Indy's Sick Day

Last fall, Indy (our American Eskimo puppy at 4 months old) got really sick (*cough* digestively.) The vet told us to keep him on a bland diet of boiled rice and chicken with no salt or oil. Enter the rice cooker + 3.5 cups rice + 7 cups water + 2 chopped up chicken breasts = Indy's food for the weekend.

I knew there is no butter or spices in the mix, but it smelled AMAZING. Even I wanted to eat it!

Indy was particularly excited when he smelled this food. (He also had not had anything to eat for a while that day.)

I think that Indy liked this bland dinner more than his standard kibble... Despite being sick, he was a very happy boy at mealtimes.

Since this bout with illness, Indy has been very healthy. And I have learned a good trick to temperarly help with digestive issues... canned pumpkin!

Chicken Soup with Rice

This isn't your grandma's chicken and rice soup. Why? I bet your grandma's soup is more wholesome and uses more fresh ingredients. (And maybe it has some real CHICKEN in it!)

Ingredients

• 7 cups of water
• 8 bullion cubes
• chopped onions
• 1 and a half cups of uncooked rice
• Frozen vegetable medly
  
• 2-3 whole eggs (beaten)
  

Instructions

• Cook seven Min or until rice is cooked.
  
• Add frozen veggies and bring to a boil
• Beat 2-3 eggs, drop into the boiling soup, stirring as you pour the eggs in (this will help break up the egg pieces.)
  
• Bring back to a boil. Cool and serve.

What I based the soup on. I had plenty of rice, what could I add to it?

A nice thing about this soup is that you don't have to start with frozen and dry ingredients. You can use canned chicken soup, old hard leftover rice and fresh veggies and get a similar result.

The only issue I had with this dish is that since I cooked the rice directly in the broth, the rice soaked up most of the liquid. Now, this was still delicious (and the rice texture wasn't so mushy), but if you want more of a soup consistency I would cook the rice separately and then add it at the end. I frequently add bullion cubes to my rice anyway, so then you wouldn't have to worry about diluting the flavor.

This is a hearty meal that is easy to whip up when you haven't stocked up on groceries for a while.

Black Beans and Rice

What do you do with random canned goods in your pantry when you are trying to clean it out? This is one of the best times to try new things... and get inventive with what you have.

I wasn't a huge fan of beans but the recipe for classic black beans and rice looks like it could be interesting so I decided to try it. (We still had plenty of rice from our Costco stash.) I substituted this is a shallot + some garlic powder for a clove of garlic.

I didn't think my onions were chopped finely enough, but it ended up working out in the end.

After I poured the beans in it looks kinda gross.. but I just crossed my fingers and kept faith.

And the beans are ready to go!

This story ends with a bit of a surprise. Since I wasn't sure if I would like this meal, I had cleared it with Keith that it would be his dinner for the next few days if I didn't care for it. But you know what? I liked it! I don't see this entering into the regular meal rotation, but it is something that I may choose to make on purpose next time, not because I'm trying to clean out my pantry.

When I mixed up the beans and rice, it looked really pretty.