Sidebar by Rebecca Wood
Food – May 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine
One Pot, Three Meals
by Rebecca Wood
Here’s how to daily enjoy food that’s freshly prepared and therefore more healthful and satisfying. Simply cook a pot of grain in the morning and it’s the base for that day’s breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Whoops! Do I hear you saying you don’t have time to cook grain in the morning? Here’s how to make it easy. Put, for example, quinoa to soak the night before. Next morning while you’re fixing a cup of tea, bring the quinoa to a boil, and by the time you’re out of the shower and dressed, breakfast is waiting for you.
For breakfast, serve the hot cereal with soy milk and honey or the savory condiment, sesame salt. For a cold-weather lunch, pack the second serving of quinoa into a thermal container and bring along a hot thermos of soup. For a warm-weather lunch, make a quinoa salad.
Before you head off to work, place your last portion of quinoa out on the counter loosely covered with a cotton cloth or a bamboo mat. Then, when you walk into the door after work it takes but a few minutes to stir fry it with some fresh vegetables and tofu or chicken breast.(Or put it into a soup or casserole, or make it into patties and grill, fry or broil them.) There you have it, three satisfying meals a day and each one easy to make.
After feasting on quinoa for a day, then the next day make millet, rice, buckwheat, barley or amaranth. Supplement with a wide variety of seasonal produce and quality protein foods and you’ve endless meal combinations.
1 cup quinoa
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon ghee, butter or olive oil (optional)
1½ cups water (for domestic quinoa) or
2 cups water (for imported or monochromatic)
Wash quinoa and place in a bowl, add water to cover and using the palms of your hands, lightly scrub for about 5 seconds. Strain out the washing water, run fresh water over it for 5 to 10 seconds, or until the water runs clear. Makes 3 cups.
Overnight Soak and Cook Method: Place quinoa in 2 cups of water on the counter, loosely cover and let set overnight. (Or if you plan to cook it that evening, prep in the morning and let rest all day.) Drain out soaking water, rinse until the water runs clear. Place drained quinoa in a saucepan, add 1 cup fresh water, salt and oil, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 12 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed. Allow to stand, covered for 5 to 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve. Makes 3 cups.