"Try It" Tuesday and "Work It" Wednesday Combo

OK, so I am working a two day post in one and I hope you love it! 

I love alfalfa sprouts, but don't necessarily love the high cost of them- not to mention that they usually spoil before I can eat them all. So, I decided that I would try to make my own. But how? Well, I did what every red-blooded, American, thirty-something female does when she needs to know how to do something- I Googled "how to grow your own alfalfa sprouts" and guess what I found? This wonderful blog! (You simply MUST visit this blog sometime, Karen is huh-larious!!) I was so excited! I can have fresh, wonderful alfalfa sprouts in 3 days?! Bring. It. On. I immediately ordered me some alfalfa seeds and got started!

Here's what you'll need:

Alfalfa seeds
Mason jar (pint size) and ring (NO SEAL)
Metal screening (per Karen's recommendation, I bought a splatter screen from the dollar store, traced the top of the jar on it and cut out a small disc of screen.)

Pour 2 tablespoons of the seed in the jar, secure the screen under the Mason jar ring and soak them in water overnight.

Day 1:

The next morning, I drained the seeds by pouring the overnight water out through the screen and rinsed them off with fresh water.

(Leave the lid and screen on through the entire process, until the sprouts are ready to eat on Day 3.)

See the tiny baby sprouting action?

After I rinsed them, I propped the jar on a towel to soak up any extra water that is still trapped in the jar.

I made the end of the jar a little higher than the mouth so that the water could drain out.

When I got home that night, I rinsed the seeds again and propped the jar back on the towel. 'Nite nite!

Day 2:

Basically repeat Day 1.
Say good morning to the sprouts, give them a quick rinse and prop the jar back on the towel.
(Are you appreciating the instant gratification of this project? Look how much they've grown!)

Before you go to bed, if you can wait that long- I did it as soon as I got home from work that afternoon!-

give these babies another rinse and tuck them in for the night.

Day 3:

Look, ma! Santa Claus came- and he brought a jar packed FULL of alfalfa sprouts!!

Congratulations! You have now grown a healthy stash of sprouts that you can enjoy for several days!!

You may want to try to rinse the hulls out. They can make the sprouts a little strong or bitter.
If you have a salad spinner, you can follow this tutorial for how to separate them.
I don't have a salad spinner (Gasp!), so I put the sprouts in a large bowl and covered them with water. This will bring the hulls to the top. You can push the sprouts down and scoop most of the hulls out.
Once I removed most of the hulls, I drained the sprouts and laid them out on a paper towel to dry a bit.

Then, I took the sprouts and stored them in a zip-top bag that I sealed half-way. I was worried that there may be too much moisture in the bag, so I stuck half of a dry paper towel in the bag to prevent the sprouts from rotting, then I placed the bag in the crisper in the bottom of the fridge. After a day or two, I removed the paper towel, but still kept the bag sealed halfway.

So far, they have lasted over a week and they are super tasty! Try them on salads, sandwiches or wraps.

I will be posting a wrap recipe that I used with these sprouts soon. Enjoy!