You Can Lead a Girl to the Whole Foods Bulk Bin, but You Can't Make Her Cook All Those Bags of Grains She Bought . . .

As I've mentioned before, I'm a teacher in real life, and my mornings and evenings have no real "down time."  Here's an example of my weekday schedule:

 

Morning

 

5:00 am:  Wake up and get ready

5:30 am:  Wake the 3 kids, and get them washed up and wrangled into the car

5:45 am: Pile into the car with kids for the 40-minute commute to our respective schools

 

Evening

 

4:00 pm: Head home from school

4:40 pm: Homework time while I get dinner on the table

5:00 pm:  Dinner

5:30 to 6:30 pm: A random hour that gets wasted before I realize how late it got

6:30- 7:00 pm: Bath, book and bedtime for my littlest guy

7:00-8:00 pm:  Bath, books, bedtime for my big kids

8:05 pm: Passing-out-on-the-couch-time for me

 

 

So you can imagine how I love a snow day.  To me, a snow day is like a gift you open in your pajamas; I don't get dressed and I try to use the time to do the little projects I always put off.  

 

 

 

So when this month's "Snowpocalypse" hit, I pulled out all the bags of grains I bought months ago.   I collected them with the best of intentions but never used them because they take too long to cook in time for a weekday dinner.  A few days earlier I was disgusted with myself as I bought 6 packages of "Ready Rice" at $2.00 each, knowing damn well I had about 10 pounds of all manner of rice lurking in the deep dark recesses of my pantry.  So when I was blessed with a snowday this Friday, I planned a morning of making up packs of rice and other grains for the freezer.



 

(I also pre-cooked a lot of the dried beans I've been hoarding.  The process is the same:  soak overnight, cook until about 5-10 minutes shy of perfection, then freeze.  The only difference is that most people, myself included, add some of the cooking liquid to the freezer bag before sealing it up)

 

There is no real "recipe" to pre-cooking rice and grains and then freezing them, but I thought I'd post it just to show how a lazy morning spent in the kitchen can make it much easier for you to add healthy whole grains to your diet. It is also a fraction of the cost of packaged cooked rice at the store.

 

Step one: prepare your grains as you normally would, but "undercook" them by about 5 minutes.  For today's monster batch I made quinoa, barley, wheat berries, jasmine rice, Spanish rice, bulgar wheat, and a rice mix I threw together of wild rice, brown rice and forbidden rice.

 

 



 

 

 Step two: Spread cooked grains out in cookie sheets and/or baking dishes and cool until lukewarm.

 

 

Step three: portion out grains into freezer bags.  I did 1-cup portions.  I use a Foodsaver and the special bags for this.  Lots of people just use regular Zip-loc freezer bags.  Whatever you use, make sure you are getting all the air out, and flattening the contents as much as possible before freezing.

 

 

 

Step four: Freeze bags for up to 3 months.  When you're ready to use them, cut a small slit on both sides of the top on each bag and microwave for 90 seconds.  If your grains are a little "mushy" for your taste, try undercooking them a bit more next time before freezing them.

 

Read more »

Miso Happy Soup

Some days, Folks, you gotta take a mental health day and just make some soup.  Today was one of those days.  It's freezing, work has been beyond stressful, and I just wanted to huddle under a blanket, watch reality t.v. and eat soup out of a mug.   Unfortunately, I haven't gone shopping in about forever, so I had to create something from my nearly-bare cupboards.  Good news is that I am ALWAYS up for a soup challenge and as long as I have water and some random ingredients I usually luck out.    I made today's soup with wheat berries because, as a whole grain, a wheat berry is a veritable powerhouse of nutrition.  I also used wheat berries because I didn't have anything else on my empty shelves!

4 cups water
1 cup wheat berries
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon Earth Balance (optional)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 (.7 ounce) packet of powdered miso soup mix (enough for 2 servings.  This is optional.  If you don't have it, just taste the broth and add more of the other seasonings to taste)
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup collard greens, drained
1/2 brick of extra-firm tofu, drained and cubed

1.  Bring water to boil with all the ingredients added except collard greens and tofu. 

2.  Once boiling, add the collard greens and tofu, cover and reduce heat to simmer for about 40 minutes, or until the berries soften.  Wheat berries will not be as tender as, say, barley when done, but will soften up quite a bit.  They have a chewy texture and a nutty flavor.

3.  Stir occasionally as it simmers, making sure that the wheat berries are not sticking to the bottom.  When berries are tender, taste broth again and add seasoning if needed.

Read more »