Cooking for Seven

A while back, the folks over at RiceSelect sent me a jar of “Jasmati” rice, and in exchange, I agreed to publish my opinion of it!

RiceSelect, which has been around since the 70s, was the first company to successfully produce basmati rice grown in the USA. Their rice is USA grown and milled/cleaned. I think that’s super-awesome.  They also offer whole grain and organic rice, as well as couscous and orzo.

What I found:

This is a very nice white rice. It cooks up beautifully and quickly (about 15-20 minutes from boil) and has a very good texture. I used it for Thai Coconut Rice - heaven!

Would I Buy It?

Yes. Superior quality rice is sometimes a must. And I’d be interested in trying their whole grain rices and pearl couscous. However, the shipping charges seem quite high, so it would be for special occasions.

On to the rice pudding!

When I was little girl, my mom would make us boiled rice for breakfast. White rice. Brown sugar. Cinnamon. Cream. Scrumptious. There’s still a place in my heart for creamy, dreamy white rice. I know it’s not the most nutritious meal, but oh does it taste good.

Here’s a version that’s a bit more sophisticated.

My favorite part is that this rice pudding only uses five ingredients. Five awesome ingredients: Cream, whole milk, rice, sugar, and vanilla beans.

Together, they meld into something magical and comforting. Vanilla Rice Pudding.

Vanilla Rice Pudding

Adapted from Tartelette

Printable Page

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup rice (I used Jasmati)
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 of a vanilla bean, cut in half lengthwise and seeds scraped out
• 1/2 cup demerara sugar

Directions:

1)Place all ingredients (including the empty vanilla pod) in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice is tender, about 20-25 minutes.

2) Remove from heat and discard the vanilla pod. Spoon into serving dishes and serve warm or at room temperature with a bit of heavy cream. Enjoy!

On to the Giveaway!

RiceSelect is offering a tote bag and two full-sized rice products (Texmati and Jasmati) to one lucky Cooking for Seven reader.

Here’s how it works:

• [Mandatory] Leave a comment on this post, answering the following question: What did you have for breakfast yesterday?
• For extra entries, tweet, blog, or post on Facebook about this giveaway. Make sure to leave a separate comment for each extra entry with a link to the post.
• For more entries, subscribe to my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook. Make sure to leave a separate comment for each extra entry.

Rules:

Giveaway ends Wednesday, October 19, at 12:00 p.m. Central Time. No comments will be considered after that time.

I will select one (1) winner using random.org.

Good luck!

I love reviewing products. It’s just fun to test out new things, discover if I really like it.

Today I’m reviewing Clearly Fresh® Bags, storage bags with a 3-inch square membrane that allows your produce to breathe.

The claim: Clearly Fresh® Bags can extend the shelf life of fresh fruits and vegetables by up to 50%

The Test: To test the Clearly Fresh® Bags claim, I allowed three bananas to sit on the counter for 12 days.

I chose three bananas from the same bunch. 1) was placed on the counter without a bag. 2) was placed in a Clearly Fresh® Bag and sealed. 3) was placed in a cheap (conventional) storage bag and sealed.

The Results:

Let’s start with the cheap bag. On the outside, it looks perfectly normal. But peel back the skin and you discover a nasty, squishy mess. Plus, the tip formed all sorts of nasty mold. Ew.

Now for the Clearly Fresh® Bag. On the outside it looks much the same as the banana stored in the cheap bag, but the inside was less icky and squishy. The tip was quite mushy, but the rest of the banana was fairly good. The tip also formed all sorts of icky mold, but a bit less than banana #3.

Finally, the banana stored without a bag. To my surprise, this banana performed the best on the squishy and moldy test. It was still quite edible after 12 days. However, it attracted fruit flies like crazy. Gross.

Conclusion: The Clearly Fresh® Bag definitely kept the banana fresher than the banana stored in the conventional bag. The banana stored without a bag stayed firm and mold-free the longest, but it attracted a multitude of fruit flies. Totally gross.

What I love about this product: The generous size: substantially larger than a gallon bag. It’s so much more convenient to store large amounts of produce in a bag that’s actually big enough! Right now I’ve got three heads of broccoli in one Clearly Fresh® Bag.

Is it worth it/Would I buy it? I think it’s worth $3.99 for 10 LARGE (12” X 14”) bags. Plus, I stored the bananas longer than Clearly Fresh® recommends (9 days is their limit). If I want to store bananas for a week without generating fruit flies, I would definitely chose the Clearly Fresh® Bag.

You can purchase the bags for yourself here: {Link}

Need some banana recipes?

Banana Nut Bread

Banana Poppy Seed Bread

Creamy Coconut Fruit Salad

Banana Cake

A few weeks ago I received this beautiful gadget and excitedly opened it. Let me share my findings with you!

The Perfect Portions Scale is a special food scale that helps you to accurately keep track of your nutritional & calorie intake. It’s a food scale + nutrition facts. Here’s how it works:

Find your food’s number in the index.

Enter the food code and place the item on the scale.

And there you have a complete nutritional analysis: calories, carbs, fiber, etc. How cool is that?

Continue Reading »

{Chicken Scampi}

Back in January ‘09, I was approached about doing some photography for an  e-cookbook. I was super excited. This February things started to take shape, and I photographed five of the awesome dishes in March.

Allow me to introduce you to Nourish Me Naturally.

Continue Reading »

Last week, I received a message asking if I would like to sample some granola from Malachi’s Harvest. Of course I said yes - granola is one of my favorite breakfast treats!

My analysis:

Malachi’s harvest is a business run by a homeschooling family of six. They strive to provide nutrient-dense, flavorful, and healthy granola. Visit their Etsy shop to learn more.

Taste/Quality: I was very impressed with the flavors - complex and delicious. Also, it was loaded with quality nuts, fruits, and coconut chips. The texture was a bit soft for my taste, but the  flavors certainly made up for it. Check out the ingredient list in their shop. I think you’ll be impressed.

Okay, here’s the fun part.

The people from Malachi’s Harvest were generous enough to send me two samples - one to try and one to share…with you!

.

How can you enter this giveaway?

1) Leave a comment on this post telling me about your favorite breakfast treat.

2) For another chance to win, tweet about my giveaway. Come back and leave another comment with a link to your tweet.

3) For another chance to win, blog about my giveaway. Come back and leave another comment with a link to your post.

No comments will be considered after Wednesday, March 24 at 11:00 p.m. CST. On Thursday morning I will select a winner using random.org.

EDIT: The actual date of the end of this giveaway is March 24, not 23. Thanks, TJ, for notifying me!

Good Luck!

This giveaway is now closed. Thank you to all who entered!