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Kamut®
Grain
One distinctive of Sue Gregg's cooking style is
her use of multiple whole grains, the blender batter baking method, and
the two stage process.
Her quick bread recipes use an ordinary blender.
It is convenient and cheap. The obstacle of having to purchase
$500 worth of bread baking equipment for baking whole grain bread is eliminated.
Sue Gregg has found that the secret to gaining acceptance of whole foods
is to take old, familiar recipes and convert the quality of the
ingredients.
Sue Gregg discovered that
whole grain muffins without hydrogenated fats and white sugar could be
just as appealing or more so than the less nutritious originals.
The important thing is to keep tweaking the recipe
until it comes out right.
When
people are introduced to whole grains, they are usually introduced to
only one grain --whole wheat. Unfortunately it ranks #2 behind dairy
products as the leading allergy food.
Sue Gregg introduces people to a "multi-grain approach." Thus,
they can reduce the incidence of allergic reactions to wheat and enjoy the benefits of a wider range of sources of
nutrition and flavor.
Long Grain Brown Rice
Sue says, "A recipe is someone's idea that combines tradition, art,
science, and even a bit of fantasy and fashion. The challenge is
to make it better. The two phase blender batter baking recipes do just
that. Instead of using devitalized white flours, blender batter baking
recipes take whole grains and immediately turn them into batter. Then by
letting the batter rest for a few hours the phytates break down
releasing minerals. The result is better nutrition and a smoother
textured batter."
Sue Gregg
serves Emilie Barnes,
coauthor of
The Busy Woman's Guide to
Healthy Eating,
Eating Right--A Realistic Approach to a Healthy
Lifestyle,
The 15 Minute Meal Planner
This book has been retitled three times with numerous reprints.
It has been replaced by
Taste
& Tell
An Introduction to Whole Foods
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About The Author
After a family health crisis,
Sue Gregg began to
question how to improve the nutritional value of the food she served her
family.
Nine months on a rigorous, restrictive healthfood diet, while successful
in weight control and health renewal, presented too many obstacles and
evoked too much resistance from her family. That experience convinced
her that few meat and potatoes eaters would tolerate drastic dietary
diversions.
For two years she waited, researched, and prayed. One day standing at
her kitchen sink she wondered, "Would it be possible to transform
familiar family recipes?" Sue began experimenting with better
quality ingredients (white flour to whole grain, refined white sugar to
honey, hydrogenated fats to nonhydrogenated) to convert old favorites
such as minute bran muffins and cinnamon rolls. Trial and error testing
eventually achieved the results she was looking for.
Her success did not remain hidden. Others with similar concerns soon
requested demonstrations, recipes, and cooking classes. Recipes
accumulated and cookbooks followed.
Sue’s experimental cooking continues in her quest for recipes that
balance convenience and cost, nutritional value and appetite appeal.
She’s found the right seasoning combination that invites children to lick a
lentil-rice casserole clean. She’s found a way to make fresh, light
and tender whole grain waffles, pancakes, muffins, coffee cakes, and
crepes without an expensive grain mill. She is always looking out for
allergy alternative ingredients such as Kamut®
grain or spelt.
Sue
Gregg’s experience includes teaching home economics in a high school for two years after
she received her B.S. in Home Economics Education at Washington State
University. She also provided food service at camps and retreats on the
West Coast, Mexico, and Honduras. For seven summers she managed food
service for hundreds of finicky junior highers, high schoolers,
collegians, and families at
Campus By The Sea on Catalina Island
26 miles off the California coast. At that time modern conveniences
were minimal with no electricity, freezer, telephone, or road to the
camp. Food arrived via ocean going barge twice weekly. Despite these
limitations the camp gained a reputation for serving a tasty variety of
menus. This experience shaped Sue's awareness of the tastes and styles
that appeal to a broad range of people.
While traveling in the Eastern USA in 1982 she discovered that it was
possible to develop light
and tender whole grain muffin recipes that omitted the addition of fats
and oils.
In 1984 Sue Gregg accepted the challenge of inaugurating a whole foods
program for William Carey International University in Pasadena,
California where students were preparing for overseas service.
1985 found her at
Campamento Citlali
near Valle de Bravo in Mexico (60 miles west of Mexico City in the
mountains) working to develop a center for university student retreats.
She returned in 1988 and cooks from the retreat center interned in her California kitchen.
They wanted to develop international cuisine to broaden the menu for
their guests.
In 1994 Sue was invited to teach fast food oriented American CoMission
volunteers food survival skills in St Petersburg, Russia. Could
Americans adapt to borsht, beets, and cabbage? Two Russian friends,
Valentina Platova and Alex
Krutov, accepted invitations to learn healthy
style American cooking in her Southern California
kitchen. She has returned ten times to teach, support
graduate
orphanage work
and to
learn more about Russian home style cooking.
In 1995 she filmed a video cooking curriculum for the
Advanced Training Institute of America in Chicago. She has also
demonstrated for television audiences from studios in Tustin and San
Francisco California, Anchorage, Alaska, and Greenwood, Indiana.
In 2001 she incorporated a convenient two
stage blender batter baking process into whole grain recipes that unlocks more
nutrients and produces smoother batters.
Her research, teaching, and sense of adventure
took her to Okinawa, Kenya, Malawai, Estonia, and Russia in 2001 to
partner with cross cultural envoys working in orphanages, universities,
and community service projects. 2004 saw her in St. Petersburg and
Pushkin, Russia for an 8th visit to conduct "Taste & Tell"
classes for women who want to teach in Titus 2:3-5 ministries in their
churches.
In 2002 she published Cooking with
Children, with CD recipe demonstrations accompanying
her
Lunches
& Snacks
cookbook and Baking with Whole
Grains,
a
cooking
curriculum for high school level and above.
In 2005 Weight Management
with SueGreggCookbooks supplemented
the basic cookbook set in facilitating menu planning and calorie
counting for weight control. It also complements weight loss programs as
PRISM® or
First Place. The 5th edition of
Meals
in Minutes
incorporating the Two Stage Process in recipes was also released. A
whole foods program was introduced to participants at
The
Harbor in St. Petersburg,
Russia.
December 2006 saw the release of Sue's first complete cookbook
introducing whole foods in the Russian
Language. It is accompanied by a Bible study guide for students
focusing on four food connected studies in the Gospel of John and a teaching guide for cooking class leaders.
An English translation edition was also released.
Final editing of a 3rd edition of
Baking with Whole
Grains
curriculum was completed in April of 2007 along with
a new Introduction to Whole Grain Baking which
serves as the cooking course text.
A new 4th edition of Breakfasts was printed September
2007. Recipes were revised to include the two stage process step.
Tips and menu plan variations for weight management for both men and women were
added.
Sue Gregg’s husband, Rich, partners as her critical but appreciative
taste tester, photographer, editor, publisher, and webmaster. On Friday evenings you'll often find them
traveling through downtown Los Angeles and on to Hollywood to serve dishes
such as Baked Parmesan
Chicken or Boef Chandlier to "The
Book of the Millennium," "Does the Sun Set in the West?"
fellowship
group sponsored by Vishal and Ruth Mangalwadi on the campus of historic Hollywood
Presbyterian Church or at The
U.S. Center for World Mission
Sue Gregg’s research extends beyond current health fads and
nutritional studies to focus on the historically accepted basics (e.g.
choose fresh over processed, whole over refined, variety from all the
food groups). For example, ancient texts from the Bible and
archeological discoveries attest to the historical use and value of
olive oil in Mediterranean regions. Modern research confirms its
superiority over other fats and oils.
Helping others overcome obstacles to enjoying wholesome
food motivates Sue. She doesn’t buy the myth that things that are
"good for you" have to taste like medicine. She doesn’t
believe that Yuck is more healthy than Yum. Instead, she observes that
good cooks tap into the powerful Creator implanted pleasure principle resident deep within
the human psyche.
Sue Gregg is
motivated to
see others enjoy the benefits of a healthy lifestyle by discovering the
Creator’s design for living and serving. Then they can bring blessing to their
families and serve a needy world more effectively.
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