Take the Wholegrain Goodness challenge: testers can win £250 – NON TESTERS: chance to win £150. NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

Try something different for your new year's resolutions this year - take part in the WholegrainGoodness.com challenge and be in with a chance of winning supermarket vouchers worth up to £250.

Here's what WholegrainGoodness.com, a not-for-profit campaign aiming to inspire people to eat more wholegrain, say about the challenge: "Most of us know it's important to eat at least five portions of fruit and veg every day, but did you know you should be eating more wholegrain to keep you healthy too? Nutritionists encourage eating at least three servings of wholegrain a day. But despite the nutritional benefits, national surveys show that 95% of adults don't do this, and almost a third don't eat any at all. So take part in our wholegrain challenge to help us inspire mums to get more nutritious wholegrain into their family's diet and we'll enter you into a prize draw"

The challenge is to include wholegrain in at least ONE meal or snack for the family per day for two weeks and then to add your feedback here by Sunday 9th February to be entered into a prize draw.

• "Official testers" (already selected) can win a £250 supermarket voucher of their choice

• "Non-official testers" (open to all UK MNers with at least one child aged between 2 and 16 living at home) can win a £150 supermarket voucher of their choice

You can use the variety of wholegrain foods available, such as wholegrain breads, breakfast cereals, pasta, rice, flour and even popcorn. And feel free to take part if you and your family already eat wholegrains. Visit WholegrainGoodness.com if you need help finding out what wholegrains are and to see what a serving of wholegrain looks like, as well as to get recipe ideas for inspiration and some top tips. If you have any further questions about wholegrain, ask their independent registered dietitian or go to the wholegrain FAQs (frequently asked questions) page, which we'll keep updating. You can get a free recipe booklet and sign up to their e-news alerts too.

Please add your feedback here on the following:

~ Let us know what you think of wholegrains and if you knew about the benefits already or not

~ Have you tried out any WholegrainGoodness.com recipes? How did you and your family find them?

~ Please add any other comments, recipes, tips or ideas you have too - we'd love to hear from you at various stages of the challenge

Thanks
MNHQ

Please note: comments made on this thread may be reproduced by Wholegrain Goodness (AHDB)

I can not find an ingredients list anywhere. important considertion.

forgot to add that I tried the chickpea and oat dumplings again. a lot quicker the second time round, though I had to cook some rice for ds. I stirred some oats into the sauce for him and kept back some of the chick peas to add to his sauce.

I have bought butternut squash to try the risotto.

benefits of whole grains?

I knew they were better for you than white, but would not eat them (appart from whole meal bread) til dad had a stroke and I saw his brain scan... instant switch.

I also knew that they contain amino acids that complement a lot of the beans/pulses. I can not remember which amino acids though.

I may possibly have heard of soluable and insoluble fibre but would not have been able to give any futher infomation on where they are found and why you need both. (still not 100% sure must read up)

ZipZap
Just use granary or wholemeal breadcrumbs in your current stuffing.

Were firmly on one serving a day (breakfast is 50:50 bread, porridge or cheerios). I quite often manage a second at lunch - sandwiches, but as often or not its a bowl of soup with 0 whole grain.

Still not managed to switch the evening meal - speed is of the essence, and 40mins boiling brown rice isn't in the schedule.

I can't believe we have completed day 8 already! This last week has gone so fast and I can honestly say that it is a change that I am really enjoying!
This is how we all got on...

Wholegrain Goodness Challenge - Day 8

Breakfast
The twins are enjoying the Shreddies with bananas for their breakfasts.
Joseph had multigrain boulders and hubby had oats.

Lunch
The twins had haggis for the first time! They really enjoyed the new flavours and I love it when they try new foods.
Hubby had his wholemeal bread sandwiches while I had some wholegrain Sunbites.

Dinner
As I had a lot of haggis left over from the weekend I decided to try a new meal. I stuffed chicken breasts with haggis and served with redberry sauce, neeps and tatties!
The twins had potatoes and vegetables.

Day 8 - Results
Twins - 2 wholegrain servings
Joseph - 2 wholegrain servings
Hubby - 3 wholegrain servings
Me - 2 wholegrain servings

Hijacked By Twins Wholegrain Goodness Challenge Day 8

I have made some delicious fruit, hazelnut and oat flapjack. Here is my recipe
Hijacked By Twins Fruit and Hazelnut Flapjack

Carrot cake with wholemeal flour - very yum
Wholemeal flour as crumble topping both dessert and on a savory bake - yum also

addicted i was horrified when i first looked at the cooking times for brown rice but somewho mine is always done in 20 mins. it's admittetly still a bit on the chewy side but we prefer it that way anyway.

other than that, the oaty pork was delishious, even my fussy mum was asking for seconds!

Second the oaty pork! Such a good recipe.

I've been doing smoothies too. Either throw in fruit, yoghurt and some porridge oats....or in lieu of these....weird as it sounds, I put in a weetabix! It worked! I know it sounds bizarre, but with yoghurt, fruit and honey, it was really good.

How much wholegrain makes a portion?
Thrown a handful of whole wheat flour in the pizza base for tonight. Is that enough for 4 of us (kids 2 and 4)

I don't know addictedtosugar but I think if you can begin with a handful of whole wheat and then next time add a bit more that's the way to go. Whole meal by stealth,

I'm pleased because I made veggies shepherds pie and added half a cup of oats. It was brilliant. It made a much better texture and no difference to the taste. Both ds & dh love veggie shepherds pie but could guess what the secret ingredient was. I shall always do that from now on. Ds said "so healthy and so delicious" when I told him!

Snacks tried so far:

Popcorn - my LO and I love it
Cheerios - my LO eats these, a bit sweet for me
Rye crackers - only I like them, delicious with cheese
Wholemeal bread - slice of toast one of my faves

Roasted a chicken last night and DC asked for brown rice over white rice or potatoes to go with it.
Made wholewheat couscous with the left over chicken. They prefer the texture.

Porridge or shreddies for breakfast, lentil soup and wholemeal toast for lunch then the couscous - whole day was whole grain food and I didn't even notice.

I still want try less wheat and more variety. Need to look at the oaty pork - sounds like it was a big hit.

tried the butternut squash risotto.

ds did not like the "carrots" though he ate most of them. he definitely did not like the hard bits...(pumpkin seeds.) i do not like the taste of the vegetable stock cube. i may fiddle about with the recipecompletely change it.

with the addition of "red sors" (chopped toms, frrozen broccoli, frozen culi, butter beans) it has gone down a treat. (it is no longer butternut squash risotto though)

frozen cauli,

doh

we had the salmon cheese cake from the booklet tonight, omg, that was ACE! the only issue i have is with portion sizes. it says serves 6-8 people in the recipe. we're 3 adults and 1 toddler and it was just about enough, same for the oaty pork.

Had another tasty supper tonight, really pleased to be on this challenge because I don't think I would have discovered as many tasty dishes, or tried as many new ingredients in such a short time, but it's changed the way we eat now, for example we'll actively seek out the wholegrain or wholewheat alternative now, kids took wraps for lunch and husband actually brought home the wholewheat ones, he'd never have done that before. Made some banana muffins with wholewheat flour and a few chocolate chips, went down a treat for pudding after tea. Made curry tonight but with brown basmati rice and no-one noticed any difference. Not sure if it has anything to do with new diet, but one thing I've noticed with the children is that I can't seem to fill them up, they're eating same amounts, but seem hungrier, wondered if now they're having healthier food with nothing rubbish added, they're not being filled up with the junk that's been in the usual food, the water and fats and fillers that they use to pad out food. Just a thought.

We've had great fun making a family favourite - Oaty Banana muffins. They always go down well. At the end of last week I made one of the recipes - One Pot Chicken and Sweet Potato Roast with Oats. It was lovely, we all really enjoyed it, and it did the 3 of us for two meals, always a bonus. Today we've had wholewheat pitta breads instead of sliced bread for our lunchtime sandwiches.

I was aware of some of the benefits of wholegrain, but not all. I think this is great, as it has made me more aware and I aim to continue with the challenge after it has finished.

So far breakfasts and snacks have been easy, have found tea times the hardest, as have 2 fussy eaters, one husband and my little girl. Neither seems to appreciate brown or wild rice, nor wholewheat pasta.

So have decided I will keep up with my small changes and you never know ....

Made a chilli with brown rice tonight, really enjoyed it. DD thought it was fried rice from the chippy and wolfed it

Made the oaty pork with cider and leeks tonight - verdict? ...not convinced. Taste was nice, but the consistency - a bit like gloopy porridge - put the kids off.

The oven temperature on the recipe is much too high - I used a stoneware casserole dish and it was bubbling furiously after I took it out to check at 20 mins, with the oats sticking to the bottom, so I had to turn it down a lot and it was done after about 45 mins.

All in all I think oats in stews is not good.

In contrast DH & I tried wholewheat spaghetti and found it rather good, so will try that out on the kids on Thursday, when we have our regular pasta night

Rather liking wholemeal bread with seeds in at the moment. Have started having it toasted for breakfast with two poached eggs. I've noticed that it keeps me fuller for a lot longer and I don't get mid-morning hunger pains any more.

Today I made a Bolognese sauce in the slow cooker and added some rye flakes - once it had all cooked, you couldn't even tell they were in there. We had it with wholewheat spaghetti which we all enjoyed. I was quite surprised today as my daughter normally hates things like Bolognese when everything is all mixed together and I was expecting her to object but she actually ate a small amount of the sauce (she has sauce and pasta on separate plates so they don't touch!!) and said it was nice. I nearly fell off my chair!!!

At the weekend we made some granola with oats, ground flaxseed and fruit juice and no added sugar. My daughter loves this and ate it for breakfast today. Its also lovely with yoghurt and jam.