Make Your Own Grain Mix

A few years ago, a friend of mine in Minnesota introduced me to Trader Joe's. I had a lot of fun browsing and picked up quite a few new goodies to try. My favorite is the brown rice medley with brown rice, black barley, and daikon radishes. We are not blessed to have a Trader Joe's nearby, so grab a few bags whenever we find one. Sadly, we have run out and regular rice is so boring after experience TJ's blend. 

I did a few Google and Pinterest searches for grain blends and found a lot of bread recipes, so I decided I would just make up my own. What I realized is that maybe there aren't any recipes out there because it's so simple. There aren't really any rules, so it's easy to whip together whatever you have on hand or can easily buy. 

For my first blend, I used:

1 cup quinoa

1 cup orzo

1/4 cup barley

1/4 cup brown lentils

1/4 cup red lentils

1/4 cup split peas

1 cup quinoa

1 cup quinoa

1/4 cup barley 

1/4 cup lentils. I really want to develop a love for these.

1/4 cup red lentils. Yep, still working on my taste for lentils. I added these for color.

1/4 cup split peas. I tend to use these for decoration more than making, say, hubby's favorite split peas soup. My blend need color so  in they went.

Then I mixed it all together. 

So pretty!

So, how does it taste? Not too bad? It's a pretty bland mix, because I tend to use rice as a base over crockpot meals so I didn't want it to compete with the variety of flavors it will be complementing. It cooks up easily--about 15 minutes, and has a nice texture. Plus, I didn't mind the lentils at all! 

I just ordered some daikon radish seeds from Amazon and will attempt to make up my own brown rice medley next time. 

Have you ever made your own grain blend?

Linked to:
Bowl Full of Lemons * DIY Dreamer * House of Hepworths * Housewife How-Tos * My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia * Not Just a Housewife * Sorta Crunchy