Day 8

Day 8 - Egg Foo Young

There's nothing terribly spectacular to see here. Just a glorified omelet with steamed rice and broccoli. Carry on!

The Egg Foo Young had ham, onions, garlic and ginger in an egg mixture. I didn't make it, so I don't know the specifics. Our sugar canister was a casualty of cookery, though. Please don't leave a plastic container near the stove and have the burner on high. The results are unpleasant.

Thus ends the first 7 of 300 days

Why not 365 days? Or 366 since it's a leap year?

I'll tell you why. Not every day will have rice in it. Some days there will be potatoes or sweet potatoes or corn! Since there are a TON of GF bloggers out there who post recipes and what-not, I didn't want to reinvent the wheel.

Because really, this blog isn't about being GF. It's about exploring all the different ways that rice can be used in recipes. You might be surprised at where it can turn up! If you've ever eaten a Rice Krispie Treat, you've eaten rice. Or Chex cereal? As long as it isn't Wheat Chex, it's GF *and* will have rice in it. Rice Krispies and Chex cereals are my go-to cereals.

Kellogg's makes a GF version of Rice Krispies but even fresh out of the bag they taste STALE. Regular Rice Krispies use malt flavoring and the jury is still out on whether or not the malt flavoring contains gluten or is harmful to celiacs, so it can't be labelled GF. I can eat regular Rice Krispies with no ill side-effects, but I can't eat anything made with wheat flour. Whether or not you want to risk eating the regular Rice Krispies is up to you, but don't say I didn't warn you about the GF ones. They taste OK in Rice Krispies Treats, though. So there is that.

MMMMM Rice Krispies Treats. Now I want some.

Day 7

Day 7: Pollo Tropical, chicken on the grill

Another one of our go-to places to eat out (there are only a few) includes Pollo Tropical/Tropi Grill. I swear the place used to be called "El Pollo Loco" back in the early 90s, but I could be wrong. Either way, their chicken on the grill is TASTY. The family meal comes with plaintains and bread (no bread for me) and then you can add as many sides as you'd like.

We typically get the Caesar salad (green stuff, YAY!) and white rice/red beans. My rice-n-beans has diced onions on top and cilantro-lime sauce on the side. Good stuff. This rice is NOT jasmine rice. I don't know what kind it is, but it's still good. They also have yellow rice with chopped up bits of veggies and brown rice to choose from as well. Rice for everyone!

Day 6

Day 6: Corned beef & havarti sandwich for lunch

Bet you didn't expect to see bread here! As a GF person, my breads have to be made with alternative flours. Rice flour is a biggie. This bread is from Rudi's (not Udi's!) and is amazing IF you toast it first. If you don't toast GF bread before trying to eat it, it crumbles into what I can only describe as resembling papier mache fuzz. Totally not tasty.

I've tried a lot of different GF breads. Let's just say that I like this one the best and leave it at that! They even make Cinnamon Raisin (my favorite!). There is nothing like a bacon, egg & cheese with mayo on raisin toast from Waffle House. That was my "after-clubbing" meal when I was a much younger person and there was actually a Waffle House on every corner. I can't wait to make myself one. MMMMM Raisin Toast!

Not every GF bread is made with rice flour, so I won't be including that in our gluten-free gastronomic journey. If I do post a meal with bread, it's rice-based.

Day 5

Day 5: Singapore Chow May Fun

Also known as "Singapore rice noodles", this is one of our favorite take out dishes. It is on the spicy side and has curry in it. The protein sources are pork, shrimp, fried egg, and chicken. There are green onions, chilis and assorted vegetables sliced thinly and tossed together in a wok. I'm not sure exactly HOW this is made, but it's VERY good.

The bonus is that the take out place is on my Better Half's way home from work, so if things have imploded at home, I can text him to pick up Chinese for dinner. Winning! The only down side to this dish is that there isn't enough of it. Time used to be that between him and me, we could eat one take out container of this and still have some left over. Turns out that our middle child (she of the buffalo wings at 2 years old) likes the spicy nature of this dish as much as we do. So we have to share.

Day 4

Day 4: Cilantro lime rice w/fajita chicken, refritos, broccoli

We like to go to Chipotle for a treat and we all LOVE the cilantro lime rice. I didn't bother to Google the recipe for it, I just grabbed a wad of cilantro, washed it, patted it dry and then chopped the heck out of it and tossed it in the rice cooker with the rice and water. I also squeezed about a half a lime into the water and swished everything together to make the flavors mingle. Mash "White Rice" on the front and wait for the beep!

Our rice cooker is from Costco. It's not one of the super-duper Japanese rice cookers that do your homework, massage your scalp and bake bread while singing "O Solo Mio". We used to use a tiny 4 cup rice cooker before our kids got bigger. Once we had three kids and were having family over for dinner, 4 cups was NOT enough. So we opted for the budget friendly Aroma brand. The link will tell you it's a 4-20 cup rice cooker. It isn't. Unless you're using the "new math". It will, however,  cook 2-10 cups perfectly EVERY time. I am not being paid by Aroma to shill their rice cooker. I promise. I'm just telling you what we own.

Not fancy, but it works!

Day 3

Day 3: Roast chicken, egg & cauliflower curry, spinach

Not the best picture but.... This was a yummy meal. Well, except for the spinach which tasted rather ODD. The rice is plain old steamed jasmine rice, cooked in the rice cooker, nothing fancy. The chicken however is a Cantonese Roast Chicken that my better half makes. The weird blob and egg in the bottom of the picture is cauliflower/boiled egg in curry sauce. Don't ask. The egg was good, but I over cooked the cauliflower. Whoops!

There are a lot of types of rice! For the majority of the dishes we make at home, they will be made with jasmine rice because it's what we buy. In 25 pound bags. We go through about 1 bag per month with 5 of us (2 adults, 3 kids ages 10, 8, 6). We also give my dad about 5 pounds or so a month because he LOVES rice. And well, we have plenty. If I make a dish with something OTHER than jasmine rice, I'll be sure to note it. I'll also link to recipes if they are available. :-D