We use a microwave rice cooker that BF's father (full-blood-cajun-I-can't-understand-a-word-he-says-so-I-just-smile-and-nod-and-have-been-caught-doing-it) sent us. It works perfect for white rice every time. His parents make seafood gumbo, jambalya, and catfish courtboullion that make you scream! Anyway, it's a multiuse gadget too. You can serve in it, store in it in the fridge, reheat in it, etc. When we reheat, we sometimes add stuff like gravy, meat, corn, seasonings, or whatever. I'm going to try to make rice pudding with leftovers in it someday soon. I found another brand new Pampered Chef micro rice cooker at the thrift for 2 bucks! Now we're set, the thing looks like it will last for three generations! BF is teaching me to stay in the kitchen when I cook. I too, have a difficult time with things like garlic bread, toasting nuts, etc. I've begun using the timer for even one minute at a time!! It's easy to get distracted, isn't it? What did you end up doing about your rice situation?

I guess this one is right up my alley. I'm mom of 4 sons though only one is still on the "payroll" though he's now off at college. Anyway there were a lot of years cooking for 6 and 5 of them were VERY hungry! I still use a plan though it's much looser and of course easier! Living 10 miles from a store and having a crowd to feed, I found doing a weekly menu saved me from living at the grocery store! I have a day that I go to the store and that day, I'll take stock of any items from the week before that I didn't use or any meals from the previous week that I never got around to cooking. Then I sit down with one or two cookbooks and start in. I jot down about 4 breakfasts and a few lunches if I think that people will be around (summer etc) but don't put a huge amount of thought into these two. I can always whip up a good breakfast with whats on hand for the most part. With kids around, plan on some nutritious snacks. For dinner, I plan out however many meals we'll need for the week. I usually figure that I'll have one meal where we either do leftovers or I defrost something from the freezer. We also usually eat out about once a week. So that leaves me with selecting 5 true menus. I do it all from veggies, salads, starch, bread and main dish. Be sure to make a note of the page in the cookbook for any new recipes. Look at your calendar for the week and be sure you have enough no brainers for the busy days. Cook extra chicken/meat and use it for a second meal turned into sandwiches, soup, or a casserole. Shopping for a week is easy and feasible. Do your meals that require the freshest produce at the beginning of your week and save the meatless/soup/pizza/sandwich meals for later in the week. Precook or freeze any meats that you'll be having at the end of the seven days. I'd usually need to pick up more milk midweek as my guys guzzled more than a gallon a day. I keep the menu paper on my island, and I feel free to substitute and change the meal or parts of the meal as needed swapping days etc. Remember nothing is written in stone!!! I think part of your "negative" slant on the menu planning may be that you don't want to be pinned down. Roll with the flow, change meals around.... it's only a guideline not military orders that you must follow to a T!!! Grace

The noodles are supposed to be cooked, between 2-4 minutes, until just tender. Then they're drained and put in a bowl. Marinated chicken, pork, or beef slices are added, along with julienned cucumber, finely shredded carrots, bean sprouts, some mint, basil, cilantro, and chopped peanuts. Nuoc Cham is poured over the salad. This is one of my husband's favorites, and we always order it every time we dine at our local Vietnamese restaurant. I've even made it before, but it's been a while though, and I can't remember if I used the rice sticks or was able to get real rice vermicelli (bun) at the grocery store in the past. Here's a recipe that's similar to what I want to accomplish. Thanks for your help. Here is a link that might be useful: Vietnamese Noodle (Bun) Salad

Ironically, I am on a supposedly "low acid" diet for chronic urinary tract inflammation. I love all thing citrus! But I have to carefully parse how much of it I ingest. Same with vinegar. The only fruits I am supposed to eat are pears, blueberries, watermelon, dates and maybe bananas and a few types of apples such as gala and fuji. Not apple juice since they add acid to it to preserve it. Grapes are some of the worst offenders because the tannic acid in them, which is so healthy for you, is something I can't have. Which is why I can't have wine, grape juice, grapes, raisins or tea of any kind. All the fun beverages are out! So I can't have lemon water which is one of the standard ways to make water more palatable. I can't have most herbal teas either, if they have a citrus component. Mint and chamomile are the two kinds of tea I can have, and I don't much care for mint, unless it is mixed with lemon . . . I cheat but not excessively. I can eat some acids and be OK, just not pig out on them. So now is a tough time of year for me, fruit wise. Too early in the Midwest for good watermelon, pears or blueberries. There's always the trusty apple, but after so many months of apples I am less than enthusiastic about them. Not that I don't love them, but I eat them practically every day so they hardly stimulate my appetite anymore. I think my biggest problem was adjusting to the sudden change in seasons. We seem to no longer have spring, just cold dreary end of winter and then it pitches up to the upper 80's and never looks back. I go from working mostly inside and coming home early, to working outside in the cooler evening hours so zero energy for cooking in the evenings plus I eat a late dinner and I don't want anything heavy. I have no trouble eating something like stew or lasagne for lunch. So I need to readjust my larder and plan for some snacking/nibbling type dinners. I am also at a disadvantage as I no longer have access to my freezer, so no room for freezing my leftovers, so a big pot of stew or lasagne or enchiladas will linger and linger with just me trying to eat it all. I can put some in the freezer at the top of my fridge but I have already maxed it out with home made baked goods, cooked rice and quinoa, frozen fruits and vegetables and meats that were on sale. That's another issue too, I am just not a meat enthusiast and I need to have more vegetarian protein options on my rotation. I can't get the good baked tofu and other vegetarian convenience foods in this rural area I am living in like I could out east. There is some, but not as much. Spring is a tough time for us frugal/local eaters, since there is actually very little produce available. Radishes, green onions, spring greens. Now asparagus and peas and new potatoes are coming in so there is something to get excited about. Not too much longer and there will be strawberries! Like Tishtoshnm suggested, I splurged on some broccoli last week when BF was here and had it in tofu stir fry last night for dinner. Didn't have an appetite problem that time, in fact I had to tell myself to stop chowing down on it to avoid overeating! I have some baby spinach that we also bought for salads, I think the remainder of that is going into some soup. The Eastern Europeans eat schav this time of year but I can never get my brain around cold soup. You can make it with spinach or other greens and lemon, but there's that dang acid thing again . . .