Friday, December 4, 2009

Brown Rice with Tofu, Dried Mushrooms, and Baby Spinach

Tonight for dinner, I made a one pot meal in a small kitchen appliance. I assembled the ingredients in the pot, switched the dial to "cook", and waited while dinner was prepared.
I did not use a slow cooker. I used a rice cooker.

This appliance is very handy for making perfectly cooked rice. I also love using it to make brown rice with tofu and spinach. It is really easy and tastes great. I started working on dinner at 4:30. By 4:45, dinner was cooking. And, I was holding Jacob during most of the 15 minute prep time.

If you are scared of tofu, this is a good recipe to help you over-come your fear. The preparation is simple- it only needs to be drained on paper towels and diced. The tofu takes on the flavors of ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and sesame oil. (You can find sesame oil in the Asian section at the store and tofu in the produce). Or, I'm sure you could substitute cooked, diced chicken for the tofu with excellent results.
The dried shitake mushrooms are re-hydrated during the cooking process. (These are in the produce section with the fresh mushrooms.)

This is one of my favorite meals. I really like the taste and texture. And, I like that it is healthy.

This is not one of Art's favorite meals. Tonight, I asked him how it could be improved. He thought a pound of MSG would help.

In the past, Jacob has eagerly eaten this dish. Tonight, he wouldn't even try it.

Later, we got out the wildberry gelato I bought at the store today. Yum! I had two servings.

1 comment:

  1. i don't use a rice cooker, but i do make a decent fried rice using brown rice, scrambled eggs or tofu, and whatever i have on hand - fresh mushrooms, frozen peas, carrot shavings, etc. i marinate the tofu in soy sauce with garlic first to absorb some flavor. i saute the veggies with a bit of olive oil and fresh garlic first, then throw in the rice, finally the eggs or tofu. drizzle with toasted seame oil and mix before serving. ander and i always love it. steve thinks it's pretty good and diana would prefer all her food to be separated. oh, well. 3 out of 4 ain't so bad!

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