Rice

I started out to make my regular goulash recipe and it was not until I had the beef in the frying pan that I realised I was out of whole wheat pasta for this recipe, so I quickly decided to improvise by using brown rice. It worked fantastically and both of the boys love it! I started out as I always do by taking the ground beef out of the freezer and plopping it straight into the pan - I started with a 5L dutch oven because I knew I'd fill it all. I turned the burner on about 3, put the lid on, and started into my onions. When it comes to onions in things like this I usually puree them these days just because the boys will balk if they see onions in something. They actually like the taste of onions, they just have this odd idea in their head that they do not.

Here is everything in the recipe :

• 2 things of beef ( about 1 lb each, total 2 lbs )
• 4 medium / large onions, pureed
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1.5 tbsp thyme
• 1.5 tbsp oregano
• 1 tbsp savory
• 3 cups organic brown rice
• 500ml tomatillo
• 750ml tomato and basil from 2005
• 125ml home made ketchup
• about 5 cups boiling water
• 1/2 cup pot barley

Here is a great idea for leftover rice that I picked up the other day on one of the blogs I follow - deep fried rice balls! I know, I know, it already sounds awesome, doesn't it?

So I put the bug in my wife's ear for the big container of leftover brown rice in the fridge, and she made it her own with a little twist - in addition to the cube of cheese in the middle she also mixed grated parmesan and asiagio into the rice. Wow they were great, and the kids gobbled them right up. Recipe below.

This is another recipe out of Madhur Jaffrey's, "From Curries To Kebabs". It's a great way to change up the usual "rice with curry" equation and creates a fragrant accompaniment to the beef curry I also made tonight.

The spices required are easily found in a Chinese or Indian grocery -- I found all of mine without any trouble in Ottawa's Chinatown.

I’ve made this soup a number of times and each time it has proved to be a satisfyingly hearty bowlful, particularly well suited to warding off the chills of late winter. It takes awhile to cook, but is absolutely worth wait!

Like the taste of cabbage rolls but hate the effort of making them? This recipe provides all the flavour with a fraction of the work! I like to add a bit of cayenne for extra kick.