Sprouting 101 & Roll Me a Fat One

Sprouting seeds and grains is great way to add healthy nutrients and enzymes to your bod and it's fun for kids!  Think: an ongoing science experiment in your kitchen!  And not the kind where living organisms are beginning to grow on that month old unrecognizable leftover dish in your fridge.  You can buy fancy sprouting jars but it's really not necessary.  It's just about fool proof.

Sprouts essentially turn a seed or grain into a baby plant packed with enzymes to boost your overall health and immunity.   Did you know that cancer generally requires a certain type of environment to flourish and thrive?  That environment is acidic and lacking in oxygen.  Sprouts, one of Mother Nature's little miracles, are alkalizing and supply oxygen to your cells!  In laymans terms: They help kick cancer cells' ass and keep your cells uber healthy.  So simple.  Thing is: growing your own is far better than buying conventional.  Don't half-ass it.  If you're going to eat sprouts, go organic or sprout them yourself.  It's too easy not to.  Here's the basics.

Go get yourself some sprouting seeds.  At Whole Foods, you can buy Mung Beans in the bulk section.  At many health food stores, you can buy a bag of sprouting seeds.  Or check out Amazon.  Its cheap and delivered to your doorstep in 2 days.

You will need:
Sprouting seeds
Mason jar or other glass jar
Cheesecloth (If you can find the unbleached kind...just get it.  Quit bitching about the price.)
Either the screw on part of the mason jar lid or a rubber band.

In a jar about 16-20oz, put 1 Tbsp seeds and fill just a couple inches with water.  Cut cheesecloth to fit over the mouth of the jar and secure with a rubber band or one of the screw-on rings for mason jars.  Sit that bad boy on your counter  over night or all day (8-12 hours).  When times up, pour the water out.  Now you water and wait.  It's that easy.  When the seeds/sprouts appear dry, run some cold water over them, swish it around to get them all wet and dump the water back out.  If you have a place to put the jar so that it can stay upside down, draining without falling and breaking, do that.  If not, not a big deal.  I didn't.  That's it.  That's all there is to it.  They will sprout little tails and then continue to grow.  No dirt needed.  No mess.  No fuss.  Idiot proof.  Below are some mung beans (bean sprouts) and broccoli sprouts I did.

What did I use these delicious little baby trees for?  A Thai Feast!  Recipes can be found in the recipe archive but below are pictures of the wrapping process to help with your rice paper rolling adventure!

New Recipes added today for thai feast:
Summer in Bangkok Rolls
Thai Me Up Peanut Pasta
CocoNUTS for ButterNUTS




Removing wrapper after soaking.  CAREFUL! 



Piling on the noodles and veggies.



This one is hard to see thanks to the opaque wrapper and the white plate.
If you can make it out, this is the noodle/veggie pile on the bottom center of the wrapper.



Roll the bottom part of the wrap over the veggies.


Now fold the sides in.



Roll it up!  Serve as-is or cut with serrated knife.

Here are some other pics of our dinner!  Don't forget to check out the recipes in the archive!