NOW CLOSED Wholegrain Goodness challenge: add your feedback here and be in with a chance of winning supermarket vouchers - open to non-'official' testers too - prizes to be won

[TheOtherHelenMumsnet]

If you're one of the 'official' 50 MNers who are taking part in the Wholegrain Goodness challenge, then this is the feedback/support thread that we'd like you to post on throughout the challenge. Each of the 50 MNers who post their feedback during the challenge will be entered into a prize draw to win a £150 supermarket voucher of their choice.

If you're not an 'official' participant but want to take part in the challenge anyway, or just have wholegrain tips and ideas you'd like to share, then please add your comments below. All non-'official' participants who post their thoughts will be entered into a prize draw to win a £100 supermarket voucher of their choice.

The challenge is to include wholegrain in at least one meal or snack for your family per day for two weeks, using a variety of wholegrain foods available (e.g. porridge, popcorn, oats etc.). To help, you can visit the Wholegrain Goodness website for their guide to wholegrain, for tips on how to identify wholegrain and for wholegrain recipe ideas.

The challenge starts on Monday (21 Jan) and we hope that participants will post here throughout

Please add your feedback on the following here:

~ Please share any tips and ideas you've discovered while taking part in this challenge e.g. have you found any good ways to encourage your child(ren) to choose wholegrains?

~ Have you discovered any recipes or tasty on-the-go wholegrain snacks that your family really like?

~ Have you tried out any Wholegrain Goodness recipes? How did you and your family find them?

Please add any other comments you have too - we'd love to hear from you at various stages of the challenge.

Thanks
MNHQ

[Indith]

Lilyloo when making stews or casseroles pop a handful or 2 of pearl barley in them :)

Dd still a little delicate so we are going for a simple dinner of chicken legs and brown rice.

We've dug the car out and parked it on the main road so fingers crossed for better roads and I'll attempt to send dh to the supermarket for more stuff!

Rubarb

[pennylovesleonard]

Dd had wholemeal toast this morning & I had porridge. I love porridge & it's perfect on cold, snowy days like today!
We made flapjacks this afternoon which were very popular! Fussy dd had 3 slices! I added raisins and sultanas & used agave nectar nstead of golden syrup. Tasty. Although, I'd forgotten how much butter is in flapjacks!!
Brilliant idea to just add a little wholemeal rice or pasta - I hadn't thought of that!
I'd like to use up some old bananas, has anyone got a nice recipe for muffins or banana bread?

[MrsKwazii]

I did think about buying some pearl barley on my shop, but I hated it when I was little. We always had it in casseroles and I found the texture odd. May well be worth trying again though as it makes everything go a bit further and is good for you.

It's been a wholegrain cereal day here and I had last night's leftovers - wholewheat penne with tomato sauce - and it was really filling. Lovely to have a hot meal at work too, and saved me a couple of quid in the canteen which is a bonus

[MrsKwazii]

Thanks for the tips too OtherHelen. Am planning to do some baking tomorrow. A few of my cookery books had suggested substituting half wholemeal flour for normal flour in recipes, all wholemeal makes cakes etc. much denser apparently. Will report back on findings.

[Grockle]

I'll go back and look at the wholegraingoodness site if it has more veggie recipes.

Today I had porridge, DS had weetos star cereal and a wholemeal roll for lunch. I'm going to make flapjacks later in the week and the fat free fruit loaf too.

Is Bulgur wheat a whole grain?

I'd like to ask about Rapeseed oil as that seems to be heavily promoted on the website. Is it canola oil? I lived in the US, where canola oil is quite popular - I think it's a kind of rapeseed oil. Is it genetically modified?

[PatTheHammer]

Chicken pasta bake with whole grain pasta went down without a hitch tonight, they said not a thing and finished it off so am taking that as a positive.

DD loving the Jordans oat bars and as after school snack today they had ryvita with pumpkin seeds spread with philly for DD and peanut butter for DS.

Will probably try the fish with the oaty apricot topping from the Wholegrain goodness booklet tomorrow as have some fish fillets that need eating and DS and I are going to make some wholemeal banana muffins.

I'm ignoring the rapeseed oil because it looks to me like a different thing, its not a wholegrain and has a different bit of the website (rapeseedoilbenefits.com) doesn't it?

[WhatWouldGrandmaDo]

We had chicken chorizo rice for dinner and I used up some brown basmati we had languishing in the cupboard mixed with white - I was quite surprised no one commented, it tasted like normal (I find all brown is a bit chewy..)

There's a couple of banana loaf recipes I use on BBC Good Food - one with chocolate and one with nuts. They are always popular (and DSs love squishing the bananas).

[missDiddles]

I'm not an official tester but must admit we're big fans of banana muffins made with wholemeal flour, and oat/honey cookies! We always have wholemeal basmati too - but that needs livening up with cashew nuts or raisins for my son to eat it!

[Grockle]

Ooo missdiddles, do you have a recipe for the cookies?

[Indith]

brown rice not a hit with dd but she is a bit poorly so we'll see as she normally eats anything. ds said it was not very good, just a bit good. we all agreed it was a bit dry and chewy but it wad better with lots if gravy so we will try it again with stew. the baby on the other hand ate loads and isn't normally a rice fan.

[CheeseStrawWars]

Wholemeal bread sandwiches went down as well as usual bread, i.e. about half-eaten. Looking forward to tackling a pearl barley and onion casserole as part of tea tomorrow, though it does take a long time on the hob. If only the wholegrains didn't take longer to prep!

[MrsKwazii]

Have made the hobbies tonight, they are delicious

[MrsKwazii]

That should say ' hobnobs' of course. I bloody hate autocorrect.

[Squiglettsmummy2bx]

Yesterday wholemeal toast with chocolate spread for breakfast was a hot with everyone.
Today I tried doing 50/50 wholemeal & white pasta with bolognaise sauce. Myself & DD 10 ate it all but DS 7 picked all the wholemeal pasta out
Will have to be more cunning tomorrow

[Wabbally]

So, yesterday we had beans on wholemeal toast for breakfast - huge hit (as we normally have yoghurt!)

Today we have had wholemeal pasta with tuna, sweetcorn, peppers and cheese - yum!

[TheOtherHelenMumsnet]

Hi all - great to see so much wholegrain enthusiasm! Here's another quick note from wholegraingoodness.com:

"The recipe search has now been fixed (22nd Jan). We're terribly sorry for any problems you experienced - this is a new website and you're the first to use it - thanks for letting us know.

We've also added some more new recipes ? including Flavoured Popcorn (as we see popcorn is quite popular with many of you!) ? and healthier version recipes for a Carrot Cake and Blueberry & Oat Muffins, as well as a savoury Cheese, Tomato & Oat Flapjacks recipe.

Also, yes - with oats you're virtually guaranteed to get all the goodness of wholegrain no matter what form you eat oats in. Here's our winter-warming Oatmeal Toad in the Hole recipe.

In response to a comment on rapeseed oil - did you know rapeseed oil is sometimes just labelled vegetable oil? It has less unhealthy saturated fat than all other cooking oils and fats. Prices vary greatly across products, from the cheapest oil, to the most expensive on the shelf - as do flavours - from incredibly mild and delicate, to very distinctive. Rapeseed oil, along with linseed, are the only oils grown and bottled in the UK.

And finally, all 'official' MNers taking part in the challenge should now have received their vouchers - thanks for the messages about these, they've been great to read. prakattack - we're sorry your voucher has gone amiss, we'll sort this out for you."

[Kezzareece]

I'm not an official tester, but we went whole grain a year ago. Rice, pasta, flour, popcorn, porridge.

Honestly the only difficulty we encountered was our youngest, 7yo, not liking brown bread, but he will eat whole meal tortillas.

We actually prefer whole meal, it actually has flavour, rather than something just to mop your sauce up with.

The only thing I can't find is whole meal nachos. Will have to start making my own!

[fuzzpig]

Had wholemeal shredded wheat for breakfast today. DH also stocked up on brown rice, whole grain crackers and bread (although he got a whole loaf rather than sliced grr)

Didn't manage to find any of the less popular grains though as the Sainsburys in town is only tiny - will have to get them next time we shop online. I actually really like quinoa, but my family aren't so convinced. Thinking of doing it with feta cheese and Mediterranean veggies.

[THERhubarb]

Found some cheapish Rapeseed oil so will be doing my frying in that.

The brown rice did not go down too well I'm afraid. I couldn't make sticky rice with it, it was just too hard. It didn't go soft and fluffy like basmati rice which is what we normally get. Ds wouldn't eat it either, said it was too chewy and dh was none too impressed.

Oh well I did try.
Oh and the wholemeal pasta was a no-no for ds who again complained of it being chewy (do you have to boil it for longer or are these wholemeal versions always going to be chewier?) but dd said it was ok.

Today I have given them wholemeal pitta bread pizzas in their lunchboxes. These are a hit with my two anyway even though they are cold when they eat them and the wholemeal version should be healthier.

Just get a pitta bread. Spread it with passata or tomato puree (you can even use ketchup). Grate some cheese on it. Add toppings (tomatoes, peppers, ham, etc) and grill until cheese is melted. Then cut into little portions and pop them into their lunchboxes.

I'm going to have a wholemeal pitta for lunch filled with goats cheese and popped into the toaster for a minute.

I don't feel any different from eating all this fibre by the way. Nor am I any more 'regular' iykwim.

[Ilisten2theradio]

Not an official tester and we eat lots of wholegrains anyway without thinking about it.
Breakfast cereal in the houes at the moment is shreddies and wheatabix.
Due to DS having allergies, we have been using a bread machine for years, and always use wholemeal flour - although we do mix wholemeal and a bit of white flour to make the loaf a bit lighter.
I have always popped popcorn at home rather than buy it as one DC like sugar and the other salt, and anyway it is SOOO much cheaper than buying it already popped.
Bulgar wheat mixed with lentils cooke in stock with lemon juice is a great carb to go with roast vegetables spiced up with harrissa paste.

[MTBMummy]

Official tester here, and we've got Spelt, wild rice, wholegrain pasta, pop corn, flour and wholegrain bread.

The bread hasn't gone down well with DD so we've opted for the 50/50 stuff, which she happily eats, so it's better than nothing

For dinner last night we had spelt cooked with roasted vegetable in a thick vege gravy - I have to admit I was a bit about it but it tasted lovely especially in this cold weather.

I did lunch this week, of Spelt cooked and cooled with peas, mint and asparagus and then served with warm chicken breasts, it was really tasty and nice and light for a lunch, but probably more of a summer meal.

Popcorn is becoming a regular afternoon snack, and has actually outranked jelly beans on the request list

DD and I will be attempting a wholegrain Date cake and some biscuitsthis weekend, I've found a great recipe for savory cheese biscuits and if it works, I'll pop back on and share with you all.

It seems that bread aside DD hasn't really noticed the change, which is a huge relief.

[helenthemadex]

we have been having porridge for breakfast with a spoonful of honey, its great in the cold weather. Also weetabix with warm milk but this is what we would normally have

I have swapped the brown bread for wholegrain and its really nice, a bit dry toasted for breakfast but really good with beans on toast

I made a pasta bake with the wholemeal pasta and the girls didnt notice the difference, so thats good and will be a permanent change but I used brown rice and they didnt like it, they found it chewy (could be my cooking ) tonight we are having stew and I have added some pearl barley so we will see how that goes down with them. They were not really impressed with the oat cakes and jam for a snack, but love popcorn

I might try to make some flapjacks and the honey and orange teabread

[THERhubarb]

Oh must just add this.

Whilst shopping today instead of buying crisps I bought Walkers Sunbites. They are labelled as a wholemeal snack and they are lovely! I shall definitely be using these instead of crisps from now on.

Just eaten my wholemeal pitta with goats cheese and it was actually quite nice. I shall probably switch to wholemeal for pittas at least.

[Blatherskite]

I'm in shock! I just gave ultra fussy DD sandwiches made with wholemeal bread and she ate the lot

Can you over wholemeal? The children have had wholewheat breakfast, wholemeal bread for lunch and tonight is Fajitas with wholemeal wraps!

[Indith]

Still not shopped but our mountains of snow are rapidly slushing so I plan to go tomorrow, we will need a Lidl shop too so I can justify heading out that way! Sorry wholegrain people!

Anyway the bread has been going down well, I will make my own once I have flour etc so we go t more bread at local shop today. Dh made flapjack yesterday which we will have for snack after school but dinner is wholegrain free tonight.

I've been looking at the website recipes for inspiration. When I search "quinoa" I don't get any results. Bulger wheat brings up one solitary result. It seems to be very much just spaghetti carbonara but with wholegrain pasta. Meatballs but with wholegrain pasta and so on. I think a few easy, different recipes to try with different grains would be nice. On the whole I'm finding the website recipes quite "virtuous", do the cakes and bakes really all have to be the fat free/rapeseed instead of butter types? What is wrong with just using butter sometimes. I find the whole cake trying to be healthy thing odd. Healthy snack- fruit, breadstick, cracker, rice cake, cheese, nuts, popcorn. Unhealthy snack- cake, proper cake.

I shall however be trying out the apricot and almond slice because that sounds nice and I have all the ingredients. Once I've got different flours then I'll do some scones and stuff.