Comments on: Eat Your Heart Out, Uncle Ben http://www.livingbehindthecurve.com/2007/06/20/eat-your-heart-out-uncle-ben/ Simple. Frugal. Fabulous. Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:06:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: mom24dogs http://www.livingbehindthecurve.com/2007/06/20/eat-your-heart-out-uncle-ben/#comment-25100 mom24dogs Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:10:27 +0000 http://www.livingbehindthecurve.com/2007/06/20/eat-your-heart-out-uncle-ben/#comment-25100 I've been making rice in the microwave for years. Microwaves vary in strength, but I've found this method has always worked well for me. Ingredients: 1 cup white rice, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tbs. margarine or butter, 2 1/4 cups water. Place all ingredients in a glass casserole with glass lid. Nuke on high for 5 minutes. Without lifting the lid, reset the microwave to cook 25 more minutes at 20% power. Let sit covered for 2 or 3 minutes. Tthen remove lid and stir. The rice always comes out perfect. You may have to experiment a little to get the perfect texture, as all microwaves are not the same. I used to use 2 cups water to 1 cup rice, but found the rice is fluffier with the extra 1/4 cup water. I developed this method of cooking rice because we used to have well water and I didn't like having to used purchased water to cook the rice in. Another tip I would like to share is, did you know that you don't have to use a crockpot to prepare slow cooker recipes? Just prepare your recipe the same as always, but instead of placing the ingredients in a crockpot, put them in any appropriately sized casserole dish with a tight fitting lid and cook in a 200 degree oven. This is the same temperature as low on a crockpot. The advantage is that the food cooks evenly, as the source of heat comes from above, below and surrounding your container. It's hard to find a crockpot that cooks evenly, but using the oven has worked very well for me in the past. Another added bonus, is you don't have to find a place to store that crockpot and you don't have to struggle with clean up. Just throw your pot or casserole dish in the dishwasher. I’ve been making rice in the microwave for years. Microwaves vary in strength, but I’ve found this method has always worked well for me.

Ingredients: 1 cup white rice, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tbs. margarine or butter, 2 1/4 cups water.

Place all ingredients in a glass casserole with glass lid. Nuke on high for 5 minutes.

Without lifting the lid, reset the microwave to cook 25 more minutes at 20% power. Let sit covered for 2 or 3 minutes. Tthen remove lid and stir. The rice always comes out perfect.

You may have to experiment a little to get the perfect texture, as all microwaves are not the same. I used to use 2 cups water to 1 cup rice, but found the rice is fluffier with the extra 1/4 cup water. I developed this method of cooking rice because we used to have well water and I didn’t like having to used purchased water to cook the rice in.

Another tip I would like to share is, did you know that you don’t have to use a crockpot to prepare slow cooker recipes?

Just prepare your recipe the same as always, but instead of placing the ingredients in a crockpot, put them in any appropriately sized casserole dish with a tight fitting lid and cook in a 200 degree oven. This is the same temperature as low on a crockpot. The advantage is that the food cooks evenly, as the source of heat comes from above, below and surrounding your container. It’s hard to find a crockpot that cooks evenly, but using the oven has worked very well for me in the past.

Another added bonus, is you don’t have to find a place to store that crockpot and you don’t have to struggle with clean up. Just throw your pot or casserole dish in the dishwasher.

]]> By: Mer http://www.livingbehindthecurve.com/2007/06/20/eat-your-heart-out-uncle-ben/#comment-27 Mer Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:56:36 +0000 http://www.livingbehindthecurve.com/2007/06/20/eat-your-heart-out-uncle-ben/#comment-27 @Heather: You certainly can microwave your rice in a bowl with a glass lid. I think you might get your best results if you get a tea towel or kitchen towel and lay it over the top of the bowl and then put your lid on over that. Glass bowl sets aren't particularly well known for having good seals around their lids, and using a towel like that will give you a good seal that will keep the steam in without being uber-tight and not releasing excess pressure. If you're going to do this, make sure that your bowl is more than twice the size of your ingredients, otherwise your rice will rise into the towel, pop your lid, get linty, and generally make a big mess. This also goes without saying, but be carefull! Everything is gunna be coated and saturated with boiling water! As for cancer in my plastic wrap, can you link me? I tried googling it myself, and didn't come up with anything concrete. @Heather: You certainly can microwave your rice in a bowl with a glass lid. I think you might get your best results if you get a tea towel or kitchen towel and lay it over the top of the bowl and then put your lid on over that. Glass bowl sets aren’t particularly well known for having good seals around their lids, and using a towel like that will give you a good seal that will keep the steam in without being uber-tight and not releasing excess pressure. If you’re going to do this, make sure that your bowl is more than twice the size of your ingredients, otherwise your rice will rise into the towel, pop your lid, get linty, and generally make a big mess.

This also goes without saying, but be carefull! Everything is gunna be coated and saturated with boiling water!

As for cancer in my plastic wrap, can you link me? I tried googling it myself, and didn’t come up with anything concrete.

]]> By: Heather near Atlanta http://www.livingbehindthecurve.com/2007/06/20/eat-your-heart-out-uncle-ben/#comment-26 Heather near Atlanta Wed, 20 Jun 2007 10:47:36 +0000 http://www.livingbehindthecurve.com/2007/06/20/eat-your-heart-out-uncle-ben/#comment-26 Oh dear, microwaving food covered with plastic wrap is so bad for you, according to Johns Hopkins. The heat causes cancer-causing... things/globules to drop into the food. Could you do this with a glass top instead? Oh dear, microwaving food covered with plastic wrap is so bad for you, according to Johns Hopkins. The heat causes cancer-causing… things/globules to drop into the food. Could you do this with a glass top instead?

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