New cookbook – Milk bar

You know how I love shiny, new things.

I picked this up at the library to test out. Everything in it looks pretty darn fabulous, but I gotta tell you – much like yesterday’s Lasagna – it’s not for people who don’t like to cook. The recipes are on the labor intensive side of things.

For example, I made the Cornflake-marshmallow-chocolate-chip cookies. First you had to make Cornflake Crunch and let it cool.

Then, you had to make the dough and let it chill.

Then you had to bake it for 20 minutes and let it cool completely on the baking sheet. Because you make giant cookies (1/3 C dough each), I could only bake 4 at a time. The whole thing kind of took forever.

But.

But.

These were, hands down, the best cookies I’ve ever made. I LOVED them. Perfectly gooey and crunchy and chocolately and lovely.

And the raw dough? Out of this world.

In fact, you might not want to get this cookbook, or make these cookies, if you suffer from a serious lack of self control like some blog authors I know.

Fried Wild Rice – Recipe Swap

Up until yesterday, I had planned to do a wild rice salad for this recipe swap.

Some pecans, some dried cherries, some diced red onions, and an orange vinaigrette. Yum right?

But Asian food has been calling my name lately.

It started with this. I read it, cover to cover.

Inspired by Dave Chang and his adorable rags to riches story, I even started eating Ramen again.

(I had stopped after I ate 2 million packages of it in college.)

I’ve also become quite the Ching-He Huang fan, watching all the Ching videos on CookingChannelTV.com, eating Congee for breakfast all last week per her recommendtion, and making three recipes from her book for dinner last night.

So today, I found myself drawn not to that salad I’d originally planned, but more towards something savory and (vaguely) Asian: Fried rice.

For successful fried rice, always start with COLD rice.

Fried Wild Rice with sausage

• 1 t bacon grease
• 2 sausages (breakfast link size), casing removed
• 1/2 C white rice
• 1/2 C steamed wild rice*
• 1/4 C diced red bell pepper
• 1/3 C sliced green onions
• 1 egg, very lightly beaten
• Soy sauce, to taste

Brown the sausage in the bacon grease until almost done, breaking it up as you go. Add both rices, and the veggies. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the egg, stirring slowly. Allow it to cook, but stir often enough that it breaks into small pieces. Add 5-10 dashes of soy sauce, and serve hot.

*To cook the wild rice, add 1 C rice to 3 C water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until all water is absorbed and rice is split open.

This is comfort food for a lazy Sunday.

About the Recipe Swap: The recipe swap is organized by Christianna at the Burwell General Store. Each month, a collection of bloggers reinterprets a classic recipe selected by Christianna.