Grocery Trip!

Went to commissary Saturday afternoon. Boy did I feel like I was in a cattle herd. People were pushing and shoving. Fighting over little smoked sausages. It was stupid! But I did survive with only $134.45 damage. Not bad for two weeks including lunches and Thanksgiving! I already bought my turkey, but everything else I still had to buy. I did find a few more useful coupons while shopping, so I saved $12.60 in the end. Thanks to my receipt, I know that's 8% of my total bill. Not bad. :D I probably could have walked away with only $120 in groceries, but DH got in the way. I still would rather he go even though he costs me more money in the end (darn end displays!). He took the cart this trip, I bravely grabbed items in the aisles and brought it back to his cart. He just stood there laughing at me. Well, that and grabbing items off the end displays. lol. Oh well.

At this point I can't remember what recipes I've posted and which I haven't. And I'm lazy, so forgive me if I start reposting old recipes. :)

Amish Bread

Ingredients

·      2 cups warm water (110*F)

·      2/3 cup white sugar (can use less sugar)

·      1 ½ tablespoons active dry yeast

·      1 ½ teaspoons salt

·      ¼ cup oil

·      6 cups bread four 

Directions

1.     In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.

2.   Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

3.    Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.

4.   Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.

Store this yummy bread in an airtight container at room temperature. It keeps fresh longer than most homemade breads – almost 2 weeks! 

Pineapple Pork chops

From Nates on OHO

 Ingredients:

4 boneless center cut pork chops, ¾-inch thick

1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple with juice

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

 Directions:

oven to 350-degrees. Coat a baking pan with a spray of canola oil.

Place pork chops in a baking pan. In a small bowl, mix together pineapple, brown sugar and soy sauce. (I used chunk pineapple and put everything in the blender.) Spread pineapple mixture evenly over the top of pork chops. (I added a few chunks of pineapple on top.) Cover tightly and bake for 50 minutes or until well done. Place baking pan on cooling rack. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Mash Potatoes - I followed my "method" from chicken noodle soup. Put potatoes on to boil and forgot about them. Then remembered about them and drained, mashed, etc. I'm a simple person and just used milk, butter, salt, pepper, and parsley in my mashed potatoes.

I never have gotten around to making waffles. We ate Chinese instead for lunch. First time in months, so I felt I had to listen to my cravings!

And since we ate Chinese for lunch, we had no desire to eat dinner. lol. So we didn't make quiche. I swear that one item is going to keep reappearing on menus for months at this rate.

Tomorrow I've decided will be chicken taco salads. I'll break out the crockpot tomorrow morning before work. Place 3-4 frozen chicken breasts in crockpot along with a packet of taco seasoning (or make your own) and one can of diced tomatoes, no salt added. The taco seasoning has enough sodium issues without the diced tomatoes adding to it. Keep the crockpot on low all day. Come home to your dinner cooked. I just shred the chicken before serving. If you don't have all day, high will work too. Just faster. :D

Menu: Nov 22-Dec 6

I've made a menu for the next two weeks. It's just what works out best time wise. I'll go to the commissary this weekend for my list. I only have $8 worth of coupons this time too. Just not as many good coupons being put out there - probably because stores have so many sales going on anyway this time of year. I do have a couple of more coupons that I'm bringing, but I doubt if the commissary will have those products. With any luck I'll manage to find a couple of more deals while at the commissary! :)

Menu – November 22^nd—December 6^th

 

Weekend Dessert: Amish bread, chocolate chip cookies (freeze most of them)

22^nd Saturday Dinner: pineapple pork chops, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots

23^rd Sunday Breakfast/Lunch: waffles

23^rd Sunday Dinner: chicken pot pie

 

24^th – 26^th: Monday – Wednesday Meals:
1) leftover chicken pot pie
2) grilled cheese and soup
3) grilled chicken sandwiches with sautéed zucchini

27^th Thanksgiving Menu

            Cinnamon Rolls           

Turkey

            Potato casserole

            Whiskey glazed carrots

            Mashed sweet potatoes

            Squash casserole

            Homemade rolls

            Pumpkin pie

 

Other possible long weekend meals:

            Applesauce pancakes

            DHs chili and cornbread muffins (Sunday dinner?)

            Hot dogs

    Out to eat

 

1^st – 5^th: Monday – Friday Meals:
1) chicken parmesan with pasta and green beans
2) hamburgers, pasta side, frozen veggie
3) beef and vegetable stir fry
4) Helper meal with added veggies
5) out to eat

6^th – CGO White Elephant Party Potluck

            Pork shoulder, hamburger buns

            Spinach lasagna

            Salad?

            Veggie side?

            Chocolate dripped pretzel sticks

            Sausage balls

            Spinach and artichoke drip, chips

Winter-ish Recipes!

White Chicken Chili

Courtesy of OHO Kitchens.

Ingredients

·      1 pound cooked chicken breast

·      2 cans chicken broth

·      2 cans northern beans

·      1 can chopped green chilis

·      cumin to taste 

Directions

      Put all in a pot and heat through. Can thicken the sauce some with flour. Serve with shredded cheese and corn muffins.

Baked Potato Soup        

Best potato soup ever! You can’t miss with this great recipe. Serves 6.

Ingredients

·      12 slices bacon

·      2/3 cup margarine or butter

·      2/3 cup all purpose flour

·      7 cups milk

·      4 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed (cooked!)

·      4 green onions, chopped

·      ¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese

·      1 cup sour cream

·      1 teaspoon salt

·      1 teaspoon pepper 

Directions

1.     Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium heat until browned. Drain, crumble, set aside.

2.   In a stock pot or dutch oven, melt margarine or butter over medium heat. Wish in flour until smooth. Gradually stir in milk, whisking constantly until thickened. Stir in potatoes and onions. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

3.    Reduce heat and simmer about 10 minutes. Mix in bacon, cheese, sour crème, salt, and pepper. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until cheese is melted.

Use bacon bits to save time from  cooking the bacon! For potatoes, peel and cube, and cook separately in a pot of boiling water for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and drain before potatoes are fully cooked.
               

Random dessert recipes

These are just some of my many dessert recipes that I have hanging around. I do try and cook one dessert-ish item on the weekends. We eat off of it slowly throughout the week (for the most part). And the promise of a dessert after dinner keeps us from eating snacks throughout the day. Besides, I don't buy snack items. There are no chips in my house. No store bought cookies. No pretzels. You get the idea. Besides, despite how a recipe looks at first glance many are better for you than the baked goods you buy in grocery stores. Don't even dare look at the nutritional label of a pre packaged dessert items - OMG! Besides, it's cheaper for me to make stuff at home than it is to buy it in the store. Cause I've gotta have some kind of sweet hanging around. I'm frugal like that. :D

Apple Oatmeal Cookies

Thanks to Kitchens on OHO

 

1 medium apple chopped

½ c. butter, softened

½ c. brown sugar

½ c. granulated sugar

½ tsp. vanilla extract

1 egg

1 c. all purpose flour

½ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1-1/2 c quick cooking oats

 

Heat oven to 350F. Lightly spray cookie sheet with vegetable pan spray. In a large bowl, cream butter with both sugars. Add vanilla and egg; blend well. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, and oats; mix well. Stir in apples. Spray a 1 oz. cookie scoop or tablespoon with vegetable pan spray and drop dough on prepared pans. Bake 15-18 minutes or until edges are light golden brown.

Makes: 2 dozen cookies

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

Thanks to OHO

4 tablespoons flour

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa

1 egg

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons oil

3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)

A small splash of vanilla extract 

1 large coffee mug

 

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well.

Add the egg and mix thoroughly.

Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.

Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.

The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!

Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

Rum Cake 

Ingredients:
1 pkg yellow cake mix (Duncan Hines)

1 pkg instant vanilla pudding

4 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup dark rum

½ cup chopped nuts (pecans)

**Glaze:

**1 oz rum

**1/4 lb oleo (1 stick)

**1 cup sugar

**1/4 cup water

 

Directions:
Mix all ingrediants in mixer for 2 minutes. Grease bundt pan and sprinkle with chopped nuts. Pour cake mixture in pan. Cook at 325* for one hour. During last 10 minutes of cake baking: Put glaze ingredients in small saucepan, bring to boil, cook about 5 minutes. When cake is done, take out, pierce the cake with a cake tested or fork, and pour glaze over cake. Do not take the cake out of the pan for about 1 hour. To help remove cake from pan, bounce it on all sides to help it come out more easy. 

American Girl’s Stained Glass Sugar Cookies 

Ingredients

·      1 cup colored hard candy, such as Life Savers

·      nonstick cooking spray

·      1 stick butter, softened

·      ½ cup sugar

·      ½ teaspoon vanilla

·      1 egg

·      1 ½ cups flour

·      2 sizes of same shape cookie cutters (a big one and a smaller one that fits inside the bigger one) 

Directions

1)    Put unwrapped candies in a plastic zip-lock bag and seal. Place bag in another plastic bag and seal. Wrap in a dish towel and place on cutting board. Break candy into small bits using a hammer. Set aside. Cover baking sheet with foil. Spray with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

2)   Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash hands. Combine butter, sugar, and vanilla in bowl with fork. In a separate bowl, beat egg with fork. Add it to butter mixture and mix well. Stir in flour. Squeeze mixture with hands to form dough. Add more flour if dough feels sticky.

3)   Sprinkle flour on work surface and roll dough to ¼ inch thickness. Cut out cookies using larger cookie cutter. Place cookies on baking sheet. Dip the smaller cookie cutter in flour and cut the shape out of the large cookies. Remove the small cut outs and set aside to reroll and reuse dough.

4)   Bake cookies for 4 minutes, then remove baking sheet from oven. Carefully, put candy pieces inside each cookie, making sure to fill in any tips and edges. (The candy will melt and spread.) Bake cookies again until candy is just melted and dough is a light brown, about 5 to 7 minutes.

5)   Remove baking sheet from oven. Let cookies stand until completely cool, about 30 minutes. If you try and remove the cookies too soon, they will crack. Peal foil off backs of cookies.
**This recipe makes enough for 12 stained glass cookies with some extra dough left over for regular sugar cookies. If you want more stained glass cookies, you’ll need more candies.     

Moist Caramel Apple Cake                  

Extremely moist apple cake recipe courtesy of Jello Desserts.

Ingredients

·      1 box yellow cake mix

·      1 box (4 serving size) Vanilla or French Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding and Pie Filling

·      1 cup water

·      4 eggs

·      1/3 cup oil

·      3 medium granny smith apples, peeled and coarsely chopped

·      20 caramels, unwrapped

·      3 tablespoons milk 

Directions

       Preheat oven to 350*. Grease and flour 12-cup fluted tube pan or 10-inch tube pan. Beat cake mix, dry pudding mix, water, eggs, and oil in a large bowl with electric mixer on low speed until blended. Beat on high speed 2 minutes. Gently stir in apples. Pour into prepared pan.

       Bake 50 minutes to 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

       Microwave caramels and milk in microwaveable bowl on HIGH for 1 ½ minutes, stirring every 30 seconds until blended. Cool 10 minutes or until slightly thickened. Drizzle over cake.

One Bowl Brownies    

Recipe adapted from Baker’s One Bowl Brownies.

Ingredients

·      2/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

·      1 ½ cups sugar

·      ¾ cup butter/margarine

·      3 eggs

·      1 teaspoon vanilla

·      1 cup flour

·      1 cup chopped nuts, optional 

Directions

      Preheat over to 350 degrees. Line 13x9 inch (for thinner brownies) or 8x8 (for thicker brownies) with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan. Grease foil. Non-stick cooking spray works well.

       Microwave chocolate and butter in large microwavable bowl on HIGH for 2 minutes or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add flour and nuts; mix well. Spread into prepared pan.

       Bake 25-30 minutes for 9x13 inch pan or 30-35 minutes for 8x8 inch pan, until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs. DO NOT OVERBAKE! Cool in pan on wire rack. Remove brownies from pan, using foil handles. Cut into squares. Store in tightly covered container at room temperature.

Warm Chocolate Pudding    
Recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart Living. Recipes as is serves 4.

Ingredients

·      4 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped

·      4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

·      4 tablespoons sugar

·      2 large eggs, yokes and whites separated

·      ½ teaspoon vanilla

·      ¼ teaspoon salt

·      ice cream (any flavor), for serving (optional) 

Directions

1.     Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place four 6 to 8 ounce ovenproof bowls on a baking sheet. Set aside.

2.   Place chocolate and butter in a medium heatproof bowl set over (not in) a saucepan of gently simmering water. Stir occasionally just until melted, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat; mix two tablespoons sugar, then egg yolks and vanilla. Set aside.

3.    In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, beat egg whites and salt until soft peaks form. Still beating, gradually add remaining 2 tablespoons sugar; beat until mixture is stiff and glossy.

4.   Using a rubber spatula, mix about 1/3 egg-white mixture into chocolate mixture; gently fold in remaining egg-white mixture just until combined. Divide among bowls. Puddings can be prepared in advance up to this point; cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate up to 1 day.

5.   Bake until tops are puffed and cracked but insides are still quite soft (a toothpick inserted in center will come out gooey), 20 to 25 minutes, or 25-30 minutes if puddings were previously refrigerated. Serve, warm or at room temperature. Puddings may sink as they cool. Top with ice cream, as desired.

Thanksgiving Menu and Recipes

I *think* I've decided on my final Turkey Day meal. Haven't decided on a yummy breakfast to tide us over though yet. Maybe we'll just eat my pumpkin pie for breakfast rather than dessert. :D DH and I also aren't into stuffing/dressing, so we're passing on that this year. Why make a pan if we'll only eat 1/4 of it? Part of me is tempted to buy a can of jellied cranberries even though we'd only eat half of it. It's just so traditional for my family. I also thought about making a green bean casserole till I remembered DHs reaction to it two years ago when I last made it - he's just not into casseroles. I'm pushing my luck with the squash, but I refuse to not make it. He gets his rolls, I get my squash! Fair is fair! :D

Turkey

Potato Casserole

Whiskey Glazed Carrots

Sweet Potatoes, mashed

Squash Casserole

Rolls

Pumpkin Pie

Potato Casserole

 

1 (1 lb) bag of frozen hash brown potatoes

½ cup melted butter

1 tablespoon of salt

½ tablespoon of pepper

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1 (8 oz) sour cream

1 (8 or 10oz) package of shredded sharp cheddar cheese

½ cup of chopped onion (optional)

 

2 cups crushed corn flakes

¼ cup melted butter

 

Mix first 8 ingredients together and pour into buttered casserole pan.

Top with corn flake crumbs mixed with butter.

Bake uncovered for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

PERFECT PUMPKIN PIE

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
• 1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk (NOT evaporated milk)
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust (deeper one)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Whisk pumpkin, EAGLE BRAND®, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust. Bake 15 minutes.
2. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean. Cool. Garnish as desired. Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.

Starting a new menu and my recipe binder

Well, my current menu ends on Friday so it's time for me to start planning my new menu which will include Thanksgiving. First, I've looked at my calendar to see how long I should make my current menu. Since it includes Thanksgiving, I'm hoping I can make it stretch 2 weeks. After I think about how long the menu should be I start making a list of meals that I've been craving. On my current list is homemade potato soup, pineapple pork chops, homemade chicken pot pie, chicken manicotti, and pumpkin spice muffins. There's no way I'll be able to fit all of those into my menu due to time constraints during the week but it gives me a jumping off point! I also turn to my past menus for ideas and I flip through my recipe binder (see last paragraph of entry). 

Since Thanksgiving is soon, I'm thinking mostly about my long weekend menu. Even though it's just DH and I, I'm making a whole turkey. We'll see how that goes since I've never actually cooked a turkey myself before. I've done a breast in the past, but this year I want a lot of leftovers. I don't want to cook all weekend, so we're just going to be turkey'ed out by that Sunday afternoon. :) As for sides, I know I'll be making some homemade rolls and my potato casserole. Chances are I'll make whiskey glazed carrots, mashed sweet potatoes, and squash casserole too. I'll post recipes soon, as soon as I find them all cause I haven't made the potatoes and squash in a long time so I don't think they've made it into my recipe binder yet.

I guess now is a good time to talk about my recipe obsession. I have three cookbooks. That's all. One I bought. Two were given to me. I bought Better Homes and Garden's cookbook. If you don't own this one, go out and buy it. I've seen it in MANY bookstores on clearance. Usually it's "older" edition, but with cooking you don't need the "newest" edition. I have made several recipes out of this book and I've taken ideas from others. As for the other two, one is a Rachael Ray given to me by my aunt. I've read through it and never made a single thing out of it. Many of her "common ingredients" I don't have in my house. I find many things to not be so common. I'm not about to buy an item or a spice for one recipe. If I'm not going to use it repeatedly in many dishes, I'm not going to buy it. I'm too cheap for that. The other recipe book is a baking book, Joy of Cooking. I have made a few recipes out of here, but nothing sticks out in my mind as GREAT. Personally, I enjoy making recipes that I know others have made and raved about. I'm not about to buy ingredients to make something that's just so-so. My time and money is not worth it. What I've done is make my own recipe binder. I print out recipes from online and I type up other recipes that I've been making from memory or have been told to me verbally. I put each recipe in its own page protector and insert it into the binder. My sections are breakfast, meats/main dishes, pastas, veggies, breads, desserts, and other. Basic and to the point. And now I'm able to easily find my favorite recipes without having to turn on my computer, and with the page protectors I can pull the recipe out and cook without worrying about damage to it. Most of my recipes are saved on my computer along with being in my binder. 

This week's recipes! (Nov 13-21)

DH and I survived our trip back home. Unfortunately, Thursday morning our first day back to work, DH discovered that he is now going TDY this week. He left early this morning and will be back in a few days. So this means that my menu has gone out the window for a few days. So don't be surprised if you see some repeats on future menus - chances are we didn't eat it in the first place!

Last Thursday and Friday evenings we had frozen ravioli with jared sauce. Can't get much easier! We also had shrimp primavera. No great recipe for that one either. We buy the frozen product and just add extra veggies. Served with bread on the side. 

The weekend baking was supposed to be Amish bread, but since DH is gone I didn't bother. We had brownies instead that I didn't fix from before the trip. However, I will give you the Amish bread recipe. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this bread. If yeast scares you, take a free day to get over it. It used to scare me too, but once you taste how much better homemade bread is over store bread you'll never go back.

Amish White Bread        

Makes two loafs of plain, sweet white bread.

Ingredients

·      2 cups warm water (110*F)

·      2/3 cup white sugar (can use less sugar)

·      1 ½ tablespoons active dry yeast

·      1 ½ teaspoons salt

·      ¼ cup oil

·      6 cups bread four

Directions

1.     In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.

2.   Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

3.    Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.

4.   Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.

Store this yummy bread in an airtight container at room temperature. It keeps fresh longer than most homemade breads – almost 2 weeks!

Sausage wraps are an easy favorite around here. We cook up 1/2 lb of breakfast sausage and make a wrap with a tortilla shells filled with scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese, and breakfast sausage. 1/2 lb of sausage will make 2 FULL wraps once you add the other ingredients. If I have onions and tomatoes around, I'll add those too. It's easy to change up to what you want for that day. And much better than buying the greasy mess from Sonic! 

I have no idea how to make DH's chili, so I can't share that recipe. I'm not sure if he knows either. lol. He just always makes it and somehow it always turns out great. It's the ONE THING he can cook without precise directions (that he usually screws up anyway). However, I make the corn bread muffins. Put away the Jiffy mix people and move on up to greatness. This is also a great cornbread to use for those who make cornbread dressing.  Personally I make muffins cause it's a lot easier to know how many servings you're eating this way. It's too easy to get carried away with this stuff!

Waffles - Please, please, please stop buying those awful mixes and frozen waffles. Make these waffles, which FREEZE WELL. That's right, spend a little bit of time making a wonderful breakfast staple and freeze them for future use. Cheaper too! Cause that's what matters most, right? :) Just make sure that you beat those egg whites like crazy and FOLD them in NOT STIR. Feel free to get fancy by adding a little vanilla or cinnamon to the batter!

Quiche - This is a basic recipe that you can easily change to make it your own. I'm lazy and I buy my pie crusts - so much easier. Go to Pillsbury's website and they have coupons for their refrigerated pie crusts too! Before DH was going to take off, I was going to make this with the other half of the breakfast sausage. Now not so much. Oh well. 

Quiche    

Ingredients

·      1 pie crust

·      4 eggs

·      1 cup milk

·      1 ½ to 2 cups fillings of your choice

·      2 cloves of garlic, minced

·      1 ½ cups shredded cheese

·      ground mustard

·      salt

·      pepper

·      dash of hot sauce 

Directions

      Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unroll the pie crust onto the pie plate. Fold down the excess sides. Crimp the crust. Layer in fillings. Layer the cheese on top. Beat eggs and spices in a bowl. Pour into the pie plate. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Might need to place a pie shield on the crust half way through.

Filling suggestions: spinach (cooked with excess water squeezed out), onion (sautéed), cubed ham, crumbled sausage (cooked), various cheeses, bacon, broccoli,  and most vegetables.

Baked fish, frozen broccoli, and steamed rice - I buy frozen fish fillets and bake according to directions. DH loves tilapia with fresh lemon juice and some light seasoning. And at this point I'd like to go on a tangent about rice.  If you've never had steamed sushi rice, fix some! First, a rice maker makes all kinds of rices but if you're going to fix sushi rice you have to have a maker. I've seen some funky ways of making sushi rice without a maker, but they require watching it and all sorts of funky stuff. I just bought myself a rice maker that makes all kinds of rice without me having to do anything than add rice, water, close lid, and push button. lol. You can buy sushi rice in Asian markets/grocery stores and in some general American grocery stores. Amazingly I can buy the stuff at the base commissary! Now DH and I love love love sushi rice as a side item by itself, but to make it even better you can buy rice seasoning or furikake (Japanese). Amazingly (again), I can buy this at the base commissary. I've seen it online here and in some Asian markets. It's pure goodness to your taste buds. Just get over the fact that it's seaweed base. It doesn't taste like the sea at all.

One of my favorite casseroles ever is Campbell's Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole. It's super easy and after making it once you learn how to vary the recipe to your liking and size.