Soften a stick of butter or two
Place butter on a microwave-safe plate in a microwave and cook on high for 20 seconds for 2 sticks, 15 seconds for one.
Defrost a ice cube of baby food
Place in microwave safe bowl and cook on high for 25 seconds. Immediately remove from microwave and stir rapidly, breaking up any ice left into smaller pieces. Transfer to cool dish or container and stir until completely melted. The whole process takes about 1 minute from start to finish.
Make great (and easy) garlic mashed potatoes
Boil 4 medium potatoes (cubed) and 2-3 cloves roughly chopped garlic until soft. Drain. Add 1 tbsp butter. Mash together with potato masher or hand mixer. Add milk slowly while stirring or beating until desired consistency (about ¼ cup works for us). Stir in salt and pepper to taste.
Make perfect rice in a rice cooker
Rinse dry rice until water runs clear. In cooker bowl, stir together rice and water at a 1:2 ratio. Add a dash of olive oil and cook.
Sarah Walker Caron is a cookbook author, freelance writer and founder of Sarah’s Cucina Bella. She is the author of several cookbooks including The Super Easy 5-Ingredient Cookbook and One-Pot Pasta, both from Rockridge Press. A single mother to two kids in middle school, Sarah loves nightly family dinners, juicy tomatoes plucked fresh from the vine and lazy days on the beach. She also adores reading and traveling.
Sarah
That’s totally the best way to make garlic mashed potatoes – I picked that up from Virginia 🙂
Carole
What about Spanish rice? It always says to use a tight fitting lid but none of my pots have lids that fit tight enough. Do rice cookers have tight fitting lids? What would you suggest? When I use my pots the water all evaporates and then I have burnt rice. I’ve been adding more water and that seems to be ok but the rice doesn’t turn out as well as I would like.
Sarah
I have yet to find a great recipe for Spanish rice but my rice cooker rice never burns (knock on wood). I would try it in a good rice cooker – I have a Panasonic that I got at Linens n Things and it’s fantastic.
Carole
There was a seafood cuban dish I had in Florida that used Spanish rice that was very yummy. I think it was called Paella. I love spanish rice! You can also make it up with cut up sausage/brats in it. Mmmmmm!
gayle
I saw one of your posts on Sparkpeople, Cucina bella caught my eye… so i took a peek… glad i did…
Rice in the rice cooker is an easy way to make rice that doesn’t burn…
i don’t actually measure out the 1:2 ratio.. if you like sticky rice (asian style) i just rinse the rice a few times by adding water to the rice in the pot.. stirring it around with my hand and then draining it using my hand to catch any rice that is about to fall out… then add water, swirl it so the rice settles flat… lay your fingers gently on top of the rice, if the water level is just over your fingers then its about right… you’ll have lovely sticky rice, perfect for making sushi…