Wife-Safe Copycat Rice-a-Roni

So, to start, I will apologize for the story before the recipe.

As various members of my family can attest, I love Chicken Rice-a-Roni.  There were never leftovers of this when I was growing up.  And when I was living with my aunt and cousin in Kentucky, I had it regularly.  It was great when it would go on sale for 10 boxes for $10

A great quick meal is to make it by instructions and include a chicken breast during the cooking.

My wife and I have shifted our diets to maintain our lifestyle, and so to reduce the salt and other processed ingredients, I went looking for a copycat recipe. It turned out to be a great keyword as I found this recipe for Copycat Rice-a-Roni.

A more recent problem that's developed is that my wife has developed an intolerance/allergy to certain foods.  The more dangerous ones are onions garlic, and capsaicin.  So we took out the garlic and onion powder from the recipe.  Still was still having problems, so I did some research.

Do you know why chicken bouillon is yellow?  It's because they add turmeric.  Would you expect that the turmeric plant produces capsaicin?  It was certainly a surprise to us.

So the next step was to make our on chicken broth.  Now, this is just cooked chicken-backs from the butcher that cooks for a few hours.  No seasoning.

Now, you'll notice that this takes a lot of seasonings away.  So I decided to use my old default seasoning blend which I call my Scarborough Faire blend (🎶 parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme 🎶).

Now, we've upped our rice intake, so we needed an easy way to make rice without buying a rice cooker.  Truly the last thing we need is another thing to sit on the counter all the time. So my wife found this rice recipe on the Listening Method.

So finally, below is the recipe.  This will have my method using our chicken broth, so if you're using bouillon/granules, just follow the instructions on the packaging.

Ingredients:

1 cup short grain white rice

¼ cup vermicelli (mini-spaghetti)

1 cups chicken broth

1¼ cups hot water

1½ Tbsp. butter (I use unsalted. If you use salted butter, reduce the added salt below)

1 Tbsp. miso paste

1 tsp. parsley (ground)

1 tsp. sage (ground)

1 tsp. rosemary (ground)

1 tsp. thyme (ground)

1 to 2 tsp. salt (to taste)

 

Steps:

In a Pyrex measuring cup, pour in 1 cup of chicken broth.  Mine is thick to gelatinous, so I don't use full strength, and instead add 1¼ cups of boiling water from my kettle.  Stir in the miso paste until it is mostly dissolved.  The boiling water will heat up the mixture and help the miso dissolve.

Put all seasonings and salt into a small bowl.

In a pot, melt butter in pan on HIGH heat.

Pour in rice and vermicelli.  Stir to coat with butter.

Let rice and vermicelli partially brown, stirring occasionally.  It's not all supposed to be browned, just enough for some color variation.  Keep an eye on it the butter doesn't burn.

When the rice and vermicelli is sufficiently browned, stir in the seasonings.

Give the chicken broth a final stir, and then while wearing an oven glove, pour in the chicken broth mixture. Immediately place lid on pot.  I wear the glove, because the liquid will start to boil almost immediately, so you don't want to burn yourself.

Allow to boil for 4 minutes.  Do not remove lid.

Reduce heat to LOW for 15 minutes.  Do not remove lid.

Raise heat to HIGH for 30 seconds.  This will dry off the bottom of the rice.  Do not remove the lid.

After 30 seconds, turn off the heat and move the pot off to a cool burner.  Do not remove the lid.

Immediately before serving, you may now remove the lid and fluff the rice.

Serve and Enjoy.

Cooking

So a couple weeks ago, Jennifer got some pork shoulder.  The butcher suggested she make it into carnitas.  She found a citrus recipe to slow cook it, and we had some amazing tacos.  But then we still had half of the pork shoulder leftover.  So I went looking for a new recipe for carnitas chili.

I found this one, and made some modifications:

Carnitas Chili

Ingredients

---

·         2 tablespoons chili powder (heaping)

·         1 tablespoon ground cumin

·         1 teaspoon paprika

·         1 tablespoon celery seed (ground)

·         2 tablespoons ground cilantro

·         1 tablespoon garlic powder

·         1 tablespoon onion powder

·         2 teaspoons kosher salt

·         3 tablespoons vegetable oil

·         1 cup beef broth

·         2 carrots, cut into 1/4-inch discs

·         1 28-ounce can tomato

·         1 bay leaf

How to make it

·         In a small bowl combine the cumin, paprika, salt, chili powder, cilantro and garlic.

·         In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium high heat.  Add seasonings to bring out oils.

·         Add the beef broth and the bay leaf and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low, add tomato sauce and cover.

·         Chop carrots and add to sauce.  Cook sauce for 1 hour.

·         Warm pork after an hour.  Separate meat from grease.  Save grease for noodles.

·         Remove and discard the bay leaf.

·         Boil noodles

·         Plate noodles, then pork, then sauce, then grated cheese.

·         [Jennifer suggested that next time we try ¼ teaspoon cinnamon or cinnamon stick, and 1 clove]

Pizza Cupcakes

So, Monday I came across this photo article.

I told Jennifer about it, and she said we just had to try it.  So we made it, and tonight, I made it again.
We went to Trader Joe’s and got their ready-made pizza dough and sauce, some hot Italian sausage, mushrooms, olives, and mozzarella cheese.

When we got home, we browned the sausage and mushrooms, and mixed them with the pizza sauce and added some of the grated cheese into the mix.

Then we cut the dough into circles, and after rubbing the muffin tin with grape seed oil, we packed the meet and sauce into the dough.


The olives are for Jennifer.  Then we added cheese on top, and cooked at 425 F.

After 15 minutes, they are gorgeous, and delicious.



They come out of the tins surprisingly easy.

Chef-ness

So Jennifer has been sick recently.  And she’s been making some food requests.

In the past few days, I’ve made a chicken noodle soup and eggs benedict with smoked salmon.

Poached eggs aren’t as hard as they make it out to be.  Neither was the hollandaise sauce.

The chicken soup was made with a great chicken broth, and then baby carrots, and crimini mushrooms.

It’s a bit of strong-arm tactics, but she’s making me into a better cook.

Full of Fudgy Goodness

Tonight, fudge was a success.

I used the candy thermometer, and achieved the soft ball temperature necessary. it took 13 instead of the directed 10 minutes to reach the proper temperature.

Oh but the spoon and pot tasted so good while waiting for the fudge to cool.

Now I have to apportion for the various parties and gatherings coming up.

Cleaning with Power Tools

Have you ever burned food so bad that you had to clean the pot with a Dremel?

I attempted to make peanut butter fudge on Saturday while Jennifer was out watching men beat the shit out of each other.

I think when I got to the step of putting in the peanut butter and marshmallow creme, I didn't get the temperature up high enough. And so the concoction didn't set up right. I ended up with four glass dishes of peanut butter syrup.

A plea to my parents gave the suggestion of putting it all back in the pot and heating it up to "soft ball" temperature (about 235 F^o). I think it would have worked if the stuff wasn't so thick that I could hardly stir it. By the time it started to get soft, it was too late.

The wonderful smell of peanut buttery-fudgy goodness slowly became the smell of burned food.

I finally gave up as the mixture kept getting darker and pieces started to break off from the bottom. And so after letting it partially cool, I threw out the mix and found about an eighth of an inch of burned candy on the bottom of the pot.

I soaked it. I boiled it. I simmered with baking soda and dish soap. But there was still about half of the bottom covered in thick black distilled carbon. I attacked it with a cheese knife, and then a putty knife. Then I finally had an epiphany.

I got out Jennifer's Dremel, and put in the plastic brush attachment. that proved to be much too soft, and so I switched to the wire brush. And that's what I used for the next half an hour with safety glasses and the occasional pause to change the slight bit of water in the pan to keep the tip cool.

And so I have a clena pan that I can used again some time this week when I get my confidence back.

Of course that's not all that I burned today. I burned a batch of cinnamon toast from neglect (I got distracted), and nearly ruined a batch of Rice-A-Roni when it got hotter than I expected.

Painting Miniatures

This weekend I've done some cooking, making a yellow cake with homemade chocolate icing topped with roasted cocoa nibs.



I've also been doing some painting on the miniatures I got for my birthday and form a friend who's selling off some of his collection. I thought I'd explain a bit of the process. Below are all of the miniatures in raw metal.



Now, you paint them with an acrylic paint, and that doesn't tend to adhere to well to the metal, so you have to prime them.



I ended up using up the last of my primer, but I think I've got enough miniatures to keep me going for a while.

I managed to complete one figure this weekend. It's one that I've been coveting ever since i first saw it, and have never been able to find anything like it. it's a giantess, but what makes her different is that she isn't monstrous, just big. I got to borrow her once for a RPG session I was running, and wanted one like her ever since. The friend who is selling off some of his collection had her in the batch, and I could hardly wait to get to work on her.



And now she's all done.

Cooking

So my third try on the grill ended perfectly. I cooked two filets and they were pink in the middle, and yet warm. it was wonderful.

Now I'm going to have to research smoking food.

Dinner and a Bonus

Saturday, Jennifer took hamburger and Italian sausage out of the freezer, and asked if I would make spaghetti sauce. I told her with my schedule I wouldn't have time until Monday, so that's what i did this evening.

She was feeling a bit sick today and was napping, so before I started cooking, I put on my Beethoven playlist that runs through the 9 symphonies. I got the sauce going, and needed time for the mushrooms to cook down, so to kill time, I decided to make another loaf of beer bread.

I made beer bread (using Newcastle Brown Ale) Saturday morning for the guys at the game, and as I was putting the loaf in the oven on Saturday, Jennifer said, "You going to make one for me too, right?" with just a slight pout to her voice. So, I made her a loaf with Bass Ale. She took it with her to watch the UFC fights, and it was a big hit. I told her it couldn't have gone over better than my loaf did. We demolished our loaf in about 30 minutes.

I had been saying how much I wanted to do an Anchor Steam beer bread, so when I bought mushrooms today, I also got a 6-pack of Anchor, with the added bonus of it being on sale.

With a few Facebook breaks, I got the bread out, and got the noodles ready. It turns out that it took the first 4 of Beethoven's symphonies for the sauce to be done and the noodles get ready, because I was serving it up just as the Fifth Symphony came on.

***

And now as promised to the guys in the GURPS group, here is the recipe I've been using for the beer bread. It's actually coming out even better than the Trader Joe's mix.

Beer Bread

3 cups - Flour (sifted)
1/4 cup - Sugar
3 teaspoons (tsps.) - Baking Powder
1 tsp. - Salt
12 oz. - Beer
1/4 cup - Butter (melted)
9-inch loaf pan

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F

Mix the dry ingredients together. (I like to have the sifter in the mixing bowl, and out all of the ingredients in the sifter, and then sift them together into the bowl. the sifting is important as it makes the bread lighter and fluffier.)

Melt the 1/4 cup (half a stick) of butter and set it aside. (I put the butter in a small bowl and microwave it for 30 seconds.)

Grease the loaf pan. (I use a vegetable oil spray.)

If you have a fixed mixer (like a Kitchenaid) begin stirring use the lowest setting. if you are using a hand mixer, also use the lowest setting. Slowly pour the beer in while mixing. (Pouring the beer in slowly, and mixing slowly, prevents the loss of the carbonation which is what is going to help the bread rise. Lose those bubbles, and the bread will be dense.)

Once the batter is mixed to where it is uniform, the lumps are smaller than a pencil eraser, and it sticks to the side of the bowl, it is ready. Pour/scrape the batter into the loaf pan, and spread it to an even thickness. Pour the butter over the top and put in the oven on the middle rack.

Cook it from between 45 minutes to an hour. (Mine works best at about 50 minutes. Check it at 45 with a toothpick. If the toothpick doesn't come out clean, then check it again in 5 minutes.)

Take it our and let cool for 15 minutes.

Enjoy with various toppings. (We've made honey butters and Gorgonzola butter, and then there's just butter.) Also a good accompaniment during preparation is a bottle of the beer you're putting in the bread.

Beer Bread

Today I tried two things at once. First off i tried a recipe for making beer bread from scratch. that way I didn't have to be locked to the Trader Joe's mix. I also tried making a Black & Tan beer bread. I did that by making a batch of Bass and a Batch of Guinness draft. I made the Bass batch first, and split the batch into two loaf pans. Then I did the Guinness batch and put it on top. I was kind of worried if the Guinness batch would work or not since it had nitrogen in it instead of carbon dioxide, but it's turned out incredibly well. And the recipe turned out lighter than the TJ's mix.

I'm very happy

And the two-tone color looks so cool. And John, I promise to bring two loaves to the next game.

Sauce and Such

Ahhh, such a wonderful sauce it turned out to be. And I've got leftovers from tonight for lunch tomorrow.

Not much else today. I painted a little and that's it.

Except for dealing with the heater repairman. We've got a strange electric start heater that's been freaking out lately. I had hoped to see if it would freak out again tonight to get things settled, but it was so warm today that after heating the house up to try to get it to act strangely for him, it hasn't cooled off enough to test it since.

Sauce

Today Jennifer and I went to Costco for one thing: contact solution. We ended up forgetting that, but among the materials we bought, I came home and made sauce. Pasta sauce.

I used:

half a Costco package of ground beef
12 mild Italian sausage links
6 cans of diced tomatoes
1-2 cups of dried shitake mushrooms
various seasonings

I browned the meat separately, rinsed it, then mixed it in a pot. Then I blended the tomatoes into a puree, and did the same after reconstituting the mushrooms. After mixing in the seasonings, it's all cooking in two pots on the stove.

I doubt if I'll have any tonight after having a Costco hot dog, but I'm looking forward to the first time I get to use some of this sauce.

Dinner and Games

Last night's dinner was great. We had a wonderful time, and the food was amazing. We look forward to the next time we can do that.

Today, tow of my GURPS trainees came over and we finished getting their characters established. Now all we need is a session to play with all five of the newbies.

Today is brief, but I'm ready for bed.

Dinner Menu

Valentine’s Day Dinner
14 February 2009
Chez Appel et Collins

~ = MENU = ~

~ Appetizers ~

Russian Tomatoes
Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus
Vespers

~ Palette Cleanser ~

Fresh Baked French Bread
Olive Tapenade
Pinot Gris – J - 2006

~ Salad ~

Endive with Seasoned Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar with Feta
Mushroom and Dill Marinated Cucumbers
Syrah – Cakebread - 2005

~ Entrée ~

Steak Medallions with Mushroom Reduction
Nutmeg and Gruyere Pasta
Cabernet Sauvignon – Cakebread - 2004

~ DESSERT ~

Grand Marnier Chocolate Mousse
with Chocolate Shavings and an Orange Twist
Fine Ruby Port – Dow’s

~= HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY = ~