Yellow Rice - Good, Better, Best

There are two ways to handle avoiding unhealthy foods:

1. Stop eating anything that is not "good for you".
2. Find a way to make the foods you like to eat with ingredients that are "better for you"!

I enjoy playing around with recipes to find  healthier ways to make the foods we enjoy.  I can't always do things the "best" way - but I can do better.  Something is better than nothing.  Baby steps are better than no steps.  When I realized that eating better didn't have to be "all or nothing", I felt liberated!  It seems so simple, so obvious!  We have just stopped buying certain things over time and I am learning to make as much as possible from raw ingredients.  When I can serve a meal and say that everything was made "from scratch" I feel a pride that I can't really explain.  (Wait until I can say we raised all the ingredients here!  WOW!)

My latest item to cross off the grocery list is yellow rice.  I've played around with some recipes and come up with my own replacement that got thumbs up all around the table last night:

The Hillbilly Bride's Yellow Rice

4 T. butter

1 medium onion, diced

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

Saute onions and garlic in butter.

 1 1/2 cups long-grain, white rice

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 tsp. turmeric

dash cayenne pepper

salt/pepper to taste

Stir in rice, spices, and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover.

Simmer for 20 minutes, or until water is absorbed.

 
In the interest of full disclosure, let's talk about some of the ingredients in my recipe, shall we?  Let's start with the biggie.  Rice.  I use Uncle Ben's Long Grain White Rice.  Yes, I said white rice.  Should we be eating brown rice?  I'm sure we should!  But look, I just switched from Minute Rice about 2 months ago.  So, I feel like we are doing better.  Is there room for improvement?  Oh YES!  Concerning  chicken broth:  I usually have homemade chicken broth in the freezer.  The problem is that when I need to use it...it is still...in the freezer.  So sometimes water with chicken bouillon cubes or chicken base saves the day.  Chicken base is still kind of yucky, but better than bouillon.  Once I find msg-free bouillon we can eliminate that, but for now...I use what I have.  There is a lot of room for improvising with this recipe.  You can use dehydrated onion and garlic, just increase water to compensate.  Saffron or a saffron/turmeric mix can be used (saffron wasn't in the Hillbilly Budget on grocery day) just use what you have - or can afford.

Some good...some better...some best. 

What are some processed foods you would like to eliminate...or replace?  Remember - baby steps are better than NO steps!