Feeling prolific

Happy MLK day to everyone! I’m at work as I knew I would be. I felt a bit guilty at not going in over the weekend. Still, I think it wasn’t a bad thing to lay off working all weekends all the time. The good part about working on holidays though is the laid back atmosphere. I would’ve been at home anyway so I might as well be at work. We get paid for federal holidays so it’s no skin off my nose anyway. I anticipate getting home early or maybe not because it just ocurred to me that the public transit bus might be on holiday too!! Oh well, in that case, all that needs to be done is getting M to take me home when he’s on his lunch break. I also settled on calling my rice-vegetable dish a "casserole" minus all the cheese and whatever’s "unhealthy"-sounding with casseroles. I can guarantee you that he’s tearing it up right now. 🙂

My next attempt at cooking will be to make herb-seasoned potatoes. My inspiration for this comes from one of our visits to Julie’s place where she whipped out a bag of these seasoned and baked potatoes (store-bought) and I ate myself silly. It’ll be labor-intensive, but I hope to at least learn from what I turn out. I really like cooking when the spirit moves me to do so. I would cook up a storm if I had more room for storage. Right now, we’re using just 2 drawers in the fridge. So, I’ll have to wait till we eat up the rice-vegetable casserole and the chili. That won’t take too long. lol. It’s also ridiculous inexpensive to make! The rice is brown rice and that’s a tad more expensive than white rice. Nevertheless, I’d advise all and sundry to make the move to brown rice as it’s way healthier for you because of the higher nutrient content. I can’t even tell the difference (texture-wise) between brown and white rice. It’s that good. It’s about time for me to write up the protocol as we say in the lab or write up the recipe for my famous rice-vegetable dish.

Jane’s Famous Rice-Vegetable Dish a.k.a. Casserole

  1. Ingredients: brown rice and onions are a must (or not if you hate onions). I vary the vegetables I add. However, for simplicity, I’ll just write out the recipe for the last batch I made (refer to the paragraph about Matt tearing something up). That included 2 onions (chopped), 2 green bell peppers (chopped), oregano (dried, 1 tbsp), curry (2 tsp), garlic powder (1 tbsp), seasoning (lol. It’s on the Mexican aisle of Walmart. You can use Maggi or Knorr seasoning, about 1 tbsp or to taste), corn (1 can).
  2. Cook the brown rice per the bag’s instructions or
  3. Bring the water to a boil ( roughly 2X the volume of rice you want to cook) and add the rice (along with a bit of salt. I use at least 1 tbsp of salt for a $1.42 bag of brown rice or about 1 lb). Turn the heat to medium-low and let the rice cook. Check it periodically for swelling and texture. If it’s already welldone to your taste, feel free to whip out a cup and get excess liquid off.
  4. Once the rice is about to get done, start up a skillet with EVOO or extra virgin olive oil (about 2 tbsp or more). Add the chopped onions and bell peppers to the skillet. Cover for 5 mins and stir. Fry the items till they are tenders and the onions are just about to start browning. Toss in the various seasonings (see number 1) and mix them up well.
  5. Transfer the rice pot to a lower heat setting and add the vegetables. Mix thoroughly and keep on low while mixing. Turn off the heat and your food is ready to serve!

Was that painless or what? I know my instructions are not all that, but you can add any and everything you want to the vegetables to add variety. I’ve done things like added tuna or even black-eyed peas to add some protein! So feel free to be creative and keep cooking! lol. I feel like Rachel Ray. The average time for this dish is less than 2 hrs.