Photo: Con Poulos

All my life, I've been partial to whole grains. When I was growing up, my mother baked whole wheat bread from scratch and my father made oatmeal for breakfast every morning. When I left home and began to cook for myself, I substituted whole grain flours for white with great enthusiasm, though not always with the best results. "Taste this banana muffin I just baked," I'd say. "Can you believe it's made with spelt?" (Actually, yes.) I've used whole wheat flour in gingerbread cookies (which worked) and in piecrusts (which didn't). "Oh, for heaven's sake, eat it," I said recently to my 5-year-old, who was warily eyeing a blueberry-bran breakfast bar I'd put in front of him. "Just chew a little more if you have to."