Last night, I had a little extra time to mosey around the house, so I thought I would finally try Angry Chicken's rice cooking thing. I love brown rice and it fits right into my MHFC nutrition goals, but I really do hate cooking it - something always goes wrong, either it is too dry, burnt on the bottom or too mushy. For a while now, I have gotten around this by buying frozen rice at TJ's (which they are always sold out of these days) or the ones in precooked microwaveable packages (bags or bowls). But, honestly, while they are yummy and oh so easy to prepare, I feel like I am wasting a lot of money and using a lot of unnecessary packaging.
So, without having to purchase a thing, I just grabbed my jar of brown rice out of the pantry (it had been sitting there a while since I messed up the rice the last time I tried to cook it) and cooked up a ton of fluffy, nutty brown rice. It is almost as easy as cooking pasta - it takes a bit longer, but if you can boil water, you have all the skills you need. With Amy's recipe calling for three cups of uncooked rice, I ended up with 3, 2 cup bags of rice and 4, 1 cup bags of rice (approximately measured). That will keep in in brown rice for weeks! Oh, and the house smelled yummy too.
Did you notice I said bags of rice in the last paragraph. Yes, I know that totally goes against the "save packaging" notion I had in the first paragraph. I know, I know, baggies are not the best option, but they were what I had on hand. I plan to get some reusable packaging for the next time.
Now, I haven't tried it out of the freezer yet, but I am sure it will still be just as tasty.
good tips. need to give that a try.
Posted by: Meghan | July 21, 2008 at 08:17 PM
I love brown rice. We cook it in a rice cooker and it comes out perfect every time. I add a little extra water to the rice when I'm cooking brown.
You are smart to cook a bunch of rice and have it on hand.
Posted by: Paula | July 19, 2008 at 06:18 AM
Love it. I have a rice steamer that I use all the time. It is pretty nifty because it is double decker. So if I want steamed veggies, I add that tray 10 minutes before the rice is done, right on top. Voila!
Posted by: africankelli | July 18, 2008 at 03:11 PM