Faux Rice-a-roni

My kids are major fans of the Rice-a-roni. You know that marvy rice and pasta concoction from the 1960's that makes its ways to many a table every night? Its actually a pretty decent fast side for a lot of grilled meats, something I do a lot of around here. The only gripe I have is that its overloaded with salt and there isn't much you can do to about it.  Except make your own.

Its a pretty simple blend of herbs and dried chicken stock that you toss in with the pasta and rice after they are browned. An easy process to duplicate.  And I did.

Of course I figured as long as I'm gonna do it up faux I'll also make in the microwave to take one pot off the stove that I have to worry about.  This actually works out quite well in the microwave and is stupid easy once you program your M.O. to remember the settings.  Its clearly a set and forget.

I used the Better than Bouillon brand chicken base for my recipe as I was out of chicken broth.  You can simply use 2 cups chicken broth if you have it on hand.  I do keep this bouillon around as it has better flavor than the cubed stuff and WAY less sodium.  A big plus especially if you are on a low sodium diet for health reasons.  Its also a good way to add flavor to dishes where you don't want to add a lot of liquid and still get a big flavor boost with that slow cooked all day flavor.

Faux Rice-a-roni

• 1/2 c fideo noodles
• 1/2 c raw white rice
• 2 T butter
• 2 c water
• 2 t Better than Bouillon chicken broth
• 1/2 t garlic salt
• 1 T dried parsley

In microwave safe covered dish add pasta and rice.  Top with butter.  Microwave for 1 minute.  Stir to coat rice and pasta with butter.  Microwave on high 1 minute longer.  Toss and repeat until pasta is a deep golden brown.  It takes about 3 minutes total in my 1250 watt MO.

Dissolve Better than Bouillon in water.  Add garlic salt and parsley to rice and toss.  Add broth and stir. 

Cover the dish.  Microwave 5 minutes on high power. Continue covered and microwave 20 minutes on 50% power.  Let stand 5 minutes.  Fluff with fork and serve.

Microwave Apple Crisp

First off, sorry for the craptastic photo, the oven mitt is really deep red and the crisp had a rich dark brown topping. When all is said and done with two colors of light in the room it through off the trusty old cell cam and gave me this image. Bummer, as the cobbler was sooooo freakin' good it was devoured before I could do a reshoot with a better camera.

This dessert goes back to the days as an early apt dweller in The Valley when our apt had marginal air conditioning, with none in the kitchen. There is a always a sweet tooth to be satiated and there are times where good old comfort foods like a fruit crisp are the only thing that will do the trick. When its 100+ one does not turn on an oven in an already uncomfortable kitchen. What to do...turn old oven based recipes into one that works in a microwave. This recipe did just the trick. Very simple and it is based on a 1200 watt microwave so you will need adjust times to suit your machine.

With apple crisps (pies and cobbles too) I like to use a couple of different apples. Its all about the textural differences and the juice for the sauce. Some apples hold their shape well with a nice crunch but yield little juice. Others release a lot of juice but wither down to mush. A mix of apples gets you the best of both worlds. For this reason I used a mix of Red Delicious and Gala apples.

Microwave Apple Crisp

• 6 cups (approximately 6 medium apples) sliced
• 2 t lemon juice
• 2 t cinnamon, divided
• 1/2 c packed brown sugar
• 1/2 c uncooked oatmeal
• 1/4 c flour
• 1/4 c butter - room temp
• 1/2 t salt

Place apples in an 8" X 8" microwave safe baking dish. Add lemon juice and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Toss. Microwave 4 minutes until tender crisp.

Combine remaining ingredients. Mix well. Sprinkle evenly over warm fruit mixture. Microwave on high 9-12 minutes until apples and topping are bubbly. Let set for 10 minutes, serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream topping.