I have really been wanting to get away from boxed food for our family, and one of the few boxed things we eat is rice mixes. Sure, they are the "All Natural" ones, and not Rice A Roni, but they are of course still processed and loaded with sodium. So I did a google search for rice mixes to prepare at home and found two that I made up today. I cant vouch for the taste of either of these, but I will be sure to update once we have tried them!
The supplies I bought for both mixes were;
Bulk Basmati and Brown rice
Organic dried parsley and thyme (the only two spices I could find organic at Winco)
Celery flakes and minced onion
Chicken and vegetable bullion cubes
I already had the garlic powder and cayenne pepper. The recipes also call for dried mushrooms which I omitted because...yuck! One also called for dried green pepper which I could not find. So, I gathered my supplies and got to mixing!
The first was an Herbed Rice mix from Familyfun.com. It called for;
1 1/2 cups dried mushrooms
1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried parsley
3 cups long grain white rice, such as basmati or jasmine
I mixed the spices first, and then mixed them by hand into the basmati rice:
I had enough to make two batches of rice, 3 cups in each batch which filled 2 mason jars. I printed out and stuck directions on the jars, and they are ready for dinner! It says it only takes 1 cup of rice to make 4 servings, which I am a little skeptical about. So at most I have 6 servings here. I thought they looked quite nice in the jars!
The second mix was from a site called Hillbilly Housewife, who seems to have some good ideas for homemade foods. I chose the Beans and Rice mix to try first. The ingredients needed for this one are;
1 cup long grain brown rice
1 tablespoon dry onion flakes
1 tablespoon dry celery
1 tablespoon dry green pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 vegetable or other flavored bouillon cubes
Dash of red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper
1/4 cup bacon bits or sausage flavored TVP (Omitted because of nitrates in bacon bits, and my utter confusion of what TVP stood for*).
Since this one called for a specific amount of each ingredient to be in each mix, I put my ingredients into Ziploc storage bags. I laid them all out assembly style, and dropped my ingredients in:
I played around with the bouillon cubes in this recipe, doing one all chicken, one chicken and veggie and two all veggie. We will see what difference, if any, there will be in taste. Once I had everything in there I sealed them up, stuck directions on the bag, and stored them next to the cans of black beans that will be mixed in while cooking. I am excited to try this one!
I am really happy to start getting away from processed foods and start moving towards homemade foods. Not only because of the preservative aspect, but also because it just feels good to know that you made something yourself! Its healthier for us, and hopefully if I can get bigger quantities in bulk, it will be cheaper for us too! Next up.....cooking with beans!
*I googled TVP and found that it was "Textured Vegetable Protein" which sounds really weird to me and I am kinda glad I didn't include it.
The supplies I bought for both mixes were;
Bulk Basmati and Brown rice
Organic dried parsley and thyme (the only two spices I could find organic at Winco)
Celery flakes and minced onion
Chicken and vegetable bullion cubes
I already had the garlic powder and cayenne pepper. The recipes also call for dried mushrooms which I omitted because...yuck! One also called for dried green pepper which I could not find. So, I gathered my supplies and got to mixing!
The first was an Herbed Rice mix from Familyfun.com. It called for;
1 1/2 cups dried mushrooms
1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried parsley
3 cups long grain white rice, such as basmati or jasmine
I mixed the spices first, and then mixed them by hand into the basmati rice:
I had enough to make two batches of rice, 3 cups in each batch which filled 2 mason jars. I printed out and stuck directions on the jars, and they are ready for dinner! It says it only takes 1 cup of rice to make 4 servings, which I am a little skeptical about. So at most I have 6 servings here. I thought they looked quite nice in the jars!
The second mix was from a site called Hillbilly Housewife, who seems to have some good ideas for homemade foods. I chose the Beans and Rice mix to try first. The ingredients needed for this one are;
1 cup long grain brown rice
1 tablespoon dry onion flakes
1 tablespoon dry celery
1 tablespoon dry green pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 vegetable or other flavored bouillon cubes
Dash of red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper
1/4 cup bacon bits or sausage flavored TVP (Omitted because of nitrates in bacon bits, and my utter confusion of what TVP stood for*).
Since this one called for a specific amount of each ingredient to be in each mix, I put my ingredients into Ziploc storage bags. I laid them all out assembly style, and dropped my ingredients in:
I played around with the bouillon cubes in this recipe, doing one all chicken, one chicken and veggie and two all veggie. We will see what difference, if any, there will be in taste. Once I had everything in there I sealed them up, stuck directions on the bag, and stored them next to the cans of black beans that will be mixed in while cooking. I am excited to try this one!
I am really happy to start getting away from processed foods and start moving towards homemade foods. Not only because of the preservative aspect, but also because it just feels good to know that you made something yourself! Its healthier for us, and hopefully if I can get bigger quantities in bulk, it will be cheaper for us too! Next up.....cooking with beans!
*I googled TVP and found that it was "Textured Vegetable Protein" which sounds really weird to me and I am kinda glad I didn't include it.