Good grain

 

I've written about Bluebird Grains before on the blog. The company is another Methow Valley business success story, like epqd gear and Blue Star Coffee Roasters, built up from scratch with hard work and good marketing. And it always helps that the locals are supportive and loyal to their home-grown businesses. 

When we first started going to the Valley almost 20 years ago, Bluebird was just a little boutique farm, selling bags of Emmer Farro (a hybrid species of wheat) at Hanks and the Saturday market. They've recently built a large processing facility with a retail store just outside of Winthrop, and greatly expanded their "ancient grain" product line. 

Amanda gave me a bag of Einkorn to try, and now it's my favorite. Einkorn is the oldest wheat known to scientists with a unique high protein low starch nutritional profile. 

 

It cooks up fairly soft so makes a good rice substitute.  But salad is the way to go with the leftovers. 

I added a can of white beans, onion and cherry tomatoes from the garden, with a lemon vinaigrette. Could have stopped right there for healthy vegetarian dinner, but the salad was sure yummy alongside grilled chicken and Hatch peppers. 

By gosh, it's been hot here for the last two days! The house was 85 degrees inside when we went to bed last night. Now a big cool down on the way, with heavy rain by the end of the week.