I’m sure you’ve heard that brown rice is better for you than white rice.  There are many web pages that go into all the specifics of exactly why.  I don’t need to repeat that.  I’m just going to give you the basic reasons brown rice is better and then give you some suggestions for what to do with it so your family won’t freak out when you switch them over.  If some of these reasons sound oversimplified, it’s because they are- just trust me on this.

White rice starts as brown rice but then has all the “good stuff” stripped off.  Here is the result of this:

• Brown rice is higher in fiber which makes you feel full and helps keep your insides moving
• Brown rice is higher in vitamins and minerals which are (duh) good for you
• Brown rice is lower glycemic, which (very roughly) translates into “it doesn’t make you fat”

Ok, so how do you use brown rice?  First, it takes longer to cook and needs more water since it still has it’s outer bran coating.  You’ll need to cook it for about 50min with 2x as much water as rice- so for 1 cup of brown rice use 2 cups of water.  If you have a rice cooker, it will work just fine- just adjust the water and the rice cooker will automatically cook for the right time.  If you’re making a recipe that calls for uncooked white rice, you can parboil brown rice for 30 min and then add to the recipe.

To get your family used to brown rice, try making separate half batches of white and brown rice and then mix them together when cooked.  You can vary the size of the batches until they’re eating mostly or all brown rice.  Brown rice also makes great fried rice- they may not even notice the difference.  Also use brown rice in receipes by either fully cooking or parboiling as mentioned in the paragraph above.

If you come up with a good way to get your family on the brown rice bandwagon, post a comment to let us all know.

The post Brown rice appeared first on Frugal Cooking.

Mexican moms have been cutting up leftover tortillas to make chips and chilaquiles for millions of years.  Well maybe not millions, but a long time.   They do it partially to be frugal but also those left over tortillas make the BEST tasting chips.  Below is a description of how I turned some really awful tortillas into some tasty chips to go with bean dip.

Before I get to the recipe, the point I really wanted to make here is that you can often turn bad things into good things with a little creativity.  Stale bread makes great croutons, french toast and bread pudding.  Leftover meat can be chopped for tacos or sliced for sandwiches.  Just be creative- but don’t go too far.  Any way you “slice” it, rotten meat is rotten meat.

Ok, now on to the recipe…

I had these Brown Rice tortillas from Trader Joes that were bad- and I mean really bad.  I ate a few but neglected them in the fridge for a week and a half because I couldn’t bear the thought of another crumbly wrap.

I cut them up with scissors into strips and then put them on a foil-lined baking sheet.

A little nonstick spray and 10 minutes at 350F turned them into really tasty chips.

They really did rival store-bought tortilla chips but with much less fat and I didn’t waste the tortillas.  I celebrated by making a bean dip to go along:

Spicy Garlic and Chipotle Bean Dip

I love canned chipotles in adobo.  They keep in the panty forever, are cheap and a tiny bit goes a long way.  Oh yeah- they taste AWESOME!  How’s that for a frugal ingredient!  I love to pair chipotles with garlic like I did in this bean dip.  I also love chipotles, garlic and mayo as a dip for steamed artichokes.

• 1 can of refried beans.  Look for low or no fat varieties.
• 1 or 2 chipotles in adobo.  A can usually has at least 8-10.  They’re HOT so go easy!
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped finely
• 2T oil
• Salt and pepper

That’s all there is.  Just blend it all up so the chipotles mostly disappear and then microwave until it’s hot.  You WILL make this again.

Let me know if you found a creative use for something that was going bad!

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