oven rice

we eat so much rice here at casa de jess. last year, i bought the pampered chef rice cooker and i really like it. you can also cook potatoes in it for mashing and supposedly you can make a frosted cake in it IN your microwave, too. i haven't tried that yet, but maybe i will. of course i'll post that recipe here if i do it.

but today let's talk about rice. i love the stuff. i grew up eating just plain old long grain rice. in my early twenties, i liked uncle ben's parboiled rice. the only kind of rice i buy now is jasmine rice. it's just the best and it's easily found at your grocery store. it smells wonderful, kind of like buttered popcorn, when it's cooking and it has a fabulous texture.

i have an authentic rice cooker from japan, too. my uncle used to live there and he sent it to me a long time ago. i love using it, but i hate cleaning it. today, i tried a recipe for oven rice - and it turned out phenomenal. it might be my new fave way to cook rice!

oven rice

*1/2 c. butter
*1/2 c. dried chopped onion
* 2 c. jasmine rice (you can really use any kind...)
*6 c. water
*6 tsp. bouillion (chicken or beef)

first of all...i used chicken broth for most of the water and no bouillion because i didn't have any. my rice turned out fine. just make it work.

preheat the oven to 325. in a large skillet, melt the butter. brown the rice and the onion in the butter. put the rice into a 9x13 pan, add water and bouillion. cover with foil and bake for 1 hour.

how hard is that? and mine turned out perfectly, 60 mins on the dot. totally tasty.

man burgers

jake loves these. he really likes the name. he'll kill me for saying this, but he believes he has chest hair. he is NINE YEARS OLD.

i made these one night when i didn't know what to make for dinner. as i stood staring at the fridge, door open, i had an epiphany. and i threw this together. i called them man burgers, because hello, it's total man food. and i knew jake would like them just because of the name.

man burgers

*1 lb. lean ground beef
*2 pkgs. onion gravy mix
*4 slices Texas toast
*4 slices cheese, your favorite kind
*2 T butter, softened and divided
*garlic powder or salt

shape the ground beef into 4 patties. you can add breadcrumbs and egg, dry onion soup mix, or chopped onions if you'd like. season and cook the patties over medium heat in a large skillet. while the patties are cooking, prepare the gravy according to package directions. keep the gravy warm while the burgers are cooking. prepare the texas toast by spreading each slice with 1/2 T. butter and sprinkling with garlic salt or powder. broil the texas toast in your oven until it's toasty and brown, about 1-3 mins depending on your broiler settings.

(PLEASE USE YOUR TIMER or some other mechanism to remind you have BREAD UNDER THE BROILER!! otherwise, you will need 8 slices of texas toast. 4 to burn to a crisp and 4 to actually serve with your man burgers.)

when the burgers are cooked, top with a slice of cheese and let melt slightly. assemble the man burgers as an open faced sandwich: texas toast on the bottom, topped with a burger, smothered in gravy. serve with tater tots or mashed potatoes for the perfect man meal.

my husband and son like cheese tots with this. super healthy, right?? hey, i use LEAN ground beef.