There's no place like...Cream of Wheat

There are a few creature comforts I always find myself looking forward to when I make the trip to Mom and Dad's house - good water pressure in the showers, Dad's tee-shirts, and a faithful old box of Cream of Wheat in the pantry. I have never bought myself a box and I don't know why. And yet, every morning at home, I find myself smiling at whoever that guy is on the front. And no wonder. "Through the years," says the Cream of Wheat website, "we’ve been rekindling the happiest times, through the very same basic recipe, and our oldest secret ingredient: home." (1)



Cream of Wheat. It's oatmeal's older, more elegant sister. You can cook it in the microwave, but I prefer the ancient methods. Pot, spoon, bowl.

I savor the scrape of the spoon on the bottom of the copper pot as I stir, stir the milk. I measure three friendly tablespoons of wheat. It's amazing to me, every time, that this pile of dry grains becomes a whole bowl of hugs for my stomach. When the milk is just about boiling, I stir in the wheat and tiptoe to the freezer for the final touch - blueberries. I put them at the bottom of the bowl so that when I stir, a purple trail forms.

Oh, right. Health. Well, Cream of Wheat is rich in iron, as will as some of the -mins, -cins, and -flavins. The 1.25 cup serving of milk per bowl adds protein, healthy fats, and calcium to get you going in the morning. This being said, iron and calcium compete for absorption in the body, so other sources should be found throughout the day.

(1) http://creamofwheat.com/about/