Here is an original Lebanese recipe from my son in law. I have not made this one, but Nasri makes it often and my daughter, Erin loves it! Stuffed Zucchinis 5 med. zucchinis with centers cored out Stuffing: 1/2 cup short grain rice that has soaked in water for a half hour 1/2 - 1 lb cooked ground beef (depending on your affinity for meat) 1/4 tsp. allspice 1/4 tsp. cinnamon 1tsp. salt ------- 8 oz. tomato sauce (or crushed tomatoes) 3 cups water 6 tbsp lemon juice 1 tsp. dried mint 2 cloves crushed garlic Drain rice and mix with the rest of the stuffing ingredients. Fill each zucchini 3/4 full and place standing up in a stock pot. In a separate bowl, mix the remaining ingredients and pour over zucchinis. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and cook for an hour or until rice is tender. Eggplant may be substituted for zucchini and if you don' t want the hassle of coring the vegetables, just cut in slices and cook in sauce and serve over rice. Linda

Rice pudding was one of my favorite foods as a child. I would ask for it for my birthday instead of cake, and would eat it for breakfast if it was available. I'm another person who would eat rice with cinnamon/sugar and milk like cereal. I'll add leftover cooked rice to homemade vanilla pudding. Due to arsenic and rice, I'm a little more picky these days. I cut my exposure to it by reducing the number of times I eat it each week, and making sure I thoroughly rinse rice (I have a lovely rice strainer that is the neatest tool for the job - link below), and I also sprout brown rice before using it. Rinsing and draining rice before cooking it will remove about 30% of the arsenic on it according to a Consumer Reports findings out in the January 2015 issue. If I don't have time to sprout it, I make sure I do a long soak in water with a splash of vinegar, followed by a thorough rinse and drain, which is also supposed to reduce the amount of arsenic. It's also suggested to cook rice in a 1:6 ratio (like pasta) instead of the usual 1:2 ratio of rice to water due to arsenic. BTW, rice grown organically was found to have the same arsenic levels as "conventionally" grown rice in the Consumer Reports up-coming issue. Due to being gluten-free, there is rice flour in so many commercial gluten-free products, so I tend to make my own brown rice flour after rinsing, soaking, sprouting and drying it in a dehydrator, and I make white rice flour by soaking, rinsing and dehydrating the grain before milling it. Otherwise, I try to limit or avoid commercial rice and rice flour products. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Japanese Rice Washing Bowl

I haven't cooked mine yet. I've a potluck to attend on Sunday, but I don't think I want to share with so many...does that make me mean? We've dear friends coming over for dinner soon, and I think I'll use it then. For now, the aroma even raw is enticing, much stronger than that which I buy in the store. It is also lighter in color. Gosh, I almost hope I don't like it TOO much as I don't think it grows anywhere around here for me to harvest!!! Very sweet of Teresa to share her family's tradition with us.

What a ridiculous comment. I looked up the number before making the comment. Roughly 9 of 10 Americans have health coverage, either through employment, though personal purchase, through government programs for low income folks or through Medicare. It should be 10 of 10 but for now, it's a "problem" most people have figured out a way to deal with. I wasn't making a judgment, I was reporting facts. Yes, finding better paying employment when needing more money is also a "problem" with solutions if one wants to pursue them. I believe that many, many people who consider themselves to be victims "of the system" or stuck in unfortunate circumstances are in fact victims of their own decisions. You're welcome to feel otherwise, and society should provide safety nets of sorts, but I think people are entitled to the consequences of their own actions and choices, the bad ones as well as the good ones. Here's a judgement - the conversation has gotten far afield of what to do with overcooked/burned beef.