Planning ahead

I just referred to this week's menu, which is posted on the refrigerator, to find out if I need to prepare anything for tomorrow's meals. I am planning brown rice and baby bok choy stir-fry for dinner tomorrow night, with tamari (soy sauce), sesame oil, and about 1/3 lb. of wild Alaskan salmon (yes, shared between two people with good appetites! this is one of our ways of spreading our food dollars a little further). This meal requires defrosting the salmon, obviously, but perhaps more importantly, soaking the rice! Again, this is to neutralize phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors that are naturally present in most whole grains, seeds, and nuts. Soaking and sprouting are two great ways to fix these pesky problems. Like the oatmeal, I soak my brown rice (the short grain variety, which has a nicer taste and texture for Asian dishes) with the same amount of warm water and 2 tbsp. of whey per cup of rice.

Here is my bowl of 2 cups brown rice, 2 cups water, and 4 tbsp. whey. Not much to see really. It's best to let your grains soak at least a full day, or even longer. [Not long ago I made a fantastic stuffed butternut squash dish that incorporated quinoa and lots of veggies. I put the quinoa on to soak a bit too soon and it was in the water and whey for five days! Smelled a little odd, but I rinsed and cooked it and it tasted absolutely DELICIOUS. I have never been a quinoa fan as it has always tasted funny to me, but now I know how to make it taste better! The extended soaking definitely did the trick.]

Other recent preparations for future meals includes: saving all remnants of our turkey meals (bones, skin - everything that was not consumed) for making soup later in the week. I like to pop everything into a ziploc bag or plastic container and stick it in the freezer until I'm ready to use it, just so I don't have to worry about spoiling. This makes for easy and delicious homemade stock!