Archives for October 2012

5 Words About Allume

October 29, 2012 By Anne Simpson

I had the privilege of attending the Allume conference for Christian bloggers this past weekend, and it was just as wonderful as I remember it (back when it used to be the Relevant Conference). A little larger (OK, twice as large, at least as far as attendance is concerned), and in a totally different hotel, but still very much the same.

I’ll try to sum it up in 5 words.

(Yeah, right.)

Friendship

Online friendships are a wonderful thing, but real life friendships are, well, real. Authentic. Whenever possible, I highly recommend you turn your online friendships into the real-deal, authentic, face-to-face in-real-life friendships. Because it’s a beautiful -and irreplaceable - thing.

Community

None of us can survive without a community. Once again, the authentic face-to-face variety is always to be preferred, but an online community can fill in the gaps. I was challenged with the privilege and responsibility of cultivating the community right here at Authentic Simplicity, a treasure I have heretofore taken for granted.

Sugar

What can I say? I ate a lot of sugar. Way more than I have been used to recently. And I drank a lot of coffee. More than I’m used to, for sure. Henceforth and therefore, I stayed up way too late, talking, chatting and laughing with the above-mentioned friends. But it was all totally worth it.

Dreams

Whether it was intentional or not, one of the prevailing themes in the keynotes and sessions was that of “dreams”, but not perhaps in the way you might expect. Dreams are wonderful gifts, and if we have one, we should pursue it with passion and intensity. But for those of us who desire the will of our Heavenly Father to guide us, sometimes we have to lay those dreams down at His feet, and instead pursue HIS dream for us with the same passion and intensity. And the wonderful thing is? His dreams for us are much bigger and better than our own dreams.

Family

I was reminded once again that nothing can replace my precious family. All the blog followers in the world will never make me anymore important to the world than I already am to my family. If I were to become a mega-blogger with book deals and TV shows and speaking engagements across the country (hey, it could happen!)… but my family hated me… I would have lost everything.

So. Want a little taste of Allume? Go pick up the phone and call your friends to have some fun over sugar and coffee, then wrap your arms around your family and pursue the dreams God has given you together.

17 Comments Filed Under: On My Mind, Reflections

My Simple Preschool: Days of the Week Printable

October 26, 2012 By Anne Simpson

Join me every week as I show you how me and my 4-year-old Certain Little Someone do simple preschool at home.

No curriculum, no pressure, but lots of learning!

Last week, I confessed my ineptitude when it comes to math, and shared how I’m dealing with it by going really low-key throughout the pre-school years.

One thing I’m really focusing on this year is the concept of time: years (seasons), months, weeks, days, hours, minutes. Since I know how to tell time, this is a concept I can handle! Also, my Certain Little Someone had been asking me incessantly about things like days of the week, and what time it is and what time it will be when, etc. etc. After answering the same question approximately 1000 times in one day, I decided it was about time to teach him how to figure these things out for himself.

Like other aspects of math, time can be an abstract concept, so I knew I needed to visualize it in some way. In particular, he was very curious about the days of the week, so I started there and made a printable chart. I hung it up on his school magnet board, and as we go through the week, we rotate a round magnet through the cycle of days.

I’m sharing this printable with you in case you, too, have a curious little pre-schooler who wants to know what day it is today, what day it will be tomorrow, and the day after that and the day after that. You can hang it on your fridge or a bulletin board and use any kind of marker to keep track of the days - magnets, push pins, etc.

Click here to download the days of the week printable.

We also sing a little song to keep the days of the week in order. I keep it very simple, of course. (That’s how I roll, as you might have guessed.) It goes like this:

Sunday (C)

Monday (D)

Tuesday (E)

Wednesday (F)

Thursday (G)

Friday (F)

Sat. (E) Ur. (D) Day. (C)

Those letters in parentheses are the notes we sing in case you didn’t catch that! Really we just sing up and down a pentascale (5 notes in a row) - like I said, simple! It really helps my Certain Little Someone memorize the order of the days of the week.

And, of course, you don’t have to be home-schooling to benefit from this little tool! Just make it part of your morning routine so your little one can easily and quickly learn the days of the week.

Pumpkin Not Chocolate - Smooth & Creamy Hot Pumpkin Beverage

October 23, 2012 By Anne Simpson

Now I have nothing against chocolate, mind you. Quite the contrary. A hot and creamy cup of homemade cocoa fits the bill deliciously on a cold winter evening. It’s just that at this time of year, when the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock (whatever that is), I go a little pumpkin crazy and start putting pumpkin into just about everything.

Including hot chocolate. Except without the chocolate. So it’s not chocolate.

I’ts Pumpkin Not Chocolate.

And it’s amazing.

Pumpkin Not Chocolate

Ingredients

1 cup milk (any kind)
2 TBSP pumpkin puree
5 drops liquid stevia (or 1-2 tsp. honey)
dash of cinnamon
dash of grated nutmeg
dash of ginger
splash of vanilla

Instructions

If you have a Vitamix:

Place all ingredients in container. Blend on High until it begins to steam, about 3-4 minutes.

If you don’t have a Vitamix:

Place all ingredients in a small saucepan on the stove. Whisk together over medium heat until it is blended and steaming. Use a stick blender (or jar blender) and blend until smooth and creamy.

Number of servings (yield): 1

What’s your favorite thing to do with pumpkin puree?

Pssst! Out of pumpkin? Vitacost has canned organic pumpkin for only $1.85!

17 Comments Filed Under: Beverages, On The Table Tagged With: pumpkin

12 Ways to Enjoy Whole Grains {Get Healthy $ Fit Series}

October 22, 2012 By Anne Simpson

Welcome back to the Get Healthy & Fit series here at Authentic Simplicity! Joining me are 18 other bloggers, all desirous of improving their health and raising their level of fitness. We each have a different goal in mind and a different plan to reach that goal; and you can follow each blogger’s progress here. Follow along on Twitter and Pinterest as well!

I discussed my personal goals at length the first week, but to sum up, this is what I’m hoping to do in the course of these 12 weeks:

Kick my sugar habit

Lose approximately 10 lbs. and a few inches

Fit in my clothes

Develop sustainable habits like eating more proteins and fewer carbs

Last week, I showed you how you can easily and relatively quickly cook any whole grain. Now the question is: what to do with it? If you’re only used to consuming those grains in the form of flour, you might feel a little stuck once you have a heaping pile of cooked whole grain, wondering what in the world to do with it now!

I’m here to the rescue. Not too long ago, I was in the same boat you are, but I quickly learned how versatile and delicious whole grains can be.

Keep a batch of cooked grain in the freezer and then defrost it and turn it into any of the dishes below.

Easy Uses for Whole Grain

Use whatever whole grain you have in place of the rice when you make rice pudding.
Use a whole grain to make a fun variation of rice pilaf.
Make a quick breakfast hot cereal by combining cooked whole grains with enough milk (any kind), cooking and stirring it until it’s smooth and creamy. Add sweetener and spices as desired.
Toss some cooked grain into a pot of soup towards the end of the cooking time.
Serve it straight up as a side dish, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with fresh or dried herbs. Salt and pepper to taste.
Make a pasta-like salad by combining cooked grains and diced veggies (steamed if you want), and drizzle with any kind of dressing. Add in some fresh herbs for extra flavor. If you need specific recipes, here is a whole bunch of whole grain salad recipes.
Turn the above side dish into the main event by adding some protein in the form of meat, beans, seeds, cheese, or eggs.
Add half a cup or a little more of whole grain to a bread recipe for extra texture and crunch.
Use it in meatballs and meatloaf in place of the bread crumbs.
Give a fresh new twist to risotto by using a different grain instead. Try this recipe for barley risotto.
Combine mashed beans or sweet potato with cooked grains to make delicious veggie burgers, like these quinoa and sweet potato cakes.
Take your stir fry to the next level by introducing new grains instead of rice or rice noodles.

This Week’s Update

Yikes! This week I was very bad and it showed up on the scale. I was crazy busy and did not take the time to seek out truly healthy foods.

Here are my current stats that I will update every Monday:

Weight: 134.2 (up half a pound)

Waist (inches): 30-31

Butt: 39-40

Find out how the other ladies are doing with their weight loss efforts and other goals by clicking on the image below.

How do you cook whole grains?

6 Comments Filed Under: Basics, Ideas, On My Mind, On The Table Tagged With: get healthy get fit, whole grains

Help I have two boys (Wait Three) and I Blog

October 20, 2012 By Anne Simpson

Today we have a very special guest post-er. It’s my DH, known in real life as Jonathan. I don’t know what I would do without him and I am grateful every day that God brought us together. He’s sharing today about how the Allume conference has blessed me in the past (when it was Relevant) and what he hopes for me as I attend it once again next week.

There have been many times my wife has called me at work telling me the latest “adventure” one of “MY” sons has been on that morning. Many times she is at her wits end and needs someone to vent to. Being a man, I want to solve the problem and get back to what I am doing at work. Sound familiar to any husbands out there? This is not the right response but it is what men do. Men do not think like women (I know, shock!). There is something about talking to other women of like faith and who are at a similar place that calms the troubled soul. When I think of Allume I think of renewal.

First my wife gets a renewed focus on her blog and gains an excitement that she is not just writing to herself. Talking with other fellow bloggers is a wonderful time to share insights you have and learn from others. My wife loves that most of the ladies that come to this conference may not be blogging on spiritual things but are blogging from a Christian perspective. She has been to other conferences where making money was above time with family. Allume emphasizes God, Family and then blogging and making money on blogging comes somewhere after these things. They make sure to focus on the eternal and not just the temporal.

The second way Allume has helped my wife is getting a renewed vision of raising her boys. Remember I said that men do not think like women. My wife has gone to the meet up Mothers of Boys (MOB). They can commiserate and share (I did not say fix the problem). This helps my wife know she is not the only one going through this. I have a feeling there is a lot more commiserating and listening happening then problem solving. Maybe I should learn from this and be “Swift to hear and slow to speak”. I am sure there is also some good insight that is gained.

Finally and most importantly would be spiritual renewal. My wife is able to go and get her batteries recharged. Everyday life with two very active boys is hard. The house seems never to be clean, the kitchen seems to always be dirty and, the boys always want to eat (Big Boy included). You feel like you are giving all the time and never have time to come up and breathe. You are drowning from everyday life and you feel like everything is falling apart around you. Taking time to stop and bring your focus back to our great and loving God is vital to being the person God wants us to be.

I hope my wife is able to gain some great insight about her blog and have a fresh enthusiasm to continue the great job she is doing. I also hope she is able to talk to friends and other ladies at the conference and commiserate and share “Wonderful” stories about our active boys. Most of all I hope my wife is able to (as she has in past) have a spiritual renewal as she drinks from the well that will never run dry.

P.S. The free coffee and swag is great also.

Other husbands have been hacking their wives’ blogs, too. Check ’em out here.

5 Comments Filed Under: On My Mind, Reflections Tagged With: allume, family

My Simple Preschool: Math

October 18, 2012 By Anne Simpson

Join me every week as I show you how me and my 4-year-old Certain Little Someone do simple preschool at home.

No curriculum, no pressure, but lots of learning!

I’m just gonna be honest and come right out with it: Math and I do not get along. We’ve kind of formed a truce over the past few years, but only as long as not too much of me is required in this relationship.

The basic stuff I can handle: counting, addition, subtraction, division and even long division on a good day. Anything beyond that, though, is really stretching it. Oh, wait, that’s not true! I am quite adept at figuring out percentages and decimals because those are required for bargain shopping. But anything beyond that is definitely a stretch.

Thank goodness for Saxon math! It was a lifesaver for me in my Kindergarten-teaching years (I actually learned a few things from the Saxon I material. Yes, yes, I did!), and I have every intention of using it when my Certain Little Someone is old enough. I know for sure I simply cannot teach math in any sort of reputable fashion without some serious guidance; the very thought makes me feel all at sea!

Our Math Non-Curriculum

Which is why we’re being very relaxed about the whole thing in pre-school. I am not using a curriculum of any sort, and I’m not too terribly concerned about how much we do and do not learn. (“We” being the royal “we” this time. I’m actually pretty good at pre-school math now.) I think it’s too early to start a serious for-real math curriculum, personally. There’s time enough for that later on!

In fact, my goals for pre-school math are pretty basic. Here’s what I’m hoping we accomplish before he enters Kindergarten:

Counting to 100 (although I’m totally cool with counting to less than that. So far we’re pretty good up to 30, then it gets a little hairy.)
Understanding More or Less using manipulatives and objects (bonus if he grasps more and less with just abstract numbers, i.e. 7 is less than 8)
Counting Backwards 10-1
Skip-Counting (maybe)
Basic Concept of Addition (probably not going to start memorizing the facts until K5)
Shapes (good to go on this one)
Size (pretty good with this, too)
Patterns (getting very good at this now)
Basic Concept of Subtraction
Writing Numbers
Recognizing Number Words
Ordinal Numbers
Counting Objects
Calendar/Days of the Week/Months of the Year
Basic Concept of Time
Identification of Coins and their Value

Manipulatives, Manipulatives, Manipulatives

Since math can be a very abstract concept for little guys, it really helps to use objects they can handle and touch and count when learning various aspects of math. You don’t even have to buy any fancy sets of linking cubes or geometric shapes or what-have-you. Look around your house, and chances are, you have some awesome manipulatives just sitting around waiting to be used:

Legos (or Duplos) - I use mine over and over and over again. One thing I learned from Saxon math is to build towers with the Legos: Keep them all the same size and build them only as high as ten blocks. Once you get to 10, start with a new tower. This teaches counting and place value all at the same time. These towers can also be used to learn addition and subtraction. Plus, since the Legos come in different colors, you can do sorting and grouping activities as well.
Beans - The larger and more sturdy the bean, the better, but any will do.
Dry Pasta
Raisins - Practice subtraction! “If you eat one, how many are left?”
Magnets
Army Men

You get the picture. Any kind of object that comes with multiples (hey, how’s that for a good math word?!) is fair game for use as a manipulative.

Math is Everywhere

Don’t forget that math plays a large part in everyday life, and all you have to do is draw a little attention to it. Here are a few examples:

Cook together in the kitchen and learn about measurements and time.
Time different activities, like cleaning up. Look at the clock and point out what time it is now, then say “At such-and-such a time, we will do XYZ. Let me know when the clock says such-and-such.” (Insert real times where you see such-and-such. Please.)
Give your child opportunities to pay (with real cash, not cards!) at grocery stores and the like. Also, make sure your child has a piggy bank, and when you find spare change around the house, help him or her identify what kind of coin it is and how much its worth, then place it in the piggy bank.
Make your child do simple but fun mathematical activities. For example: ask your child to help set the table, and give him 3 napkins. Say, “How many napkins do you have? How many people need a napkin? Four? OK, how many more napkins do we need to get?”
Counting practice can be done pretty much anywhere and everywhere with anything.

Resources

There are lots and lots of printable worksheets available online for math practice. I guarantee you will not run out of them! My favorites are all on my School Ideas Pinterest board.
100-Number Chart (I like the ones that begin with “0” because it just makes more sense. All the numbers in the same “family” are in the same row; i.e. all numbers beginning with “1” are in the same row.)
All kinds of printable math flash cards here.
Printable number spinner for playing counting games
Different kinds of printable dice
Addition Flash Cards
Numbers 1-20 chart

No More Pen and Paper - Update Your Menu Planning

October 18, 2012 By Anne Simpson

During my Facebook party, I asked you all what tools you like to use to plan your menus, and I was a little bit surprised that the overwhelming response was “Paper and Pen”. I mean, this is the digital age, right? With all the smart phones, iPads, e-readers and other technology, you’d think we’d all be planning our menus with our devices instead!

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m a simple girl, remember? I like paper and pen, too. In fact, that’s how I planned my menus until just recently. What changed? I found a better tool.

Paper and pen is great, but Plan to Eat is better. Let me convince you!

I specifically waited to write this post until I had a chance to fully explore the features of Plan to Eat and utilize them all to plan my monthly menu. My life has been a little overwhelmingly crazy this past week or so, and I finally just had the chance to sit down last night and nail down my menu for the rest of October and the first half of November.

How to Plan a Menu on Plan to Eat

The first thing you need to do is build a recipe collection - kind of like your personal online cookbook - on Plan to Eat. Thankfully, this is incredibly easy!

If your recipes are mostly online (Pinterest, anyone?), all you have to do is install the “Save Recipe” button to your browser’s toolbar. Then whenever you see a recipe you want to add to your menu, you simply click that button and it does the work of importing your recipe for you. SO simple! You can also search for recipes online and import links to recipes directly from the Plan to Eat interface.

If your recipes are actually contained in ink-and-paper books - I understand, I have my own small collection of cookbooks! - no worries. You can easily type them up and plug them into your recipe database on Plan to Eat, and then you have all your favorite recipes in one handy location. Alternatively, you can use the note or ingredient feature in the planner to simply jot down the name of the recipe you want to use and the name of the cookbook where you found it.

Once you have your recipe collection, menu planning is a simple drag-and-drop process using Plan to Eat’s calendar. You grab recipes from your collection, which are conveniently located on the left-hand side of the screen, and drop them into the day and meal you want to plan them. You can go a day at a time, a week at a time, a month at a time… or three days at a time, or a year at a time! It’s entirely up to you, and it’s extremely flexible.

As you plan your menus, you can create a shopping list by noting ingredients you need for each recipe you add to your calendar. There’s also a space to leave notes like, “Make bread for sandwiches tomorrow.”

And then, guess what?! When your menu is done, you can print it out on actual paper and hang it up on your fridge to refer to all week (or month) long. Pen and paper meets 2012.

What I Love About Plan to Eat

The “Save Recipe” button is the bomb-diggity. At least 95% of the recipes I use are online - including my own blog - and this button makes it SO simple to add them to my menu from anywhere on the web.
The “Queue” temporarily holds recipes you know you want to try soon, so you can find them easily and add them into your menu. As you’re saving recipes, you can click ‘Add to queue” and they will be right there waiting for you to plug into the menu.
The flexibility - I love being able to plan as much or as little as I want, in terms of time and meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, etc.).
I love that holding the cursor over a recipe on my menu plan brings up a box with the recipe title and ingredients so I can see at a glance what I need. I can also view and print each recipe individually.

What I Don’t Love About Plan to Eat

There’s not an easy way to share it directly with you here on my blog. But most people don’t want to do that, so it’s not a big deal at all.
There’s not an app for my smart phone. *Hint hint* (Edited to add: There is a mobile site!)

Try It For Yourself

You can try Plan to Eat yourself using their 30-day trial, OR you can just jump right in with a subscription. Plan to Eat has generously given me a discount code to share with you that cuts 20% off the price of the subscription! The code is: AUTHENTICSIMPLICITY.

Once you’re on Plan to Eat, friend me! I’m “authenticsimplicity”. (Naturally!)

Now… go get rid of that pen and paper and join the rest of us in the 21st century!

*I received a free membership to Plan to Eat, but this review was not sponsored in any way, and all opinions are my own.

Find other interesting and informative posts at: Life in Bloom, Thought-Provoking Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday, Homemaking Link-Up, Tastetastic Thursday, Keep it Real Thursday, Frugal Thursday Rewind, Homeschooling on the CheapBrowse through the other wonderful blog posts at: Fellowship Friday , Fight Back Friday , Feast in Fellowship Friday , Frugal Friday , I’m Lovin’ It , Weekend Bloggy Reading , Snacktime Saturday, Show & Share Saturday , Weekend Whatever, Motivation Monday , Mom’s Monday Mingle , Homestead Barn Hop , The Bulletin Board , Better Mom Mondays , Natural Living Monday, Tip Me Tuesday , Trivium Tuesday , Mom’s Library , Titus 2sday , Teach me Tuesday , Hip Homeschool Hop , Titus 2 Tuesday , Delicious Dishes, Open Call Tuesday , Tiny Tip Tuesday , Healthy 2Day Wednesday , Frugal Days Sustainable Ways , Works for me Wednesday , Women Living Well Wednesday , Real Food Wednesday , Whole Foods Wednesday ,Allergen-Free Wednesday , Encourage One Another ,

3 Comments Filed Under: In The Budget, Spend Wisely Tagged With: menu plan, review

The Easiest Allergen-Free Birthday Cake Ever!

October 15, 2012 By Anne Simpson

Can you believe that my Certain Little Someone (who is getting woefully Bigger and Bigger each day, and is not so Little anymore) requested to have the same birthday cake at his fourth birthday party that he had for his second birthday party? Apparently, it made a big impression on him! Or maybe the spectacular fail of his third birthday cake made an even deeper impression (*snort*). In any case, I obliged and made him a replica of his second birthday cake decorations, but I did update the actual recipe a bit.

Since his second birthday, I have been blessed to discover the wonders of spelt, and I knew that I just had to make his birthday cake out of spelt flour. Finally, a yummy-tasting, staying-together, not-so-crumbly cake that everyone - including the birthday boy - could enjoy. Yes!

I am happy to be over at Baking Whole Grains today, sharing my super easy and almost-healthy allergen-free birthday cake recipe.

Find other interesting and informative posts at: Tip Me Tuesday, Trivium Tuesday, Mom’s Library, Titus 2sday, Teach me Tuesday, Hip Homeschool Hop, Titus 2 Tuesday, Delicious Dishes, Open Call Tuesday, Tiny Tip Tuesday, Healthy 2Day Wednesday, Frugal Days Sustainable Ways, Works for me Wednesday, Women Living Well Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, Whole Foods Wednesday, Allergen-Free Wednesday, Encourage One Another, Life in Bloom, Thought-Provoking Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday, Homemaking Link-Up, Tastetastic Thursday, Keep it Real Thursday, Frugal Thursday Rewind, Homeschooling on the Cheap, Fellowship Friday, Fight Back Friday, Feast in Fellowship Friday, Frugal Friday, I’m Lovin’ It, Weekend Bloggy Reading, Snacktime Saturday, Show & Share Saturday, Weekend Whatever, Motivation Monday, Mom’s Monday Mingle, Homestead Barn Hop, The Bulletin Board, Better Mom Mondays, Natural Living Monday, Tip Me Tuesday, Trivium Tuesday, Mom’s Library, Titus 2sday, Teach me Tuesday, Hip Homeschool Hop, Titus 2 Tuesday, Delicious Dishes, Open Call Tuesday, Tiny Tip Tuesday,

6 Comments Filed Under: Celebrations, Dessert, On The Table Tagged With: allergen-free, birthday, cake, spelt

How to Cook Any Whole Grain {Get Healthy & Fit, Week 6}

October 14, 2012 By Anne Simpson

Welcome back to the Get Healthy & Fit series here at Authentic Simplicity! Joining me are 18 other bloggers, all desirous of improving their health and raising their level of fitness. We each have a different goal in mind and a different plan to reach that goal; and you can follow each blogger’s progress here. Follow along on Twitter and Pinterest as well!

I discussed my personal goals at length the first week, but to sum up, this is what I’m hoping to do in the course of these 12 weeks:

Kick my sugar habit

Lose approximately 10 lbs. and a few inches

Fit in my clothes

Develop sustainable habits like eating more proteins and fewer carbs

Although I’m going low-carb, I’m not eliminating carbs entirely. Instead, I’m almost completely eliminating sugar from my diet (replacing it largely with stevia), and focusing on the healthiest carbohydrates possible. To that end, when it comes to grains, I am trying to minimize the amount of flour (any kind) I consume, and instead eating the grain in its entirety.

This is kind of new territory for me, to be perfectly honest. I’m familiar with whole-grain flours, but eating the actual grain whole is another matter altogether. I’m finding, though, that there are delicious ways to enjoy whole grains at any meal, and that cooking whole grains is a lot easier than it seems.

How to Cook Whole Grains Quickly and Easily

Most people cook rice and other grains in a 1:2 or 1:3 (depending on the grain) grain-to-water ratio. Rice, for example. The recipe on a package of brown rice generally suggests cooking 1 cup of rice in 2 cups of water. The problem with this is that depending on a lot of different factors, some of them beyond your control, the water will cook off or absorb more quickly than the rice does. Or, alternatively, the rice will be done before all the water is absorbed, and you’re left with mushy rice. Neither scenario is appreciated during the dinner rush hour!

Furthermore, this process takes at least 40 minutes, and the same is true for almost any grain. Although I try to keep ahead of the game and have an extra batch of rice (or other grain) cooked up in the freezer, it still takes forever to cook grains with this method.

Here’s where I owe a huge thanks to my readers! When I posted about my method of cooking rice a while back, I asked my readers for their favorite method of cooking rice, and I got some great responses. A couple people mentioned a method I had never heard of, and it intrigued me so much I had to give it a try. It worked so well that now I typically cook my rice in such a way, and I also cook all other whole grains in the same fashion.

What I love about this method is that it takes less time than the more common method. I don’t know the science of how all that works, but I know it’s true! You can easily cook a grain in half the time by following this simple method.

Oh, you want to know what the method is? I guess I shouldn’t make you wait any longer, huh?

Cook It Like Pasta

Honestly, I can sum up the instructions in one simple phrase: cook it like pasta. Fill a big ole pot with water, and bring it to a boil. Add your grains, leave the lid off, and let it boil away until the grain is tender.

That’s it. It typically takes about 20 minutes, sometimes a little more (only when I’m in a hurry, of course!), depending on the grain and other factors.

But if you need more specific instructions, here ya go: