It's called farina, but many of us refer to it as Cream of Wheat because that's the popular brand name for the product. Whether you call it farina or refer to it as cream of wheat, it's basically finely milled wheat that many use to make hot cereal. It's usually prepared with water and/or milk and served up in a bowl with a little bit of added sugar. Honestly, it tastes and feels like lots of amor and kids love to eat it. Fortunately, it's also packed with plenty of nutritional value. For example, 1 cup of cooked farina has 58% of your iron daily value (DV) needs. It also has 4 grams of protein and is high in vitamin B-6, thiamine, and folate.
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While there is nothing wrong with serving it up hot and sweet in a bowl, we want to encourage you to add some other farina recipes to the mix. We've gathered some of the best recipes using farina so that you can take advantage of all of the nutritional benefits of this easily available, affordable, and easy to cook with ingredient. You might be surprised by just how versatile cream of wheat is and come to realize that there is no reason why it should only be enjoyed for breakfast.
Mix your farina with coconut milk.
Cow's milk is usually used in hot breakfast cereals, but if you are lactose intolerant or just want a different flavor, swap regular milk for the fruity and creamy leche, and prepare to become addicted! Add some honey at the end for added sweetness, if desired.
Stir in some egg and vanilla.
Pump up the flavor of cream of wheat by mixing in one egg yolk and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract for two servings. It will feel like a rich custard that you can have for breakfast
Make farina-infused pancakes.
A classic bowl of farina is comforting and delicious, but you can also add the healthy ingredient into pancake batter to up the iron and protein content. The farina will not make your pancakes heavier, instead it helps keep them moist and fluffy.
Serve with a fried egg.
You can serve the farina with a fried egg on the side, but don't be afraid to serve it with a fried egg right on top. Placing a fried egg over a traditional cream of wheat mixture will feel like a hug for your tummy. Also, when you break the yolk on the egg it will mix into the hot cereal for added yumminess.
Add it to a batch of cinnamon blueberry muffins.
Adding 1/2 cup of cream of wheat mix to the dry ingredients (for a batch of 12) will make super fluffy blueberry muffins that your familia will love. These also keep very well days later and can be enjoyed as a snack or popped into a lunch box for the kids or grown-ups.
You can use farina to make a simple quiche.
Quiche is delicious, but a lot of people stay away from it because they think it's too hard to make, but that's totally not true. This particular quiche recipe is very simple. Once you master it, you can play with the recipe and make it your own.
Savory cream of wheat for breakfast or dinner is always an option.
Another option for breakfast is to combine a hot bowl of savory farina with a soft-boiled egg, ham, and chives. So good! And if you are more of a bacon than ham fan, then swap out the ham for some bacon for sure. Also, remember that breakfast for dinner is a fun swap.
How about a farina cranberry apple crumble?
This is cranberry apple crumble is so easy to make. It only contains five ingredients! The results are fantastic for dessert and you can serve it with a scoop of ice cream or frozen yogurt to make it even more scrumptious. Your whole family will love it.
It’s peanut butter jelly time!
If your kids like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, then you’ve got to give this peanut butter and jelly cream of wheat recipe a try. It calls for roasted grapes, but we won’t tell if you swap it out for just grape jelly.
Make chocolate chip farina cookie dough that is safe to eat.
A lot of people love the taste of raw cookie dough, but it’s not really safe to eat because it usually contains raw egg. Well, if you or your kids like the flavor of chocolate chip cookie dough, this recipe is perfect and perfectly safe for you to munch on.
Farina cookies that taste like Mexican wedding cookies.
Aside from not having any nuts in them—which you can totally add to the recipe, if you like—these farina cookies covered in powdered sugar taste a lot like Mexican wedding cookies. They pair so well with an afternoon cup of coffee!
Add farina to a peach and cherry smoothie.
You can add farina to any kind of smoothie you like, but this recipe for a peach and cherry smoothie is pretty tasty. Once you see how to add farina to it, though, you can use the same technique with any smoothie combo you like.
Bake up a fresh loaf of bread.
In about 35 minutes you could make and bake an exquisite loaf of slightly sweet bread infused with the nutty flavor of farina. Once it cools down a bit, you can slather it with butter or drizzle some honey on it. You might want to double the recipe because it goes fast.
You can make farina dumpling soup.
Soup in general is so comforting and this farina dumpling soup is particularly comforting. Make a batch on a cold day or when someone in the family isn't feeling well. It will help everyone feel better from the inside out.
Make cake!
This farina cake is served drenched in orange zest syrup and honey. Doesn't that sound incredible? The cake itself is delicious, too, so if you want to skip the drenching you can, but it's OK to live a little.
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