By Gretchen McKay, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

When you’ve got a family member with a severe gluten allergy, it can be slim pickings when it comes to baked goods and other dishes made with grains like wheat, barley and rye.

Not only are menu choices often limited when planning dinner or dessert, but even a mild sensitivity can wreak havoc on a loved one’s tummy if you don’t use distinct cookware and keep counters, cutting boards and utensils super clean to avoid cross contamination.

Related Articles

Small-town Minnesota wine gets international attention

‘American Soul’ author explains how Black history shapes US cuisine

St. Paul: On Rice Street, Born’s Bar says goodbye — for now

Gretchen’s table: Make cheesy broccoli chicken bake like you remember

Recipe: These tortilla wraps showcase cabbage and chicken

One-to-one gluten-free flours and naturally gluten-free grains and seeds like quinoa, corn, buckwheat, rice and oats make it easier at meal time, at an added expense.

Anyone who’s shopped the gluten-free aisle at a major grocery store or perused the offerings on websites like Bob’s Red Mill knows these specialty products are significantly more expensive than everyday products made with wheat. That’s thanks to economies of scale (it’s a much smaller market), the rigorous testing involved to achieve certification and all the experimenting that goes into making a product that actually tastes good.

A 12-ounce loaf of Udi’s gluten-free white sandwich bread, for example, typically costs $6 or more at most grocery stores — roughly two or three times the price of a 16-ounce “regular” white loaf.

Still, gluten-free products are a culinary lifeline for some, as well as a fun way to add a little variety to daily meals with different tastes and textures.

With that in mind, we’d like to introduce you to sorghum, an alternative grain you might be unfamiliar with but should get to know.

Available both as a milled flour and a pearled cereal grain, sorghum is considered an ancient grain — that is, it’s been grown for hundreds of years and largely remains unaltered through modern farming practices. It’s believed to have been domesticated in East-Central Africa at least 5,000 years ago.

Today, it’s the fifth most produced cereal crop in the world after wheat, corn, rice and barley, making it an important dietary staple for more than 500 million of the most food-insecure people in the world.

High-energy and drought-tolerant, sorghum’s leaves and stems can be used to feed livestock and also to produce ethanol. In the culinary arena, it can be cooked into a cereal and porridge; used as a base in grain bowls, salads and soups; fermented in alcoholic beverages; and crushed like sugar cane or beets to produce a syrup.

It also can be popped like corn for a nutritious snack.

Why build out your pantry with a bag of soft white sorghum flour or a package of the golden, couscous-like grain?

Not only is sorghum a natural source of heart-healthy antioxidants, but whole grain sorghum is a great source of fiber and protein. It’s also full of zinc, selenium and copper and is naturally gluten-free.

But the main reason to try it if you don’t have a gluten sensitivity is that sorghum adds a hearty, nutty flavor to so many recipes. And it is just so versatile. Depending on whether you use it in grain, flour or syrup form, you can boil it on the stovetop, bake it in the oven in breads, rolls, cookies and pie crusts or bring it to fluffy life in a rice cooker or slow cooker.

One more plus: Since most of the world’s sorghum is grown in the U.S. in what’s known as the “Sorghum Belt” that runs from South Dakota to southern Texas, you’re supporting U.S. farmers and the economy.

To help you test the waters, we’ve gathered some easy recipes that shine a light on both sorghum flour and pearled grain sorghum.

Sorghum products can be purchased from specialty grain suppliers like Nu Life Market and Bob’s Red Mill, or at some grocery stores (including Whole Foods) and health food markets like Naturally Soergel’s in Franklin Park and East End Food Co-op in Point Breeze.

Sorghum Chocolate Chip Cookies

PG tested

Gluten-free cookies often have an “off” taste. Thanks to the addition of brown butter, these definitely won’t disappoint.

1 stick unsalted butter, cut into chunks, divided
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg, cold right out of the fridge
1 1/3 cups sorghum flour
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4-6 ounces good quality dark chocolate, cut into chunks
2 ounces toasted hazelnuts, pecans or walnuts, optional

In a small saucepan over medium heat, brown half of the butter.

Remove the hot pan of brown butter from the heat and add remaining butter. Stir well and let cool while you weigh your flour and prep the other ingredients.

In a mixing bowl, stir together light brown, dark brown and granulated sugars.

Add cooled brown butter to sugars, along with vanilla. Stir until blended.

Stir in the egg. Let mixture rest for about 5 minutes, then stir again.

Mix together sorghum flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt, then add to egg mixture to make a soft dough.

Add chocolate chunks and nuts (if using). Shape into large or small balls, then press them down slightly so cookies will have flat tops. Arrange on tray and chill for at least 30 minutes, or until firm. (I portioned the dough into 20 smallish balls, which resulted in Oreo-sized cookies.)

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Arrange cookies a few inches apart on the baking sheet.

Bake cookies for 15-18 minutes, or until crispy around the edges but still soft in the center. (Large cookies will bake a little longer.)

Makes up to 2 dozen cookies, depending on portioning.

— cookiemadness.net

Roasted Cherry Tomato, Kale and Sorghum Salad

PG tested

Waiting for the sorghum to finish cooking — it takes about an hour — is the hardest thing about this nutritious vegetarian salad. I used grape tomatoes and lacinato (Tuscan) kale, but you could add any favorite green or veggie. Consider doubling the dressing if you prefer a really moist grain salad.

For salad base:

1 cup pearled sorghum grain, rinsed in a fine mesh colander
3 cups water
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
1 large shallot, peeled and sliced in half
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt
For dressing
2 tablespoons olive oil
Juice 1/2 lemon
1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper, to taste

For salad:

3 cups chopped lacinato kale
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup crumbled feta
1 cup rinsed and drained garbanzo beans, optional

First, cook the sorghum: Combine rinsed sorghum and 3 cups water in a small pot. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to medium-low.

Cook until sorghum is pleasantly tender but still has some chew, 55-65 minutes. You can wait until the sorghum is halfway cooked before proceeding with the next steps.

Roast cherry tomatoes and shallot: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a small, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper for easy cleanup.

Toss whole cherry tomatoes and shallot halves with 1 tablespoon olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Roast until the tomatoes are soft, plump and starting to burst open, about 18 minutes. Chop shallot into small pieces.

Make the dressing: Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper until emulsified. Taste and add more salt, red pepper flakes or lemon juice if not tangy enough.

Once the sorghum is done cooking, drain off any excess water and pour cooked sorghum into a serving bowl.

Pour in all of the dressing, all of the cherry tomatoes and their juices, shallots, chopped kale, Parmesan, feta and chickpeas (optional). Season to taste with pepper, toss well and serve.

Serves 4.

Adapted from bobsredmill.com

Carla Hall’s Sorghum Soul Food Buttermilk Biscuits

PG tested

My attempt at making sorghum bread was an absolute fail. (“Brick” doesn’t even begin to describe what came out of the pan.) But these light and fluffy Southern biscuits? Pure heaven!

Sorghum flour adds a mild, slightly sweet and nutty flavor to this recipe from celebrity chef and cookbook author Carla Hall. They are great as is, warm from the oven and slathered with butter, or at room temperature with honey or jam. They are best on the day they are baked, but also delicious reheated for several days afterwards. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Be sure to mix with your hands to prevent overworking the gluten, which will result in tough biscuits instead of flaky.

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen, plus extra softened butter for the pan
2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out dough
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening (like Crisco)
1 cup cold buttermilk, well-shaken

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and butter a large cast-iron skillet. If you don’t have one, a large round cake pan will work. Set aside.

Put both flours, baking powder, sugar, salt and baking soda in a large bowl and use your open hand to mix them together, using your fingers as a whisk.

Add in shortening and use your fingertips to pinch it completely into the mixture until you get coarse crumbs.

Use a box grater’s large holes to grate the frozen butter into the flour mixture. Toss so that all pieces are coated with flour.

Add buttermilk and use your hand as a spatula to gently mix the dough into a shaggy mass. Scrape the dough off your hand.

Use a large spoon to drop 16 equal sized mounds of dough into the prepared skillet, spacing about 1 inch apart.

Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool a bit and then serve.

Makes 16 biscuits.

Adapted from “Carla Hall’s Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration” (Harper, $35)

Sorghum Mushroom Soup

PG tested

This soul-warming soup recipe is so simple! I used white button mushrooms and added a few slices of baby bella just before serving as a garnish.

1 cup cooked pearled sorghum grain
1 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 pound white mushrooms, wiped clean and chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 yellow onion, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper, to taste
32-ounce carton of vegetable broth or stock
Sour cream, for serving, optional
Chopped parsley, for serving, optional

In a large pot over medium heat, heat butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil.

Add mushrooms and cook until they release their liquid, about 4-5 minutes. Remove to a bowl.

Add remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to pot along with chopped onions. Cook over medium heat until translucent, about 4 minutes, then add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant.

Stir in Worcestershire sauce, fold in cooked mushrooms and cooked sorghum. Stir well to combine.

Add vegetable broth or stock, and simmer soup for 10-15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve in soup bowls, garnished with a dollop of sour cream and a pinch of chopped parsley.

Serves 4.

Adapted from edibleseattle.com.

© 2026 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Visit www.post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. ©2026 PG Publishing Co. Visit at post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By MATT OTT, AP Business Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The American consumer’s confidence in the U.S. economy improved slightly in February after cratering a month earlier.

The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose to 91.2 in February from an upwardly revised 89 last month.

Related Articles

FedEx joins other US companies in seeking a refund after Trump tariffs are ruled illegal

World shares are mixed after heavy selling of potential AI losers hits Wall Street

Home Depot tops expectations in the fourth quarter, but customers pull back on spending

In downtown St. Paul, Aldi seeks permits to move into former Lunds & Byerlys

Mr. Clean retires after 68 years as company mascot

A measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for their income, business conditions and the job market rose four points to 72, remaining well below 80, the marker that can signal a recession ahead. It’s the 13th consecutive month that reading has come in under 80.

The measure of consumers’ assessments of their current economic situation fell by 1.8 points to 120.

Respondents’ references to prices and inflation were little changed but remain elevated. Mentions of trade and politics increased, while references to labor market conditions eased as perceptions of the job market improved modestly this month.

The country’s labor market has been stuck in a “low hire, low fire” state, economists say, as businesses stand pat due to uncertainty over Trump’s tariffs and the lingering effects of elevated interest rates.

Earlier this month, the government reported that employers added a surprisingly strong 130,000 nonfarm jobs in January. Still, the economy gained just 584,000 jobs in 2025, about one-fourth of the more than 2 million added in 2024.

The softening job market comes even as the U.S. economy keeps growing, often beyond projections.

By Samantha Liss, Sam Whitehead, KFF Health News

Lori Kelley’s deteriorating vision has made it hard for her to find steady work.

The 59-year-old, who lives in Harrisburg, North Carolina, closed her nonprofit circus arts school last year because she could no longer see well enough to complete paperwork. She then worked making dough at a pizza shop for a bit. Currently, she sorts recyclable materials, including cans and bottles, at a local concert venue. It is her main source of income ― but the work isn’t year-round.

“This place knows me, and this place loves me,” Kelley said of her employer. “I don’t have to explain to this place why I can’t read.”

Kelley, who lives in a camper, survives on less than $10,000 a year. She says that’s possible, in part, because of her Medicaid health coverage, which pays for arthritis and anxiety medications and has enabled doctor visits to manage high blood pressure.

Lori Kelley of Harrisburg, North Carolina, has deteriorating vision that affects her livelihood. Last year, she had to shutter her nonprofit because she couldn’ t see well enough to do paperwork. Under Medicaid’ s new work requirements, Kelley is concerned about losing access to care for her high blood pressure and anxiety. (A.M. Stewart/KFF Health News/TNS)

But she worries about losing that coverage next year, when rules take effect requiring millions of people like Kelley to work, volunteer, attend school, or perform other qualifying activities for at least 80 hours a month.

“I’m scared right now,” she said.

Before the coverage changes were signed into law, Republican lawmakers suggested that young, unemployed men were taking advantage of the government health insurance program that provides coverage to millions of low-income or disabled people. Medicaid is not intended for “29-year-old males sitting on their couches playing video games,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN.

But, in reality, adults ages 50 to 64, particularly women, are likely to be hit hard by the new rules, said Jennifer Tolbert, deputy director of the Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured at KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News. For Kelley and others, the work requirements will create barriers to keeping their coverage, Tolbert said. Many could lose Medicaid as a result, putting their physical and financial health at risk.

Starting next January, some 20 million low-income Americans in 42 states and Washington, D.C., will need to meet the activity requirements to gain or keep Medicaid health coverage.

Lori Kelley worries about Medicaid’ s new work requirements, which may disrupt her treatment for deteriorating eyesight, high blood pressure, and anxiety. (A.M. Stewart/KFF Health News/TNS)

Alabama, Florida, Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming didn’t expand their Medicaid programs to cover additional low-income adults under the Affordable Care Act, so they won’t have to implement the work rules.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicts the work rules will result in at least 5 million fewer people with Medicaid coverage over the next decade. Work rules are the largest driver of coverage losses in the GOP budget law, which slashes nearly $1 trillion to offset the costs of tax breaks that mainly benefit the rich and increase border security, critics say.

“We’re talking about saving money at the expense of people’s lives,” said Jane Tavares, a gerontology researcher at the University of Massachusetts Boston. “The work requirement is just a tool to do that.”

Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon said requiring “able-bodied adults” to work ensures Medicaid’s “long-term sustainability” while safeguarding it for the vulnerable. Exempt are people with disabilities, caregivers, pregnant and postpartum individuals, veterans with total disabilities, and others facing medical or personal hardship, Nixon told KFF Health News.

Medicaid expansion has provided a lifeline for middle-aged adults who otherwise would lack insurance, according to Georgetown University researchers. Medicaid covers 1 in 5 Americans ages 50 to 64, giving them access to health coverage before they qualify for Medicare at age 65.

Among women on Medicaid, those ages 50 through 64 are more likely to face challenges keeping their coverage than their younger female peers and are likely to have a greater need for health care services, Tolbert said.

These middle-aged women are less likely to be working the required number of hours because many serve as family caregivers or have illnesses that limit their ability to work, Tolbert said.

Related Articles

FDA proposes new system for approving customized drugs and therapies for rare diseases

As the US population ages, more employees are seeking caregiver benefits at work

What is ALS, the disease that killed actor Eric Dane?

End of enhanced Obamacare subsidies puts tribal health lifeline at risk

Nurses and New York hospital system reach a tentative deal to end the city’s largest nursing strike

Tavares and other researchers found that just 8% of the total Medicaid population is considered “able-bodied” and not working. This group consists largely of women who are very poor and have left the workforce to become caretakers. Among this group, 1 in 4 are 50 or older.

“They are not healthy young adults just hanging out,” the researchers stated.

Plus, making it harder for people to maintain Medicaid coverage “may actually undermine their ability to work” because their health problems go untreated, Tolbert said. Regardless, if this group loses coverage, their chronic health conditions will still need to be managed, she said.

Adults often start wrestling with health issues before they’re eligible for Medicare.

If older adults don’t have the means to pay to address health issues before age 65, they’ll ultimately be sicker when they qualify for Medicare, costing the program more money, health policy researchers said.

Many adults in their 50s or early 60s are no longer working because they’re full-time caregivers for children or older family members, said caregiver advocates, who refer to people in the group as “the sandwich generation.”

The GOP budget law does allow some caregivers to be exempted from the Medicaid work rules, but the carve-outs are “very narrow,” said Nicole Jorwic, chief program officer for the group Caring Across Generations.

She worries that people who should qualify for an exemption will fall through the cracks.

“You’re going to see family caregivers getting sicker, continuing to forgo their own care, and then you’re going to see more and more families in crisis situations,” Jorwic said.

Paula Wallace, 63, of Chidester, Arkansas, said she worked most of her adult life and now spends her days helping her husband manage his advanced cirrhosis.

After years of being uninsured, she recently gained coverage through her state’s Medicaid expansion, which means she’ll have to comply with the new work requirements to keep it. But she’s having a hard time seeing how that will be possible.

“With me being his only caregiver, I can’t go out and work away from home,” she said.

Wallace’s husband receives Social Security Disability Insurance, she said, and the law says she should be exempt from the work rules as a full-time caregiver for someone with a disability.

But federal officials have yet to issue specific guidance on how to define that exemption. And experience from Arkansas and Georgia ― the only states to have run Medicaid work programs ― shows that many enrollees struggle to navigate complicated benefits systems.

“I’m very concerned,” Wallace said.

©2026 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By JOHN SEEWER

“Today” show host Savannah Guthrie said her family is now offering a $1 million reward for information leading to the recovery of her mother, Nancy Guthrie, who went missing from her Arizona home more than three weeks ago.

Related Articles

Robert Carradine, ‘Revenge of the Nerds’ and ‘Lizzie McGuire’ star, dies at 71

House will vote on requiring locator systems that would have prevented Washington midair collision

Utah judge is set to rule on disqualifying prosecutors in the Charlie Kirk case

US military boards third oil tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking it from the Caribbean

World shares are mixed after heavy selling of potential AI losers hits Wall Street

Savannah Guthrie said Tuesday that her family is still holding out for a miracle and hopes her mother will be found alive, but she also acknowledged that they realize it might be too late. Authorities have expressed concern about Nancy Guthrie’s health because she needs vital daily medicine.

“She may already be gone,” Savannah Guthrie said in an Instagram post. “She may already have gone home to the Lord that she loves and is dancing in heaven.”

Nancy Guthrie, 84, was last seen at her home just outside Tucson, Arizona, on Jan. 31 and was reported missing the next day. Authorities believe she was kidnapped, and the FBI released surveillance videos of a masked man who was outside Guthrie’s front door on the night she vanished.

Drops of her blood were found on the front porch, but authorities haven’t publicly revealed much evidence.

Savannah Guthrie said her family needs to know where her mother is no matter what happened.

A memorial grows outside the home of Nancy Guthrie, the missing mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Felicia Fonseca)

“Someone out there knows something that can bring her home,” she said.

Several hundred people are working the Guthrie investigation, and more than 20,000 tips have been received, the Pima County Sheriff’s Office has said. The FBI and other agencies are assisting.