PERFECT SOUP
Though I (Gil) started my day with Sprout Cereal, a simple, delicious, and of course super nutritious meal - it’s the dinner we’re making that I’m thinking about. Lori came up with this recipe for soup, decades ago. In a word - it’s Perfect!
In honor of Perfect Soup and the chilliness of January - we’re having a sale on Great Beans & Rice - our mix that is the basis of this delightful bowl of goodness. GB&R will be on sale this week - for 16% off.
Though you can follow the link above to the recipe - here it is, for your enjoyment…
Perfect Soup
The sprouted beans and rice elevate this soup to a level previously not attained by other soups. Besides the nutritional value, the sprouting adds a delicate sweetness as well as alleviating the usual gastronomic discomfort associated with beans. It may be too good. This is a long standing staple of our winter diet.
INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup onion - chopped
4 cloves garlic - chopped
3/4 cup sweet pepper (any/all colors) - chopped
1 or 2 carrots - diced
1 parsnip - diced (optional but excellent)
2 cups sprouted Great Beans And Rice Mix
1 quart vegetable or other stock
2 tsp. oregano
1 bay leaf
1 cup sweet corn
salt to taste
tomatoes - chopped (optional)
DIRECTIONS
In a medium sized pot or pressure cooker, heat olive oil.
Add the chopped onion, carrot, parsnip, garlic and oregano - saute until the onions are translucent.
Add the sweet pepper and cook briefly.
Add the Great Beans And Rice Mix, 1 quart stock, and bay leaf.
Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer for 45 - 180 minutes or until the beans are tender and creamy.
Add sweet corn 10 minutes before soup is done and salt to taste.
Garnish with tomatoes, Avocados, and/or anything you like.
Serve with dense dark bread or Sprouted Whole Wheat Bread.
Notes:
The longer you cook this soup the more tender it becomes.
You may just Soak the Great Beans & Rice and go straight to cooking after that. Sprouts are nice - but anytime a seed soaks up its fill of water it transforms from dormant to Alive. This is the single greatest nutritional gain the seed goes through - and though further nutrients develop by sprouting - the gain is nowhere near as great as that derived from Soaking. And, since we’re cooking these - it makes even less difference nutritionally. As with all recipes - modify as you see fit, and enjoy =:-)
SPROUT CEREAL
Since I mentioned my breakfast at the top of this Newsletter - I have to tell you - we will have a lovely new lot of Buckwheat Groats in the next few weeks. I have told you several times before, but here it is again - Seeds are my responsibility - so I’m very sorry (if you understood my feeling of guilt when I’m imperfect (always), you’d know how truly sorry I am) that these are currently unavailable. We have enough to keep our Oats and Groats available - but straight Buckwheat Groats have been uncommonly popular of late and our inventory got depleted more quickly than I was prepared for.
I’ll get the new seeds in house ASAP, and we’ll let you know when they are once again available. You can find out even sooner by signing up on their page to be emailed when they are back in-stock. For now, Enjoy some Oats & Groats and know that when we do again have straight Buckwheat Groats - they will be very vigorous seeds - as usual. My tests of this new lot had germination of over 98% - and they’re delicious!
FREE SEEDS
The gift giving season may have passed, but we still have Kasha (roasted buckwheat groats) and Popcorn (multi-colored, for popping) we’d like to share with you. All you have to do is tell us you’d like some by leaving a note on the last screen of checkout. We have one limitation: If it raises the cost of shipping your order too much - we won’t send any.
Basically - if you order anything other than 2 pounds of seed you can ask and we’ll send you a pound of one of these, if you ask. The reason is that it costs us over $5 more to ship 3 pounds than 2 beyond California, Nevada, and Oregon. If you’re in one of those places - just ask regardless. If you’re not - just ask if you order 1 pound of seed - or more than 2. I know this sounds silly - but shipping is expensive - and though we’re happy to share these seeds - we can ill afford to spend more than we already have to do so.
OUR NON-HUMAN FAMILY
We’re busier at work this time of year - though not nearly as busy as we’d like. In any case - we have less time for pictures - but we did get some. We all send our love and best wishes for this new year.
Essentials for those new to the world of Indoor Farming...
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SPROUTS AND MICROGREENS
To us the difference is that with Sprouts we grow with nothing but water and we eat the entire crop (with the possible exception of hulls and roots that grow out the bottom of our Stainless Steel Sprouters) - and they are alive when we eat them. Microgreens are grown on a medium and we harvest them by cutting them just above that medium - at which point they move from alive to not. Raw, great, delicious - just not alive.
While I'm on this subject I need to explain why we have two different names for the same seed - like Broccoli Sprouts and Broccoli Microgreens. This is the same seed. The difference is that each crop has its own page - you go to the Broccoli Sprouts page to learn how to grow the seed into Sprouts and you go to the Broccoli Microgreens page to learn how to grow it into Micros.
This seed will also grow a full sized - which is like 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide - Broccoli plant in a garden - given the proper climate and encouragement.
SEED STORAGE
If you don't yet know how to get the longest life for your seeds - and prevent pests - visit our Seed Storage page. The best way to store seeds is in the freezer, but do not use the refrigerator as its humidity fluctuations can harm seeds. There's a bit more to it - so perhaps just visit the page =;-)
Grow to Live - Live to Grow.
Be well and happy.
Gil + Lori
Sproutpeople.org is an encyclopedic resource of our creation - for indoor farmers of Sprouts, Microgreens, and Grass. It is so enormous that it gives some the impression that we are a big business. The reality is that we are basically 2 people who eat and breath Sproutpeople - and 2 part-time helpers (one being our son). Our site has been online since 1996. It's the employee that allows us to serve all of you.
In addition to a section that teaches the Basics of Sprouting and Growing, a goodly section of Recipes, a bunch of Videos, and a whole lot more -
Every Seed and Mix we offer has a profoundly detailed page devoted to it. Those pages feature two sets of Growing Instructions (Brief for the experienced and Detailed for the not yet experienced), a Video, Photos of the crop growing day-by-day, Recipes, Crop Specific Notes, Nutrition Info, and quite a bit more. Each of our Supplies also has a detailed page.
Our vast content is organized with Tabs (on computer) and Pull-Down Menus (on mobile devices). Click/Choose, for example Detailed Instructions on the page you go to when you click any of the pictures surrounding this text - and you will be presented Seriously Detailed Instructions. Click around. Growing Photos. Notes. Recipes. Please let us share what we know.
We survive by selling on the internet, but we live to educate anyone who wants to learn about growing sprouts and microgreens. Learning is what the internet was actually built for, so we're really just doing our part.
Please enjoy sproutpeople.org