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