This week in food, and a recipe for Not Fried Rice

Well, actually the last few weeks. This whole/local/traditional food exploration I'm on is incredibly interesting and I've been immersing myself in as much information as I can. It's fascinating to me -- first thing that has really caught my attention like this in a long time, and I'm really enjoying the journey.

SO...my kitchen is now my favorite place to be. It doesn't feel like work, it feels like I'm being busy caring for my family, and I love that feeling! There are a few major changes in our kitchen. The most noticeable is probably my bread machine, which is back out and up on the counter. I've been making all of our bread from scratch (well, the machine has). I haven't tried anything fancy, just Betty Crocker's bread machine recipes for whole wheat and multigrain bread. The flavor is awesome and the smell, OH, THE SMELL...let's just say it's one of those things that makes a house a home.

Another big change is we made the raw milk leap so now the milk in my fridge is about $8 a quart and is one of our major sources of protein. (Interestingly, even with the $8 raw milk, $5 free-range eggs and the $15 pasture-raised whole chicken my grocery bill was about $20 cheaper this month.)

We've always bought free-range eggs, so that's not new. What amuses me about the eggs at my local natural food store are all the "vegetarian" eggs. C'mon, folks. Chickens are not natural vegetarians. They eat grubs and insects. So I don't buy vegetarian eggs. To me, it means those chickens must be kept under high scrutiny in a barn somewhere with no access to outside at all because if they did, they couldn't advertise them as "vegetarian" and that just seems a very cruel way for the poor bird to live.

The other change, 'though this one is more subtle, is the contents of my fridge. There are no artificial ingredients in there, just veggies, butter, some fruit, and leftovers. Some grilled onions. Leftover "Not Fried Rice" (see below for the recipe for that!), milk, eggs and cheese. It's kinda pretty when I open up the door; it looks like the set refrigerators on one of the HGTV cooking shows, or at least something like that. There's green stuff poking out of plastic bags and all sorts of lovely nutritious stuff in there. Okay, I'm crazy. But it makes me feel good about the food I'm making for my family.

Tonight I have a pot of chicken stock purring on the back of the stove. The chicken meat is cut up in a bowl in the fridge, waiting to be made into lunches and dinners later on this week. Now the stock is just bones, gristle, giblets and veggies. It is the most amazing, beautiful golden color I've ever seen. NOTHING like canned stock. And the smell? OH, THE SMELL...!

All of our windows are a steamy fog against the chilling cold rain outside. It takes me back to my childhood days when my mom would have a big pot of something bubbling on the back of the stove and we'd be writing our names and drawing hearts, flowers and whatnot on the foggy windows.

As much as I love all these changes we are making, I think I need to take a few weeks' break from it all. I have enough under my belt to give me a good amount of stuff to make habit over the next few weeks, and I need to pay attention to a few other things in life. Like laundry, some scrapbooking, some gifts I'm crocheting, and cleaning out some accumulated clutter. As enthusiastic and exhilarating as this all is to me I don't want to go so fast I burn out.

So, I think I'll take a lesson from the stock on the back of the stove and slow things down to a light simmer. Take time to internalize the lessons I've learned so far, and enjoy the other many wonderful things in life.

Now, for that Not Fried Rice recipe. We came upon it by accident, Nate and I, while trying to come up with dinner last night, and IT ROCKS!

***

Not Fried Rice

2 cups uncooked rice pilaf (I used Basmati Rice Medley from Trader Joes. It has Indian basmati rice, wild rice, dehydrated carrots, onions, celery, red bell pepper, mushrooms, parsley, garlic and lemon peel)

chicken or beef stock

2 or 3 carrots, chopped up small

1/4 onion, chopped up small

1 head broccoli

2 cups cooked chicken, cubed

butter

Start the rice to cooking according to the package instructions. Instead of using water, cook it in stock, and add the chopped carrots and onions at the same time you add the rice.

In a medium skillet (that has a lid), heat a pat of butter.

Cut up the broccoli into little tiny trees. I cut up the stem, too, 'cause I like it (what I didn't snack on while I was working)

Add the broccoli to the hot butter over medium - high heat and saute a couple minutes, until broccoli is bright green but not burnt.

Add enough water to the broccoli to cover the bottom of the pan well, and put back on the stove over low heat, covered, and cook until the broccoli is crisp-tender.

Remove the broccoli from the pan, either into the pan of rice, or if the rice isn't done yet just set it aside.

Drain the water.

Heat another pat of butter in the skillet and add the cubed chicken. Saute until heated through and lightly browned.

Mix the rice, broccoli and chicken and there you've got a wonderful pilaf that my husband deemed "Not Fried Rice."

***

One more thing: I would have pictures of all these wonderful things in my kitchen tonight but, alas, I cannot find the cord to download pictures from my camera. I almost didn't write up this post since I knew there would be no pictures. But I didn't want to forget the cozy feeling I've got tonight, so the pictures inside my head will have to do for me, and the rest of you will just have to take my word for it.  :)