Yeast Free Living

Archive for the ‘Rice’ Category

Any die hard processed food junkie knows what the San Francisco Treat is but most have no idea what is actually in it.  Like so many other processed foods that I consumed for years I had no idea what was actually in Rice-A-Roni.  I noticed a box on sale at Shoprite and decided to take a look.  I checked out the chicken Rice-A-Roni label to identify what if any candida diet offenders it actually contained.  I found several ingredients that are problematic to the candida diet.  These problematic ingredients include rice (white rice), wheat flour, salt, sugar, autolyzed yeast extract and monosodium glutamate.  None of these ingredients really suprised me as these seem like pretty much the norm for processed foods.  After reviewing the entire ingredient list I decided that I would attempt a yeast free version of Rice-A-Roni. 

I looked to the web for inspiration first and found a great Homemade Rice a Roni Recipe on Recipezaar to work with.  I added some spices and fresh parsley to try to duplicate the special blend of seasoning present in the store bought Rice-A-Roni.  I used chicken broth but I am sure that it would work equally well with other broths, just make sure whatever broth you use contains all yeast free ingredients.  My yeast free homemade Rice-A-Roni came out really good.  It does take a lot longer to cook than the boxed version but that is expected when cooking with brown rice.  I hope that you enjoy this yeast free take on another processed classic. 

Yeast Free Rice-A-Roni Ingredients (Makes 4 Servings – approximately 23.4  grams of carbohydrates per serving)
1/2 cup raw brown rice spaghetti broken into little pieces (21.5 grams carbohydrates)
1/2 cup brown rice (64 grams of carbohydrates)
1 tablespoon olive oil (0 grams of carbohydrates)
2 1/2 cups unsweetened chicken broth (5 grams of carbohydrates)
1 cup water (0 grams of carbohydrates)
1 tablespoon parsley finely chopped (1 gram of carbohydrates)
1/4 teaspoon garlic (1 gram of carbohydrates)
1/4 teaspoon onion powder (1 gram of carbohydrates)
1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric (0 gram of carbohydrates)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (0 grams carbohydrates)

Yeast Free Rice-A-Roni Directions 
In medium skillet saute’ broken spaghetti pieces and rice in olive oil
Stir constantly, until the spaghetti rice mixture begins to brown
Carefully pour in water and broth
Add all seasoning and parsley and stir
Cover and simmer until liquid is absorbed

Recipe adapted from Homemade Rice a Roni Recipe from LisaA at Recipezaar

Sometimes when I plan on making brown rice as a side dish for dinner I forget to start cooking the rice until the main dish is finished.  It stinks when I let this happen because brown rice takes forever to cook.  I am usually standing at the stove with two very hungry kids demanding something to eat that instance and I am so frustrated that it will take about 35 – 45 minutes to finish the brown rice.  Having made this mistake more than once got me thinking about Minute Rice.  Minute Rice is a brand name of instant rice, which is named as such because it is precooked and therefore can be prepared significantly faster than regular rice.  I remembered that my mother had used white Minute rice sometimes so I wondered if there was brown Minute rice and if it was of course okay for the Candida Diet.    Thankfully, Minute does make a brown rice which cooks in 10 minutes.  This rocks!   The ingredients in it are precooked parboiled long grain brown rice.  As far as I can tell this is not prohibited on the Candida Diet.   I looked up parboil and this  just means boiling the rice to partially cook it.  I did not find anything that indicated preservatives or additives maybe added to the rice during this process.   While the brown Minute rice does not taste as good to me as regular brown rice I am still happy to have a box of it on hand just in case.  We all make mistakes and having something to turn to when I do, helps me to not get so frustrated with all of this candida diet cooking.

This is a modified version of a dish that my mother used to cook.  Being the butter lover that she is her recipe included 1/2 cup butter.  I have lightened things up a bit but it still has great flavor.  This one pot dish required little prep work and very little monitoring.  You can serve with a you choice of vegetables and freeze leftovers for a quick meal.  I hope that you enjoy this meal as much as my family has. 

Chicken and Rice Ingredients
1.5 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 yellow onion
5 cloves of garlic
1 cup brown rice
7 cups of water
sea salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste

Chicken and Rice Directions
Chop onion and garlic
Add water, chicken, garlic, onion, sea salt and ground black pepper to large pot
Cook on Medium heat covered for about 1 hour or until chicken is fork tender
Reduce heat to low and add brown rice
Cook about 30 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed

Bon Appetite!

So I have to admit that I am a brown rice lover.  I honestly prefer the taste of brown rice over white rice.  I do understand that some of you may think that I am completely crazy.  I have run into many people who despise brown rice and just cannot bring themselves to eat it.  I actually live with two of those people. as both my mother and oldest daughter hate brown rice.  It has become a constant fight to get my daughter to eat it so had to come up with a way to jazz it up a bit so that she would eat it.   I was able to find a simple yet flavorful recipe for Brown Rice Pilaf by Halycon Eveon on Recipezaar.  Pilaf is defined as rice seasoned and cooked in broth.  It is the seasoning and broth that bring this dish to life and the thing is that when I make this yeast free brown rice pilaf there are no complaints from neither my mother or daughter.  They truly love this dish and it has saved me from having to buy two types of rice in my house.  This recipe is extremely easy to prepare with only six ingredients and really makes a great side dish for a variety of meals.  For those of you who are having trouble transitioning from white to brown rice this recipe may be exactly what you need.  Once you try it I promise you will want to make it again and again.   

Yeast Free Brown Rice Pilaf Ingredients
1 tablespoon  olive oil
1 small yellow onion chopped
3 garlic cloves minced
1 cup long grain brown rice
2 1/2 cups unsweetened chicken broth
sea salt to taste

Yeast Free Brown Rice Pilaf Directions

Chop onion and mince garlic.

In a skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat and add onion and garlic.  Stir until onion is golden.

Add rice and saute for 1 minute.

Add broth, and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to a boil and then cover and reduce heat to low.  Simmer until rice is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed.  Check rice occasionally and add water if necessary

Recipe from Brown Rice Pilaf on Recipezaar by Halcyon Eve