wild rice

With "Top Chef" heading to Canada this season, it's a perfect time to highlight one of the country's most distinctive staples: wild rice.

All you’ll need are two medium acorn squashes, cooked quinoa or wild rice, fresh or dried cranberries, chopped pecans or walnuts, diced onions, garlic, cinnamon, thyme, olive oil, salt and pepper.

And in most cases you probably already have some of the ingredients needed to cook this way already on hand, such as corn, beans, squash, wild rice and much more.

The changes also expand access to whole grains like quinoa, wild rice and millet and to foods such as teff and whole wheat naan.

The mine has already encountered opposition from environmental groups and tribes worried about impacts on water and other resources such as wild rice.