‘Ron Popeil’ Articles at Sweetnicks

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Success® Rice.

When The Ex and I were married, he was in charge of rice. As in, any time we had it, it was completely his domain. We had a rice cooker, and he had a process. Although it tasted good, it seemed to take him f-o-r-e-v-e-r to make it. Me? Not so much. I have always used the boil-in-the-bag method from Success Rice. Because as Ron Popeil is fond of saying, you can set it and forget it. And because it is doing its thing by itself in the microwave, it frees me up to go work on other parts of the meal. I’m ALL for a low-maintenance side dish. And in all honesty, in a blind taste test, I don’t think I’d be able to tell the difference between the rice that The Ex made in his rice cooker (that took upwards of 45 minutes) versus my 10 minute rice from Success.

And the taste test is what it’s all about, isn’t it?

Growing up, one of my favorite comfort foods was white rice with a little bit of butter on the top. It totally brings me back to the days of being a kid at my parents’ house. Right up there with my mom’s grilled cheese and tomato soup. These days, there is a lot more variety in the Success line, and since I have moved away a bit from the all-white-all-the-time, that couldn’t be better. More often than not, my go-to is the whole grain brown rice. Although brown rice definitely has a bit of a different texture, once you pair it with other things … vegetables from a stir-fry, Cuban black beans, or bite-size pieces of juicy grilled chicken … you’re none the wiser.

One of my favorite, on-the-go meals to make with rice is this Very Veggie Rice Bowl (recipe below). Quick, simple, and a great way to make use of odds-and-ends you may have in the refrigerator.

With 4 varieties available including: Success® Whole Grain Brown Rice and Success® White Rice, and globally-inspired aromatic varieties of Success® Rice, including fragrant Thai Jasmine or Basmati Rice, there’s a variety everyone in your family will love. Try your own twist on one of your favorite recipes by swapping an aromatic variety into some of your go-to rice dishes. To accommodate various households, Success® Whole Grain Brown Rice and Success® White Rice comes in two different sizes – 14 oz. or 32 oz.

So what are you waiting for? Use this coupon for $.50 off your next box so you can add this staple to your kitchen pantry: http://bit.ly/YwIYtq

PS Friday night was a two post special – you’ll find my latest children’s book review right here. Happy weekend!

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I’m going to let you in on a little secret.

The slow cooker is your friend.

For those that already know this, awesomeness!

For the rest of you, what are you waiting for?

If it’s the beast that mine is, I know it’s a pain to lug it out of the cabinet.

To clean up the pot after you’re done using it.

Especially if you have to configure your other dishwasher contents to not only make sure it fits, but also that it gets clean.

Something I usually leave to Mystic because he loads the darn dishwasher like nobody’s business.

Mostly because he thinks about the sprayer, the water, how things are tilted and positioned. When he loads the dishwasher and it gets emptied, it looks like this:

Everything gets clean.

When I load it? A totally different story. I don’t put all that thought into it. I put things where there’s space. Period. End of story.

But I digress.

Every time I think “slow cooker,” I think of Ron Popeil’s popular saying “Set it and forget it.” Of course he’s talking about his fancy rotisserie cooker thing. That none of us needs. But it’s still the basic concept.

Put a bunch of ingredients into your slow cooker.

Go to work.

Forget about it.

Work all day.

Come home tired, spent, and ready to occupy the middle cushion of your couch and watch the newest episode of fill-in-your-blank favorite show.

Open your front door and exclaim, “What IS that smell? It smells delicious.”

Oh right. That’s YOUR DINNER. That’s all done. As soon as you walk in the door.

Is it any wonder that the O’Malley slow cooker is in service at least once a week?

I should probably use it even more than once a week. Eventually I’ll work up to that, but for the past six months or so, I’ve been keeping good with my once-a-week commitment.

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An Easy Way to a Quick and Hearty Meal? Success Rice.

Recipe: Slow Cooker BBQ Beef Brisket