Rice Eggs

mom2priceboys left a comment on my Spaghetti Eggs post saying that she does the same thing with rice. What a wonderful idea, I just had to give it a try.

I heated a bit of butter in a skilled and added just over a cup of cooked rice.

I put in three eggs and scrambled it up.

Because I was going to serve it the next day to the toddlers, I put it in my mini crock pot insert and then into the fridge.

About 90 minutes before lunch, I put it in the crock pot and it was heated by lunch.

The toddlers loved it as much as the spaghetti eggs. It will be a regular on our menu.

Egg

Sweet & Sour Meatballs

Last week I came across this recipe for Sweet and Sour Meatballs Over Rice. It sounded almost good. I wanted to tweak it and make it freezer friendly.

• 20 oz can pineapple tidbits, drained – reserve the juice
• 1 tablespoon minced onion
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• water to add to the juice to make 1 1/2 cups
• 6 Tbs. vinegar
• 6 Tbs. brown sugar
• 4 Tbs. soy sauce
• cooked rice
• prepared meatballs

I have cornstarch in the photo, but decided later not to use it.

I first made pork meatballs (see previous post). I mixed everything else but the rice in a bowl.

To make freezer meals, I put a few meatballs in the container, then used a ladle to divide the sauce into five servings. Four servings, I packaged into meal-sized containers, labeled and put in the freezer.

With the fifth serving, I put in the crock pot on low for a couple of hours to heat everything through.

I debated over adding cornstarch before I served it, but decided I would try it with out the cornstarch. I made some rice and poured the meatballs and sauce over it.

It was delicious! I'm looking forward to my freezer meals. I will pop out the frozen meal into a crock pot a few hours before I want to have it for dinner. By dinner time, it will be thawed and heated through. I'll use my rice cooker to make some quick rice to pour the meatballs and sauce over.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Porcupine Meatballs

I have come across the recipe for Porcupine Meatballs here and there, but never tried to make them. Today I wanted to give it a try. I started with this recipe from Cooking During Stolen Moments. I wanted to double it, so I made the full six-cups of rice in the rice cooker.

I put the six cups of rice, 1 pound of ground beef, two cups of shredded cheese, and 1 teaspoon each of salt, pepper, and garlic powder in the bowl. I mixed it all up, but it didn't go so well. There was no way it would hold together in a ball. I added another pound of ground beef and then things held together well.

I wanted small meatballs for the toddlers, so I used my cookie scoop to make the meatballs.

I baked in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

They came out great and gave me several meals for the toddlers! I put them in toddler meal-sized portions in sandwich bags, then into the freezer. On the day I would like to serve them for lunch to the toddlers, I will get a baggie out of the freezer first thing in the morning and put straight into a mini crock pot. By lunch, they will be defrosted and heated through.

Oven Porcupine Meatballs

Microwave Rice

Have you ever tried making rice in your microwave?

It takes the same amount of time as cooking on the stove or in the rice cooker, but sometimes it's nice to have another cooking option.

Years ago I went to WalMart and got a microwave rice cooker. At one point in our lives we had no oven and no stove and I had to find new ways to cook things. Since then, I've picked up a few more microwave pasta and rice cookers at thrift stores.

Microwave Rice

1 cup rice

2 1/4 cups water

Cook in the microwave on high for 10 minutes. Stir and cook on high for another 10 minutes.

That's it! As you can see in the photo above, I put my rice cooker on a microwave bacon plate because sometimes the rice cooker overflows and I can reduce the mess with the plate to catch the water.

Microwave Rice

Rice Cooker Sweet Potato Risotto

After Thanksgiving I had a lot of sweet potatoes leftover and sweet potatoes with rice sounded great. I searched for some sort of recipe and found lots of recipes for Sweet Potato Risotto, all with a few ingredients I didn't have on-hand, lol. I decided to make something with things I did have on-hand.....

Rice Cooker Sweet Potato Risotto

2 cups Arborio rice (uncooked) -- I'm sure any rice would work.

1 can vegetable broth and enough water added to make 4 cups liquid

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

1 Tbs. minced onion

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1 to 1 1/2 cups finely chopped, cooked sweet potatoes

Place all ingredients in the rice cooker and turn on. Done when the rice cooker turns off :)

It turned out yummy! I will definitely make this again.

Rice Cooker Fried Rice

Do you have a rice cooker? About a year ago I got this one from Amazon.com. You can find them at Wal Mart, Kmart, thrift stores, and just about everywhere. I choose a very simple style. We use it about once a week or so. I tend to try to make a big batch of rice and freeze leftovers for later.

Remember the shredded pork I wrote about last week? That or maybe some leftover chicken would be great for this recipe.

This recipe is very versatile. If you don't have beef broth, use chicken broth; if you don't have chicken broth, use water; if you don't have soy sauce, use Teriyaki sauce; etc. You could easily add leftover or frozen veggies to the recipe. I have whipped up just about every combination imaginable. It always comes out different and always comes out yummy!

Rice Cooker Fried Rice

2 cups uncooked rice
1 can broth (any kind you like)
1 cup water
2 Tbs. minced onion
2 tsp. minced garlic
2 Tbs. soy or teriyaki sauce
1 - 2 cups shredded pork or chicken or ground beef (cooked)

Put all ingredients in the rice cooker and turn it on.

Easy! Yummy! Toddler friendly! Freezer friendly!

This freezes easily, warms up in the crock pot or microwave nicely with a little added water.

This post is being linked to:

Food On Fridays at Ann Kroeker’s

Family Recipe Fridays at Vanderbilt Wife

Recipe Swap at The Grocery Cart Challenge

Friday Feasts at Mom Trends

Foodie Friday at Designs By Gollum

Freezer Food Friday at What A Crock!

Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life As A Mom

Healthy Helpings at tHe KrAzy kItChEn

Chicken, Beans & Rice

Simple, toddler friendly, nutrient packed, freezes well.....all things I love and all things in this recipe:

Chicken, Beans & Rice

1 cup rice
2 tsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups water
1-15 oz. can black beans, drained & rinsed
2 cups cooked, cubed chicken
1 tsp. garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan heat oil. Add rice and stir until translucent. Add water and a dash of salt. Stir well and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add remaining ingredients and heat until warm. Add water if necessary or oil to reduce stickiness.

I usually double the recipe and freeze in meal-sized portions. When I want to have it for toddler lunch, I put into my mini crock pot (straight from the freezer) with a few tablespoons of water, first thing in the morning. By lunch, it's heated through and ready!

This post is being linked to:

• Crock Pot Wednesdays at Dining With Debbie