This past year has seen a simplifying of my at home cooking style. We have been having lots of “big bowls” as I call them here. Many of them have brown rice, or lentils, or quinoa as the base. Sometimes we use amaranth or teff which is grown by Reed Hamilton, a local gentleman.

The bowls start with a grain, and then from there I like to add goodies…..that can be anything from a nice goat cheese, veggies, raisins, nuts, seeds, dressings or even just some of our olive oil and sea salt.

Sometimes I make a big bowl for dinner, but sometimes I make one for breakfast, and I love making them mid-morning so that when Joe comes home for lunch he has something waiting for him.

This morning I made a big bowl with the intention of it being his lunch.

I looked in the pantry and we had some wonderful Lundberg brown rice. 1 beet and goat cheese in the fridge, big juicy raisins in the cupboard and our hand-pressed olive oil as well.

I measured 1.5 cups rice and 3 cups water and set them to boil on the stove, next I chopped up the beet and threw it in with the rice, I also added a handful of raisins. The pot came to the boil and I reduced it to low and let it simmer away for about 35-40 minutes.

When I uncovered the pot I found a brilliant bright pink rice with juicy puffed raisins dotted throughout! It looked amazing!

I tossed my big pink bowl with olive oil, salt and topped it with crumbled goat cheese. A masterpiece!

I had some for breakfast. I cam home after lunch and Joe was gone and had not eaten his serving. So I ate it myself!

Take a chance on what you have on hand and create your own big bowl! This is easy, wholesome “fast food”!

Filed under:
IN THE KITCHEN, blog, local food in california, nevada city food, recipes, seasonal food by Wendy Van Wagner