Rice

If you're like me, you eat a ton of rice. And odds are that quite a bit of that rice is either white rice or brown rice. And odds are really good that if you're brave enough to go out for Asian food, you notice that the white rice you make at home looks nothing like the rice you get in said Asian restaurant.

This may not be due to a total lack of rice-cooking-ability. I recently picked up 5 lbs of Jasmine rice at the Asian market at 28th and Valmont (go to the one that has the word 'seafood' as part of the signage -- and yes, 5 lbs. I eat a lot of rice) and the first time I cooked it (observing the nearly universal rule of 2c liquid to 1c uncooked rice) it came out looking suspiciously perfect... Next time you cook rice, mix it up a bit and try out the Jasmine variety.

Cooking it is super simple: 2c. liquid to 1c. uncooked rice, as mentioned above. I throw it all together and turn the heat on high, cover the pot, turn the heat down to medium low when it boils over (I cook with gas) and stir every 5 or so minutes until the liquid is absorbed and rice is tender. I think I have the whole process down to about 25 or 30 minutes.

If you're searching for something to haphazardly throw together with said rice, try to find a handful of dried lentils, a handful of dried veggies or a cup of fresh, two tablespoons or so of tomato paste, a tablespoon of tamari (be sure it is wheat free and only contains soy beans and water) and two cups of broth. This takes about the same amount of time to cook as the rice and you really don't have to be precise with ingredients. Ladle this over the rice and you have a nice, easy, complete protein (rice + beans) dish that makes the easiest leftovers and totally negates the pint of Ben and Jerry's you eat immediately following(I can't be the only one who does this, I mean seriously).