Adventures in Rice Cooking

I have always been one of those women who shies away from small appliances. I never know where to store them, I hate dragging them out to use them, and plus, I always think in the event of the natural disaster that I always think is going to hit one day, like "The Big One," I should be able to cook things without little appliances that I won't be able to fit into my 72-hour kit. However, I can't deny that my busy lifestyle would benefit from some of these gadgets that seem to make life effortless for the average housewife. That, and the fact that I have a 13-year-old who is now cooking dinner once a week and she can't cook rice AT ALL. Three times she's made it, three times we've thrown it away. So while shopping at Costco the other day, I did something I never do: I marched right up to the small appliances aisle and bought a rice cooker. There are actually great reasons to own a rice cooker if you are a celiac, including perfect warm rice whenever you need it, but also being able to cook some of the more pesky grains like quinoa, brown rice, and buckwheat with it. I don't know all the ins and outs yet, but as I figure out how to use this little gadget, I'll share the info.

The first thing I made was a brown rice/wild rice pilaf with chicken stock and minced onion. It actually turned out to be quite tasty. Here's how I did it:

1. Add 1 scoop (3/4 cup) uncooked brown rice and 1 scoop uncooked wild rice.

2. I filled the line inside the rice cooker to the "2" with Swanson's Chicken Broth.

3. I added 1 T dried minced onion.

4. I pushed the "brown rice" button on the machine.

Wild rice takes a bit longer than any other rice to cook, so don't be surprised if it takes a lot longer to cook this than your other rices. This was a great side dish and I felt so healthy eating it.

Happy eating!