Some recipes act less as precise instructions that need to be followed to successfully complete a dish and more as reminders for the possibilities that can be created. I share one of the latter recipes this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.

When I adopted hot cereal into my regular meal schedule, the mix of grains I used opened up options for a range of recipes. I rarely bother to measure out portions these days, just combining the various grains by sight to come up with a blend that I not only cook into Russian kasha but also dehydrate for granola and use as a rolled oat replacement in other recipes. The various flakes add more flavor and texture than a single grain and can be easily and affordably combined at home.

Learn more about making a versatile multigrain hot cereal mix and get the complete recipe for Russian Kasha in my column.

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Twice as Tasty

The longest-cooking grain in the cereal mix that you create determines where you can use it. My standard multigrain hot cereal mix includes wheat flakes that need to simmer for about 25 minutes to soften, so I don’t use the blend in cookies or other recipes that bake quickly. When I make a blend that combines regular rolled oats with quick-cooking flakes, like rice and buckwheat, I’ll swap it into my favorite oatmeal cookie recipes.

Grain size matters too. For a hot cereal that I can prepare by just adding boiling water, I grind the multigrain hot cereal mix I share in this week’s column in the food processor, until it turns into a coarse flour, and then combine this with quick-cooking oat flakes. It’s not quite instant oatmeal, since it needs to sit in the boiling water a few minutes to soften, but it has far more flavor than commercial blends and I can add sweetener, spices, seeds and nuts, and dried fruit to taste.

Here are some of the other recipes for which I scoop into a multigrain mix. You can find more ideas for using homemade blends in the recipe index.

• Gourmet Granola with Nuts and Fruit
• Nut-Free Gourmet Granola
• Rhubarb–Apple Crisp
• Sour Cream–Applesauce Coffee Cake or Muffins
• Double Apple Muffins

You can also learn to make one of my other favorite hot cereals, with pearl barley, in this blog post.

Want more Twice as Tasty recipes? Get my books! Click here to order a personally signed, packaged, and shipped copy of The Complete Guide to Pickling directly from me. I also share tasty ways to use pickles in The Pickled Picnic; it’s only available here.