Trader Joe's Brown Rice Medley

For lunches and dinners I have been trying to steer in the direction of brown rice more than your average white rice. In all honesty, brown rice can get boring, so I decided to pick up a package of Trader Joe's Brown Rice Medley to change things up a bit and I have to say ... I really do enjoy it.

Sure, the mixture isn't all technically rice but it does the job by switching things up. The mixture of a blend of long grain brown rice, black barley and daikon radish seeds. It's certainly a different texture of rice, but it's nothing crazy. The barley maintains a bit of a bite (which also seems to be the texture attention getter) but I feel it blends nicely with the other two grains. I found the first bite was odd ... but after that you get used to the feel of the barley and the radish seeds and it doesn't phase you any longer.

I've made this a weekly staple in my meal prep routine, opting to cook a cup of raw rice in my rice pot. I simply follow the directions on the bag (1 cup rice to 2 1/2 cups of water - although I do omit the butter and add a sprinkle of salt and pepper) and it comes out perfectly every time. The presence of two additional grains does give it a whole new vibe. I personally haven't gotten too adventurous with it, outside of eating it as a side to my meals ... but I suppose you could even make a salad out of it (by using this instead of quinoa) or using this in place of quinoa in any healthier alternative tex-mex dish.

A serving, 1/4 cup dry - roughly 2/3 cups cooked, is 160 calories or 4 points plus values.