Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

I made some stock last time I made a whole chicken and I wanted to get it out of my freezer because it's in a big container taking up space.  To make a quality stock, all you have to do is toss in any chicken parts, bones, skin, meat, fat, and then any veggie trimmings you might have too.  Boil them slowly in water and let the stock absorb all the flavors and reduce down.  When it's the right flavor (taste it) you can let it cool and then run it through a sieve to make sure there are no bones or parts left in the stock.

Or, you can just use a can of broth.

Chicken soup is easy.  I chopped up 3 whole carrots into rounds, 3 stocks of celery into a rough chop and a whole sweet onion into a rough chop.  I added them to the stock and brought them to a boil, then reduced the heat and simmered low for a while, maybe half an hour.  

Meanwhile, I grilled two boneless, skinless chicken breasts and let them cool slightly so I could pull them apart into small, bite sized pieces.  You can use any chicken meat you have.  It can be leftovers too.  When I finished pulling the meat apart I added it to the soup pot and stirred it in.  

I seasoned my soup with a pinch of thyme.  A dab will do you.  I also added some parsley for color, and I like how it tastes too.  The stock and chicken was already seasoned with salt and pepper, but taste and adjust seasoning if need be.

I like my noodles al dente, so I cook them separate and then add them when I'm ready to serve the soup.  You can just drop them in the soup and cook them too.  However you prefer is fine.  I use Kluski noodles, made in Pennsylvania Dutch Country.  They're like the ones I'd make homemade that Grandma taught me to make, when I don't have time or want to clean up the mess, which is most of the time.

What a way to spend a snowy day in the house.  It smells heavenly and tastes like Mom used to make.

French Onion Soup - Improvised

I was in the mood for soup again today.  Pretty soon it'll be spring and summer and we won't be eating soups much.  I have some huge croutons I made already out of leftover bread, and I have some beef consomme, sweet onions, and provolone.  I'll improvise and make about 2 servings.

Slice a large, sweet onion into rings.  Heat a skillet to medium and add a drizzle of olive oil and 2 T butter.  When the butter melts, add your onions and turn heat to low.  Cook the onions on low for about 30 minutes, stirring every so often and getting them to a caramelized state, a dark golden color, and then deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup of red wine or sherry.  Stir and cook another 15 minutes or so to absorb most of the wine and cook the onions even further.

Add broth (for just one or two servings, a small can of consomme or a cup and a half of broth will do).  Season with salt, pepper and a sprig of thyme or some ground thyme, just a pinch.  Reduce slightly over a simmering heat for 30 minutes.

In oven proof crocks or dishes, place one or two large croutons, or a handful of small croutons, and then ladle the soup over the top, making sure you get an even amount of onions in each.  Cover with a piece of cheese and bake in the oven at 450 until the cheese starts to bubble and brown, about 10 minutes.  Carefully remove the bowls and serve, warning your guests about how hot it will be.

Yum!

Tortellini in Brodo

David woke up not feeling well on his birthday.  After having waffles for breakfast, I made him some soup for lunch.  He doesn't like traditional chicken soup, so I thought I'd make a basic broth with tortellini to get him to eat it.

You will need:

3 c. chicken stock
2-3 sliced carrots
1/2 large yellow onion, rough diced
parsley
Italian seasoning
1 t. garlic
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 T olive oil
salt
pepper
bay leaf

1 lb tortellini, cooked al dente
Parmesan cheese

In a large Dutch oven, pour your stock and add the vegetables and seasonings.  It's really a one pot meal.  Add all but the tortellini, and 1 T. of the olive oil and then bring to a simmer.  Simmer at a low boil for an hour to reduce and intensify the flavor.

Meanwhile, bring salted water to a boil and drop your tortellini.  Cook to al dente, drain and toss in the other T. of olive oil so they won't stick. 

In a large soup plate, arrange a layer of tortelli and then top with a couple of ladles full of broth, including the veggies.  Top with a dusting of Parmesan cheese and a pinch more of parsley.  Serve with a side of crusty bread and butter.

Serves 3-4.

Classic Belgian Waffles

David and I bought the most amazing All-Clad 4 waffle maker over the holidays.  It's already more than paid for itself.  We make waffles every weekend.

I found a few recipes and a friend gave me a recipe from Belgium, and we've settled on this one.  It makes perfect waffles every time and it's easy to whip up.

You will need:

2 c. all-purpose flour
2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
4 large eggs, separated
2 T. sugar
1/2 t. vanilla extract
4 T. butter, half a stick, melted
2 c. buttermilk (or 2 T lemon juice and the rest of the 2 c filled with milk and left to sit 5-10 minutes)
non stick cooking spray

Grade B maple syrup
butter for dressing

Get out a batter bowl and 2 other larger bowls.  In the batter bowl, sift together the flour, powder and salt.  I add a pinch of cinnamon, but you don't have to.  Set aside.

In the other two bowls, separate the egg yolks and whites, yolks in one and whites in the other.  Set the whites aside. 

In the yolk bowl, add the sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves.  Melt the butter (30 seconds on defrost in our house) and then slowly drizzle in the butter so it doesn't cook your eggs, and add the milk and vanilla.  Mix until incorporated well. 

Pour the egg, milk mixture into the flour mixture in the batter bowl.  Mix until it just comes together.  Do not over mix.  Set aside.

Using a hand mixer, beat the egg whites until they form medium peaks.  Then fold them into the batter bowl turning it in one direction while using a spatula to gently fold in the whites.  This will create an airy and fluffy waffle.

Spray your waffle iron with non-stick spray.  We use crisco spray because it wipes off and doesn't ruin the iron.  Then heat your waffle iron to desired heat.  Ours gets set on 5 and lights up green and beeps when it's ready.  

Fill the iron with the right amount of waffle batter for yours and let it cook until golden brown.  Our iron beeps when the waffle is done, but I like it slightly less done, so I take it out after 5ish minutes.  David likes them very done and crunchy, so I let his go until it beeps.

I enjoy mine with either a little butter and a drizzle of pure maple syrup, or I sometimes put a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some berries on top.  David likes powdered sugar sometimes.  Every once in a while we toss some nuts in the batter.  Pecans taste great.  

This recipe yields 8 large square waffles.

Al's Char-House - La Grange, IL

This Valentine's Day we went out for dinner.  Let me just say we went the day  before Valentine's Day to avoid the crowds.  We wanted to see the movie Nine at the La Grange Theater, so we chose a restaurant close to the theater on La Grange.  La Grange, IL is a village and Chicago suburb in DuPage County.

We parked and walked in to Al's at about 6:10 p.m.  Our name was added to the list and we waited at the bar with margaritas for about 20 or 30 minutes until our name was called.  The margaritas were good.  I noticed that despite how packed the place is, if you don't respond to your name by running to the host desk, they immediately give your table away to someone else.  We got to the host desk in time.

Be careful in this place.  It's a lawyer's dream.  There are different flooring levels every 10 feet and you can trip, like I did, despite the warnings.  

They led us to a very small two top in the back.  (That's restaurant speak for 2 chairs and a tiny table.)  Other couples got booths, but didn't sit on the same side like we would have.  Oh well.  I did notice they have pillows on the booth backs.  I now understand why and will explain.

Our waitress did not get to our table for about 10-15 minutes after we were seated.  She apologized for the wait and I noticed that she had a larger table of six who had just ordered appetizers and drinks, and she had been waiting at the bar for their drinks.

We ordered all of our courses immediately, including a diet soda and seven up, a burger with bacon and cheddar, and a steak sandwich done medium well.  We asked to start with potato skins.  David ordered salad and I ordered chicken noodle soup.

The potato skins and sodas came in maybe 10 minutes or so.  So far so good.  The skins were tasty, with plenty of bacon and cheese on top.  I'm glad I got my fix in the app, and I'm glad I was mostly full after a couple of halves.  The soda tasted like it came out of a dirty line.  One of my restaurant pet peeves.  You want to save money using a soda line, then clean it.  It's gross to drink what tastes like dirty bar dish water.

We asked for our skins to be wrapped to go because we had several left over and we wanted to save room for dinner.  It took at least twenty minutes for our next course to come.  David insists it took longer than that and he may be right.  How long does it take to put salad on a plate and soup in a bowl?  We were starting to worry about making our movie, which is funny because we got to the restaurant at 6 and the movie started at 9 and was down the block.

I went to the ladies room while we waited.  It was kind of old and falling apart.  The stalls were all connected with one panel of doors.  Mine didn't actually lock.  Every time someone exited or entered the one next to me, my door flew open.  I do have to give them kudos for the toilet paper being raised up high so you don't have to rub it on the floor to get it out of the dispenser.  The toilet didn't flush unless you held the handle the entire time during the weak flush.  I had to flush for the person before me and then for myself.  Other than that, it wasn't very clean or nice.  You'd think with their volume and prices they could put a little into the bathroom.  One of my pet peeves is bad bathrooms, particularly in a nice place that does a lot of business. 

The salad was forgettable.  David loves salad and usually eats until his plate is clean, but he said, "I'm done with this salad.  It barely has any dressing on it."  He ordered bleu cheese and they were stingy with it.  He didn't comment on the actual salad, but the lack of dressing seemed to ruin it for him.

The chicken noodle soup was actually very good in terms of flavor.  Perfect flavor.  However, it had overcooked elbows in it and I didn't detect a single shred of chicken in it, nor were there any vegetables other than a few very large chunks of celery.  I didn't see a carrot or an onion.  I chalked it up to chicken broth with elbows and figured I'd have plenty to eat when my meal came.

I tried the signature bread.  It is a very dense raisin bread.  David tried it and didn't like it.  He said if he wanted carrot cake he'd order dessert.  I had a slice and it was good, but dense and oddly paired with soup and salad, as it tastes more like dessert.  I love bread and we let the waitress take most of it away uneaten.

Our food took forrrrrrrrrever!  I.  Mean.  Forever!  It was at least an hour after the skins came.  We were served our dinner at just before 8:30, more than 2 hours after walking in the door and about 2 hours after being seated.  At that point, we didn't even want the food anymore.  In fact, it was only out of our moral feeling of obligation to stay and eat what we ordered that we didn't go to the host stand and tell them to forget it and charge us for the appetizers only.  We wanted to walk out.

While we waited we couldn't help but entertain ourselves by making fun of the place and ourselves for sitting there like cattle.  I noticed a rib lying on the floor from hours before.  I even noticed duct tape on the thermostat, wires that weren't tucked away on some of the beams, and fake cacti.  We commented on the waitresses' hair styles.  One reminded us of the girl in the movie Liar Liar played by Cheri Oteri.  

I overheard the table next to us comment, "We got bent over," when they got their check.  Honestly, they were probably wrong because they got served much faster than we did and they had 8 lb steaks with 3 or 4 add ons each and alcoholic beverages as well as appetizers for six.  I don't know what they expected and I didn't hear them complain about a single food item.

David and I have plenty to talk about and we generally have fun on our dates, but I have to tell you that we were running out of small talk to make and we were getting delirious during the wait.  I kept yawning and I commented that I know why they have pillows on the booths.  They know their patrons need to nap while waiting for their food.  David said, "Yeah, they should have a nap room.  You order and they say go take a nap and we'll wake you when it's ready."  I couldn't get a feel for the reason for the wait, other than they were busy, but there were other tables turning over rapidly and other waiters who were bringing food out fast.  It seemed random, like our little booth was forgotten.  Then again, a few other tables were rotting too.

David commented several times that no restaurant is worth this kind of wait and he was aging as he sat there.  I joked that maybe they age your steak while you wait.

The food finally came.  

David's was delicious, thought it was underdone for his taste and not cooked to his specification of medium well.  It was quite pink, and I enjoyed it.  I ate 1/4 of his sandwich because my burger was awful.  There is no other way to describe it.  Maybe it's bad on me for ordering a burger in a steak house, but I figured if they can do meat they can do meat!  

David wondered why I snatched 1/4 of his sandwich and ate the whole thing, not touching the rest of mine after the first bite.  First of all, it had no bacon and no cheddar on it.  I had ordered it that way.  Second, it was overdone. I ordered mine medium and it was gray all the way through, which was good, because the texture of the meat was so fine and so unlike any other burger I've ever had that it reminded me of spam.  It was like someone used a gelled meat product to make a patty and they didn't season it or anything.  It was not worth another bite or any of the calories involved.

David thought it couldn't be that bad so he tried it and said, "No, that's not very good at all!  I'm sorry."  He asked if I wanted to get something else and I said no way after waiting 2 hours...I wasn't even going to ask for bacon or cheese at this point.  I was just not going to eat it.  

When the waitress came back she asked if we wanted our leftovers wrapped and we said to wrap the steak sandwich but not the burger.  (This should make another problem apparent.  I was a waitress for 10 years and you always go back after a few bites of food to make sure your customers are happy and food is prepared properly and they have everything they need.  She did not.  She had no idea my food was wrong until we were done.)  She asked why and David told her I didn't like it and it was not how I ordered it at all, no bacon, no cheddar and not cooked properly.  She said, "That's my fault."  However, it was still on the bill.  So we paid for a burger I took one bite of and forced myself to swallow.

David said he was happy to pay the bill just to get the hell out of there.  We got up and he said, "Ugh, I can't even stand from sitting so long."  I said, "Yeah, we're lucky we haven't died from a blood clot from sitting for so long."  We giggled.

As we walked out we saw an elderly couple waiting for a table, among many others, and David said, "I should tell that poor guy he's got limited time as it is, use it wisely and go somewhere else.  He doesn't have that kind of time!"

I don't think we'd go back.  We thought that if we do, we'll stick to a big steak and share it.  We certainly won't expect the service to be quick.  We'll bring a book or something.  Now that I've read other reviews as horrible as mine, I will not return.  I see the steaks are not good either and the service is typical.  Do not bring your kids unless you bring their entire toy box.  I can't imagine they'll behave for 2-3 hours.  We made our movie just in time for the lights to go down and the opening credits to roll.  9:01.

Egg Salad

Who posts a recipe for egg salad?  I would think this is a no-brainer to make, but I wonder if maybe there is someone out there who has no idea how to make egg salad.  David asked for a bowl of it for lunch this week.

You will need:

10 - 12 hard boiled eggs
1 c. mayonaise
1 t. yellow mustard
salt
pepper

diced pickles, optional
chopped celery, optional
sliced olives, optional

I'm sure the possibilities are endless with kicked up egg salad.  I like to add olives or pickles to it myself.  However, David doesn't like either, and I made him a batch of basic egg salad with no frills for work this week.

Cover your eggs in cold water in a medium sauce pan.  Salt the water.  (Supposedly this helps with peeling.  I have not proven this, but I do it anyway.)  Bring to a rolling boil, then reduce the heat to medium and boil for 8-10 minutes.  Then turn off the heat and let stand to cool slightly for 10 more minutes.  Peel immediately or completely cooled eggs will be difficult to peel.

Dice your peeled eggs whatever size you prefer.  I did a smaller dice.  Put them in a bowl.  Salt them and then dust them with fresh ground pepper and toss.

In a separate bowl, mix your mayo (I use the canola based one for no cholesterol) and mustard until creamy and incorporated.  Slightly salt and pepper to taste.  Pour over the eggs in the larger bowl and carefully mix until the eggs are coated with mayo dressing.

Chill and serve.  Or, you can eat it warm.

I served mine on Oat Nut bread.

Ruffolo International Foods - Kenosha, Wisconsin

I met Lisa, the owner of Ruffolo International Foods, when I went to get homemade meat ravioli on Wednesday.  I was craving them.  I haven't had them in a while, but they are so good and they save me the cooking for the night.

I asked Lisa if she minded me posting a review on my blog.  She said she knows people have already done it, and she appreciates it.  She even said I could take a picture, but I forgot my camera that day.  I'll get one and post it here later.

While I was there, Lisa told me the story of how she started her business.  Ruffolo's is a cash-only business.  It's an old garage building in Kenosha on Sheridan Road.  She bought it when she was 20 with the help of her parents.  She said that she went to beauty school and decided she didn't want to do that at the time.  She was very good at making ravioli with her family recipe and friends and family requested them all the time.  She got tired of making them for gifts and favors, so she decided to go into business making them and selling them.  The rest is history and she's been doing it for 25 years, with a little help from her dad and mom and brother, but she mostly does all the work and makes everything by hand from scratch.

Her ravioli are delicious.  They are slightly larger than most store-bought ravioli, and moon shaped.  She sells them with or without sauce, but I love buying them in sauce because her sauce is good and generous, so there is plenty to dip my Italian bread in as I eat, and then I don't have to make sauce or use jar sauce.  The pasta is an egg pasta, I'm guessing, and you can taste the natural ingredients in it.  It's light, yet flavorful and has a wonderful texture without being doughy or tough.  They are like your grandma made them.  The filling is finely minced meat mixture, and I'm not sure what she mixes in, but it's good.  I'm guessing it's a beef, veal or beef, pork mixture.  It's flavorful and filling, and it's complimented well by the sauce. 

Her red sauce is similar to my home made sauce, which I learned to make from Kenosha Italian women whose roots are from Calabria in Cosenza, Italy.  It's tasty, slightly sweet, and you can taste basil in it.  It is not chunky, but a fine puree of sauce without being runny or watery.  It adheres to the pasta well, coating it easily.  It's deep red and it tastes great with or without a cheese dusting.

Lisa also makes cheese ravioli.  She sells ravioli without sauce or with sauce, in 12 or 4 ravioli packs.  They are pre-frozen and you just put the whole bag in boiling water for about 15-20 minutes until heated through, then cut the boiling bag open and dump the entire thing into a serving dish.

On her menu, she also has pasties, lasagna, Italian beef, gnocchi, Italian sausage in sauce and you can buy homemade pasta from her, frozen in bags.  I have tried her spaghetti before.  I'm sure I'm missing some of what she offers.

It is a hole in the wall, dive where you walk in and pay cash for a bag of frozen dinner that is delicious.  If you didn't know it was there, you wouldn't know it was there.  Now that I shop there, my mom said, "We used to buy stuff from her when you were little, I just forgot she was there!"

The best part of talking with Lisa were two stories she told me.  She said lots of college kids ask their mothers for her food when they come home to Kenosha on break.  The mothers come in sulking, feeling awful that their kids didn't request a dish of theirs, but instead they want Lisa's ravs.  Lisa comforts them saying, "Well, now you get to relax and enjoy your child instead of slaving over a hot stove all day."  :)

The day I bought my ravioli this week, she had just received a call from a businessman who was staying on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago and had been told to go to Kenosha and buy some ravioli from her.  It snowed 14" that day, so he couldn't make the drive, but he called her to ask if she could ship him some ravioli.  She said she hasn't done that before, but she sure as heck replied she would love to do that for him.

I didn't mention that when I walked in it smelled heavenly in the place.  She was cooking in the back. 

If you live local and you get a chance, or if you are in Chicago and you have some time to drive north, go to visit Lisa and tell her I sent you.  She is located at Sheridan Road (Hwy 32) and 44th, at 4420 Sheridan Road.  You will miss it if you aren't paying attention, because it's just a little cinder block converted garage that is now a small store with a kitchen in back.  She literally has an old cash register with cash-only, and some deep freezers, and that's about it out front. 

You'll notice the Open sign in the front and I believe they're open M-F and part of Saturday.

Don't expect hot food when you order.  It's all take and heat food to prepare at home, but it's all ready.  All you have to do is boil the bag and cut it open and serve.  I recommend it and it's certainly a local, off the beaten path place.  Guy Fieri would approve.

52 Comment French Fries

By very popular demand, I am posting a home made French Fry recipe.  I said I was making them at home on Facebook and I had a comment explosion asking how to do it, and discussing the correct method of making them.  It's very simple.

You will need:

Potatoes, preferably Russets, julienned (peeling optional)

Oil (I use canola, but the traditional method is duck fat, and you can use whatever you prefer)

Salt

For mine, I did not peel them, but sometimes I do.  I scrubbed them, then julienned them into thin strips.  I like long, skinny fries.  In a high walled skillet (you can use a deep fryer if you have one) I heated a few cups of oil until a test fry bubbled when I dropped it in.  You want it very hot, but not so hot it overboils when you drop them in.  

Oh, and make sure your fries are not soaking wet or you could cause a grease fire from overflowing the oil.  Pat them dry before putting them in the oil.  If the oil bubbles up too much when you drop in a test fry, turn down the heat slightly.

Drop in only enough fries so that they have room to cook without being crowded in the amount of oil you have in the pot.  I did a handful at a time.  Stir them around just a little, and gently, a few times as they cook so they don't stick together, and only cook them half way.  Then remove them to a towel to dry.  When they are all done, you can prep your main dish if you have one or take a break if you need to.  If you don't have a main dish, then proceed to the second frying stage.

Make sure the oil is to temperature again with a test fry, and then drop a handful of the par-fried potatoes.  Let them cook until golden brown and remove them with a slotted spoon to a paper towel lined basket or dish and immediately salt them to taste.  If you wait to salt them they will not hold the salt.  

When you finish cooking the last handful, enjoy either alone or with a main course.  They are also good with a sprinkling of malt vinegar and some folks like them with ketchup.  I prefer them just plain with salt.

Lemon Roasted Shrimp Pasta for One

As an unmarried person living alone, sometimes I have to cook just enough for me to eat by myself, and that doesn't always mean I just make a PB&J.  I like to eat good food, so I still cook for myself.  Sometimes I have lots of leftovers, but this is one meal you can make to size because there aren't really measurements, it's more of a flavor thing, and it's super simple.

In a pasta pot, heat salted water to boiling.  Cook any type of pasta you want, probably a good one for thin sauce like angel hair or spaghetti or orzo or whatever you like, and follow the timing on the box.  

In a sautee pan, heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil on medium low and add the zest of one lemon and the juice of one lemon and a half clove of garlic, just a little bit.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and maybe a red pepper flake or two.  Let it slightly reduce to intensify the flavor.  

Add the peeled and deveined shrimp and sautee them until just done.  They will be pink on the outside and opaque in the middle.  Don't overcook or you'll have tough little erasers for dinner.  For one person, just cook whatever number of shrimp you'll like on your pasta.  Maybe 5 or 8 or whatever, depending on size and appetite.

When the shrimp are done, toss in the cooked pasta and either serve it that way, or add halved grape tomatoes or green beans or any other veggie you like.

Serve with a slice of bread and a glass of wine.  It's an eating out feeling dinner for one at home. 

Maple Oatmeal Scones

I thought of David when I saw this recipe in my Food Network Magazine January/February 2010 issue.  It's Ina Garten's recipe, excerpted from Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. 

They are a pain to make, very messy and labor intensive, but they turned out good.  I thought maybe they could be sweeter, but David loves them.  They earned rave reviews and he affirmatively stated, "You will be making these again."  He's so cute.

You will need:

(For the scones)

3 1/2 c all purpose flour

1 c whole wheat flour

1 c quick oats, plus some for sprinkling

2 T baking powder

2 T granulated sugar

2 t salt

1 lb cold, unsalted butter, cubed

1/2 c cold buttermilk (or make your own in a 1 c measure with 2 T lemon juice or vinegar and the rest milk)

1/2 c pure maple syrup (grade B is best)

4 extra large eggs, lightly beaten

1 egg beaten with I T milk or water to make an egg wash

(For the glaze)

1 1/4 c confectioner's or powdered sugar

1/2 c pure maple syrup

1 t vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In your electric stand mixer bowl, combine flour, oats, baking powder, salt, and sugar on very slow setting.  Continuing on the slowest possible speed, add the cubed butter and mix until you have pea sized grains of butter mixed entirely in to the dry mixture.  

Combine the buttermilk, syrup and eggs and then quickly add it to the dry mixture and beat on slow speed just until combined.  Do not over mix.

Flour a large, clean surface, as well as your hands and a rolling pin.  Dump your batter out onto the floured surface and then sprinkle with flour and roll out to an even 3/4 inch to 1 inch thickness.  With a floured cookie cutter or biscuit cutter, cut out as many scones as you can with your first rolled batter.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  Do not grease them.  Place scones an inch or so apart on the parchment paper sheets and then brush with egg wash.  Bake 20-25 minutes until golden on top and done in the middle.

For the glaze, mix the powdered sugar, syrup and vanilla until it forms a glaze.  

Remove from the oven and ice with a drizzle of glaze at once.  Sprinkle with oats so they will stick.  Cool on a rack and then store in an airtight container.

Repeat the steps for any unused batter.  Combine it slightly, re-roll, cut and bake.  Ina's recipe says it yields 14 large scones.  I did smaller ones and I have 4 small containers of them, maybe 40 smaller scones.

They are great with morning coffee.

Pampered Chef Rice Cooker

I've never done a cookware review before on this blog, but I haven't cooked anything new to this blog lately, (it'd be repeat recipes) and I wanted to post a fresh post.  I thought, hmmmm...I made rice today and I LOVE my rice maker.  Why not write about it?

I didn't even want the Pampered Chef rice cooker, but I had a party for my friend Jenna who sells it, and I got a bunch of free stuff.  I had to pick something in the range I had coming and she recommended it.  I didn't even use it forever, because I thought how silly to use a microwavable rice cooker to do what I can do in the same time, basically, on the stove.

Boy was I wrong.  This little, black, three piece cooking vessel is nothing short of a miracle in the microwave.  It makes rice all by itself.  No hassle, no mess, no over boiling, no problem. 

All you do is put the right measurements of rice to water, usually 1 to 2, with salt and olive oil or butter, stir, seal it with the two top pieces, and then put it in for 15-20 minutes depending on your microwave intensity.  Then let it rest without opening it for 5-10 minutes and voila!  Magic rice.  Perfect, like the restaurants make it.  I eat it all the time.  It's so good I could eat it by itself.

Why is it better than doing it on the stove?  No temptation to stir.  No burned bottom if you don't have the good simmer setting on your stove.  No overboil sticky mess to clean up.  And the dish cleans up without any scrubbing at all.  Just run your soapy sponge over it and forget about it.  Oh, and it's better than an electric rice cooker because I can put it in the frig when it cools and keep my rice in there, or even add other ingredients to it while it's hot and store it in there.

If you don't have one, get one.  You will love it.  I've actually thought of getting a second one for days when I've already used it and I need more rice.