Using Formulas

Do you use formulas to help you get things done when life is overflowing with things to do? I do! I have a similar breakfast each day. I often wear the formula of straight leg jeans, a top, and a jacket or cardigan. I clean something in my house every day so that I never have to spend one whole day just cleaning the house.

For the past few months, I have been working on a formula for a healthy lunch. A go-to method, rather than a strict recipe, means that I can use what I have on hand to make something healthy and delicious. After the tremendous success of my breakfast porridge here, I have been trying to come up with a lunchtime option that serves me as well.

Grains, greens, and beans are the healthiest options for me. Using this combination as my meal plan, I have been working on a formula that would serve a single person so that there isn’t so much waste. When I buy fresh vegetables, they often get thrown away or make vegetable stock or soup from them after they start to wither. I can never eat them fast enough, even when I buy the smallest bundle.

This past Saturday, I served the lunchtime formula to my guinea pig (Mr. Mickey) for the first time. He raved about it for the rest of the day and asked to join me for lunch on Tuesday. Since he has declared it a success, I am ready to share my latest cooking project with you.

To make this lunch (or dinner), You will need some grains. One of my all-time favorites is black rice. It has such a rich, savory aroma and taste. Any food made from wheat, rice, oats, cornmeal, barley, or any other cereal grain is a grain product. To make this lunch for one: I use about one-fourth of a cup of rice and twice as much vegetable stock to prepare the rice. I cover the pot, bring the stock to a boil, then turn it down to simmer until all the fluid is absorbed and the rice is done. This takes about thirty minutes. In the meantime, I saute chopped onion, mushrooms, and garlic to taste (powdered or fresh is fine) just to the point of getting soft. You can use broth or stock to toss and saute instead of oil. When these items are nearly done, I turn off the heat and stir in cut-up fresh kale. Cover and let the kale steam slightly as the pot cools. The kale turns to a brighter green when it is steamed. Set that pot aside and let the items rest.

Using frozen organic vegetables, along with any fresh ones I might have on hand, allows me to have various options while cutting way back on the waste. I also cut up a fire-roasted red pepper to add to the frozen vegetables. Add a tablespoon of vegetable stock, stir and put the lid back on to let them steam on low heat for a few minutes until they are warm. The goal here is to have warm vegetables with very little liquid. When the vegetables are warm, and most of the liquid is gone from the rice, I add the sauteed onions, mushrooms, garlic, and rice to the warm vegetables. Stir to blend the items and then serve in a pretty bowl.

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After days and days of rain and wind, Sunday’s weather was sunny with clear blue skies, so we took a long drive on the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway to Blowing Rock, North Carolina. We enjoyed a splendid meal at Rowland’s, located in the historic Mansion at Westglow.

I used my go-to formula for getting dressed for dinner. The pants are by Lior Paris, via ShopMyFairLady.com. The blue blouse is a Portofino shirt from Express. The satin lapel jacket is from Ralph Lauren a couple of years ago. The shoes are also a few years old from SaksOff5th. The bag is old.