Basmati Rice

I am going to ease back into writing again because being depressed is taking a toll on me.  I know it is related to health in some way but I don't have a doctor to whom I can go to so we can figure out what the heck is wrong.  I am trying to be more diligent in changing how we, and especially how I, eat because it is taking its toll.

So why did I decide to write about basmati rice today?  Well, I need to write about something, don't I?  ;)

Actually, it started with me trying to find things to put in the kids lunches.  Boy, they are hard to pack for.  I always fall back on tomato soup because it's easy, cheap and they will eat it all.  But when they eat something too often, they get bored.  So I have been exploring options.  Rice is something they said they would like to bring.  I can butter it up so they have a nice healthy fat to go with it.

I have always thought brown rice was the healthiest.  Never mind it tasted a little odd but you do what you do.  The long cook time puts me off making it very often and when I do, I make a large pot.  Most of it goes to waste that way since it gets shoved to the back of the fridge and forgotten about.  Plus everyone in my family likes white better.

Then I was reading the Healthy Home Economist's blog saying that brown rice may not necessarily be the best.  Apparently the phytic acid in brown rice is really hard to break down which means you do not absorb the minerals.  Hmmmm!  She also talks about how the fiber in whole grains is actually really bad for our bodies.  Fruit and veggie fiber = good, grain fiber = bad.  That makes sense to me based on how I feel when I eat either one.

Sarah says that her family eats basmati rice, which is more nutritious than plain white rice.  Well, if that's the case, I decided to give it a try.  We better like it because I bought a 4.54kg bag of it today on sale!  (approx. 10lbs).  The best before on it is August 24, 2012 so we have time to use it up, although I may store it in the freezer.

(Update: Mark and I had some for lunch with our taco soup {recipe to come} and I LOVE it!  It is the best rice I ever had!  I soaked it for an hour and it took about 10 minutes to cook to tender perfection.  With salt and butter, it can stand alone for taste. )

On the package it still suggests soaking it for at least half an hour.  I'm sure it is to improve the taste or cook-ability.  I could always soak it overnight, cook in the morning and put it in their thermos's.

Amazon.com has basmati rice if you want to check out these links (yes, I am an affiliate).  I did not buy organic as the store did not have it:
Village Harvest Organic Basmati Premium Aromatic Rice, 30-Ounce Bags (Pack of 6)
Rice, Brown Basmati, Organic, 25# Bulk
Rice, Basmati Brown Lundberg, Organic, 3lb
Laziz Basmati Rice, 10-Pound BagSBR White Basmati Rice - Certified Organic Gluten-Free Kosher Certified- 2LB


photo credit: http://www.freeclipartpictures.com/clipart/pages/00pics.shtml?food199.jpg

Salmon Salad

I made the soaked brown rice last Friday and it was pretty good. Everyone except for Ethan loved it, but he's picky and wouldn't even touch it. The big problem was there was a ton left over!

About 10 years ago or so, there was a big thing with rice salads around here. Generally you took rice, dumped salad dressing and some vegetables in it and voila, you have a rice salad. I think it was Kraft's way of getting people to buy their stuff.

I decided to make a healthier version of their rice salad.

Salmon Salad

4 cups leftover brown rice

1 can wild salmon

1/4 cup mayonaise of choice (more or less to taste, preferably homemade, but I used the last bit of my Hellmans with Olive oil; it's made with canola oil in Canada, which is still an unhealthy fat in real food circles)

2 or 3 whole green onions, chopped

Other vegetables to taste

Break up the brown rice and wild salmon in a large bowl. Add the mayo and onions and stir well until everything is well mixed. Chill until ready to serve

This would taste great with sliced peppers or on a bed of greens. I didn't have either so I had it as is and it was very good! I used a lemon pepper herb blend to season it, but it tasted good even without it.

gnowfglins

You may be wondering what the title of my post means. "God's natural organic whole foods grown locally and in season". I love it! It is a blog I've been following for a while now: gnowfglins.com . For a while, I was drooling over the fact she has e-courses on her site. As you may have figured out, we aren't exactly in a postition to pay a lot of money for things right now. I am using all our resources to source local, healthy, nourishing food to sustain my family.

However, she offers a "pay what you can" option for the courses. I hesitated for months because I knew we could not afford much. So I paid what I could. If we can afford to, I will pay more later because it is an enormous resource! I am blown away by all the information and the awesome way it is presented. It has helped me understand why we need to do certain things to food to make them more digestable and allow maximum absorption of the good things while cutting out the bad.

Since I have "lots of free time" (as so many seem to think, but not really) and I really want to get into real food, I thought why not. I should learn to do it properly. I follow lots of real food blogs but it gets time consuming and a lot to wade through and I rarely get to the fundamentals. Speaking of which, there is a fundamentals course and a sourdough course. I will be working through them all (except the ones where I can't afford to get the cultures, like kombucha, for example). I'll be doing the best I can.

I have my first project soaking right now, brown rice. We are going to have a "Chinese" supper of soaked rice, vegetable egg rolls and a stir fry. The egg rolls aren't really considered "traditional" but it is a locally made food so it could be worse, I guess. I need to transition my family into better eating and I know it will take time.

I bought some sunflower seeds today which I will be making into sunbutter. It's like peanut butter but since it is not a nut, the kids will be able to take it to school. I am trying to find out about soaking and dehydrating. I also bought a few pounds of raw almonds that I plan to soak and dehydrate. I've done it before and they are yummy! I got a few other natural foods at the bulk food store and will go back to get more. They have a coupon to save $3 if you spend $10 or more plus you get a free reusable shopping bag if you spend $10 or more. Win win!.