3 Easy Ways to Pack Nutrition into Kids, Part 2

1. Smoothie
2.Bread
3. Whole Grain Cereal

Fresh ground whole grain bread is another way to sneak micro nutrients into your kids.
Whole grain loaves that you make are very inexpensive compared to buying a loaf of bread at the store. Not only are they less expensive they are nutritionally superior!

Even buying organic grains is a fraction of the cost. A grinder will quickly pay for itself. I have the old Whispermill (it is now owned by a different company and called something else), my sister-in-law has the Nutrimill and both are fine machines.

The grains you use must be freshly ground. As soon as the grain is ground it begins to lose nutrients due to oxidation. This is why you do not want to ever buy whole wheat flour at the store. It has lost its nutritional benefit, although you will still get the fiber, and it tastes nasty because the oils in the grain have gone rancid. Nasty nasty tasting.

There are many wonderful recipes for whole wheat bread. I personally have a tendency to constantly experiment with different grains. I love multigrain bread and the nuttiness of actual whole grains and seeds in the bread. This is how you pack more nutrients into your kids. Each grain has different levels of nutrients and micronutrients. I add small amounts of amaranth, quinoa, teff, flax seed, and millet when I grind the wheat so it is all ground together. I also grind not just hard white, which is my family's favorite, but small amounts of hard red, spelt, and kamut. Another thing I do is soak wheat berries in water, then bring to a boil and cook until they pop. Then I either add them whole or blend them with the stick blender. When you add grains that are not "wheat" do not add too much and/or add gluten. Hard wheat berries have gluten which is what helps bread to rise. If your balance is off then... you might end up with a brick. Some people have sensitivities to gluten and are unable to pull this trick of adding non-gluten grains and adding gluten to your bread.

Don't ask me for a specfic recipe. I've been working on making one especially suited for an enormous 5-loaf sandwich bread pan. I have determined that each loaf is 50 ounces and have adjusted my recipe accordingly. That made the recipe too big for the Bosch, believe it or not! I head the machine bogging down and the bowl was full so I didn't attempt to knead it with the Bosch. I pulled it out and kneaded it by hand one loaf at a time. Next time I will cut the recipe in half and do it in the Bosch twice. I bought this huge sandwich 5 loaf pan at a restaurant supply store, it was used and cost $5 I think. Not much anyway. My personal favorite bread are artisan loaves made in brick bake ovens. (Local folks-I love the New Pi loaves.) I had been working on making that type of bread in my oven last fall. I was starting to get good loaves but then got distracted and didn't make much bread all winter until I started messing around with my sandwich loaf pan. My goal with it is multigrain bread that is high and soft for sandwiches. I'm still working on it. I'd like to do it with sour dough starter instead of yeast. My point here is that you need to find a recipe and tweak it to suit your family, your bread pans, your oven, your ingredients, etc. There are zillions of bread recipes on the internet. Do a Google search.

A great place with tons of good information is Bread Becker's. They have everything you need and lots of great information.