Sticky white rice…A how-to

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Mo

Until earlier this year, the only time there had ever been real (the non-minute kind) rice in my house was because it was delivered…a la local Chinese restaurant.
Yeah…I know….lame and lazy. But…it is what it is.
Now however, it is not that way. Yes, I have used the minute kind a few times but only in recipes that are made for it. I would LOVE a rice cooker to do it “For Real” but….for now, I do it like this;

Put 1 cup of rice and 1½ cups of water in a small (one-quart) saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. (1 cup dry makes 3 cups cooked)
Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Steam should be coming out from under the lid; keep the pot covered and don’t peek under the lid. (For novice rice cooks, a glass lid is a big help.)
Reduce the heat to very low. The rice grains swell as they absorb the water. If the temperature is too high, the bottom of the pan can scorch while the top rice is still undercooked. Set a timer for 20 minutes.
When the timer rings, turn off the burner and remove the pan from the heat. Let the rice sit, covered, for an additional 5 minutes (and no peeking under the lid–the steam will escape).
Remove the lid and fluff the rice with a fork to separate the grains.
My only caveat to these directions would be that if you’re using Enriched rice, to rinse it well first. I have not done so and my rice has not been cooking completely.

Hopefully this helps you with your rice dishes in the future.
If you have any other tips/tricks for cooking rice, PLEASE! Drop me a comment so you can share your knowledge.

Planning a par-tay here in the Denver area????

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Mo

Well how fortuitous….
I’ve managed to find a couple of gals that just may be the right fit for you.
I’m talkin Gluten Free, Nut Free, Vegetarian, and Alcohol Free options are available! Now that’s what I’m talkin about!

May I direct your attention to Outside The Box Party Planning.

Judy and Beth are the ladies for you.

They offer catering and planning to make whatever party you may be putting together an event to remember.

From baby showers to retirements, they’ve got something for you.

Thinking about that birthday coming up?? Let’s not forget the Halloween party that’s inching closer and closer. Ah……then of course there’s the big holiday get togethers that are closing in ever faster.

Give Judy and Beth a call. See what these lovely ladies have in store for you. And, of course, while you’re chatting and planning away, make sure to let them know who sent ya…

Take a look around their facebook page (above), give them a call at (303)-594-2359, or go visit them at 9956 W. Remington Place Ste A10-244 here in Littleton. You can even drop them an email at outsidetheboxpartyplanning(at)yahoo(dot)com.

I know they look forward to hearing from you and helping plan the next event in your life.

~**This is in no way a compensated or paid post. All opinions are my own and provided for the simple joy of sharing.**~

Oh SunButter….where have you been all her life??

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Mo

As you know, Justice is allergic to all nuts. (For those of you that don’t………………………………….
Justice is allergic to all nuts. Now you’re caught up!)

Ours is a very nut loving house. Hey……have you seen our pictures?!?!

But for the last 4 months (holy man has it only been 4 months?!?!?! Seems like 4 years!) we’ve been a completely nut free home. Family members excluded of course.

This has been a simultaneously difficult and easy transition. It’s been easy in the respect that it’s for Justice’s health and so it’s as black and white as it gets. There must be NO nuts, nut products, or nut traces in this house. Period.
But that’s where the easy part disappears into nothingness.
When you take the reason/motivation out of the equation, it’s gets darn tricky! Anyone who is or knows a nut allergy sufferer (or moderate-severe sufferers of any other of the top 8 or other foods) understands the difficulty. You have to be super diligent about reading labels and you also need to learn another language. The language of food producers. For example; “modified food starch” often means wheat but doesn’t actually say that. Or “albumin” which means egg and “casein” which means milk. “They’re devilishly tricky little blighters!” ((50 ‘points’ to the 1st person to comment on what that line’s from. hehehe))

At any rate….it’s a tough gig to have thrust upon you…

But then……..

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, along comes some magical element that seems to make oh-so-many things better……

Oh yes……I speak of the wonder of SunButter (sunflower seed butter)!!!

~~hear the angels singing?? see the light shining down??~~

We sure have! This discovery has been a beautiful beautiful thing!!
Not for Justice mind you. No, no. For us. She’s not even 2! She doesn’t know any different and doesn’t really even care at this point. No–this is all about the ‘rents!
Dominic and I are so sublimely happy.

Does it taste like peanut butter?? Yes, if it’s not solo. If you’re scooping your finger in (it’s ok, you don’t need to pretend you use a spoon….we know better….), then no. It tastes nothing like peanut butter. As a matter of fact, it’s really overwhelming that you’re chewing on a mouth full of sunflower seeds. But slap it between 2 slices of bread with some jelly and let me tell ya……you’re back to the long lost days of peanut butter baby!
It’s Fab-a-lous!!

So……while we are still a completely nut free home (strictly food speak), we get to have the amazing joy of almost-peanut-butter without the danger. Yeah baby! That’s-a-what I’m-a talkin about!

So…….to those who have never heard of it…….

Now you have!

And for those that are interested…..I highly recommend you try it. Especially, of course, for those with allergies or sensitivites to nuts (peanut or tree nut).

****Make sure that you are not allergic or sensitive to sunflower seeds before trying this product!! If you’re not sure, then consult your physician.****

So….that’s my little love story for the wonder that is SunButter…..

I’m glad you could join me for my gushing….

*~This is in no way a compensated or paid post. All opinions are my own and provided for the simple joy of sharing~*

Return to routines… and a request :)

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Mo

It’s Tuesday. Yay!
Yesterday started a new week and the return to our “usual” routine. I went back to “work” (I trade office work for my tuition at my/Evan’s Tae Kwon Do studio).

This is also the 1st week back at actually cooking. No more microwave dinners for us!!! Now, that being said, I do have to admit that we did frozen pizzas last night. Ok. So maybe I’m starting slowly…. Actually, we had gotten some pizza’s in the last couple of weeks and really liked them so we decided to go ahead and have them again for an easy meal. Definitely cheaper than ordering delivery! And I’m all about cheaper.

Tonight however is a ‘new recipe’ of my own creation that I’m quite excited about. We’ll be doing easy chicken wraps. Yay! I saw a picture a few days ago, can’t remember if it was on a website or in a magazine or what, but it sparked an idea of a great easy and healthy summer time meal. Do it yourself grilled chicken wraps. Then, the great coupon for Tyson chicken in this past Sunday’s paper just “wrapped” the idea up nicely! (insert eyeroll over cheesy pun here)
I can’t wait to let you know how they turn out. And yes, I will try very hard to remember to take pics!

I would love to hear your best easy summer meals!! Drop me an email (mosmomstuff (at) yahoo (dot) com) or just put it down here in the comments.
Can’t wait to hear from you!!

IDENTIFIED!! We gotcha on our radar allergens!

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Mo

So yesterday was the highly anticipated Allergy Testing for the sweet little love. She’s been pretty fussy and irritable the last 2 weeks or so, in large part because of the ucky virus that invaded her adorable and usually very healthy body, she also cut her last 2 teeth about a week ago as well. Well, in all actuality, they cut her, but whatever… At any rate, we knew that she was not going to be her usual happy easy-going self with the doctor even before she got poked/scratched. We were right. Although she did exceptionally well with the actual testing.
We went into this with quite a bit of fear but also a great sense of impending relief. At last, no more eating out, shopping, cooking in fear of what she “might” be allergic to. We’ll have a definite list of offenders and we can go from there. I was thinking she was probably going to be allergic to several foods not to mention pollens and who knows what animals and misc evils. Well…….I was wrong!

Her moderate-severe reaction to eggplant aside (it’s not a common offender so they don’t test for it unless you bring some in), it turns out that her other reactions were contact reactions, not systemic. ~Big sigh of relief~
She tested negative to all of the foods they tested her for which was the 10 major allergens as well as a couple of other tree nuts. The doctor said that her eczema has just made her skin so much more sensitive to irritants that it reacts even when the rest of her body does not. So the reaction to the nuts is not a TRUE severe food allergy. BUT he did say that we absolutely still need to treat it as such. Because nuts are such a common and SEVERE allergen, based on her skin reaction from brief touch, the more she’s exposed the more likely she is to develop into a full allergy. So, per the allergist, for all intents and purposes, she is allergic to ALL nuts. He said we’ll reevaluate when she’s about 3 to see if we dare start introducing them or if we just continue on our current path. So….we are almost officially a completely nut free home (occupants excluded of course!). I’ve been working on it since easter but we’ve still had a couple of potentials (“produced in a plant that also processes tree nuts”) lingering. I had also kept the peanut butter because I wasn’t nearly as concerned since I know she’s had slight traces and she’s touched it. Well, after the allergists’, it’s now goin out the door. This last step is the one that is posing a road block as far as Dominic is concerned. He’s been perfectly content basically living off of PB&J; for his lunches. He can’t take processed meat all the time (his body is just not a fan) and non-processed is quite costly. So, this weekend we’ll be looking into other alternatives (me batch making chicken strips, chk/corn patties, etc). That issue aside, we’re doin great!

We did find out that she’s quite allergic to dogs though. Her reaction size was about the size of a 50 cent piece! Who’da thunk it? It’s perfectly fine by me, I’m sooo not a dog person anymore. Now don’t get me wrong, I can tolerate some and there are even a few I really like, but on the whole, I’m done with dogs. Being raised with Larger-than-average-size Great Danes (and other large breeds), I am soooooo over drool and hair and the constant need for attention and cleaning up after them, etc etc etc… I’m so much more a cat person. Too bad that I’m allergic, as is Dominic and most likely Evan. ~Sigh~ Oh well. One less being to care for, feed, and clean up after. I’m definitely good with that!!!

Other than dogs, she’s also allergic to dust (HAHAHAHAHA, apparently not too severely given the state of my house!!!) and a mold that is in ALL soil. That explains her allergy symptoms when she’s been outside. Nothing too severe though. ~Whew!~

So there ya have it. A full run down of our Allergy Testing experience. LOL
I’m sure it’s JUST what you wanted to read about today, but Thank You for reading anyway!

I hope that you have an excellent, allergen free Thursday!!! We intend to!