Exotic Flours/Flowers

The following scenario occurred yesterday afternoon, about 2PM:

Seth: What are you doing?

Caroline: Opening up a package someone sent me.

Seth: What is it?

Caroline: An assortment of exotic flours. You know, the usual.

Seth: Exotic flowers?

Caroline: Yep, that’s what I said.

Seth: Why is someone sending you exotic flowers?!

[Laughter]

I quickly explained that I had no secret lover sending me flowers. And then a discussion of teff, spelt, and kamut ensued. Ha!

I was lucky enough to win Nikki’s giveaway of Bob’s Red Mill products. Here’s what my box of goodies contained:

I’ve never baked with anything but wheat flours, so winning this contest has in effect broadened by baking horizons. I am already pretty psyched about making the recipes featured on the flours’ packaging. Anyone care for an Orange Carrot Cookie? Or perhaps a stack of Amaranth Pancakes?

Have you ever baked with teff, spelt, or other “exotic” flours? What are your favorite recipes?

I haven’t done any baking yet, but here’s  what did come out of my kitchen this past weekend.

Saturday

Thanks to a fresh jar of coconut butter, I had a pretty fantastic breakfast yesterday. (Don’t worry, the charred one didn’t go to waste—I took it to Seth’s house for the next time I get the munchies at his place).

For lunch, I made a Greek salad featuring my two favorite food groups: cottage cheese and hummus.

Seth requested veggie burgers for dinner last night, so I threw some on the grill and put together a simple honey mustard slaw as a side dish.

Sunday

I woke up in the mood for summer food (despite the wintry temperatures outside), so I decided to make a big strawberry protein shake.

After wandering around Target in search of cute dog accessories, we returned home for lunch.

In an effort to warm myself up, I made grilled cheese and vegetable soup for dinner.

Alright, I am off to get organized for yet another week. Good night, all!

Filed under: Meals

11 Responses to “Exotic Flours/Flowers”

1. Mandiee, on March 27th, 2011 at 8:40 pm Said:

   I saw a recipe in Clean Start (the sequel to my favorite cookbook, Clean Food) for chocolate brownies that used Teff flour. Ever since, I have REALLY wanted to try it for myself (but it’s super expensive at the one store I can find it at—>sad face.) I like to substitute spelt flour for about half of the AP flour in most of my baking recipes to up the nutritional stats for my friends without them even knowing. Other than that, I tend to use “exotic” flour such as buckwheat (freshly ground), coconut, amaranth, quinoa, oat, and chickpea for my gluten-free cooking. I hope you have fun experimenting!

   Have a lovely day!
   xox

2. Matt, on March 27th, 2011 at 8:44 pm Said:

   I am totally hooked on cocnut butter right now. SO GOOD!

3. Anna, on March 27th, 2011 at 8:44 pm Said:

   SPELT! my favorite alternative baking grain. You can make some seriously awesome cookies with spelt. It has kind of a dense, sandy texture that is oddly appealing.

4. Allie (Live Laugh Eat), on March 27th, 2011 at 8:47 pm Said:

   Bahahaha Seth getting jelly! Too cute.

5. Gabriela @ Fro-Yo Lover, on March 27th, 2011 at 9:00 pm Said:

   Hahahahaha, your conversation with Seth definitely made me laugh!
   Food looks amazing, as always. I should try one of those right NOW, haha

6. Coco, on March 27th, 2011 at 9:06 pm Said:

   Can’t wait to see what you make with these flours!

7. Namaste Gurl, on March 27th, 2011 at 10:10 pm Said:

   Yummy eats, as per usual girly. I thought you said you were going to make something fish- related for you and Seth? Hehe. That’s great Seth’s been turned onto to veggie food!

8. Kelli, on March 28th, 2011 at 1:43 am Said:

   The most “exotic” flours I’ve ever used are soy and buckwheat. I love to add soy (making up a total of 1/8 to ¼ of the total flour) in baked goods, but I haven’t found great recipes to use it on its own. Buckwheat makes some seriously delish pancakes!

   Did you make your own veggie burgers or what brand are they if you didn’t? They look way tasty

9. katie, on March 28th, 2011 at 11:35 am Said:

   Ooh, lucky you! I love BRM’s prodcuts. You can find a lot of great recipes for spelt four on ohsheglows.com and almond flour on elanaspantry.com. I’ve found that both make really fluffy breads!

10. annie, on March 28th, 2011 at 11:37 am Said:

    wayyy too hilarious!!

11. Erica, on March 28th, 2011 at 2:32 pm Said:

    What a great win! I haven’t baked with any of those flours- but I’d love to!! So many delicious eats. I had a smoothie this morning too- and it was raining! Not smoothie weather . Hummus should be a food group. And I bought a bit bag of broccoli slaw to use this week- can’t wait.

Leave a Reply