{"id":527,"date":"2009-07-25T03:12:41","date_gmt":"2009-07-25T03:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/?p=527"},"modified":"2017-11-08T16:06:27","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T16:06:27","slug":"what-to-make-with-brown-rice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/what-to-make-with-brown-rice\/","title":{"rendered":"What to Make with Brown Rice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saving Money at the Grocery Store Begins with a Pot of Rice<\/h1>\n

Tomorrow I’m presenting a class at Erie Community Library:\u00a0 “How to Cut Costs at the Grocery Store. . . but not Flavor, Nutrition or Fun.” \u00a0 One key strategy: scouting out opportunities where you could do for yourself and save money–without too much extra effort.\u00a0 Brown rice is a perfect example.<\/p>\n

Making rice from the bulk aisle requires no more prep time than a box of rice mix or instant rice.\u00a0 (The longer cooking time is easily remedied by cooking it the one or two nights in advance–or by freezing extra portions for nights when you’re in a hurry.)\u00a0 However, as a previous post<\/a> revealed, we pay a threefold markup when someone else precooks, seasons and boxes up our rice in single meal portions.\u00a0 (It could even be closer to fourfold, because home made brown rice is so much denser and nutrient packed than instant–which makes it stretch further.)<\/p>\n

A lot of good these money-savings are, however, if you have no idea what to do with rice.\u00a0\u00a0 Over the years, I’ve found dozens and dozens of uses for brown rice, to the point where I always keep a pot of cooked rice in the frig.\u00a0 It easily lasts a week and provides an excellent launching pad for fast, healthy and delicious meals, like Rice Crust Pizza.<\/p>\n

A brown rice crust is far healthier than the usual refined white-flour crust–and it’s quite easy to make, taking about 5 minutes.\u00a0 It can then be topped with anything you’d put on a flour crust.\u00a0 For a unique twist, this recipe uses Ciolo Foods<\/a>‘ Roasted Red Pepper Pesto instead of regular pizza sauce, demonstrating another cost saver:\u00a0 Buy a couple, high-impact specialty foods and use them to jazz up a meal made with inexpensive ingredients like rice, chard and onions.\u00a0 Because they are feature strong flavors, only small amounts are needed.\u00a0 My $5.49 tub seemed expensive–until I saw how its concentrated flavors stretched across three meals!\u00a0 A great investment for fast, flavorful meals that made us feel like we were eating at a chic bistro!<\/p>\n

Rice Crust Pizza with Roasted Red Pepper Pesto, Chard and Caramelized Onions<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Make the “Crust”<\/strong><\/p>\n