Brown rice is packed full of vitamins and dietary minerals.These are normally lost with white rice. White rice is brown rice with the husks removed. When the husks are removed from the brown rice so is lots of the nutrition too. White rice loses vitamin B1, B3, iron and folate acid too. Brown rice is a whole grain and a good source of magnesium, selenium, vitamin B6, and manganese, and is high in fibre.
These are just a few of the reasons we tend to eat brown rice. It takes more time to cook brown rice but the results I find are tastier than white rice. We feel there is a lot more flavour when we cook with brown rice. Plus I can leave a brown rice recipe on the hob while I get other jobs done. As it takes time to cook I can then take the time to tidy and clean up the kitchen if I need to. That’s the beautiful part about slow cooking rice meals on the hob. So here are 5 of our favourite recipes for you.
Slow Cooker Creamy ‘No Cream’ Beef Stroganoff
At Christmas last year I bought a big piece of beef as we were expecting to have one more person with us for meals. My mum normally joins us for Christmas Day but this year due to the restrictions in our area she was unable to. Therefore we were left with a lot of roast beef. I had already decided that with the leftovers I would make a couple of meals.
The beef was very chewy. I bought it online from an organic farm shop so I don’t know why it was so tough. I put the leftovers in the freezer until we were ready to use them. Before I started to cook with the beef, I decided to see if I could make the beef softer and more palatable. I took a look online and it suggested cooking the beef in a slow cooker or on a low heat in the oven. There is no need to tell me twice to use my slow cooker. I’m so pleased I did, as this dinner was delicious and we all really enjoyed it.
Ever since my son was born I have always tried to introduce new flavours to him. In recent years I’ve been introducing my son Ted, who is 7, to more spices in his food. Ted is not a great fan of spicy food but I wasn’t when I was his age. Over the years I have introduced my tastebuds to spices and now I am a huge fan of them. Spices are a great way to add flavour to your dishes. They can make a NEW meal from an existing one.
A couple of years ago I made a bacon risotto and with the same sauce I made a bacon pasta too. Therefore I decided to add spices to this dish. Spices are not only a flavour enhancer but they can also help to cut down on the amount of salt and sugar in food. It’s a bonus for babies and young children as it can help to expand their palates. Hence why I’m always trying new spices in my son’s food. He’s still not keen but Ted enjoyed the final results of this dish. It was a big thumbs up from all of us.
My son Ted loves fish (especially prawns) and my husband Howard doesn’t mind rice when it’s cooked in a tomato sauce. Howard isn’t so keen on fish but he doesn’t mind a prawn or two. The other day I was making my usual meal plan for the week and I was trying to decide what to eat on our fish night. For this I use the internet and I also draw from my own recipes on my blog.
As I was looking through my recipes I noticed my spicy prawn rice meal. I thought about how I could change this meal to make it slightly different. For Howard and I spice isn’t an issue, we love it. Ted is a little less keen on spicy food. He will eat it but if I make it too spicy he’s really not keen. Therefore I decided to remove the spice and just add herbs. The results were super tasty and everyone really enjoyed this dish.
Christmas can be a very busy time for many people. So during this period I think people need fast dinners. Plus I like to use any leftover meat we may have in the fridge or freezer. The best part of a quick dinner is not using too many pots and pans.
One pot dinners are my favourite meals. The fact that there is not much washing up is occasionally a joy. I love to cook but there are times in my life when I just need an easy meal. This dish is definitely one of those dinners. Although there are two pans being used while cooking this dinner, the frying pan could be washed up before serving. It makes this dinner seem like the elves and fairies have cooked it.
Slow Cooked Thai Green Roast Chicken Curry
My little family and I always enjoy a roast dinner. Our favourite is roast chicken and I’m always looking for new ways to cook this delicious meat. A few weeks ago I was cooking a Thai Green Curry for a mid week treat and while I was making the sauce I started to think about how I could include this sauce while roasting a chicken.
It occurred to me that I could slow cook the chicken and pour the Thai Green Sauce over the top of the chicken. I was a tiny bit unsure of how this would work. Once it was cooked I was pleased with the results and so glad I made a decision to try this meal. It’s another one I just had to share with you.
These 5 brown rice meals are fantastic for a family or to share with friends. (Whenever we can share with friends again). Unfortunately these meals aren’t freezable and rice is not great to eat the next day. Therefore they would all need to be made and eaten on the day. We manage to do this without too much fuss so I’m sure you will be able to as well! However you decide to eat these dishes, as always, please enjoy. Thank you xxx
Googies Kitchen Life 