Wheat: All it’s cracked up to be.

For the past couple of years, Jared and I have been on a quest to healthier eating. We started with revamping a lot of what we cooked at home (meaning we started cooking a lot at home instead of going out to eat all the time). We coasted comfortably on the sea of healthy home-cookin’ for about a year. Then we got Netflix and started watching all those foodie documentaries everyone was talking about (namely Food Inc., King Corn and No Impact Man). Suddenly the healthy meals weren’t enough; we had to think about what kinds of ingredients we were using and where they came from, too. Argh. Grocery shopping started getting stressful.

We’ve sort of settled on a happy medium since then by shopping the free-range, local, organic labels as much as possible. But it does get tricky. Jared is a lot better about it than I am (I think he’d happily do all the shopping in the organic section). I tend to worry about price and do a lot of mental debates over which organic products are worth it and which ones aren’t. But we’re sorting it out together, and we’re definitely eating better than we were two years ago. Woo hoo to that!

And what does all that have to do with the lovely cup of cracked wheat you see in the photo above? Well, my newfound breakfast love came about as a result of Jared’s organic aisle sleuthing (and Eat This, Not That reading). I’m a big fan of hot cereals, especially in the chilly fall and winter months. So instead of grabbing my usual go-to Cream of Wheat on a visit to the grocery store, Jared suggested Cracked Wheat as an alternative (whole grain vs. refined grain, tons o’ nutrition and fiber). Here’s the box, for all you visual folks interested in scouting the shelves:

It’s a pretty simple breakfast to throw together: 1/4 cup cracked wheat simmered on low in a saucepan with 3/4 cup water and 1/8 teaspoon salt for about 10 minutes (I do add a splash of milk and a teaspoon of brown sugar at the end for the extra yum factor). The first time I tasted it, I had immediate flashbacks to the bran muffins my mom used to make when I was really little. I loooooved those muffins and hadn’t thought about them in years. Apparently this cracked wheat makes a mean muffin, too, so that’s on my baking agenda for the week. Hooray for rediscovering a long forgotten taste! And a healthful one, no less.

So what about you guys? Are any of you wading the waters of organic labels and local foods? How do you find a balance between price and product? Any great new discoveries that you’ve found along the way? I’d love to hear about it!

XO,
Katrina