A light vegan/flexatarian meal just right for summertime evenings

We find that these long summer days really do stretch long into the evenings, and our supper seems to find its way to the table about 7:30 or 8:00 p.m. when it’s so nice to sit in the front terrace - surrounded by grapevines and next to a koi pond/waterfall. This area is on the east side of the house, so is cooler by evening.

Mr. Maven told me that he wanted soup and salad for supper tonight and I was happy to oblige.

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Multi-grain porridge as comfort food

There are times when you just need some warm comfort food. We like ours to be of the whole grain variety … utilizing a lot of different grains in order to get as many of the micronutrients as possible ( the whole being greater than the sum of the parts - literally ), mostly choosing those that don’t enrich the Big Agribusiness/Wheat/Corn corporate pockets.

Choosing these other grains also puts less of a burden on the environment and are more sustainable. When your food comes from one hybrid strain of something, the chemicals come in - in an all too often failed attempt to replace all that nature originally gave it.

Tonight was one of those comfort food nights when we just wanted it keep it simple, but a bowl of cold cereal wasn’t quite right either.

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Granola: the good and the bad

I could be a granola eater, but I can’t get my head wrapped around the calories and sugar that characterize the typical crunchy granola cluster. So, it was interesting yesterday while I was ‘binning’ at Whole Foods - a bag of toasted kasha buckwheat kernels, a bag of amaranth, a bit of kamut flakes, I got yakking with a fellow shopper about the granola choices.

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Tips to add nutritional value to white rice

Being of the whole grains are better grains persuasion, I don’t often use white rice. But this evening, I was doing a simple stir fry of bay scallops with onion, red bell pepper and baby spinach leaves with some bottled sauce, and the white rice just sounded better- and would cook faster than brown. 

  

Here’s what I do: I add some other whole grains to the mix. Since I use one of the ‘Fuzzy Logic’ Rice Cookers, it’s all pretty automatic, but works simillarly enough to my old rice cooker for this purpose. You add X cups rice and/or other grains and then water or broth to the corresponding mark. Close lid. Push a button and wait for the dingaling. I keep the ratio to about 4 parts white rice to 1 part other grains.

I keep Quinoa and Amaranth on hand all the time. I add these to the white rice and don’t notice any discernible difference in looks, but a nicer, but subtle nutty flavor. These grains are often available in specialty markets or the natural foods aisle. They are also available in bulk bins more often these days.

One of the great things, doing it this way, is that even fussy kids aren’t going to notice the difference. Ah … Moms’. We’re a sneaky bunch.

Shown above: Red Quinoa. Also comes in different colors.

Shown below: Amaranth 

Another grain I’ll sometimes add is quick cooking barley, or barley flakes ( which I’ve blogged about on here before). All of these grains add protein, fiber and micronutrients that bring a wealth of nutrition. You’ll not be sacrficing anything for the look and texture of white rice.

I also commonly add low sodium chicken or vegetable broth for extra flavor.

Rice is so wonderfully flexible that it will adapt to almost anything, and sometimes white rice is the best choice even when you’re trying to go whole grain. It’s nice to know how to amp it up.

maven