Author Archives: Jenna

Putting the 'everything' in 'Everything'

Guys, I am so thankful that I called this blog my ‘Everything Blog.’ I’m so glad that I allow myself the freedom to blog about what I want . . . where I want, how I want.

Sometimes I start to constrain myself–I think ‘well, I’d better keep posting 1-2 recipes per week’ or ‘I’d better get some book reviews done’ or ‘if I don’t post every single weekday, the world will fall apart’–and then I remember that everything and anything is up to me, and I have the freedom to write about whatever is exciting in my world at the time. Or not write. I can neglect to post on any given day–and our globe continues to turn.

If I had called this blog ‘Jenna’s Fun Time Internet Space,’ I would feel compelled to be fun all the time. And recently I was feeling like I just didn’t want to be funny anymore. On many occasions the silliness just oozes out of me. It’s all I can do to put a stopper in it long enough to get dinner on the table without interrupting the process with 5 silly jigs, 8 silly songs, and 2 silly frolics. But recently, I haven’t been feeling quite so silly. Maybe it’s the advent of the fall–it’s a thoughtful season. It’s a season that always urges me to look back, think about the previous year, review good memories and bad, do a little self-examination. Read past journal entries with a hot mug of coffee in hand, and prepare myself for my once-a-year scrapbooking project.

So thank you for letting me be serious when I feel serious, and thoughtful when I feel thoughtful, and silly when I feel silly–and sticking with me through all my moods and musings. It keeps the ‘everything’ aspect of my little space alive and well–and reminds me that I’m free.

Golden Basmati Rice with Peas

This little Indian side dish is beautiful. Golden-yellow rice with bright green peas–I love a meal with strong, vibrant colors. And it’s so easy! This is the bed for the Tikka Masala dish I’ll be sharing with y’all next week. I used this Pastor Ryan recipe as a basis once before for my Pasilla-Spiced Pumpkin Basmati recipe, but I really wanted to share the basic, easy version. Easy, that is, if you have a rice cooker.

‘Cause if you don’t, you’re no friend of mine!

Just kidding–you’re all my friends. But I’ll at least pity you and cry salty, salty tears on your behalf. I don’t know what the heck I’d do without my rice cooker.

Don’t know what to eat? Rice with butter! Need something filling and cheap to accompany an expensive piece of fish? Rice! Need to focus all your attention on the meat/protein portion of the meal? Toss the rice in the cooker and fuhgettaboutit!

I hope you’ve taken my words to heart.

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

2 cups basmati rice
4 cups water
4 TBS butter
1 TBS turmeric
1 tsp salt
2 cups frozen peas (or more, to taste)
Cilantro to garnish, optional

Put the rice, salt, and turmeric in the rice cooker and stir everything around until combined.

See that pile of turmeric?

I didn’t stir mine in, so it clumped together. No harm done since I tossed it vigorously once the rice was cooked, but it would have been easier if I’d stirred it in beforehand. Anyway, add the water and butter, and cook in the rice cooker until done.

Add the frozen peas a few minutes before serving, and toss them in the hot rice.

The heat of the rice will cook them to the perfect temperature.

If desired, garnish with cilantro.

Serve!

Wow. Are we really, um, done here? I don’t think I’ve ever posted an easier recipe, or one with so few instructions. Are you proud, Carrie?

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