Whole Grains – Chat ‘Em Up Contest Winner

Amanda Brooks of Miami, Florida is our randomly-chosen winner of our Grand Prize, the giant whole grains gift basket shown here, in the contest we ran for this year's Whole Grains Month in September. Amanda, the goodies will be on their way to you this week.

We called this contest "Whole Grains: Chat 'Em Up" since we were asking folks to tell us how they were spreading the word about their enjoyment of whole grains. It's a good thing we planned all along to choose the winner randomly, because virtually all the entries we received, from across the U.S. and into Canada, were very moving. Although we don't have space here to print them all, we're sharing a selection of some of our favorites, below, to augment those we published in an earlier blog.

Read through them – even though Whole Grains Month is over for 2010, we hope some of these stories inspire you to bring more whole grains into your life, too!

When the low carb crazy hit, I jumped on the bandwagon with everyone else…and felt horrible! As a marathon runner my body was just ready to shut down. Instead, I decided it was time to start exploring what made my body feel great. It turns out steel cut oats, whole wheat pasta and whole wheat breads made me not only feel better but fueled my workouts allowing me to get faster, stronger and lighter. (Amanda, Miami, FL)

I am using my blog http://traveleatlove.com to promote Whole Grains Month to my readers. To celebrate, I am doing a giveaway this week of a copy of The Oldways Table. My readers are already interested in food, and Oldways just helps to make that better! (Meghan, Dorchester, MA)

My family loves a culinary adventure. They will try anything, especially when it has some kind of cultural history. When recently hosting a student from Kenya we enjoyed Ugali with Sukuma Wiki. Ugali is a firm cornmeal mush, like a thick polenta. It must be eaten with your hands! Where my kids may not be that interested in polenta, they didn't pass up the opportunity to eat Ugali with their hands. With fresh greens in the garden, Vyonnah (our visitor) was also able to make Sukuma Wiki (fresh fried greens traditionally eaten with Ugali). The boys tried that too! Whole grains and green vegetables and just because they had an exciting name prepared by our Kenyan guest. (Tiffany, Walterville, OR)

My husband had a heart attack last September. It was a shock to us to say the least. After this emotional episode, my husband decided to change his diet. Instead of animal fats like beef and pork, he decided to eat fish twice a week, eat turkey and chicken and eat more whole grains. He says he feels better now with his new diet. I have come up with many salads using millet. Here's a picture of one of them. This is called Millet Chickpea Red pepper Curry Salad. (Lily, Victoria, BC)

I have always enjoyed whole grains in anything… Something about the tastes and textures has always made me think it was real food, and worth eating. Maybe a little extra effort chewing the foods makes one more aware of what they are eating. This month my wife and I will be crafting our own homemade whole grain cereal to replace commercial versions. We are also going to switch from using crackers to thin slices of whole grain breads for our wine & cheese tastings. Same idea, more good, less bad and with those lovely earthy flavors!! (Jason, Londonderry, NH)

I work for the University of Arizona Cooperative extension program reaching children in many different venues. September is National Whole Grains month, and keeping with that theme, as I am teaching children who attend the local after school program sponsored by the City of Sierra Vista, I have featured whole grain cereals. To encourage the children and show them a simple easy way to eat more whole grains, I make a snack mix using whole grain cereals. I purchase cold cereal making sure there is a whole grain symbol on the box or bag. I mix up oat cereal, corn cereal, rice and wheat cereals, in a large bowl. Adding dried fruits such as raisins adds to the texture. To serve the mix, I or staff members with divide the snack mix into individual plastic bags to give to the children. Children always seem to like having something to watch and eat in the afterschool programs. (Emma, Sierra Vista, AZ)

As a family, at our house we agreed that we would only make sandwiches with whole grain breads to take to school or work in our brown bag lunches. We have learned that commercially sold whole grain breads vary in taste and identified one brand that we find delicious. Thus far our determination to be a whole grain family has not faltered and we think it will turn into a way of life. (Patricia, Portola Valley, CA)

To celebrate whole grains month in September, I baked my Crinkly Gingersnaps using all 100% whole wheat pastry flour. They came out great, couldn't taste the difference. I took three dozen to a friend whose husband is in the hospital having five days of chemo therapy. I also printed your [Baby Steps] article; one for each TOPS #151 club member, and am using it as the program for the September 22nd meeting. I am asking each member to read aloud, in turn, the "baby steps". They will each have a copy to take home and place on the fridge. Thank you for a good program idea and for the encouragement to use whole grains. (Kathleen Smith, Kenduskeag, ME)

For years I've always made pancakes with biscuit mix. Recently I tried a pancake recipe which used oatmeal and whole wheat flour. We loved them! My whole family couldn't believe how good these were with the change up of ingredients. They even prefer these with homemade jam rather than just maple syrup. The photo I am attaching shows the whole grain pancake mix in pre-measured packets that I send to my college daughter so she can make these easily. (Gretchen, Durham, OR)

To celebrate whole grains month, I made my girlfriend a delicious italian meal using whole grain pasta and organic tomato sauce. We also took the time together to make a delicious whole grain baguette to go along with our meal. It's wonderful to be able to share in healthy eating with the woman I love! (William, Park Hills, KY)

Our thanks again to all those who entered, and to the generous companies that donated coupons to send to all our entrants. These companies include: Attune Foods, Barilla, Bob's Red Mill, Dr Kracker, Frontier Soups, HomeFree, Olde Hearth Bagels, Red River Cereal, and Uncle Ben's. (Cindy)

Source: The Whole Grains Council