Italian Rice and Why I Blog

Yesterday for some reason I was busy all day long, not that I can remember doing what mind you. Sometimes life just gets away from me and I busy all day doing who knows what. Do you ever had days like that?

When Dan texted me and said that he was going to be home earlier than normal I knew that I needed to scramble to make something for dinner. Fortunately Sofia had sent me a message asking what I was making for dinner and of course I hadn’t thought about it. She mentioned that she was making risotto and apparently rice was stuck in my head. At first I was going to make Mexican rice and then I thought of paella. In the end I made what can is best described as Italian paella with raw veggies. Here is what I did:

Italian Rice
8 good sized servings – but will depend on how many raw veggies you add to the dish

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups short grain brown rice
2 cups homemade canned diced tomatoes (no salt) or 14. 5 ounce can
2 ½ cups water
10 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1 large red onion, peeled and finely diced
2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Combine the rice, tomatoes, water, garlic, onion and Italian seasoning and cook until all the water has been absorbed. Allow the rice to stand for 10 minutes (covered) so that it can finish steaming. Fluff the rice with a fork.

Now add any thinly sliced veggies that you want to add (I added raw shaved carrot, raw shaved zucchini, and marinated mushrooms). Artichoke quarters or shaved fennel would also be good in this. You could also add a few thinly olives or capers if you choose. This would also be a good place for freshly minced herbs like parsley, oregano, or thyme. You could finish this with pine nuts or walnut parmesan; either would be good to finish this dish.

I added the raw veggies at the end for a few reasons. First I wanted the preserve some of the heat soluble vitamins in the veggies and adding them after cooking was a good way to do that. Also I like the textural contrast of raw and cooked foods. Finally I was hoping that this would also be good cold as a leftover, making it good boat food.  :-)

Why I blog:

I had to share this comment  with you because it brought tears to my eyes. This is why I spend the time that I do blogging for moments when I get to read things like this:

I love your blog! I read it every day and there is always something new to inspire me. I am on a long journey of healing from chronic illness and the conventional treatments that were supposed to help me, but instead left me worse off. I used to eat the Standard American Diet and it shows. Now, thanks to your blog I'm a vegan and I can't believe I filled myself with poison for most of my life. Thanks for all you do.

I cannot imagine a comment that would have touched me more than this one. Since this came through Survey Monkey I have no idea who wrote it. I apologize for not getting your permission before posting it here but I had no idea how to get in touch with you. If you would like to chat please send me an email at veganepicurean@gmail.com. I would love to hear what about my blog inspired you to change your lifestyle. Also I would love to hear about your journey and to be available to assist you any way that I can. Thank you again for such a lovely comment. I was humbled by your comment and am still in shock.

Happy thoughts:

After reading that comment above as you can imagine I am in a fantastic mood. How could I be anything but happy after reading that?

• The boys (Massimo and Nicco) were wrestling in the bed last night. Since this is the first time that I have seen them do this in weeks I was thrilled. It is wonderful to have my fur children back to normal. If I had to choose between sleep and happy, healthy fur babies the sleep has to go. However I may change my mind if they start waking me up every night. We all want what we don’t have afterall. ;-)

• Thank you to everyone who has answered the survey so far. If you haven’t taken a look yet please consider doing so. I would love to know what you think about what you like about the blog and what you would like to see more of. It will help me to know what topics to focus on when I am writing. Thanks again!

• I finally made time to get the online book club started and I am very glad that I did. With all the activities going on around here I should have done this sooner but didn’t have time. I am looking for to this, particularly the first book. It should be a lot of fun. If you have any desire to read “The China Study” please consider joining us. Since I finished the e-Cornell certificate program on plant based nutrition last year I think this first book should be a great book for me to moderate. *fingers crossed*

• The weather was glorious on Friday so Dan decided that we should go out to dinner and I wasn’t going to argue with that. It seems like weeks since we saw everyone at the restaurant though I am sure that is mostly in my head. We had a wonderful dinner outside on the patio and loved catching up with everyone. I think everyone who works at the restaurant is looking forward to the boat arriving as much as we are. I can’t wait to teach them all how to sail. Clearly I am going to be busy while Dan is at work. Poor Dan I hope he gets to take a little time off to enjoy the boat once she arrives.

• I am also looking forward to dinner with Louis this weekend. It is too bad Louis doesn’t live around the corner like he used it. I was surprised when he mentioned that he has been in Delaware for 7 years already. Where did that time go? Oh well, I am just happy that we still talk every few days and see each other as frequently as we do.  You know someone is a good friend when distance isn't a problem in your relationship.

Signing out:

It is getting late here and it is time for me to wind down. It has been a long week but it definitely ended on a high note. Who wouldn’t like to spend Friday evening relaxing on the patio and dining al fresco surrounded by people they like?

Talk to you again soon. I hope you have something fun planned for the weekend.