Perfect Brown Rice

I love using whole grains when I cook, but brown rice has always been difficult to get right. If you cook it like white rice and just steam it, it turns our really mushy and not really very appetizing. But I found this way to cook brown rice that makes it tender, not mushy. Anyway, I found the instructions here at saveur.com. Basically, you boil the rice like you would pasta for 20 minutes, then you drain it and let it steam in the remaining liquid for another 10 minutes. It works! The down side is, of course, that any of the "enriched" vitamins will go down the drain, but there's other ways to get your vitamins.

Check it out:

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Perfect-Brown-Rice

Delicious Sloppy Joes

I love these sloppy joes. They're so easy and so delicious. I was really rather pleasantly surprised the first time I tried them. So much better than Manwich (I'm not knocking it--but these ARE better). The picture and original recipe came from Rachel Ray on foodnetwork.com.



1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
1 1/4 pounds ground beef sirloin (or whatever—I used ground chicken thighs)
1 large onion, chopped
1 large red or green bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon steak seasoning blend
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cups tomato sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste

In a bowl, combine brown sugar, seasoning blend, vinegar, W sauce, tomato sauce, and tomato paste. In skillet, brown meat over medium high heat. Remove meat, and sauté onion and pepper until onions are translucent. Add meat and sauce mixture to skillet. Stir to combine. Reduce heat and simmer for about five minutes, or until it reaches desired consistency. Serve on crusty rolls or hamburger buns.