BACHELOR COOKING: Quick Rice Supper

I call this “Bachelor Cooking” because it is a recipe I have developed that can be made fast, cheap, with not much more than a kettle or microwave and with almost no cooking ability. Tailor made for bachelors, busy people-on-the-go and dorm room living.

Thus I present my:

Quick Rice Supper


INGREDIENTS:

Cup-A-Soup (whatever flavour you like best)

Minute Rice (the type you cook in less than 5 minutes. **)

Water

Salt, margarine (optional)

(**Note: You can use the rice in a bag, but you have to boil it separately in a pot for at least 20 minutes and that defeats the purpose of it being “quick”)




EQUIPMENT:

Kettle and/or Microwave

Spoon

Microwaveable Dish
 
Lid, plate, Plastic Wrap, basically something to cover the Dish with  (doesn’t need to be microwaveable)


DIRECTIONS:

 Open envelope of Cup-A-Soup (your favourite flavour) and dump into microwaveable cup/dish/mug (I add a bunch of salt at this time)

 Pour in boiled water from kettle; stir with spoon

 Immediately add “Minute Rice” and stir (CAUTION: Rice will expand 6-10 times it’s size)


  Put Rice, water, soup mixture into microwave. Set for 30 seconds. It will be different times for different microwaves. You'll have to WATCH IT. As soon as you see it start bubbling, TAKE IT OUT


 IMMEDIATELY put lid on it. Lid can be anything that fits relatively securely. Sometimes I use a saucer or Glad Wrap.
 (CAUTION: LEAVE A LITTLE HOLE TO ALLOW STEAM TO ESCAPE)


 Let it sit covered from 5 minutes to 30 minutes or whatever. (I let mine sit about 15 minutes)

KEEP IN MIND: The longer it sits, the softer and BIGGER the Rice gets. The Rice will grow quite a bit and continue to soak up more of the soup the longer it sits.

Take lid off, stir and eat.
(Adjust to what works for you.)

NOTE: You don’t have to use kettle AND microwave. One or the Other will do. But the HOTTER the water, the LESS time the rice will have to sit. A kettle gets the water boiled hotter, but I use both because an extra ‘zap’ from the microwave means I don’t have to wait as long for it


 CLEAN UP: If lid doesn’t get soup on it, it is just wet from STEAM. Rinse with HOT WATER and it’s clean and ready to go again.

FYI : I’ve been timed at 120 seconds prep time and then 5 minutes it sits before eating. That’s potentially 7 minutes from start to eating a hot rice dish.
 
If you were to buy a microwave rice dish already made from the store, it would cost about $2 – $4 (or even more). Doing it this way works out to about 70-80 cents per dish. (Fast, cheap, and mmmm, mmmm good.)

FYI – I use “Spring Vegetable” Cup-A-Soup
Try this out and don’t forget to come back and leave a COMMENT about how it worked or if/how you changed it to make it uniquely your own, or what your favourite Cup-A-Soup flavour to use with this is.

HOUSEHOLD HINT: Finding End of “Invisible” Tape

It can be absolutely frustrating when using Scotch Tape (or any “invisible” tape) and you lose the end because it sticks back to the roll and you have to pick at it with your fingernails to pull it up again.

Or, when Scotch Tape is used on something and you have the horrible task of trying to remove it. I’ve learned the hard way how to over come this and here is the secret …

 BEHOLD: An Ordinary Roll of Scotch Tape


 Take a tiny part of the end of the tape
  ( 1 cm about?) and just bend it over and tape it to itself.

Not only does it keep the tape from re-sticking to the roll and save you from trying to pull it up again with your fingernails …
But when you use it to attach something and it still has the little “folded over” piece …

FOR EXAMPLE:


  Taped a piece of paper to the fridge. (NOTE: see little fold at top of tape?)


  Flick up the fold with your finger …


  And just pull it off. No problems. No tape remnants left behind.


  Works exactly the same with masking tape or any other kind.

NEVER LOSE THE END AGAIN!

Simple, eh?

Trash Project - Part 1

Mish-Mash of Ordinary Household Items

In the post, "Fruit, Fertilizer and Going Forth" I talked about our individuality and what God wants from us. We, apparently, are created in God's image. So, as the theologians (definition = smart religious people) go about debating and discussing what that means, let's do something fun.

Personally, I believe that we are most like God when we are taking something that nobody else thinks is nice or is garbage in their eyes and we turn it into something "pretty". Look at how many people spend their time and money renovating their homes or restoring old things. There is no way they are putting in all that effort merely for the money.

When I was 13 (before the word 'recycling' was even used) I declared one October that our Christmas Tree was going to be a 'garbage' tree that year (for lack of a better word). My Mom pictured dirty old tins cans and old scraps of thrown away paper hanging from our tree. So, being the person she is, she responded with, "Sure. Go for it!" (God bless her.)  I worked for weeks on what to put on the tree. No object in our house was safe. I began to look at everything in a different way. Even the most ordinary of items I asked myself, "Could this be a Christmas tree ornament?"

On Christmas Eve I didn't let anyone near the tree until it was finished. My Mom had a rather worried look on her face and my brother looked mostly amused. Either I would create a great tree or a ridiculous tree and he was up for either conclusion (God bless him).

When the tree was revealed it had pink & white pom-poms made out of scraps of wool on it. Bits of an old red dress had been cut up and tied into bows on all the green branches. And little cardboard scraps cut into various star shapes and covered in foil were tied on with thread. You get the idea.

Now, with that type of thing in mind ...



I have selected some very basic items and I will attempt to make them into something attractive. At this point I have NO IDEA what I am going to make, but I got items that were either very ordinary and can be found in any home or some "garbage" items, that can be found in the trash cans in any home.


And while you wait for the unveiling of MY "Trash Project", why don't you make one of your own? Email it to me. I'll put it up on the blog, no matter what it looks like. Give it a try and maybe you might enjoy yourself.

There is just one rule: no major crafting machines allowed. This is about using ordinary objects that other people would pass on by or that everybody has access to.

ITEMS LIST: 

 

 

 

3 - plain printer paper (white)

2 pieces - scraps printer paper (pink) about to be thrown away because they were cut crooked

post-it note pad (yellow)

post-it note pad (green)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 pack- Crayola (Wax) Crayons

bottle white out liquid

Tube Elmers Clear School Glue

Scissors

Ruler

Bic pen (blue)

 

 

 

 

 

Kleenex Tissue Box - cut out pink/flowery side

2 scribbled lists from Mom (little pink flower in bottom corner)

Junk Mail - Advertisement for "Molly Maids" (I dunno why?)

Broken cardboard circle (used to hold ribbon - now empty) SEE BELOW

 

 

Close-up: Broken Cardboard that formerly held ribbon. (see above photo)





** I have my tools - I have my retrieved items - I have my excessive talent and abilities (God help me) Let's see what I accomplish.

STAY TUNED - genius doesn't happen over night.

Fruit, Fertilizer and "Going forth ..."

Discovering my abilities with crayons is something very new for me. I discovered it after I turned 40 years old.

I have an older brother (by 3 years) who is extremely talented when it comes to drawing. When you add to that the fact that he is also a perfectionist, you are faced with a person who is magic with a drawing instrument in his hand.

When I was little, I was pretty good with a coloring book. I could almost always color inside the lines and I never did anything weird like , color the grass purple. But each time I would see what my brother could create by merely using a burnt match on a paper napkin, I came to the realization that, "I am not the creative one in the family." So, basically I gave it up and turned to writing for my creative outlet. I've always excelled with my writing, so I never bothered to try my hand at anything else. My brother did "his thing" and I did "my thing". "A place for everything and everything in it's place". Right?

Imagine my surprise when I was watching TV and doodling on the side, only half paying attention, only to discover that I had a little bit of talent in that direction. It's true, I'll never be my brother. But the interesting thing about that is, I'm NOT my brother. I'm ME.

So, now we get to the point of this entire blog. It's time for you to express yourself. That's Y-O-U-R-S-E-L-F! Forget about who appreciates it and ask yourself, "am I enjoying doing this". Because I can guarantee you that no matter what you create, nobody else will be able to create the same thing. 

Apparently, the mathematicians have calculated that over the course of all of human history there has been approximately 107,000,000 people who have lived. I don't know if that is accurate. But I know there are almost 7,000,000 people on the planet right now. But only one YOU. If God went to the trouble and pleasure of making sure there was only one person that would ever be you, it seems to reason that He would wish you to find a way of expressing your individuality. To do that "thing" that only you can do your way. PLUS, each one of us has an ability. we usually have several, but all have at least one.

So that's what this blog is about. It's not to sell you a machine that can cut out 20 shapes exactly the same (although there is nothing wrong with that). It's to show you and mostly to encourage you to try. Try what? To try whatever you want. Just start. Do anything.

Look around you and you will see people expressing themselves everywhere in a myriad of ways. Now it's your turn. And I know God will love whatever you do, even if the rest of the world thinks it's trash. It'll be a treasure to Him because YOU are a treasure to Him.If God had a refrigerator, you would be on it. And if that doesn't encourage you, nothing else will.

God said, "be fruitful and multiply" and I don't think he just meant have a bunch of kids. He meant in everything you do. As a tree produces it's fruit that is specific to itself, you create something that comes from yourself. And, maybe, with some pruning and fertilizer, you will be able to multiply yourself as well.

So let's "go forth" ...

(Check out the "Trash Project - Part 1")

Creating Bible Ribbon Bookmark

This is a way I discovered many years ago to
create more ribbons for your Bible (or large book) in order to keep your place if you wish to remember more than one page.

It's easy and it looks nice.

Below is the video showing the instructions.

 

 

.Love and Doodles - YouTube Channel

Envelope Doodling 101

This is the first lesson in Doodling and will give you an idea of how this concept and blog got started.

It gives you ideas how to decorate using very common ideas and materials and will cost you nothing more than your own creativity.

See how far that will take you.  Love Laura-Lee

Love & Doodle ... Outside

Welcome to my newest blog.

If you have been receiving any snail mail from me in the past, no doubt you have already encountered the phrase: "LOVE Expressed Through DOODLES" because I write it on just about every envelope I send  out that is of a personal nature. Along with an envelope covered in doodles!

This Blog is predominately for the creative side of me to be expressed. The part that works with it's hands. For most of my life I have expressed myself through writing, but now I am branching out in my expressions. I no longer wish to limit my creativity in any way.

The closer I get to God the more I realize just how different we are. Not just slightly different, but drastically so. And considering the fact that Billions of people have been born up until now, that is pretty amazing.

I hope to encourage and inspire you to build on the ideas I have and take them farther, as well as be encouraged you to express your self.  You are unique and special in a way not even close to anyone else. Only YOU can do what YOU can do.

So let's be brave enough to DOODLE outside of the lines, while we LOVE outside the box.

Let's do it.