Homemade Rice-a-Roni

 

Boxes of Rice-a-roni used to be a staple in our cupboards. 

"What shall I serve with these pork chops tonight?" " I know, Rice-a-roni!"

" Hmmm... what'll go good with this bbq chicken?" " How about some Rice-a-roni?!"

Pretty sad, right!?

Over the past few years I have become more and more conscientious of what I feed my family.  It hasn't happened overnight, but I have cut waaaay back on the amount of "boxed" foods and convenience foods that I purchase, which includes....you guessed it! RICE-A-RONI!!  It brings me much joy to make things by scratch as often and possible.  I had never realized before how easy and inexpensive it can be to create some of my favorite items at home that I used to thoughtlessly throw into my shopping cart. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to stumble across a recipe for homemade rice-a-roni on pinterest.  It has taken me a few tries to adjust the recipe to our taste and I am ever so proud to present to you my adapted recipe for "Homemade rice-a-roni"!!

Rice-a-roni (just wanted to throw that in one more time...not sure that I mentioned it enough yet!) :)

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 C raw orzo
3/4 C raw white rice
2 TBSP butter
14.5 oz. boiling water
2 tsp. chicken granules (heaping)
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. dried parsley

DIRECTIONS:

In a large skillet, over medium high heat, melt the butter and sauté the orzo until is starts to brown. Add the white rice and continue to brown until golden.  Add the boiling water, chicken granules, garlic powder and dried parsley.  Bring to a full boil then turn the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.  ENJOY!

*NOTE* You can replace the boiling water & chicken granules with store bought or homemade chicken stock.  I use chicken granules a lot in place of chicken stock...It saves a lot of money! Especially if you purchase the giant container of Knorr chicken granules from Costco.  You can make aprox. 115 cups of  broth for under $8.00!!!  What a steal!

recipe adapted from food.com

Speculoos Cookie Butter Cookies

My husband brought TJ's  Speculoos Cookie Butter to my attention after he had heard about it on the radio.  He said that it is becoming hard to get and that people are starting to sell it on eBay.  The hot commodity of summer 2013. Whaaaa?! That's all he had to tell me before I decided that I must have some. 

It took me exactly one week after my initial try to get my hands on two jars of the stuff.  I hadn't realized that it came in a crunchy and a smooth variety.  Crunchy is all I could get at the time and after I witnessed a TJ's employee getting grilled for saving me the two jars, I wasn't about to get picky.  I took my jars, placed them in my cart, gave a quick "thanks!" and then bolted down the next aisle.  At last, they were MINE!

My sister told me that Cookie Butter is much like biscoff spread, and after tasting it, I would have to agree.  Although Cookie Butter is a tad bit more sweet in my opinion, I think they are both wonderful!!  You can spread it on toast, bagels, biscuits, or eat it by the spoonful.  Whatever your heart so desires. I chose to incorporate it into cookie dough thus creating the Cookie Butter Cookies.  These cookies are extremely chewy and go fantastically with a tall glass of milk.  My husband had a brilliant idea of spreading cookie butter on top of the cookie butter cookies.  YUM!

INGREDIENTS:

1 C Speculoos Cookie Butter (smooth or crunchy)
1 C sugar (plus more for rolling)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 C  all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Using an electric mixer, cream together the cookie butter and sugar.  Add the vanilla and beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Next, mix in the dry ingredients until all ingredients are well incorporated.  Using a cookie scoop, roll the dough into balls and then roll them into sugar and place them approx. 2 inches apart on your cookie sheet.  If your not using a cookie scoop you can roll the dough into balls about the size of a ping pong ball.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 1-2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.  Cool completely before storing into an air tight container.  ENJOY!