angry chicken

the rice cooking thing

So, here's the life changing (for me) rice cooking method. I cook mostly brown rice which why this is such a big deal. Most rice cookers are awful at cooking brown rice and on the stove top, if you make large quantities to freeze, the water proportion can get all squirrelly. This method, which I first read about in this book for white rice, has worked amazingly well for me. So simple, who was hiding this information from me for so long??

I used brown basmati rice this time, but you can use any rice. For reals, any kind at all. White, brown, you name it. I don't measure, but usually make about 3 cups. Rinse the rice under water first to get the starch out. I just do this in the pot, strain, then pour it back in the pot. Keep the strainer out.

Add water to cover the rice. A lot of water. Boil it like pasta. If you are cooking white rice, take a little grain out and test around 7-8 minutes. For brown rice I check around 20 minutes and usually take it off around 23 minutes. You want it slightly under cooked. Chewy, not crunchy at all, but not too soft either. For short grain rice, it might take longer. I just nibble it every 5 minutes or so. The boiling time varies with the type of rice, so just jot it down when you get it right. I test a lot, so it's super easy, but you can't just walk away towards the end of the boiling.

When it's done, dump it into a strainer in the sink.

Dump it back into the pot, off the heat, and cover it. Let it rest for about 5 minutes. It will look wet but the steam will dry it out and finish the cooking. After about 5 minutes, fluff, and you are done. If you undercooked the rice too much, you can let it rest, covered, to cook it more. If you cooked it too long, you can make this resting time shorter, even skipping it if the rice is really soft. It tastes better if it can finish cooking by resting though, so try not to over boil it.

Let cool for a bit then store in the freezer. I am going to get a ton of these glass storage bowls that can go in the freezer (I think) straight to the microwave, I need to research these a little more to see if they can actually go in the freezer first. It looks like some can and some can't. I want something reusable and non plastic for storage, I am still working on this.

To thaw the frozen rice I run it under hot water in a strainer to break it up, then microwave in a loosely covered bowl and the moisture steams it right up. Perfect. I have also just added the rice semi-frozen if I am baking, or steamed it over boiling water if I am steaming veggies—sort of depends how I use it.

In, The New Vegan Cookbook: Innovative Vegetarian Recipes Free of Dairy, Eggs, and Cholesterol Lorna Sass uses this method of cooking not only with brown rice but with every grain she cooks. Seriously! She gives a list with approx. boiling times. Millet, quinoa, wheat berries, barley, you name it. She freezes and thaws them the exact same way. She writes about this blowing her mind after reading about this cooking method in The Cook's Bible: The Best of American Home Cooking, which I obviously need to check out.

I have not tried this method for any other grains besides rice yet. I will and report back, and let me know if you all do. There is a great grain and bean cookbook I have been loving lately that I will write about soon as well, cause what the heck to do with all these grains, beans, and whatnot? It has all sorts of cool recipes that go beyond black beans and rice, which I could eat every day, but my family can't.

happy mother's day (a bit early)

Here's mom (grammie) when she was about 22 hitting a parked car with a baseball bat. There is a story here, I am sure. Something about car paint being impossible to chip? I think it was for a newspaper story she was writing. I don't quite remember, but I think too many details might wreck how awesome this image is. This is before she has us kids, maybe even before she was married by a year or so.


And Grandma with her twin boys at age 22. My Mom's Mom. These two women are huge in my life. Grandma passed away several years ago, but not a day goes by that I don't think of her. Both women larger than life, both journalists—brilliant woman with strong personalities, huge hearts, and senses of humor. I asked my Mom once what she felt was one of Grandma's biggest strengths as a mother and she said it was her ability to love and support her children without judgment, especially of my Mom's parenting. I smiled when she said this, because this is how I feel about my Mom now—100% supportive of what I do with my girls and the choices I make for my family. Or at least if she's not, she's a master of keeping it to herself. Ha! I could write forever about these two women and how much they mean to me. I should stop now before I get completely teared up. Sniff. Seeing my Mom with my girls now is pure magic, I wish I could record every minute of it. We are all so lucky.

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there—put your feet up if you can.

 

grammie and grandma stop reading this.

We are getting some gifts together for Mother's Day. Terrariums have finally been made over here for the very first time. They were a huge hit as a project for the girls.

I have been wanting to make some for so long now. I talked to Melissa (who is a terrarium queen) and got a little potting soil, some pretty gravel, a bit of charcoal, and some sedums—that's about it.  I got smart and had the girls make one for me, too.

I had all these grand ideas for homemade Mother's Day gifts but am trying to keep it simple this year and give these and some time. Time being the most important thing.

Rice cooking method that has changed my life coming soon!

new favorite loaf

Here's the oatmeal loaf from that bread book. This is from a few weeks back I think. I forget. Time is moving fast around here. I have decided after confirming with some baking cohorts that the basic bread recipes usually make 2-3 breads, not 4. (Right, guys?) And again, check the errata page for some crucial details.

This is my type of bread because it's nice and heavy—I love all the oaty loveliness with butter and jam. It's the kind of bread that would hurt someone if you threw it at them. It is really better toasted if it's any longer than a day old. I'm sure there's more I should say about it, but that's all for now.

On another food note, my pressure cooker is here and I am anxious to try it out. After reading way too many books from the library in the last week about grains, pressure cookers, beans and all that, and reading all your amazing comments about all this I am even more confident that there is no right way to cook all this stuff, just cook it the best way for you and what you are comfortable with in the kitchen. Lorna Sass, the pressure cooker lady herself, in her more recent vegan cookbook says she just slow bakes all her beans in the oven now, so go figure. She also boils all her grains, like pasta. This is awesome. I just started doing this with brown rice and it's incredible. No measuring and getting water proportions wrong when I make big batches of brown rice to freeze. I have a grudge against rice cookers. I have had 2, they both broke, and are not so good for brown rice anyway. Now that I boil, it doesn't matter, it comes out perfect no matter what.

Oh, and the awesome people who mentioned Rancho Gordo in the comments—thank you. I have beans coming to me now. Excitement!

Okay, totally unrelated, I lost a shoe. Just one shoe. A new shoe. A totally killer Ked and I am so bummed. I actually ordered this pair of shoes twice because the first pair ran big. We think it may have gone out with the newspaper recycling? Not sure. Do sober people lose just one shoe? This will be funny only if I find it later. I keep seeing the found shoe and think it's the lost shoe. "Oh good, I found that shoe!" I yell when I see it, and then start looking for the found shoe, only to realize this one is the found shoe, and the other shoe is still gone. It's making me crazy like a dog chasing its tail. You know when you realize for the first time your parents are a bit nutty, for real? I think I have have crossed the line with this one and the girls are on to me. They are humoring me, I can tell. "Don't worry Mama, your shoe will turn up." they say while reading a book calmly, letting me fuss around looking again. I just need to put the found shoe away. Then when I do find the lost shoe, I will know it's the new found shoe! That's the ticket.

may day

We made a May Day cake last week and paper flowers. It was raining out, so it was more of a paper flower May Day this year. This cake is my fave. It's the Lazy Cake from mailorder # something—I forget (sold out) and you make it in the pan. The one from mailorder is lemon ginger, but this one is orange flavored with a orange glaze. It's just a simple yellow cake with orange rind and a orange glaze with powdered sugar, orange juice and a little melted butter. It reminds me of the hostess orange cupcakes, remember those? Harder to find than the chocolate, but so good. Do they still make them? Okay I guess they didn't and now they still do? Oh, the internet. Don't they look gross? I haven't had on in forever. Anyhoo, this cake does the trick. You can use any yellow cake recipe and add grated orange rind—it flavors the cake so nicely.

Here's a card Sadie made me. Happy May Amy. Oh the pain. It hurts. She is drawing a lot of comics lately. See the thought bubbles there? She draws the people and then draws what the people are thinking about. Amazing. Kids are frikken amazing.

new shoes and links

My new shoes, purchased after Action Hero Melissa and Mariko got theirs but I didn't really know that yet. I sort of did, but I was already decided on them before I found out they had seen them too, so although it seems like I copied them, I only 1/2 did. So there. Look at the long second toe of mine?! My toes are the naked ones. They now have light pink nails—for that hour of sun we got last week. According to a reliable source (summer camp) the longer second toe means I am either like Jesus or a werewolf, or possibly both. I know I have mentioned this before. The shoes are Kenneth Cole Reaction and Happy B-day Melissa!

I'm feeling the book/paper love very strong right now. Here are some links that are making me crazy.

-The amazing art books from Nappa books (via Leno Corwin)
-Best idea ever via d. sharp
-Wonderful fabric college and hints on using Photoshop from Elista (her blog is amazing, be prepared to hang out)

right on time.

This clock hardware made it home with me from the craft store months ago and had been haunting me, but I was ignoring it. I got all excited to make a clock and then forgot and then remembered again—and last weekend I finally made it.

I showed it to Pete and he said "Now we can say it's half-past soup." Awesome. I drew these little sketches for another project and then just placed them in a circle when I needed some numbers for the clock. There is no rhyme or reason to them—but now looking at it I see all these meanings in the images for each hour.

So I was thinking about including this artwork laid out like this and directions to make a clock in the new e-mailorder. Cool? It wouldn't be the main project just an extra paper project. It was so fun to make, addictive actually. How many clocks do we really need? I guess a few more.

randoms.

I recently purchased a lovely ceramic box from Fruitflypie for this lady's birthday (belated) and why didn't I get 2? Or 3? They would have been perfect Mother's Day gifts. I need them all. And an owl container, too.

2 days ago I wasn't going to write about multiple subjects and now my brain is exploding. Here's a list of things.

-I am still searching for the right pressure cooker. I am thinking at least 7 quarts because with beans, you can only fill the cookers half way. I also want one that's not aluminum and that has no telflon. This is proving more difficult than I thought. Once again, thank you for all the feedback about beans and pressure cookers. I will not let you down! I am actually thinking of making a video when I find one, so the explosion will be documented.

-I just saw this wonderful tutorial on making a super simple book from Photojojo. It's awesome.

-Here's a very clear easy to read post on exactly how to use baking soda instead of shampoo. There is a whole world out there on this topic, who knew?

peanut butter chocolate cups

These peanut butter cups were made last week ago or so when I was jonesin' bad for a treat. The recipe is with mailorder #8 (over on the sidebar there to the left) and unfortunately uses ingredients that I have all the time and requires no cooking (well, melting chocolate) so, it's bad news. I wanted to make them smaller—so I busted out the mini-muffin tins.

I think I like them this way better than in the bar shape.

Unrelated, I am researching pressure cookers and pressure cooker cookbooks and information about cooking beans in pressure cookers and pressure cooker/canning type things. I have a stack of books in hold at the library right now. Excitement!

a bean discussion

Here's dinner. I wonder if the girls think everyone takes photos of their dinner. I plan to tell them yes if it comes up. The lentil soup is from Ina (I think I have posted about it before) and the bread is from the book, and is the rye loaf. A new loaf I tried, the oatmeal loaf, I will write about soon, but I need to focus right now on beans. I am trying to keep my posts about 1 or 2 items (except for when I don't) so I can remember what I was going to write about.

Beans. I have been cooking beans on the weekends and am really digging it. I got some e-mails a bit back about soaking. I feel like I change my thoughts on this every time I do it. At first I soaked all my beans in the fridge overnight before I went to bed. Then in the morning I would cook them. The soak was about 8 hours. Then Mr. Rick Bayless mentioned in one of his books that no one in Mexico soaks beans and throwing out the soaking water is lame. (Not his words.) So I stopped too, and since we eat mostly black and pinto beans, this has worked well because they are a bit more sturdy and seem to deal with a long simmer just fine. More importantly, they are still great if they accidentally get overcooked, so I don't stress about it.

When I made a white bean soup however, I did go back to soaking because I didn't want the longer simmer to break up the beans. Some recipes even call for baking them in a casserole to keep them intact. This works well too. I then did a search last night on Chowhound about soaking beans and holly molly. There is a whole lot to say about this (more than 2500 discussions about it) and Rick Bayless's book is mentioned along with 1000s of comments, which leads me to where I have started—I cook them differently depending on how I am going to use them. Of course, lentils you would never even soak, you just throw them in the soup. I find it so comforting that the minutia of my life, like bean soaking, can have more than 2500 discussions somewhere. That's awesome.

I freeze my black beans in smallish quantities (about 2 cups) with a little of their cooking liquid. Then when I need them, I either defrost in the fridge a few hours before, or thaw them in the microwave. I have only frozen black beans because that's what we eat the most of and seem to always need them.

And thank you so much for the merbaby love and the plethora of information about hair rinses!! I want to try the hair rinse tea recipe real bad. I realize now I was using way too much vinegar. After greatly reducing the quantity and adding more essential oil, it's all good. I no longer feel all foody and pickled in the shower. And, for those of you skeptical about this with long hair, my hair is past my shoulders and I have had no tangle issues.