Brown Rice made Easy – Uncle Ben’s

Chicken Sauté with peppers, onions, tomatoes & wine

General Chang’s Chicken (see last week)

Marinated tenderloin

Those are just three of my “regular” dinners (you know, the one’s that are in the rotation) that get served over rice. All three dinners are QUICK and easy to make. The rice that I make to go along with them can take LONGER to cook than the main course, especially if I opt to make the more flavorful brown rice (which takes double the time).

This week I had the opportunity to try three of Uncle Ben’s Whole Grain Brown Rice‘s. No..not different flavors, but different cooking styles. You see, some of us like to take our time in the kitchen and fuss, while others (like me) like to get it over QUICKLY and HOPE that the results are edible.

What I like is…

• These are WHOLE GRAIN products 
• Easy to cook
• Flavorful
• Boil in Bags or Instant Brown Rice (10  minutes and you’re done) 
• Traditional brown rice (great when you’re making sushi or a traditional dinner) – 40 min cook time
•  

My favorite? The BOIL IN BAG!!! When cooking for two it’s the PERFECT size! Plus, as you can see by my pictures, it’s so easy – even I CAN  MAKE IT!

I have to admit, that even though we ate a lot of brown rice back in New England, I’d been buying white rice since moving to Florida.. After enjoying making chicken fried rice this week with Uncle Ben’s Whole Grain Brown Rice – I realized that I MISSED the full, almost nutty flavor of brown rice and although there are some dishes that need the blandness of white, I’ve added it back into my repetoire.

If you have any recipes that use brown rice that you’d like to share (and get me out of my “usual rotation” rut, feel free to leave them in the comments. I’d LOVE a great rice pudding recipe or something that uses COLD rice – I love cold rice in my salads and am looking for more opportunities in the HOT summer to use rice COLD like this one…

UNCLE BEN’S® Chicken, Apple, Walnut and Brown Rice Salad

Difficulty Level: Easy
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes, plus time to cool
Makes: 6, 1 1/2 cup servings

Ingredients
2 bags UNCLE BEN’S® Boil-in-Bag Whole Grain Brown Rice
2 cups cooked, shredded skinless chicken breast, cooled
2 thinly sliced medium green apples
1 cup finely chopped red onion (optional)
1/3 cup toasted coarsely chopped walnuts
6 tablespoons low-fat balsamic vinaigrette
2 tablespoons fresh chopped sage

Cook it Up!

1. Prepare UNCLE BEN’S® Boil-in-Bag Whole Grain Brown Rice according to package directions. Let cool.
2. If chicken is not already cooked, grill in pan under medium-high heat until cooked through.
3. In a large bowl, toss together rice, chicken, green apple, red onion, walnuts and balsamic vinaigrette.
4. Garnish with fresh sage. Serve cold or room temperature.

THANKS!

I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Uncle Ben’s and received samples to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.