4-grain Breakfast Porridge

 Something about the way Boaz "reached her the [parched] grain" catches my interest. The expression of generosity, the prophecy of inclusion, redemption, covering and nourishment of "The Nations", and wrapped within that simple written word, the revelation that eating roasted grain was ordinary, nourishing and good.

I love the flavor diversity and depth of ancient grains, and recently I've discovered raw (hulless) oats! The intact nature of a grain determines its viability as a seed, and it's capacity for nourishing a being. For this reason, I stopped my long-time habit of buying steel cut and rolled oats, and discovered most oat groats also are pasteurized, and broken! It's on my mind to buy a batch of these, since I learned from a fellow home miller who buys Tractor Supply show horse oats, that feed oats are sproutable (TSC's are not organic though, so it is possible they are sprayed with antifungal....hence the organic version I will be trying!!)! Freshly-milled complete grains carry 40 of the 44 essential nutrients (so says Ms Sue of Bread Beckers ;) and all the vitamin E needed for healing and integrity of every cell in the body! Oh, the everyday ordinary miracles we don't understand...

The mineral value within sheep milk is incredible all on its own, but paired with grains (the most mineral-rich food) is quite a power couple! This might explain the complete satiety and contentment I experienced after receiving my first bowl of this combo.

Integral Ancient Grain Freshly-Milled "Cream Of Wheat" cereal

3/4 cup emmer berries
3/4 cup spelt berries
3/4 cup whole hulless barley
3/4 cup khorasan berries
(you may also use integral raw oats)

Spread grains out on two large baking sheets; roast at 400F for 5-8 minutes (the convection roast feature on my oven works quickly!), until the grains begin popping and smelling toasty

toasted grains

Cool quickly in the freezer before milling coarsely (I run my selector back to 10, loosen it, bring it up to 8, tighten and then run it back to 10. This opens the millstones to a nice coarse level.

In a large pot, heat 4 cups sheep/cow milk & 2 cups water (or any combination!), and a few pinches of salt. When the milk is bubbly and steaming, whisk in cereal. Turn off burner and cover to let the grains soak up the liquid.

Serve with butter, honey and more milk if desired! Leftovers served cold with milk remind me of the flavor of Weetabix!