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In this episode, we're sharing how to level up your grain. Say goodbye to plain rice and bland barley because that my friend is a thing of the past.
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If you're ready to boost the flavor and skyrocket the nutrition, let's get started.
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Hey there, Sunshine. Welcome to the Power On Plants Podcast.
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We're your host, Jarrod and Anita Roussel and we're absolutely head over heels for whole plant foods, and helping you navigate this incredible plant based journey. That's because our lives have been completely changed by plant based goodness, we used to struggle every day with excess pounds and low energy, vascular disease, joint pain and lack of sleep, just to name a few. And even though we're medical professionals, we still weren't getting practical answers that actually worked. So we dug into the research, we started living what we learned, and now we both have our wives back. And that's what we want for you to the truth is you can do this, and it's not hard, you just need a way that will bring real and lasting change. And that path, it has to be simple and enjoyable. And it's got to be delicious, too. So are you ready to live your life to the fullest, then you're in the right place, because Living without limits. That's what Power On Plants is all about. So pull up your chair, grab a matcha latte, and let's get started.
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Okay, sunshine, are you ready for this, we are going to get in the kitchen today and start talking about what can we do in there to put some flavor into those grains. You know, when you think about grains, a lot of times you think about a bland white rice, I mean, we have boiled rice in the cardboard boxes that just have no flavor.
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Or maybe even make it homemade.
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It's just plain white rice, and you never put anything in it.
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And it's just plain white rice.
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You know, it just it doesn't taste like anything, let's level up the flavor on these grains.
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And you know what, I'm gonna teach you how to level up your nutrients today. Cheers got great ideas about that too, because you don't have to have it blame tasting. But the beauty is when you add the flavor the way we're talking about today, and we're going to tell you some ways to avoid as well. When you level up the flavor. In this way, you're going to level up your health because you're also going to be boosting the nutritional content. And this is where the game changes when it comes to your health and doing all the things that you want to do in life and healing your body so that you can do that. So today we're talking about how do you level up the flavor in your grains. Now the first thing that I want to recommend is adding in some aromatics, the things that make it smell good, because smell has a huge amount to do with the flavor that you perceive in food.
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Well, most of what your sense of taste is, is your sense of smell. Now, of course on our tongue, we can taste salty and sweet, sour and bitter. And there's actually even one called umami. Now if you've never heard of that, that's kind of that be fruit, Beefy, savory flavor that dishes have. And that's why they put MSG into products, a lot of the process products because it hits that umami taste, but that's something you don't want.
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You don't exactly you don't want that is not good for you. But beyond that, what is your sense of taste? Oh, it's actually the smells because the aroma, you either smell it through your nose, or it comes up through the back of your throat. And then that's where the flavor.
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So how do you do that?
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Number one, get your onions and garlic. They're going to fight cancer, they're going to fight inflammation, all those great things that plants do for you whole plant foods are the bomb when it comes to healing your body and preventing disease.
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Okay, so chop up some onions really Finally, let's talk about what are the different kinds of grains you can use this for. I mean, just think some basics right now if you're just getting started whole grain brown rice, nix the white rice, they've taken off the brand, they've taken out a lot of the fiber, it's going to go straight in minerals and some of the vitamins that are in that, right a carb is not a car but the whole car. Let's talk about that. Now you're eating the things that your body needs.
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Okay, your body needs that fiber to keep things moving through to feed your good gut bacteria. gut health is greatly linked to your health in general, your immune system, your ability to fight off infection, all those amazing things that happen when you can get the right gut bacteria, it's even linked to mood. They have linked it to depression and anxiety where if you do not have the right beneficial bacteria, it can predispose you to those conditions, right? So get that whole grain brown rice, get that keen Wah, get some barley get some buckwheat, some millet, there's all kinds of amazing grains you can try. If you don't know just Google whole grains. I mean, that's an easy way to come up with that right now Google, what are whole grains or if you're going gluten free? What are gluten free whole grains it'll pull up a whole list for you to try. And these are the things that you can bump the flavor up in with things like onion and garlic, chop them. Finally, I love to cook them in my pressure cooker. It's one of the quickest, easiest ways to cook whole grains, we cook rice at one to one ratio for about 22 minutes. So whole grain brown rice, you pay for every cup of brown rice, it's one cup of liquid, and the liquid doesn't have to be water. We're going to talk about that in just a minute. Yeah, so this is another way you can bump up the flavor.
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So but let's get back to the aromatic. So what about our herbs and spices got to get those in there. And that's such an easy way to do it, too. It's amazing how this can change the nutritional content, but also the flavor. So think about things like even if you wanted to do a blend of Italian seasoning. I mean, right there you're getting rosemary, oregano, basil, all these cancer fighting all these flavor enhancing and nutrient boosting herbs and spices, you've got to have those. So one thing I want to caution about is look at the bottle, read the ingredients on those you think you're just getting the herbs and spices but a lot of times you're getting anti caking agents, not good.
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You do not want those that keeps it from clumping in the bottle.
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But they're not healthy for you.
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You're getting oil.
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Yes. We have even seen that where we just thought why on earth? Is there oil and this herb mix? Right? So make any sense? No, I'm gonna get an ARB that's going to help me find inflammation and then I'm going to add inflammation causing oil to my feet. No, I'm not doing that.
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This is why I grab bottles of things and look at it in the store. And you'll hear me if you're on the next dial or the same outgoing. Why? Why? Because it's just doesn't make any sense. It's not necessary and it just doesn't have to be in there. So why cheez it? You know you're voting with your dollar.
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So buy the things that will heal your body. And guess what manufacturers are going to make more of that because you're not buying the other stuff. So yet, those are herbs and spices again, Italian seasonings a great one. We got to talk about why Pepper was just going there. In my mind. I wasn't sure which one you were gonna say. But in my mind, I was seeing black peppercorn Oh, yeah, you've got and it's not just black peppercorns. You could do any color peppercorn why peppercorn red peppercorn.
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But black pepper is what people reach for now. The problem is, the thing that makes me so sad in the peppercorn world is that everybody buys ground pepper. Do yourself a favor, if you've never bought whole peppercorns, you can buy them now with the grinder built right in, you don't even have to own a pepper grinder. Okay. Look in the area that where the, the fruits and spices, herbs and spices are and look for the peppercorns. Even if you name one that has that grinder on there, get it because I'm not even going to tell you what they allow parts of in the pre ground pepper. We won't even go there. But then there's there are certain allowances, air quotes there certain allowances.
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You don't want that ground up in your food. It's not food, okay?
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It's not meant to go in your body. You don't want that. So the other thing is it just doesn't taste good. I mean, it sits there it loses it oxidizes, it releases its aromatic.
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Exactly. And I was about to say that I'll tell you, we're just on such the same wavelength. I mean, we really could finish our sentences most of the time, but the term aromatics well, they're compounds within the peppercorn, that actually will turn to gasp.
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When you pre ground the peppercorn it has more surface area, it allows for the aromatic compounds to come out of that.
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And if that little metal box of pepper has been sitting on the shelf for a year or two, then all those aromatics are going to come out, you're not going to get all those flavors. And I'll tell you there are ton of flavors. We'll buy the peppercorns in these bags and put them in a jar and keep them store them that way so that they don't lose their aromatics but it's just I can't even describe I mean words are failing me at just the smell of those whole peppercorns. It's kind of a woodsy smell but it's not pine.
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Let's just say it tastes amazing rose me but when you grind a fresh that's when you're releasing the aromatics fresh on your food. It's just such a different experience. Yeah, I love it.
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It's incredible. Anything Naina way anything think herbs and spices are so expensive. Go to Vida cos.com Now we don't have an affiliate with them in wish we had bought stock in them years ago when we started using them.
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But yeah, we share some affiliates but I'm just telling you, this is how much I love it.
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Go to vitacost.com Look up front here organic herbs and spices so whatever it is frontier, organic Italian seasoning, Frontier, organic black peppercorns, you can buy huge bags, keep them clip store them on the shelf that the shelf life varies, but I mean they can last for quite some time on the shelf. Okay, so as long as you keep the air out of them, keep them rolled down keep them air tight.
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Okay, bags that come in are pretty light tight as far as I can tell. Oh yeah, the light doesn't come They're in Wales, some foil foil, but it's, it's like that dark. Yes, it keeps the light from oxidizing keeps oxygen out. It'll last for a while. Yeah, and they don't usually stay in our house that No, but it's so much cheaper and you need to start adding extra whenever you can. And anything, get the herbs and spices in there, make your own mixes. You know, once you learn the flavor profiles like what we teach, you learn how to make the Mexican flavors, you learn how to get the Asian flavors into your face, it's a game changer.
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And maybe you might like more of one spice in that blend. Well, you can make it however you like you can do I mean, absolutely, you can make curry blends, or you can buy curry blends as well. That's another great thing to get into your rice into your quinoa into your different grains. So think about those aromatic herbs and spices get more of those in there. Next I want to talk to you about color.
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Always think about getting color. I mean, why eat a big bowl of plain rice, when you can have a ton of vegetables on top when it's done. Why not put a little veg in when you cook some of that flavor gets into your rice right. So let's get some chopped up finely diced bell pepper, no one put a ton in there it is going to add some liquid, but get some get one in there. If you're doing it. I mean, I did huge batches of rice. So I would probably add cups at a time yeah was my 868 cups and my instant pot dry.
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Alright, so they're six in our family. If you're doing less, use less, I mean, you can freeze your chopped at bell peppers, I do that because it's one of my go to easy ways to get more bell pepper and pop it out of the freezer and just sprinkle in, you know, a handful into your rice. And as it cooks, it gives an amazing flavor. Greens, we talk about this, if you don't have our leafy green secret guide, go right now, power on plants.com On the main page, scroll down, it's toward the bottom, opt in to get this resource, all you have to do is drop our email in there, we'll send it out to you, it's not a long drawn out thing that's going to take you a long time to read it's beautiful pictures with suggestions. It's not hard.
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It's just you've got to know what to do. And I'm going to tell you 15 of the easiest ways to get more greens into your life. Okay, but here is one way when you're cooking grains, crush those grains and get them in your grains chop. And finally, we have some other ways that we do that. We actually are getting ready to send out an exclusive podcast episode to our subscribers, people who have opted in and said hey, I want more information more free information from you would you send me like leafy green secrets the the thing I'm talking to you about right now. And when you do that we send you extra things.
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You know, we have exclusive podcast episodes that we send out. We're getting ready again to send out one message now we're getting ready to send out just a value packed one on how do you get more greens and this extra on top of the leafy green secrets. So you definitely want to get that and get on the list to get more of these exclusives because these are the game changers. Alright, so get some of these greens into your grains. It's wonderful. It tastes amazing. Kale, spinach, bok choy, anything you can think of this leafy green, put it in mustard greens, arugula. If you want it more peppery. That's another way to get some spices.
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Think about the dish that you're creating and what those flavors would add to the dish like arugula is kind of spicy. So if that's going to go great with the final dish, throw that in there. It would be amazing.
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I'm a fool. Why not have you in the kitchen more often? Somehow, he always isn't in the kitchen.
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Look in the oil on my car. I just say me bag. Yeah. He gives away these little snake grits.
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These things that he knows and secret these little sneaky things that he knows how to do. You just made that word up snippets. Yeah.
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Right. So yeah, Jaron has snake grit. So he is apparently really good at putting some flavors together over here. Yeah, that was awesome.
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I'm sorry. I'm still laughing sneakers. That's awesome. I love that.
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Yeah, that what you shared right there was just a knowledge bomb.
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I mean, if people would just do that one thing if you'll take and just do these one these little things that Jared sneaking in here on this, it's going to help you change your life. Now, we're going to move on from the greens I want to talk to you about um, let's see what she was talking about.
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Well, the liquid Yeah, I think so. Let's talk about the liquid so. So do you have to just use water? I guess you always think Oh, rice, I'm going to add this much water or quinoa. All the different because that's just what you do what you do. But let's think for a minute maybe you've even heard this trick before but I want to share it on the off chance that you haven't heard it. Get some vegetable broth in there. Now. I've never been a fan of veggie broth.
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Storebought in a box. I just don't think it tastes good. I've tried about a billion different varieties. I think it's gross.
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I'm just going to be honest, I don't like it doesn't mean you can't have When you like you're entitled to your own opinions and play, maybe you've tried a brand, we haven't yet you've got a better source of exactly do what works for you. But I've never been able to find one. So then I move on to, you know, another tip, you could save up your scraps from when you're chopping your vegetables, save them in a baggie, freeze them, and when your bag is full, then you want to go ahead and boil those in water. And that will make a homemade veggie stock for you. Okay, that's a better option, I think, but and then you can strain out all those little pieces that were leftover. And that's a good option for substituting some or even all of the water, if you had a veggie broth, you can substitute all the water as long as it's not a highly salted stock, you don't want to salt your stock a lot. And I would even say don't add salt, it's easier if you're just gonna add salt, add a little bit at the table, do it, do it at the table or do it while you're actually preparing the meal.
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And we'll talk more about salt later. But that's not something you want to get a ton of in your life. So now I would say to this is an extra step. So if you're going to do it, just go ahead and make as you know, big batch of as much as you can. And then you can separate into smaller containers and freeze in that way you have more available so that it makes that time more efficient.
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Yeah, it makes absolutely sense that if you're going to freeze it an easy way, especially if you're not going to do large batches at a time and they're less of you in the household, you can use ice cube trays to do that. It's a really great way to store your veggie stock and they can just pop out a few cubes as you need it and add it to things like your grains and make them taste really good. Now, I've also had people say to me and Anita, I have this thing where I eat the whole vegetable. I never have tops left. I never have the stuff left. So how am I going to make vegetable stock? Well, you could boil just regular vegetables and make your sock there's nothing wrong with that.
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The easiest way pop in your instant pot. But what if you don't want to take the time to do that? Okay, so then I've heard gurus give the advice of eat bullion, just use bullion don't use bullion okay, this is a big takeaway I don't use and boy on why most bullion includes MSG, which will mess up your nervous system. It is not good for you just avoid it like the plague. Okay, well my Boolean doesn't have that. Look on the ingredients. Does it have yeast extract or autolyzed yeast extract?
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Yeah, they have ways that they can get it in there without it actually being in there it's kind of sneaky right? So you don't want that I was eating better than boy on for years because I thought oh this is better. It says it's better Oh even bought the organic kind Yeah, it's organic.
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It's better it doesn't have MSG but add yeast extract in it had the yeast extract Okay, so what do you do instead? This is your quick go to broth recipe sister.
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Here it is. May so me so there are all different kinds. They taste different. I use them in different ways in different dishes, try them all. It is higher in sodium but what they found by doing studies is that that nutritional benefit outweighs the detriment of the sodium. So you don't want to put a ton in there but get them in there because there are a lot of nutritional benefits to me so so you can mix me so with some water to make a broth it makes a delicious broth. Why it may so read me so chickpea me so I don't eat soy beans by chickpea me. So I do recommend that if it's soybean me so if it's made with soybeans you get organic because soybeans tend to be highly treated with pesticides and other chemicals in your body organic than its non GMO. Right.
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So we shared a lot of way different ways to get the great flavors into your grains today.
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I want you to vary your grains I want you to try some of these ways. There's one other thing I want to share that this just blew my mind when I started thinking about it. The liquids we talked about this a little bit before you can change up the liquids. Think about if you have a juicer could you choose a carrot or two carrots and get that carrot juice and as part of the liquid your recipe calls for in that grain mail. Your rice is going to have a little beautiful orange tint to it. It's going to have a little sweetness to it.
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It's going to taste amazing.
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I personally think depending on how you use it, it could fundamentally change that whole dish it does and like you're saying with the orange color, let's say maybe you use the beach so I want to go to the beach ah not used a Beat. Beat I'm not sure if you want to go to the beach. It is a beautiful day outside and I am kind of daydreaming of getting my feet in the sand but she used to beat beautiful purplish red color. Yes, I'm subliminal message.
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I'm about to say sneakers corresponding sneaker sneaker.
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That you're okay with the beat, then you would have this beautiful red right And so now you're not only just feasting with your tongue, but you're feasting with your eyes.
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Absolutely. A great sneaker and I think, a great sneaker there.
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So we've got to get more color, more flavor in there. That's amazing. Now the other thing I'm thinking, what do you think of something I see it?
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Well, you you had mentioned to this to me recently where people use tea as their liquid.
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i Oh, yeah, I have never thought of savory type teas. You don't want to use ones that have that sweet undertone, or maybe entertain that tea or maybe a warboss, which it's a lot like the black teas, but it just has a more mellow flavor to it. But it has a reddish color. I mean, that would be fantastic. In a savory dish, what about some pureed tomatoes and place a part of the liquid in your rice that Aha, there yet flavor infuses inside the rice.
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So we have given so many different ways you can bump up the flavor and the nutritional content into your grain dishes, start substituting some of that liquid, getting the aromatics in there getting your onions and garlic or herbs and spices.
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Don't forget the ginger if you're making rice for Asian dishes, that is amazing.
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vegetable broth, tomato juice, carrot juice, get your greens get on right now on the power plants.com website, first page bottom of the page, get your leafy greens secrets. And you'll also be getting the exclusive podcast episodes. Now you are an expert at leveling up the flavors and the nutritional content in your grain dishes. Do not be afraid to branch out and try something new. What I'm hoping is that as you listen to these things, you try some of these things. Because as you do what you learn, you know, you can know all the things in the world. But if you don't take action and start doing them even just one thing at a time, you're not going to be in a different place. One year from now, even one month from now, even one week from now things can start changing for you. It is our heart's desire to see things start changing for you and amazing ways to see opportunities opening up for you that you just can't envision happening right now where you are, they can happen there is hope Sister, do this for yourself. If you don't, who's gonna take care of you. Do this for yourself, do this for the people that you love who are counting on you do this for the people who are out there waiting for you to come out with your product or your service or your business that you need to build to help them on their journeys.
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Fuel you take care of you and as you take the steps to implement the things that we've taught you on this episode on the past 140 episodes, what you're going to find is you're going to be inspired with even more things in your own mind from your own ideas. Don't be afraid to try those things. That's when you start experimenting. That's when the whole world blows wide open for you. And you're going to be able to find all your new favorites that are going to heal your body and allow you to build the full life that you're after.
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Thanks again for joining us today, and we look forward to seeing you next time on power on plants.
