Tag: healthy eating

The Bread Experiment

I hate buying bread. I dislike the fact that store-bought bread is not that healthy and I resent having to buy an entire loaf at a time, because most of it goes bad before I get around to eating it. I rarely buy bread as a result.

But yesterday, I wanted some bread.

I could taste that bread, the craving was so strong.

The thing is, I don’t care that I live just down the street from the store. I was raised in the Mountains, and in the Mountains, you just don’t run to the store because you want a single item.

Where I come from, you either make do with what you have or you do without. You do not run to the store for a single item.

And you especially do not run to the store for a single item when you know most of it will go bad before you finish it.

As I dealt with my craving, it dawned on me that in ancient times our ancestors didn’t have stores to go to, yet they ate bread quite regularly. They certainly didn’t have fancy equipment or a lot of different things to add to that bread, either. Maybe I had enough stuff at home to make some of that simple bread?

I decided to dig through my pantry and found a small bag of self-rising flour. Yes!

I wasn’t in the mood for biscuits, however. I wanted bread, and I wanted it fast.

I decided to experiment.

I took a bit of the flour, added some melted butter, and mixed it well. Then I added water until it made a dough.

Once the dough was made, I heated up a skillet, rolled it into thin pieces, and fried it for a few seconds. It looked like pita bread or a thick flour tortilla when it was done.

That bread tasted heavenly! I ate the two pieces that I made and went to bed happy.

My experiment showed me once more that we don’t need what we think we need. It taught me that the solutions we’ve been taught are not always the best solutions.

It also taught me that you can make small, quick batches of bread with minimal ingredients that is a lot more filling than the store bought stuff.

I intend to continue that experiment. The next time I go to the store, I intend to buy a bag of whole wheat flour and try again.

If I’m right, we don’t need half of the stuff we’ve been taught we need when we want a basic bite of bread to fill our bellies with.

My experience makes me wonder about all of the other stuff we’ve been taught that we need that we really don’t. What else have the corporations programmed us to believe that aren’t true?

Have you ever discovered that you could make something at home or even do without an item that you were taught was an essential? Please share your stories in the comments below.

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If you happen to find this post helpful, would you consider sharing it with a friend or on social media?  Thanks!

I’ve written a lot of books sharing my odd view of life in hopes of helping others. My most notorious book is titled The Shoestring Girl: How I Live on Practically Nothing and You Can Too, but The Minimalist Cleaning Method is pretty popular as well. You can find them at the following places:

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Apple iBooks
Smashwords (non-DRM)

Thank you for your support!

The Brown Rice Surprise

“My body is made of brown rice.”

Dirk Benedict

I’ve never really thought much of brown rice. No one ever ate it around me as a child, so in my experience, it was white rice or none at all.

But just because I haven’t tried something in the past doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t try it now. Times change, and it is always best if we change with them.

I’d heard that brown rice had some qualities that would make it a healthier, more effective rice to add to my diet. While the taste is reputed to be a bit different, brown rice contains all of the things that have been stripped out of white rice. Basically, brown rice is the equivalent of whole wheat, while white rice is the equivalent of white flour.

Brown rice, like whole wheat, is healthier, because it hasn’t had essential nutrients stripped from it before we ever get it.

With this in mind, I decided to try a small bag of brown rice. I cooked up a small batch with some egg for breakfast this weekend to try it.

Have you ever noticed that, when you eat white rice, you never stay full for very long? That no matter how much you pig out, you’re always starving a short time later?

That doesn’t happen with brown rice. I ate a small bowl this morning and I still feel full and satiated several hours later. The only other food I’ve had that has made me feel full for so long has been old-fashioned oatmeal.

I am pleasantly surprised.

The taste is a bit nuttier compared to white rice (which is actually rather bland). It’s a pleasant taste. I can tell that, for savory meals, that brown rice is definitely the way to go. Why cook multiple times when you can cook once and it leaves you full for longer?

Now that I know just how effective brown rice is at eliminating hunger, I will definitely be incorporating it into my diet. It is a healthy, economical way to fill your belly.

Right now, my favorite ways to eat it are by cracking an egg on it at the very end of cooking and mixing it in. The heat from cooking the rice cooks the egg quickly. I like adding the egg and small chunks of whatever pre-cooked meat I happen to have available. I’ll begin to add vegetables to it when I go to the store, and a bit of soy sauce at the end will add a bit of spark to the dish.

Have you ever cooked with brown rice? How do you eat it? Do you have any simple recipes to share? If so, please share your stories in the comments below.

~#~

If you happen to find this post helpful, would you consider sharing it with a friend or on social media?  Thanks!

I’ve written a lot of books sharing my odd view of life in hopes of helping others. My most notorious book is titled The Shoestring Girl: How I Live on Practically Nothing and You Can Too, but The Minimalist Cleaning Method is pretty popular as well. You can find them at the following places:

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Apple iBooks
Smashwords (non-DRM)

Thank you for your support!