Growing Wheat Grass for the Cats (and dogs)

With winter's grip firmly upon us, my cats are safely tucked inside until Spring.  Which means my house plants are at risk!  When the cats go outside they spend some time eating grass or nibbling on the catnip patch.  Dogs do exactly the same thing although they seem to spend more time peeing on things (but that is a topic for another day).

But when the cats are locked in the house for 6 months (or more), they go crazy and attack the house plants. And that is a big problem.  Not for the plants; the plants can withstand some nibbling (and major breakage). It is a problem for the cats since MOST houseplants are toxic.

First a note on houseplants.  Most houseplants are under-story tropical (and sub-tropical) plants.  That means they can thrive in the shadows under trees in the tropics.  Which is why they thrive in your home. Your home provides filtered light at a fairly even temperature year round.  The problem is most of these types of plants are poisonous to keep the critters living in those climates from eating them down to nubs. My cats don't know this.  So occasionally they have a taste.  Most of these plants taste so bad that the cats leave them alone after that.  But not my spider plants (Chlorophytum comosum).  

Spider plants are generally considered to be safe.  Which means the cats cannot get enough of my poor spider plants when they are locked inside for winter.

Most other plants that are not toxic will not grow well indoors or have other quirks that make the plant undesirable to grow in my dinning room. I have occasionally put out bowls of chopped spinach and other dark leafy greens which the cats will eat. But the best solution to this problem is to grow wheat grass for the cats to eat.

As you might suspect, wheat grass is just WHEAT.  Shockingly simple I know.  Since we maintain a large supply of whole grains in our pantry (well the big closet downstairs turned into pantry #2), we can grow a variety of wheat types for the cats to enjoy.

I prefer to grow hard white wheat but my husband always grabs the hard red wheat.  Whatever your choice, here is what you do.

Step 1:

Get a small garden pot.  Any pot will do but make sure it has drainage holes.

Step 2:

Fill the pot with potting mix about 3/4 the way.  Do not fill it with dirt.  Dirt is dead.  Soil is not dead, but it is too heavy for use in a pot (top soil, garden soil, etc.)  You want potting mix.

Step 3: 

Put wheat berries (which are wheat seeds or whole grain wheat) on top of the potting mix.  Do not cover the wheat with the potting mix.  Just let the wheat berries sit on top.  This also allows you to watch the germination process which I personally think is super cool!  You want one layer of the wheat berries but they can be pack in there pretty tight.

Step 4:

Moisten the wheat berries.  You do not need to "water" the pot.  You want the wheat berries to stay damp but not wet.  I mist mine with water a couple of times a day.

Step 5:

Wait and watch. The wheat will sprout after just a day or two depending upon how warm your house is.  Keep the wheat berries moist.  Watch the wheat berries swell up with water then watch a little root pop out. The root will grown down into the potting mix.  Next the wheat grass blade will start to grow.  After 3 or 4 days from sprouting the wheat grass will be a couple of inches tall, and big enough to let the cats graze.

The wheat grass will only stay perky and happy looking for about 2 weeks.

Wheat needs full sun to grow and there is just not enough light inside your house, especially in winter. So plan on starting a new pot of wheat grass each week to have a constant supply for your pets.

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Nourishing Meatloaf

When you think of meatloaf, you probably are not thinking so much about nourishment.  You are probably thinking of a basic meat and potatoes man-pleasing dinner.  And it certainly is that.  But with a little thought, meatloaf can be a surprising nourishing meal.

When it comes to food choices, I do not worry about sugar, calories, or fat grams. Instead I concern myself with nourishment.  Is what my family puts into our mouths nourishing us?  Is this giving us what we need to live in a strong and healthy way?  Is this actually food? 

I am paying attention to things I do not want to put into my body like chemically altered ingredients (shortening, margarine, any hydrogenated fat, sugar substitutes, etc.), preservatives, non-food food dyes, poison, and similar items. 

Nourishment involves eating actual food containing all the things your body needs and preferably none of the things your body doesn't need.  So back to the meatloaf.  My meatloaf recipe is not only nourishing, it also helps use up some of the summer garden abundance. 

I start with a selection of vegetables fresh from my garden in summer (and fresh from the grocery store or freezer in winter) and grains.

Barley and Kamut along with garden veggies add a large nutritional punch to the meatloaf

First the veggies are chopped and sautéed in a little olive oil.  I love my cast iron pan.


While the veggies cook, I boil the grains.  Grains cook like rice (not minute rice).  Generally 1 part grain to 2-2 1/2 parts water.  If you don't cook the grains before adding them to the meatloaf, someone might need a trip to the dentist.  One note, rolled oats (like the stuff in instant oatmeal) does not need to be precooked. Steel cut oats do need to be pre-cooked.  Rolled oats are already precooked (betcha didn't know that did you).

Any grains you have on hand will do including rice, oats, wheat, barley, and quinoa.  I chose to use Kamut wheat and hulled barley. 

Cooking the grains

While the veggies and grains cook, combine one pound of ground meat with two eggs.  I used ground beef but any ground meat will do.

Once the grains and veggies are cooked, add them to the meat and eggs.




There are times where I will puree the cooked vegetables before adding them in.  It tends to hid the presence of veggies.  My daughter is pretty good about eating her veggies but she goes through phases.  Personally I like to see the chunks of bright color in the mix.  You will also want to add some bread crumbs to help hold the meatloaf together.

At this point I add in any seasonings.  Usually I use a little salt and pepper, some catsup, Worchestershire sauce, and various herbs.  Sometimes I also add parmesan cheese for extra flavor.  But feel free to spice up (or down) the mixture to your own liking.

Mix everything up together real well.  You could use a stand mixer for this purpose but I just use my hands.  If you use your hands, be careful, the vegetables and grains could be hot.

Once everything is mixed together real well, shape the meatloaf.  I like to make individual loaves which cook faster than a bread pan full of meatloaf.  But the choice is yours.


Cook at 350 for about 40 minutes.

Ready for the plate

Here is the recipe in a more concise manner:

1 lb. ground meat
2 eggs
2 cups chopped vegetables (try onions, carrots, peas, bell peppers, green beans or any combination)
2 Tbls olive oil
1/2 cup uncooked grains (wheat, oats, rice, barley, quinoa, or any combination)
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup catsup
2 Tbls Worchestershire sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bring 1 to 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil in a small sauce pan.  Add grains, stir, then cover.  Turn heat down to simmer and let cook for approximately 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, turn off heat, check to see if the grains need a small amount of extra water, recover sauce pan and let set for another 10 minutes.   

Into a heated skillet add the olive oil and chopped vegetables.  Sautee vegetables until soft.  Once soft you can puree the vegetables or not at your choice.

Put the ground meat, eggs, bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, catsup, Worchestershire sauce, and salt and pepper into a large mixing bowl.  Add cooked grains and vegetables.  Mix well.  You can use your hands or a stand mixer.

Form into individual loaves and put on a rimmed pan for cooking. Cook for 35 to 40 minutes until internal temperature is 160 degrees.

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Homemade Multi-Grain Pancake Mix

In addition to PB&J, my daughter loves pancakes; chocolate chip pancakes to be exact. Since pancakes have become part of our routine three or four days a week I decided that we needed a healthier option than all purpose flour or even worst some store bought pre-made pancake mix.

My solution is to make my own pancake mix which starts with grinding my own flour.  I have some friends who think it is simultaneously amazing and crazy that I would make my own flour and I must admit when I first learned it was even possible I was pretty much feeling the same way about it.  But now it just reminds me just how far removed most of us (including me) have become from the sources of our food.

Let me tell you a secret, grinding flour is really easy.  I fill up the hopper, push a button, and I get flour.  See simple.  Well OK I did first have to purchase a grain mill.  The decision on what grain mill to buy is the topic for a whole other post.  My grain mill is a Family Grain mill.

Family Grain Mill (bowl not included)

I can operate it by hand or with the motor.  And I have learned I like electricity so as long as it is available, I will be using the motor.  Grinding grain by hand could be a good discipline measure for teenagers. Let them choose between being grounded for a week or hand grinding grain for half an hour.  After the first time they will pick the grounding every time I would bet.  That would be a good book title "Grounding or Grinding."

I start the pancake mix process by grinding a variety of grains into flour.  I use whatever I have on hand. I buy grains in bulk, usually in twenty-five pound bags. With so much grain on hand I have had to become creative with its uses... getting creative with the use of grains really was more of a defensive measure given the amount of space it takes up.  Why buy the stuff if you don't use it?

Today I happen to have Kamut (which is a type of wheat), Spelt, barley, hard red wheat, and rolled oats.  There are lots of things that could be said about the nutritional value of rolled oats verses some other type of oats but that is not what this post is about.

From left to right: Barley, Hard Red Wheat, Rolled Oats, Kamut, and Spelt

See how pretty all the grains look!  That makes me happy.

I fill up the grain mill with the five grains and push the button.  See flour comes out the bottom.

I do not bother to measure how much of any of the grains I use.  As the grain is ground I keep filling up the hopper  until I get as much flour as I want for my pancake mix.

I often will take some of the freshly ground flour and freeze it in a ziptop bag.  Flour loses its nutritional value very quickly after grinding. I would like to think freezing slows down some of the degradation. I rarely have time to grind flour on an as needed basis.  So I keep some in the freezer; and yes, I do have a bag of all purpose flour in the pantry too.

Once the flour is ground I measure it out into a big pail I use to store the pancake mix.

This is made of food grade plastic. Please don't think any old bucket will do.  This bucket is fitted with a gamma seal lid allowing the top to screw on and off rather than being pried off.

Today I added fifteen cups of flour.

Then I add to the flour the appropriate amounts of sugar, baking powder, and salt. Feel free to use your favorite pancake recipe but for me it is 1 cup flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt.  Obviously I did this fifteen times (well I used a conversion chart... 16 tablespoons = 1cup; 3 teaspoons  = 1 tablespoon; etc.).

Then I closed up the bucket and rolled it around to mix all the ingredients.  The last step is to put a "cheat sheet" on top of the mix listing all the wet ingredients to be added later.

Please don't add the wet ingredients until time to cook. Can you imagine the nasty smelly mess you would get letting that sit in your pantry (shudder).  For the recipe I use, for each cup of the dry mix add 1 cup of milk or water (I prefer milk), 1 beaten egg, and 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (I prefer olive oil).  Two cups of mix with the proper amount of wet ingredients makes 12 - 14 pancakes.

The pail gets closed up and stored in the pantry for future use.

As for the chocolate chip pancakes, I cannot tell you how many times I put chocolate chips into the batter then tried to scoop them out of the bottom of the bowl to cook.  It doesn't work well.  Now I am smarter and drop chocolate chips into the cooking batter on the griddle before I flip the pancakes.

And in this way, only my little one ends up with chocolate chips. We finish off the pancakes with real organic butter (much healthier than you would think) and real maple syrup.

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