Have a Rice Day!

My main grain for today was rice.  I didn't actually plan it that way, since I don't actually plan anything, but that's how it turned out.  I think using one main grain for the whole day may not be a bad idea, though, so I'll probably do it again.  This morning, I put on a pot of rice to cook for breakfast, and we had that with diced mangoes, chopped dates, and almond milk, with a drizzle of maple syrup.  

Then for lunch, I made a salad with homemade lettuce (you can see our spontaneous lettuce patch below), diced peppers and cucumbers, corn, Greek olives, avocado, a few heaping spoonfuls of rice, and a little bit of Ranch dressing.  I was, sadly enough, out of the grape tomatoes that I usually put on it, but the salad was so good that I didn't miss them.

Here's our spontaneous lettuce patch.  I'm on a quest to figure out how to get all my gardens to do this with everything I plant. We usually get hundreds of tomato plants that come up in here, but the kids and I got the bright idea last year to shovel the spent tomatoes into a corner of the garden patch so there wouldn't be so many of them.  Somehow in all that, we, or something else, managed to spread lettuce seeds all over it (we only had 8 plants last year, and about half of them went to seed, because we didn't pick them before it got hot), so this is what we have this year.  There are now some tomatoes coming up, so they must have decided that the weather is going to be warm enough for them.  This is way more lettuce that we're going to be able to eat before they start to bolt because of the hot weather, so if you live near me and want some, please come and get it.  :0)

Then for supper, I cleaned out the refrigerators to see what treasures lay buried there, since I haven't been shopping for awhile.  I found several peppers that were only fit for the compost barrel, but among the stuff that was still good, I found: broccoli, cauliflower, celery, and onions.  I sauteed the onion in some oil, then added the other vegetables that had been cut into pieces, and stir-fried them for about 5 minutes.  To speed up the process, I added some water and quickly put the lid on the pot, so they'd steam a bit.  After the vegetables were crisp tender, I added a couple of cups of rice, and then put some leftover teriyaki sauce (recipe here: http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/05/easy-homemade-teriyaki-sauce.html)  over it that I also found in the fridge.  I mixed it all together, put the lid on it and let it cook for a while longer, and served it with a fruit salad on the side, made out of some leftover watermelon and a cantaloupe that was threatening to go the way of all the earth if we didn't eat it soon.  It was a delicious meal, and I had no complainers, which is always a plus.  Here's dinner.  Isn't that lovely?

Yes, that is kind of a lame way to share recipes, but since I didn't use one, there wasn't really one to share. It's just a matter of using the amounts that your family will eat.  The meals were varied enough that nobody even said "Rice again?!"  and I managed to use it in all three meals. The kids made themselves sandwiches for lunch, so they only had it twice, but it didn't bother them.  The nice thing about eating lots of grains is that they keep me full longer, and I don't start hunting around the house for chocolate, or other less  healthy alternatives.

I could have made the lunch and dinner recipes just the same if I'd had any other grain or pasta on hand. (I haven't yet tried pasta for breakfast, and I probably won't any time soon.)  It's nice to have it already cooked up, and then to just add it to some fruit or vegetables to make a complete meal.