Laurel of Leaves

getting back to my roots: my journey in true health and natural living

Real Food Recipes, Salads

Brown Rice Salad with an Asian Flair

I’ll be honest. I almost didn’t blog this recipe. Even though it was go-back-for-seconds-and-thirds delicious and ridiculously easy to throw together.

Brown Rice Salad with an Asian Flair

The reason? I was naughty. I used a store-bought flavored soy sauce with sugar and preservatives.

But before you relegate me to the dog house of real food blogs, allow me to explain. Because my husband and I are still traveling (sans income), sticking to our budget is extremely important. For the most part, we have been eating with our hosts in New Zealand. But now that we are staying in a hostel for a month while the owners are on holiday, we had to visit the grocery store.

I have to say, all that menu planning and price calculating was something I haven’t done in quite a while! Not that I’m complaining, since I obviously love to cook (and save money).

But imagine if you will that all you have in your kitchen is a limited spice rack, a bag of oats, and some fruit. Imagine having to start from scratch and build your pantry. But only for a month. After our month here, we’ll be back on the road working for our meals and accommodation.

So when menu planning, I garnered on as many vegetable and bean based dishes as I could. Stir fried veggies with brown rice or quinoa is a cheap, yet healthy, way to go. But when I searched the shelves for Bragg’s liquid aminos, I was shocked to find that the tiny bottle cost upwards of $12. Not exactly in our budget.

So the $5 bottle of Kikkoman Lime & Lemongrass Soy Sauce was looking pretty good. It might be full of sugar and preservatives, but one thing it didn’t have was natural flavoring (aka: MSG).

That being said, you could easily substitute Bragg’s liquid aminos, splash of lime juice, & a sprinkle of stevia for a similar effect.

And so, the nutrient-packed, economical version of my Brown Rice Salad:

Brown Rice Salad with an Asian Flair

Ingredients:

3-4 c. cooked brown rice
1 c. chopped red cabbage
1 spring onion, chopped
1 small zucchini, chopped
1/2 c. raisins
1/2 c. toasted cashews
2-3 Tbsp. finely chopped parsley
3 Tbsp. sesame seeds
good drizzle of olive oil
sea salt to taste
1/4 c. Lime Lemongrass Soy Sauce or Bragg’s+lime juice+stevia

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.

Brown Rice Salad with an Asian Flair

Now how easy was that?

The husband and I managed to eat the entire bowl for dinner the other night. Definitely a keeper in my book–especially with all those raw veggies!

What is your biggest budget concern when shopping for healthy food?

This post is linked to Homestead Barn HopMonday Mania, Mouthwatering Monday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday

  1. Carol

    June 27, 2011 at 8:58 am

    Sounds delicious! I’m going to try your recipe.

    Sounds like you have an interesting month ahead.

    Blessings

  2. Simply Life

    June 27, 2011 at 12:28 pm

    Oh I think this looks great!

  3. Jennifer

    June 27, 2011 at 7:38 pm

    This looks beautiful – I love those colors! Good luck with your temporary pantry building :)

  4. Alicia@ eco friendly homemaking

    July 8, 2011 at 10:31 pm

    Oh this looks so delicious! We really like brown rice so this looks like a great recipe. I agree I really like the colors.

  5. Meal Planning for Travel « Fruitfulness at Home

    March 5, 2012 at 11:40 am

    […] decided on sandwiches and cold salads for most of the lunches and dinners we had to bring: Brown Rice Salad with an Asian flair (pictured above) – we tried it on Wednesday (omitting the raisins), and it was delicious! The […]

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