Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

The Easiest Way to Make Brown Rice

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My friend Emily has been encouraging me to try this little “bake your rice in the oven” trick for quite some time. As it turns out, this really is the easiest way to make brown rice!

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Now, I’ve been making rice on the stove-top for years without any problem. Then I got an Instant Pot and tried making rice in that.

Confession: While it is actually very easy to make rice in the Instant Pot, I kept having to look up how to do it because I could never remember from one time to the next. So ultimately, this didn’t make my life easier. Ha! Old habits die hard. I didn’t want to have to actually think about how to make rice. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

So I went back to my “cook rice on the stove-top” method.

Then Emily said something again about making rice in the oven, about how easy it was, and about how the rice turns out perfectly every single time. Fine. I decided to try it. After all, the method did sound very simple.

Boom. I’m going to use the oven method every time from now on. It’s a no brainer! And it actually is easier than making rice on the stove-top because I don’t have to boil water first, then add rice, then turn down the heat, yada, yada.

Here are the basics you need to know to make brown rice in the oven:

  1. Always use 2 parts water to 1 part rice.
  2. Cover the dish.
  3. Bake for 1 hour at 350.

Here’s a basic picture tutorial. Watch and be amazed.

1. Put rice in a dish.

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2. Add water. Cover, and bake for 1 hour at 350.

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3. The rice is done. It is perfect. Your life just got easier.

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4. Be amazed and look at the rice from a different angle. Stare joyfully at the rice.

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5. Move on. It’s time to eat the rice.

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The Easiest Way to Make Brown Rice

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The Easiest Way to Make Brown Rice
 
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Ingredients
  • 1 cup brown rice
  • 2 cups water
  • sea salt to taste
Instructions
  1. Place one part rice to two parts water into a baking dish.
  2. Sprinkle in sea salt according to your taste. (You can add salt later if you prefer.)
  3. Stir.
  4. Cover.
  5. Bake in a 350 oven for one hour.

The Easiest Way to Make Brown Rice

This will forever more be my go-to rice making method. I love how simple it is! And the rice truly turns out perfect!

What’s your favorite way to make brown rice? Have you ever tried this oven method? I think you’ll love it!

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A Great Deal on Rice, Recipes Using Rice, and How to Cook Brown Rice

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You know why I love brown rice?

  • It is a real food
  • It is wholesome
  • It is affordable
  • It can help stretch a meal, saving lots of $$
  • It can be eaten plain as a side dish, or stirred into a casserole, or made into a pudding
  • It’s naturally gluten free – a perk for those who need to avoid gluten
  • It tastes good

So blah, blah, blah…rice. An entire post about rice. Life does not get much more exciting than this.

Unless there’s a sale on rice!!! Now this is turning into an exciting post! (Not really, Laura. We’re still talking about rice. Keep trying.)

I told you this was exciting!

{snore}

Well, while I’ve got you, I would like to share that cooking brown rice is very easy. Here’s a full tutorial if you’re new to brown rice.

How to Cook Brown Rice

Below you’ll find many of my family’s favorite recipes that include rice. Admit it.  This post is making you giddy. Talk of brown rice is as exciting as talking about vacation plans and chocolate cheesecake. Yes, it is exactly like that.

Our Favorite Rice Recipes

What are your favorite rice dishes? Chime in by leaving a comment. This conversation is clearly shaping up to be the most fun we’ve all had in the past three minutes.

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Sucanat, Brown Rice and Cottage Cheese – FAQ

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What do sucanat, brown rice and cottage cheese have in common? Not a whole lot, except that they were hot topics last week during the Recipe and Cooking Tips Parade. There were so many questions in each comment section that I will admit to being overwhelmed and after just a tiny bit of panic on my part because of my lack of time and ability to keep up, I decided just to try to answer the most frequently asked questions here. I’m still not answering every question, and for that I apologize. If I missed your question in those posts, please feel free to ask  it here and maybe, just maybe I will actually get to it!

So, for no reason at all, let’s begin with Cottage Cheese. I loved all of the ideas you mentioned about ways you eat cottage cheese! Who knew there were so many great ways to eat the cute little curds. There were two questions that were asked several times in that post:

1. What kind of cottage cheese do you buy? I’m afraid of the cottage cheese in my store because it has all kinds of added ingredients!

Ah, indeed. All the yucky additives and whatnots that we can’t pronounce on the label. If I can, I like to buy Organic Valley Cottage Cheese from my health food co-op. But, I have found that at my Walmart, I can get Nordica brand, which is not organic, but is at least without hormones. It has a very good taste, unlike the cheaper brands that really freak me out.

2. Do you make your own cottage cheese? Will you tell us how to do that?

I have made cottage cheese a few times, but I’ve never been pleased with the results. If I ever get a good cottage cheese thing going on, you’ll be the first to know. (Second, actually, because I’ll be standing on my porch yelling, “WAHOOO! I just made cottage cheese that tastes good!” It’s okay, my neighbors already know I’m weird.)

Okay…now Sucanat questions:

1. What is sucanat? Is it healthier than other sugars?

I’ve addressed sucanat and other natural sweeteners here.

2. Where do you buy sucanat?

I try to order it through my health food co-op, Azure Standard. It’s much less expensive there. Otherwise I save my swagbucks and buy it through Amazon. If at all possible, buy it in bulk…it’s much less expensive! The best price I’ve found is just over $2/pound. Sounds expensive, but that’s a great deal for what you’re getting!

Last but not least…Brown Rice:

1. Where do you buy brown rice?

Again, Azure Standard or Amazon. I always buy organic, but that’s just me.

2. Is Minute Brown Rice healthy and okay to eat?

I’ve never used the Minute brand of brown rice and because it’s processed, I guess my OPINION is that I’d prefer to avoid it. However, at the store the other day, I peeked at the box and the ingredients only list “brown rice” as an ingredient. Can’t be that bad, I guess. :)  If the choice is white rice or Minute Brown Rice…I say go with Minute Brown Rice if it helps you transition to this whole ingredient. In fact, here’s a coupon:  $0.50 off any one (1) Minute Rice Product

3. I cooked my brown rice for over 45 minutes but it still isn’t cooked all the way. What am I doing wrong?

Altitude and who knows what can make a difference in your rice being cooked the way you want it. I found this article at Pinch My Salt. Interesting and helpful!

4. Have you ever tried soaking your rice, Nourishing Traditions style?

No, and I don’t know why. I should add that to my list. Do you ever get tired of hearing me say that? Do you ever wonder what “my list” looks like?

I don’t think you really want to know. ;)

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How To Cook Brown Rice

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How to Cook Brown Rice

Yum

Transitioning your family from white to brown food (rice, grain, sugar) can be a little bit difficult on the taste buds. When we’re used to the white stuff, the brown stuff may seem a little heavy at first. I know I’ve heard the opposite from some of you, but transitioning my family from white rice to brown was actually one of our easier transitions when we were on our healthy eating journey.

But first I had to learn how to cook the stuff.  Brown rice cooks a little differently than white rice. And it takes 45 minutes? Really?

One of the things I’ve learned throughout our healthy eating journey is that whole foods may take a little longer to prepare, but that doesn’t mean that they are more difficult to prepare. I just have to plan ahead just a little bit better. Yes, brown rice takes 45 minutes to cook. But do I actually have to watch the pot and babysit my rice? Absolutely not. Start the rice a cookin’, set a timer, walk away and come back 45 minutes later.

Long story short:  Cooking Brown Rice is SO Easy.

Here are the basics of Brown Rice Cooking:

  • Use exactly twice as much liquid as rice. (For instance, use 2 cups of water with 1 cup of rice.)
  • The rice will absorb all the liquid, so if you cook one cup of rice in two cups of water, once the rice is cooked, you will have two cups of cooked rice.
  • Don’t bother your rice while it’s cooking. It will get grumpy. (Actually it will get sticky, and you may get grumpy.)
  • Sea Salt is your friend. Rice is a little bland without it.
  • We LOVE our rice cooked in Chicken Broth. The broth gives the rice excellent flavor and has really helped us transition to the taste of brown rice!

Here’s how to cook brown rice:

  1. Begin by boiling your water or broth. Remember, use two cups of liquid for every one cup of rice.
  2. Once the liquid has come to a full boil, pour in the dry brown rice.
  3. Give the rice a stir. Turn down the burner to a simmering heat level.
  4. Cover the pot with a lid.
  5. Set a timer for 45 minutes.
  6. Do not stir the rice or even bother with looking at the rice until the timer goes off.
  7. Remove the rice from the heat.
  8. Salt liberally, or mix your cooked rice into your desired recipe.

I took several pictures to create a tutorial for you, but in just about every picture, the steam from the pot fogged up my camera lense. It would have been a lovely tutorial.

See? Look at the wonderful boiling broth. With steam. This was the least foggy of all the pictures.
Don’t you just feel like you learned an awful lot by looking at it?

Sorry for the lack of tutorial photos. Really though, even without pictures to look at, I do believe you can easily cook brown rice. Then use it to make Rice and Veggie Stir Fry or Spanish Rice…or even add butter and salt and eat it plain!


Does your family like brown rice? How do you like to eat your rice?

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Healthy(er) Rice Crispy Treats

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This is one of my favorite new recipes, so I chose to show you this one first in the Heavenly Homemakers Parade of Recipes and Cooking Tips!

I rarely buy cereal because it is expensive and no matter what kind you buy, it is generally not very good for you. However, occasionally I’ll buy a Mom’s Best or a Kashi variety. We all have “those mornings” when we just want to grab out a box (or two) of cereal and call it breakfast.

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking around on Amazon for organic cereal choices and was excited to find Erewhon Crispy Brown Rice Cereal for a very reasonable price and with ingredients I didn’t feel too bad about. I used my Swagbucks and ordered some.

Because this cereal is made with brown rice, it’s a little bit different from your “normal” Rice Krispie cereal, but since cereal is a special treat around here, we all like it just fine. Well, then…I got to thinking that it sure would be fun to make some sort of “rice crispy treat”. I miss Rice Krispie treats. They’re so easy and yummy.

While this recipe doesn’t taste entirely like a real Rice Krispie Treat, it does have the feel and crunch of one – plus they taste really, really good!! I still haven’t tried making homemade marshmallows, so I skipped that idea altogether and just used honey to sweeten and make the cereal “stick together”. All of us have declared this recipe to be quite tasty…and I, the mom, have declared it to be one of the easiest recipes ever. It takes about five minutes to throw these together!

 

 

Stay tuned to see what’s coming up next in our Parade of Healthy Recipes and Cooking Tips!!

 

Healthy(er) Rice Crispy Treats
 
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Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 1 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
  • ½ cup honey
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 cups Crispy Rice Cereal
Instructions
  1. In a saucepan, melt and stir the peanut butter and honey together. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Stir in Crispy Rice Cereal. Spread in a 9x9 inch pan and allow to cool.
  2. For fun, you could add 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips as you're stirring in the cereal. We LOVE these soy free mini chocolate chips from Enjoy Life!
  3. I love that this recipe is gluten free, easy, fast, healthier and crunchy! This is SUCH a simple snack to throw together. I think I'll try to make some with Sunbutter for Malachi - I don't know why it wouldn't work!

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