Enter your search terms  Submit search form
drgourmet.com Web

  Email To A Friend
  Print This Recipe
  Add To My Recipe Box

           

 

Special Diet Information

Coumadin® (Warfarin)
This recipe is NOT safe for Coumadin (warfarin) users.

Lactose
This recipe contains cheese and some of those who are lactose intolerant may be able to tolerate it.

Sodium
This is a low sodium recipe.

GERD / Acid Reflux
This recipe contains GERD triggers and those with GERD may wish to avoid it.

Gluten Sensitivity
This recipe is safe for those who are sensitive to gluten. Check for modified food starch in pre-shredded cheese. Use Heinz brand apple cider vinegar as it is gluten-free.

"Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food."
-Hippocrates, Physician

The refrigerator light goes on...

This salad has it all. It was designed to use Mediterranean diet guidelines but with American ingredients. There’s great veggies, high fiber whole cereals (wild rice), great fats in the grapeseed oil, seeds and avocado and modest amount of cheese. At first glance it appears to have a lot of fat but the fats are (for the most part) good fats with grapeseed oil, pumpkin seeds and avocado adding over 8 grams of monounsaturated fat. The perfect summer salad.

Wild Rice

I adore wild rice. It has a great nutty flavor that's different from almost any other grain. It's terrific because it adds so much variety to your recipes and works so well with almost any other ingredient. You can serve it by itself or with conventional rice, lentils or corn. It makes great salads and is wonderful in soup.

There are a number of types of wild rice on the market and it's a good idea to look carefully at the package to know what you're getting. Like conventional rice, wild rice comes in a variety of lengths including long, medium and short grain.

Black wild rice is essentially the whole grain, having most of the bran layer in place. As a result the rice will take longer to cook -- about 45 minutes -- and be chewier when finished.

Brown wild rice has had some of the bran layer removed and consequently cooks in less time, taking only about 30 minutes. It is not as chewy as black wild rice and the wild flavor is not as strong.

Blond wild rice has had most of the bran removed. It cooks quickly - in about 15 - 20 minutes. I'm not as fond of blond varieties because there's a loss of much of the wild nutty flavor.

Most wild rice comes from one of three areas. In the U.S. rice is grown in both in the upper Midwest and in California. For the most part California rice is cultivated and is fatter and longer. Other American rice is shorter and thin and is both harvested wild as well as from cultivated rice farms. Canadian rice is long and thin and, like that in the Midwest, both harvested wild and cultivated.

Wild rice is technically not a rice but the seed of the grass Zizania palustris. The grass grows in lakes predominantly in the northern states of the U.S. and Canada. Traditionally known as "manoomin" and long harvested by Native Americans, much of our knowledge of the cycle of growth and collection comes from the Ojibwe. Ricing is the term used for collection, being traditionally done in canoes by gathering the tops of the grass and beating the seed into the flat bottom of the boat.

When I purchase rice I will generally buy both black and brown varieties and have both in my pantry. I do particularly love the Native Harvest brand of hand harvested rice from the White Earth Indian Reservation in Ogema, MN. I found this brown wild rice originally at the National Museum of the American Indian and have since been ordering it online at www.nativeharvest.com. I also enjoy the popular brand from the Lundberg family farms in California. Their black organic wild rice is particularly good. Both of these brands are a little more expensive but the quality is consistently good.

1/4 cup raw wild rice = 143 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g sat fat, 0 g mono fat, 6 g protein, 30 g carbohydrates, 3 mg sodium, 0 mg cholesterol, Vitamin K 1 mcg.

Chopped Salad with Wild Rice

Servings = 2 | Serving size =about 4 cups salad

Cooking Time = 45 Minutes

This recipe can be multiplied by 2, 3, 4, 5.

This recipe does not make very good leftovers.

1 1/2 cups	water
1/2 cup	wild rice
1	red bell pepper (seeded and diced)
1/2	green bell pepper (seeded and diced)
8 ounces	yellow squash (seeded and diced)
1/2 small	avocado (diced)
1/8 tsp	fresh ground black pepper
1/4 tsp	salt
1 Tbsp	grapeseed oil
2 Tbsp	apple cider vinegar (Heinz is gluten-free.)
2 tsp	maple syrup
1 ounce	raw pumpkin seeds
2 ounces	reduced-fat Monterey jack cheese (shredded)
1	head (6 ounces) hearts of romaine lettuce (coarsely chopped)
3 Tbsp	fresh dill

Place the water in a small sauce pan over high heat. When the water begins to boil add the wild rice and reduce the heat until the water is simmering. Cover the rice and cook for about 30 minutes until there is about 1 tablespoon of water left. Remove from the heat and let stand for about 5 minutes.

Fluff the rice and place in the refrigerator (if you are in a hurry place it in the freezer but check about every 5 minutes and fluff the rice).

When the rice is chilled combine the red pepper, green pepper, squash, avocado, pepper, salt, grapeseed oil, vinegar, maple syrup, pumpkin seeds, cheese and romaine lettuce in a large bowl. Toss well and add the chilled wild rice and fresh dill. Chill for about 15 minutes.