Home Sweet Home!

We're back! After a week at the beach (and more importantly 24 hours in the car!) we're finally back home and getting settled back into our old routine...just in time for school. It was such a shock for me when we got home yesterday and I started unpacking and planning for the coming week. I was making out the grocery list and realized I need to start packing lunches again! I came home to an empty fridge, which is both depressing, since I have to drag everyone to the store for a super trip, but also a little fun, since it's kind of a clean slate. So I'm going to start baking a big batch of rice and preparing beans for the slow cooker. These are the lazy way to prepare whole foods! I like to make a big batch of rice and beans, then freeze them so they're ready to use when I need them. I've been meaning to add these two recipes here for awhile and today I finally remembered! So:
Rice:
1 1/2 C brown rice
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 1/2 C boiling water
2 tsp olive oil
mix all ingredients in a 1 1/2 qt casserole dish. Cover and bake at 375 for about an hour, or until all water is absorbed.

Beans:
Measure 1 part beans to 4 parts water (measure beans before they're soaked)
Soak beans overnight (I do this in the slow cooker, because who wants to dirty another pot?) and cook for 3-5 hrs on High or 8-12 hrs on low. If you don't have time to soak the beans cook them 4-6 hrs on high or 12-14 hrs on low.