: I was asked a couple of weeks ago about guidelines for cooking without wheat flour. At the time I posted some links and then this week I saw Gluten-Free girl has written a guide to using gluten free flours. * Ethical eating can be a minefield. Full of complex decisions about the value of food miles vs local eating vs fair trade vs organic. It’s hard to shop ethically and still stay within a budget. This week …

Read more 02 November, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Vegetables, Recipes, Grains and Dinners

Since cooking with wattleseeds for the Spice is Right food blogging event and then finding lots of other ways to use them, I’ve been thinking more about Australian native spices. While I regularly cook foods from around the world, I’ve never used these home-grown flavours and spices before. I’m comfortable cooking Indian, Italian, Greek, South American, North African and yet I don’t know where to start with foods that have been grown and eaten in Australia for thousands of …

Read more 12 September, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Vegetables, Recipes, Grains, Dinners, Spring and Dairy

I love cooking. Spending some time concentrated on beautiful ingredients and making a meal that both tastes good and is also healthy, is how I unwind. However, like most people, during the week I don’t want to faff around too much. If I can make something in 30 minutes and more importantly make minimal mess, then I’m happy. The ultimate mid-week meal for me, is one that contains all my food groups, including plenty of veg and most importantly, can …

Read more 26 September, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Nutrition and Grains

And while we’re on the subject of the glycemic index, the latest newsletter from the GI group at Sydney Uni contains some practical tips on lowering the GI and GL of your overall diet. Regardless of whether you’re concerned about the GI or not, they’re still a really good set guidelines. Including: bq. Pile half your dinner plate high with green or salad vegetables. Aim to eat at least five serves of vegetables (this doesn’t include starchy the ones like …

Read more 06 November, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Vegetables, Recipes, Grains and Dinners

This post is part of the Spice is Right, this month hosted by Habeas Brulee and it’s all about mixing up spices from one region, with recipes from another. My recipe is a chermoula risotto, which seems like a bizarre combination, but works very well. Chermoula is a Moroccan spice mix, made up of cumin and paprika, along with garlic, lemon juice and fresh coriander. I’ve been thinking about making something with chermoula for a while. Then my "organic …

Read more 15 November, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Vegetables, Recipes, Grains, Dinners and Winter

We had risotto for dinner last night – this beautiful pumpkin and cinnamon risotto. I started with a recipe from Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers River Cafe Cook Book Green * and made a couple of tweaks. I’ve been quite intrigued by this recipe for a while and after my recent experiment with chermoula risotto, I decided to give it a go. The combination of cinnamon, chilli and oregano gives the risotto a beautiful, rich flavour. It’s not super-hot, with …

Read more 28 November, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Vegetables, Legumes, Recipes, Grains and Dinners

Onions are one of the staples of our diet – well they’re certainly one of the staples of mine. We always have garlic and onion in the house and I would say about 80% of the things I cook, are started by sauteeing together these two ingredients. Their rich intensity adds so much flavour to even the simplest of dishes. Onions are also extremely good for you. They contain the flavonoid quercetin , which has antiinflammatory action. It inhibits …

Read more 29 November, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Grains

As I mentioned in the last post, different rices have different GI values: * Basmati rice = 58 * Brown rice = 60 * Arborio rice = 69 * Sunbrown Quick rice = 80 * Calrose = 83 * Glutinous rice = 98 * Jasmine = 109 In terms of comparison, a low GI value is below 55. A medium GI is 56 – 69, while a high GI food is anything over 70.

Read more 07 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Grains

The rice we eat is actually the seed of the rice plant. The outer husk of the seed is first removed by milling and this product is brown rice. If this process is continued, the germ and bran of the rice are also removed, giving white rice. During the milling process there is considerable nutrient loss. Brown rice, therefore is higher in fibre, B vitamins, potassium and magnesium than all types of white rice. While it’s not as low as …

Read more 07 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Nutrition and Grains

A decision was made last week by the Food Regulation Ministerial Council, that wheat flour used in bread-making would be fortified with folic acid. Until now, the fortification of foods with folic acid has been voluntary, here in Australia. Manufacturers have been able to choose to put folic acid in their foods and then include a health claim on the packaging. Over the next two years however, a mandatory code is being phased in. This will require all wheat …

Read more 26 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Nutrition and Grains

As I posted yesterday, folate is a vitamin we all need. Our bodies use it in DNA replication, for catalysing cell growth and repair, as well as in making red blood cells. It’s found in a number of different foods. Women are advised to take folate supplements in pregnancy, to prevent neural tube defects (NTDs). These are a group of birth defects which include spina bifida and anencephaly. It’s estimated that up to 70% of NTDs are preventable through increasing …

Read more 27 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Grains

Fortification is always a controversial policy. Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) have led the move to mandatory fortification and have been considering this issue since May 2004. In their opinion, mandatory fortification is the most effective, the safest and most economically viable way to reduce neural tube defects. On the other hand, the Australian Food and Grocery Council, who represent food manufacturers, have stated that reducing NTDs requires a public health solution, not medication of the food supply. They …

Read more 27 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Grains

The next Question in Q & A Thursday is from Andrew and it’s all about rice: bq. is rice a low fat, low salt, healthy grain, or a carbohydrate-containing food that causes health problems with over consumption? There’s no black and white answer to this one – it depends on how much you eat and your current health. h3. The nutritional content of rice While the primary constituent of rice is carbohydrate, it does contain other nutrients: * Small …

Read more 31 May, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Grains

This is quite a common statement among health food people – that white rice should be avoided because it’s just like eating sugar. I can see why people say this, but it’s somewhat of a simplification. h3. What’s wrong with sugar Two of the main problems with sugar are that it’s high in kiljoules and it has a high Glycemic Index (GI). Therefore if you eat sugar, not only are you consuming a lot of energy (for it’s weight and …

Read more 07 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Legumes and Grains

To prove today is not completely rice-centric, I’ve also been asked about other grains and legumes. Apart from pasta, the list below is per metric half-cup (ie 125ml) of the raw grain and the dried legume. I thought this was the most useful benchmark for comparison – certainly when I cook grains and legumes I rarely weigh them out, but instead go by volume. Pasta comes in so many shapes and sizes that a volume measurement is meaningless, I’ve therefore …

Read more 07 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Grains

A large part of the reason we eat a lot of rice, pasta and potatoes is habit. We’re used to cooking some pasta, throwing a pre-made sauce over it and topping with a sprinkling of cheese; or making a stirfry and serving with rice. I’m not saying don’t make these dishes, or change how you cook but change your ratios. For example: * Cook less pasta, but throw some broccoli or cauliflower spears into the water half way through and …

Read more 07 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Grains

One question that came out of yesterday’s Q & A Thursday was why the difference in rice GI values. While jasmine has a whopping 109, basmati rice has a much more sedate GI of 58. Given I’ve been talking so much about rice this week, I thought I’d answer this question now, rather than holding it over to next Q&A Thursday. The GI of a food depends on a range of different things. When it comes to rice though, it’s …

Read more 08 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast, Grains, Junk Food, Dairy and Labels & advertising

• Overseas action on junk food advertising to kids: tomorrow the UK parliament is having its second reading of a bill aimed at preventing the advertising on TV of foods high in fat, sugar and sodium before 9pm (when in theory young children have stopped watching and gone to bed). * According to Rudd Sound Bites, Starbucks in the US is about to make reduced fat milk the standard in a lot of its drinks. * I like this breakfast …

Read more 08 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Vegan, Legumes, Grains and Vegetables

• Family Nutritionist has a recipe for green and orange ribbons with fettucine, a lovely way to balance out the vegetable to starchy carbohydrate ratio. If you can’t get mustard greens you could use silverbeet. * I wouldn’t recommend this approach to anyone, but here’s what happens when a meat addict goes hard core vegan for one month. * I love the sound of these Turkish Red Lentil Balls – I think I’ll be cooking them this weekend. * _Chew …

Read more 22 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Grains and Winter

In this week’s Q & A Thursday Lindsey asks: bq. I find I REALLY crave different things in winter, so I’ve been eating lots of potatoes, creamy/cheesy things, thick soups, etc. All in moderation of course! But I am a bit concerned about the heaviness of these foods. I was wondering whether you’ve got a few ideas about giving the body what it wants in winter without compromising my health? I also I want different foods in winter. The salad …

Read more 28 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Grains

Antti-Juhani asked a question that made me smile: bq. In computer science, there is a thought experiment (due to the late Edsger W. Dijkstra, one of the CS intellectual giants) called “the dining philosophers”: there are five philosophers who spend their whole time thinking – except when they’re eating. Their diet consists of spaghetti, I kid you not, all they eat is spaghetti. My question is, if one were to emulate the philosophers and eat spaghetti only, what would result, …

Read more 28 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Grains

The last question in today’s Q & A Thursday is from Antti-Juhani: bq. what is the effect of sourdough fermentation on the macronutrient content of a bread dough? Really, really, really good question . . . but one I’m not able to answer. So I’m wondering if anyone else can help? h3. What I do know about sourdoughs: # Sourdough bread is made with a starter culture, which is a blend of bacteria and yeast. This culture reacts with …

Read more 07 May, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Grains

Next question is from Paul: bq. I seem to recall that rice and lentils together are even better than on their own. Is that right? Do you know why? Yes Paul, lentils and rice are an important combination and it’s all about the protein they contain. Legumes, like lentils are wonderful foods. Highly nutritious and full of fibre, people who include legumes in their diet have a reduced incidence of cardiovascular disease. However, in isolation, the protein in grains and …

Read more 05 July, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Easier eating and Grains

Kicking off Q & A Thursday this week is a question from Mallika of Quick Indian Cooking: is avoiding carbohydrates at dinner a sensible strategy for weight loss? I’m finding it interesting how many Q&A Thursday questions are centred around carbohydrates. In the past weeks the carbohydrate focussed topics I’ve covered include the GI of different foods, winter carb-loading, whether rice is a bad food to eat and brown rice vs white rice. h3. Carbohydrate containing foods There are a …

Read more 05 July, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Grains and Labels & advertising

Wheat, rice, quinoa, oats, barley, rye and millet are all grains. There’s often quite a difference between the grain that is harvested from the plant and the way we eat it. You can see this with wheat, the grain we eat most often. In Australia we rarely eat the wheat grain itself, instead it’s ground into flour and then made into bread, pasta, crackers and biscuits. Wholegrains are a nutritional buzz word at the moment. If you wander around …

Read more 26 May, 2010