The Smoke Has Cleared! The Story About One Costly Bag of White Rice

This is a post about a frugal failure.

The smoke had cleared but the smell still lingered in the air. I greeted my returning family with -- "The good news is I did not burn your house down." Then I told them about my rice cooking adventure.

While visiting family, I housesat their elderly dog for a few days while family members were on vacation.

Feeding and walking the dog seemed easy. But, the dog is blind so I carried him down the stairs to the grassy area for potty breaks. He still likes to sniff around. After we return to the house, I wanted him to get a little exercise, so I walk slowly around the house talking to him. He would follow me. Once he even did one of his play routines, going in circles and barking like he was playing with a toy.

At dinner time, I followed the instructions in making his meal, 1 teaspoon each of dry dog food, shredded chicken, cooked white rice, and wet dog food stirred with a bit of water.

Everything was going well until I figured I would run out of white rice before the family got home. Now, I've cooked rice on a stove, on a hot plate and in a microwave, so no problem, right?

I choose to get a bag of white rice because it was a better buy than the quick boil-in-a-bag rice.

I decided to cook the rice on the gas stove. 1 cup rice, 2 cups water, standard procedure, bring to a boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes. Well, I got distracted and burnt the rice. The pot also needed a massive cleaning.

Then, I went to the store and got a covered microwave dish. Ok, rice and water, set power to 50%, cook 20 minutes, once again the rice burned.

Ok, cleaned the dish and started again. This time I cooked the rice for 5 minutes on high, then set the microwave at 50% but this time I watched all the dials and panels and realized that the last time I tried using 50% power, I did it wrong and it reverted to 100%. But, this time, I got cooked rice!!

Later, my sister tossed out the burnt pot.

The remaining rice was used to try to salvage a cell phone that had been dropped in the toilet. The phone sat in the bag of rice for two days. Later, the phone could function but would crash, so much for that remedy.

That is the history of one costly bag of rice.

More Meals From Recent Family Visit - Catfish, Tandoori Chicken, Sausage Burritos, and more

Here are few more meals I had during a recent family visit.

I fell in love with catfish after a visit to San Diego with my mom. So, my first meal when I got to MD was fried catfish at Red, Hot & Blue. Plus, I can't get it where I live or at least it is not a common item on any menu.

Fried Catfish

While I was out with a friend, who lives in the city, we decided to try Gran Trunk, an indian fast food place. My eyes lit up when I saw Tandoori Chicken Wraps. Tandoori Chicken is Shah Rukh Khan's favorite food, so you know what I got. It was delicious.

Tandoori Chicken Wraps

Now, when I lived in the area, my most common meal was McDonald's Sausage Burrito from the dollar menu, so I had to get one on my visit, especially because McD will probably change its menu over time.

McDonald's Sausage Burrito

Plus, I enjoyed many homemade meals with my family. All my family are good cooks.

On a visit to my brother's, my sister-in-law made a great dish, don't know what to call it but it was fun.

You take a piece of round, hard, rice paper and soak it briefly in water. Then fill the softened rice paper with various goodies like bean sprouts, cooked meat, sliced carrots, and other items. Add sauce if you want, roll it up and eat it. Just my kind of food.

I ate so many, I was full. I thought that was dinner. It wasn't but I was so full, I couldn't eat the delicious dinner M had prepared just for me: roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, and green beans. But, because I would be staying or visiting more while I was in town, I got that dinner eventually.

Rice Wraps

Also, while I was in town, another sister came to visit. G is a good cook, too, even though she does not think so. We wanted to make a dinner for her son when he came to visit. G and I decided that T would help because he's a good cook, too.

They made chicken and broccoli and G added a "Secret Sauce." The meal was great and the secret sauce turned out to be packets of sauce we had gotten from a chicken place we'd eaten at recently. We still don't know what's in the sauce.

The meal was completed using leftover mashed potatoes and salad.

Chicken and Broccoli with a Secret Sauce

Another sister, S, and her husband, J, are good cooks, too. They like fresh vegetables and salads. While I contributed items to various meals, I did not cook much. I think they realized it was true I couldn't cook when I tried to make spaghetti sauce. One meal was particularly special. I  bought ground bison and J made Buffalo Burgers and grilled them.

We were all into yogurt. Every time I went to the grocery store, I bought a variety of yogurts. I like the dessert type yogurt like: Key Lime pie, Strawberry Shortcake, Chocolate Mousse, and others.

Some of the best times in my visit were the times spent sitting in my families' kitchens talking and making meals. Usually I just watched unless someone figured out a task I could do :-)

P.S. I OD'd on snacks. I bought way too many flavored chips and crackers.

Yummy Appetizers from Coastal Flats - Crab Cake sliders and Shrimp Fritters

On a recent family visit, we went out to eat many times. One enjoyable meal was when we got a surprise call from my sister, S's, husband to join him for lunch at Coastal Flats.

We piled in the car and drove off to meet him. We sat on tall chairs outside at a cocktail table.

My other sister, G, and I decided to order appetizers instead of a meal. We got crab cake sliders and shrimp fritters with a corn salsa. Both were very good but the shrimp fritters were melt in your mouth delicious.

Besides the companionship, the best part of going out to eat, is I get to eat things I would never be able to make, like Shrimp Fritters.

Crab Cake Sliders and Shrimp Fritters with Corn Salsa

Food WastED - Menu Item

The topic of Food Waste is a large. Food is wasted in many ways by businesses, organizations and individuals. Various organizations are creating solutions. I hope to write more on this later.

One of those solutions is for restaurants to design menu items that use their own food "waste."

For this post, I want to simply list a menu item I found on a recent trip.

I was in Washington, DC, visiting a friend. We went out to eat several times. One stop was at Teasim, a funky restaurant.

I noticed a category on the menu, Trash or Treasure. This reminded me of a yard sale slogan, so I was intrigued. There were two menu items under this category that "were developed to utilize product often wastED in restaurants."

I choose a item from this category, the "Bread Salad", a bowl of roasted vegetable slices, large seasoned bread cubes, fruit slices, sunflower seeds with an orange fennel vinaigrette.

I did examine the salad trying to figure out how these items might have been considered "waste." I assumed that the fruits and vegetables were preparation remains from other menu items that were not enough to keep and that the bread cubes were made from bread ends.

The "Bread Salad" was great on many levels. Now to start with, I like all those items. It was tasty. It was the right amount of food for me at that moment, often I don't want a large meal. It was inexpensive. It was an adventure, and I became a participate in the WastED campaign to reduce food waste.

Trash or Treasure Menu Items

Bread Bowl

Look for future posts on food waste. It's a great tightwad idea :-)

One resource: http://www.wastedny.com

Cabbage Crazy Salad

When I looked back at my Crazy Salad post, I realized that was the beginning of my crazy salad experiments. This is an update.

After I found that a head of lettuce went bad before I could eat it all, I got a head of cabbage and tried that. I liked it. It is different. But, it makes a great base for a crazy salad. Plus, it keeps for several weeks in the frig.

If I worry about it going bad, I just cut a half or quarter of the head, drop it in boiling water for a few minutes, then freeze it. The frozen cabbage can be used in my Universal Skillet Dish or other cooked cabbage recipes.


Cabbage Crazy Salad

Base (Choose One)
1-3 Tablespoons per serving

Chicken, cooked and diced or canned, or as chicken salad
1/8 Head green cabbage, sliced into short thin strips

Rice, cooked, or Spanish rice
Salmon, canned, plain or as salmon salad

Step One - the Base

Other Ingredients (Use What You Have)
1-2 Tablespoons per serving

Vegetables
Artichoke hearts, 1-3

Avocado, slices

Beans, canned, black, red, or Chick peas

Beet, slices or cubes

Broccoli, pieces

Carrots, sliced or grated or shredded

Cauliflower, pieces

Celery, diced

Celery, sliced or diced

Chayote, sliced

Cheese, white, cubed

Cucumbers, sliced or diced

Green or red pepper, sliced or diced

Jicama, thin slices

Leeks, diced

Mushrooms, sliced

Olives, black or green, sliced

Onion, red or white, sliced or diced

Palm hearts, 1-3

Radishes, sliced or diced

Tomatoes, regular or cherry tomatoes, sliced or diced

Fruit
Apples, slices
Pineapple, fresh or canned, chunks
Raisins


Toppings (Use What You Have)
Croutons or toasted bread cubes
Imitation Bacon bits
Parmesan cheese


Seasonings (Choose one or two)
Curry powder
Ground black pepper
Paprika

Final Step - adding the extra ingredients

Note: I often don't use any dressing because the salad has lots of flavor.

Midnight Snack -- A Variation on an Appetizer

Skewered Midnight Snack

Why I get the urge to eat late at night is still a puzzle.

Usually, I would eat a few pretzels or a slice of turkey, but then I got a bright idea.

Let's make a skewer.

Ingredients:
1 skewer stick (wood or metal)
a few grape tomatoes
1 slice of turkey lunch meat, cut into strips
a few small chunks of cream cheese or other cheeses
a few olives
1 tsp of dry basil

Process:
Fold the strips of lunch meat, then piece the meat to add to the skewer.
Pierce tomatoes or olives or cheese to add to the skewer stick.
Alternate the order of the items.
Crush the basil between your palms and sprinkle over the skewered items.

No Bake -- Blackberry Shortcake-Styled Dessert

No Bake -- Blackberry Shortcake-Styled Dessert
Adapted from: Enjoy Cooking: The Costco Way, Blueberry Shortcake

Ingredients:
1 Soft sweet roll(s)
1/4 Chunk of cream cheese
2 Tbspns of Blackberry Marmalade or preserves
2 Tbspns whipped cream topping
Garnish: Crushed nuts (Optional)

Nuts not shown.

Process:
Slice roll in half horizontally.
Spread a portion of the cream cheese over the top of each roll half.
Add 1 Tblspn marmalade on top of cream cheese, spread out over cream cheese.
Add 1 Tblspn whipped topping on top of each roll half.
Sprinkle each half roll with a little crushed nuts. (Optional)

Suggestion: use a fork to eat.

In a way, making recipes for the next volume of Recipes from the Kitchen of a Frugal Non-Cook has blown my food budget and my healthy eating diet.  I keep buying things that I will use infrequently like the blackberry preserves and whipped topping. But, it's fun and educational.