Wednesday, February 27, 2013

No good, lousy rotten day.. then Rice and Kielbasa!

Well, I'm having a rotten day. It happens. For me, today, this means pain. It wasn't all day, thankfully, but it has decided that this late afternoon/early evening was the perfect time to flare up. Joy. I'm having an emotionally painful day as well. That also happens, and is to be expected right now while dealing with the additional stress of unemployment as we wait, and wait, and wait some more for the call back from any of the jobs hubby has applied for and our meager funds slowly fade away... on top of all the normal, every day stress of life in Alaska in winter, teenagers, crazy dogs, infertility (a big one..) and waiting for the next foster care call..
ring, darn you! ring!!

Things have been fairly hectic this week anyway. Hubby had a dental appointment this week (quick before the insurance ends!) and found out he has a cracked tooth and needs a crown. My hand is healing nicely, for the most part. There is one finger that might have some lasting nerve damage done, but it seems to be of the sort that, if it is permanently damaged, it will just tingle a bit. Kind of like when you sit on your foot for a while and cut off circulation a little.. not too bad a deal. But, still too early to know.

And I am still working on a nice long post about cast iron cookware. I might have to break it up into 2 parts, even. Right now I'm waiting on the dealing with a bad case of rust portion of the post as hubby was going to lend his assistance with some tools, but he's had appointments this week, so it hasn't happened yet. but soon.. very soon...  I will at least get the first part up if not the whole thing.

Anyway, things have been crazy and I haven't had too much time to do any "fancy" cooking, as hubby would call it. Last night for dinner, we cubed up some potatoes, sliced some onions and threw them in the skillet with some ground beef and called it good.
Tonight, I will be showing you one of my rice cooker dishes. It's really simple and it's about all I'm up for tonight. I will be doing some more experimental baking over the next few days though, as I've been asked to do some gluten free bites for a friend's house warming party this weekend.

This is our Kikkoman. He's a large Pommie mix.
Of course, tonight, even this simple meal gave me some problems when the silly bag the veggies were in decided it wasn't as sealed as I thought it was when I went to put it back in the freezer and frozen veggies scattered all over my kitchen floor. *sigh* Kikkoman was the only dog to come investigate, so clean up wasn't as difficult as it could have been if all 4 of them had come running. He decided frozen veggies were too cold and hard for him today.




So for tonight's meal, you will need:
I love you, rice cooker....

*  Rice cooker (Ok, you don't need this, you could cook everything separately and combine, which is how we use to do it. But if you have one, it's so much easier, just assemble, turn on and walk away...)
* 1 kielbasa, cut into thin slices
* 3 "cups" of rice, I'm using Jasmine. (Most rice cookers come with measuring cups they want you to use. Their "cup" is usually a little bit less then a standard measuring cup)
* 2 cups or so assorted frozen veggies (more if you want more veggies in  your meal.)
* enough water to come to 3 cup line in your cooker (or to cook your items if doing so separately)
* 1 bullion cube, crumbled
* pepper, garlic, onion powder to taste. The kielbasa should add enough salt that you won't need to add any.
* about 1/4 stick of butter, dependent on family taste preference (some people may want more...)
* Worcestershire sauce, jigger or two

Dump everything into your rice cooker, turn on, and walk away.

So, so very simple. Perfect for those nights you really don't want to do much, are too busy to spend more then 5 or 10 minutes prepping for dinner.

When the cooker is done doing it's thing, then it is time to eat. Just give everything a good stir in the pot and then spoon into bowls and serve.
Hubby opted for more worcestershire sauce. Teenager ate her's plain and actually went back for seconds, and I added a splash of rice wine vinegar to mine. If there are any left overs, they will be wonderful fried up for lunch tomorrow.
Personally, I would have loved the addition of some pineapple and soy sauce, but Hubby would NOT go for that, so we go without.. maybe I'll toss some in with my left overs at lunch tomorrow...





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