In the Kitchen with Linda

Cooking doesn't take all my time, but it does seem to take more concentration and effort since I am trying new recipes and using different cooking methods and ingredients. Gone are the days of grilling marinated chicken breasts outside on my deck. DARN!

Homemade chicken soup seems to be a staple of our diet. I try to vary my recipe so meals don't get too boring. The other day I decided to add some rice to the soup pot. I don't usually do that because I don't want to add all those fattening "carbs". Well, I measured out 1/2 cup of regular white rice and added it. I stirred and watched for several minutes, and decided I hadn't added enough. Now remember that I am very impatient. I should know better. But I decided to just take the bag and shake in a little more. Of course I somewhat lost control of the bag and got too much rice in. I was able to scoop some out and it looked like all was well. But then the stuff cooked up and I almost ended up with chicken and rice casserole. Well, it was variety and was quite tasty!

My next rice story came two days later. I turned the rest of our baked chicken pieces into sweet and sour chicken. I wanted to serve it over rice. Cooking rice is a challenge for me. I depend on my electric rice steamer, which is sitting home in Idaho. I instead used some basmati rice that I had here that said "Easy to Cook" on the package. (both bags of rice I have were left by the previous missionaries) The ratio was 1 cup rice to 1 1/2 cup of water. I decided to use a little more water than that. The directions say to soak the rice in water for 25 minutes. I soaked a little longer since I was busy making the sweet and sour sauce. By the time I finished soaking the rice it had almost doubled in volume. Nevertheless, I drained the water off and added it to the boiling water, covered it and checked my watch so I would know when 10 minutes was up (no timer). I figured how to adjust my cooking temperature down to low and simmer. For low I hold the pot above the burner about 1 inch. For simmer, I hold the pot about 1 1/2 to 2 inches above the burner. This is a great way to multi-task for me because it also helps me strengthen my arms. It's a good thing that I am impatient because when I lifted the lid to check the rice, the water was gone. It was done just right, and we had a great dinner. Now I have left-over rice and I think I whip up some rice pudding tonight. First I better decide what to cook for dinner later! It will probably have chicken in it. Soon I will publish some of our tasty recipes.