MY FAVORITE COOKING TOOLSThe George Foreman Rotisserie

I haven't talked a lot about my actual kitchen on the blog, but maybe I should because it's absolutely first rate. About eight years ago I had my little 1912 bungalow house in the middle of Salt Lake City completely gutted and remodeled by my brilliant brother-in-law, Kelly, and the whole house is beautiful. (I'm not just prejudiced, although I do love my house. However, ask any of my family or friends; they will confirm that Kelly did a fantastic job on the remodeling.)

Besides doing a great job on the rest of the house, Kelly designed an incredible gourmet cook's kitchen for me, with two racks to hang pots and pans, a huge oak spice rack on the wall, cupboards with glass fronts to show off dishes, and oak shelves for cookbooks built in above the counter top across from the sink. I have more drawers and cupboards than any single woman really needs, and they are all crammed to the brim with every cooking gadget known to man. I guess my acquisition of cooking gadgets is only limited by my Utah schoolteacher's salary budget, which is a limitation, but one I can work around.

One of my very favorite cooking gadgets is the George Foreman Rotisserie. It comes in two sizes, of which I have the smaller one. It's easy to use, after you master the knack of inserting the rod through the chicken or meat. (There are four prongs, which should be as 12:00, 3:00, 6:00 and 9:00 for the thing to work properly. It took me a few tries to figure that out.) The entire machine comes apart for easy cleaning, in the dishwasher, no less.

Even the small machine is big enough to roast a very good sized chicken, pork roast, or turkey breast, all of which I have done with great success. Absolutely everything you cook in this machine comes out delicious. Most of the fat in the meat drips away, so it's also a pretty healthy way to cook. Some things, such as pork or turkey breast, come out better when they are brined for a few hours beforehand; other things, like meatballs, shrimp, or sausages, are delicious just cooked as is.

Before I had my own rotisserie, I used to buy rotisserie chickens from the market, and they always tasted pretty good. Now I make lots of different types of rotisserie chicken at home. You simply can't make a bad chicken in this machine. Here are just a couple of my favorite things to do to the chicken before cooking it:

• Rub chicken skin with butter, poultry seasoning, and pepper
• Marinate chicken in lemon juice, garlic, mustard, and rosemary
• Marinate chicken in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic and basil
• Marinate chicken in lemon juice, garlic, and oregano
• Marinate chicken in soy sauce, peanut oil, garlic and ginger

The variations for roast chicken in the rotisserie are endless. I gobble up all the chicken, eating it on salads, or just reheating it and eating it warm, then I save the chicken carcass in the freezer and combine it with all my accumulated chicken scraps and use it to make incredible homemade chicken stock.

Chicken cooked in a rotisserie like this is a perfect South Beach Diet Meal, for any phase. This would taste great with Grilled Asparagus with Parmesan or Roasted Broccoli with Garlic for phase one. For phase two or three, add something like Brown and Wild Rice with Pine Nuts and Thyme.

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Turkey Cutlets with Dijon Sauce

My local market carries turkey cutlets which come in packages of 8 pieces, thinly sliced and ready to cook. I bought some a few days ago and used part of them for the Stir Fried Turkey with Snow Peas and Celery I wrote about yesterday. Tonight I dredged the cutlets in lightly seasoned flour, quickly sauteed them in butter and olive oil, and made a quick pan sauce to pour over. I still have Italian Parsley in my garden, which made a great garnish. This was quick (less than 15 minutes to cook) and really delicious.

TURKEY CUTLETS WITH DIJON SAUCE
(2 servings)

4 turkey cutlet slices
1 T Wondra Quick-Mixing flour or whole wheat flour, plus 1 tsp. more for thickening if needed
1 tsp. Penzeys poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp Pride of Szeged Chicken Rub (or use your favorite all purpose seasoning)
1/4 tsp. Vege-Sal or salt
fresh ground pepper to taste
1 T olive oil
1 T butter
3/4 cup chicken stock
1 T Dijon mustard
1 T mayo

Combine flour, poultry seasoning, chicken rub, Vege-sal, and pepper in flat dish. Dredge all turkey pieces in flour mixture and set aside. Heat nonstick frying pan big enough to hold all the pieces in one layer, add olive oil and melt butter over medium high heat. Add turkey cutlets and saute 4-5 minutes, turning over several times. Remove turkey and keep warm. Deglaze pan with chicken stock, stirring well to get browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Wisk in Dijon and mayo, and 1 teaspoon flour if using. Cook sauce until it is reduced by about 1/3, about 3 minutes. Pour sauce over turkey and serve immediately.

The South Beach Diet doesn't recommend white flour, but in a recipe like this you are actually eating a very minimal amount of the flour. You could use whole wheat flour for dredging the turkey if you wished. For thickening the sauce, Wondra Quick Mixing Flour is great and I recommend using it.

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Everything I Know About Chinese Cooking andStir Fried Turkey with Snow Peas and Celery

Quite a few years ago I took a class in Chinese Cooking. The class was taught by a visiting professor from somewhere in China. This was in the days before computers, and he gave us all hand-typed sheets of recipes with lots of typos and fractured English language phrases. The food was fantastic, however. From this class I learned three principles of Chinese cooking that I've used ever since. As I cooked this way myself, I added principles number four and five.

Principles of Chinese Cooking

1. Preheat the wok (before you put the oil in).
2. Season the oil (with whole pieces of garlic and sometimes ginger root, which you remove when you add the food to be cooked).
3. Symmetry of cut (all pieces must be cut the same size and shape).
4. Have all ingredients cut and sauces mixed before you cook.
5. Use very high heat and cook fast.
   

When I became interested in eating the low glycemic index way I renewed my interest in stir-frying as a cooking method. Most stir fries use cornstarch as a thickener which has 9 carbs per tablespoon, but most recipes which serve 3-4 people only use about a tablespoon. You can also use arrowroot starch, which is used quite a bit in China. It contains zero carbs, and can be ordered from Penzeys.

STIR FRIED TURKEY WITH SNOW PEAS AND CELERY
(2 small servings or one whole meal serving)

1/4 to 1/3 pound thin sliced raw turkey breast cutlets
1 cup snow peas
2/3 cup sliced celery
1 egg white
1 1/2 T Soy Sauce
2-3 T peanut oil (depending on your wok)
2 cloves garlic, each cut into 2-3 flat slices

Cooking sauce:
1/2 T cornstarch
1/2 T Soy Sauce
1/2 T Dry Sherry (or use all rice vinegar)
1/2 T Rice Wine Vinegar (not seasoned vinegar which contains sugar)
1/4 T ground ginger root (not dry ginger, also called ginger puree)
1/4 C water

Cut turkey cutlets into thin pieces about 2 inches long and 1/2 inch wide and mix with the egg white and 1 1/2 T soy sauce. Cut celery into slices and cut snow peas diagonally so each is in two pieces. Slice ginger, and mix cooking sauce.

Heat wok for 1 minute over high heat. Add 1/2 of oil and add snow peas and celery. Stir fry over high heat 2-3 minutes, until starting to turn bright green but still very crisp. Remove from wok. Add rest of the oil, add garlic pieces and cook 1 minute, then remove. (Do not let the garlic get very brown or it will create a bitter taste.) Add turkey and stir fry until well cooked, about 4 minutes. It will not get very brown, but the inside should be well cooked. Add snow peas and celery back into wok, add cooking sauce and cook 2-3 minutes more, until sauce is thickened.

If your experience has mostly been with "Chinese American" food, you might prefer this without the egg. It does create small pieces of egg throughout the dish, which is pretty traditional in Chinese cooking. The egg also helps thicken without too much starch.

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BLOGGING ABOUT BLOGS: Slate.com A Sugar Snob Taste Tests Splenda and Other Sweeteners

Personally I consider sugar to be one of the worst foods you can eat. (There is scientific evidence to back me up, check out Sugar Shock Blog if you want to know more about the effects of sugar.) Anyone who is trying to lose weight probably wants to avoid sugar, no matter what kind of diet you are following. After all, it's nothing but empty calories, with no nutritional value to speak of.

But what if you are just wondering about the taste of sugar versus Splenda, Equal, Sugar Twin or Saccharin, to name a few of the other sweeteners that are available at your local grocer? Slate.com recently published an interesting article in which a self-professed "real-sugar snob" compared the real thing with the sweeteners. In a nutshell, she concluded maybe real sugar isn't always better tasting. (But then, some of us already knew that, didn't we?) Read the whole article here.

South Beach Diet, Low Carb, Food and Drink

Bavarian Roast Pork with Sour Cream Gravy

I can tell that fall is here; this past weekend I went to an outdoor event in my capris and sandals and my legs were a tiny bit cold. I always hate it when the seasons start to change like that. The only consolation is that I love winter cooking. To me there's nothing better than having something cooking all day, making your whole house smell great and giving you something to look forward to so that when you finally eat it you'll enjoy it more just from the anticipation.

For this reason I like to use a crockpot to cook in, even though it has taken me a bit of experimenting to master the use of this cooking utensil. I think the crockpot is great for recipes like this one, where the dish has strong flavors and you aren't cooking it in too much liquid. (For soups and stews I much prefer stove-top cooking, where the cooking liquid can cook down and develop more flavor.) If you don't have a crockpot you could cook this in a 325 degree oven for several hours.

BAVARIAN ROAST PORK
WITH SOUR CREAM GRAVY
(about 6 servings)

pork loin roast, 2 to 2 1/2 pounds
2 tsp. caraway seeds (use less or omit if you don't like caraway that much)
1 tsp. dried marjoram
1 tsp. Penzeys Pork Chop Seasoning (optional, but recommended)
1/2 tsp. salt or Vege-Sal
pepper to taste
1 T olive oil
1/2 cup water
2 T white wine vinegar
8 oz. low fat sour cream (do not use fat free)
1 T cornstarch for thickening

Choose a flat pork loin roast that will fit into your crockpot for this recipe. Trim all visible fat from the roast. Put caraway seeds, marjoram, pork chop seasoning, salt and pepper into small ziploc bag and pound with flat side of meat mallet until caraway seeds are partly crushed. Rub spice mixture into both sides of meat. Heat olive oil in nonstick frying pan, add roast and brown very well on all sides. Don't rush this step; it will take at least 10 minutes to brown the roast thoroughly.

Place roast in crock pot, then deglaze pan with the water, scraping all brown bits from bottom of the frying pan. Add vinegar to water and pour over roast.

Cook roast in crock pot all day on low or 4-5 hours on high. (I used an instant-read meat thermometer to tell when it was done.) Remove roast from pan and place on cutting board.

Drain liquid from pan and add more water if you do not have at least 1 cup. Strain liquid (I used a yogurt strainer), then put in small saucepan. Add cornstarch which has been mixed with a small amount of water, wisk in sour cream, and heat until gravy is slightly thickened and starting to bubble. Slice meat and pour gravy over.

This is a perfect dish for any phase of the South Beach Diet. It would taste great with Grilled Asparagus with Parmesan or Roasted Broccoli with Garlic for phase one. For phase two or three, add something like Brown and Wild Rice with Pine Nuts and Thyme.

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FOOD BLOG FINDS: Lower Carb Cooking Dishes Spotted on Other Food Blogs

I love to read food blogs, and spent lots of my free time doing it, especially now that I have cable internet. (Big Smile.) There are so many talented people writing food blogs these days, and as I'm checking my favorite blogs each day, I often see dishes that would be perfect for my lower carb way of eating. I've decided to pick a few of these every now and then and spotlight them here, my way of letting those other bloggers know how great I think their dishes look and sharing those blogs with the people who read my blog.

This week I noticed a blog that was new to me called In Our Kitchen. The creator of this is one of a talented group of bloggers who comes from the Phillipines, and her food is interesting and a little unusual. On the blog I spotted a recipe for Sassy Chicken with Mushrooms and Sour Cream which sounded delicious and very low in carbs. We must acknowledge that the dish was adapted by In Our Kitchen from a recipe on Pinoy Cook, the queen of the Phillipine food bloggers.

Another new blog I discovered recently is A Veggie Venture written by a woman named Alanna from St. Louis, Missouri. She took on the admirable task of cooking a vegetable a day for a month, and six months later she is still going strong and telling about it on this well written and well designed blog. Here I spotted a recipe for Cauliflower Tomato Medley which would just need a little changing, cut down the breadcrumbs a little, to be a great lower carb option. (By the way, I was very flattered to find a link to Kalyn's Kitchen here which I hadn't known about.)

Last, but absolutely not least, on one of my very favorite food blogs, Stephen Cooks, a fabulous pasta dish with roasted tomatoes and Italian sausage which would be a great lower carb choice with a few minor adaptations. When I made his Roasted Tomato and Sausage Pasta I would use Dreamfields penne for the pasta, use less onion and increase the proportion of sausage to pasta to make this a lower carb meal. Use all the freshly grated parmesan you want because it's already low in carbs. (Also thanks to Stephen for linking to me on his site, which features beautiful photos in addition to fabulous recipes.)

There you have it. Food Blog Finds with fabulous recipes that could be a great option for dinner whether or not you are watching your carbs. Enjoy!

South Beach Diet, Low Carb, Food and Drink, recipes

LOW CARB PRODUCT RAVE: (for fledgling cooks) Del Real Carnitas from Costco

I don't really buy a lot of pre-made food, since I'm one of those people who just loves to cook. I swear I am not happy unless the kitchen is a mess. If you're a bona fide foodie who loves to cook like me and would never dream of buying a pre-made, ready-to-eat food that just has to be heated, simply skip this post and go on to the next blog.

However, there are all kind of people in the world, and I get requests all the time from my non-foodie non-cooking friends to blog about products that are good for people who can't (don't, won't?) cook, but who want to eat the lower carb way. Because of that I'm always on the lookout for foods that fit that criteria and look like they will taste good. I see a lot of products in this category that I wouldn't consider buying, simply because they don't really look good enough that I would want to eat them. But once in a while I stumble on a product that looks like a winner.

I love to order Carnitas in Mexican restaurants, so when I saw the package of ready to eat Del Real brand Carnitas in the refrigerated case at Costco, I was intrigued. I had seen it before, but quite honestly I was waiting for them to demo it so I could try it without buying it. I waited a few weeks, but that didn't happen so on Friday night I bought a package, about $10.00 for two pounds of "real Mexican style" Carnitas, so not a bad buy.

The heating instructions suggested warming it in the microwave, but I immediately discarded that idea when I opened the package. Luckily I had brought Carnitas home many times from The Red Iguana, my favorite Salt Lake City Mexican restaurant, and I knew that Carnitas is not a low fat dish. It's the fat that gives the roasted pork the delicious crispy edges and great flavor, but when it's cold from the refrigerated case at Costco, all that fat doesn't look too appealing. However, I carried on because the meat looked like I knew that Carnitas should look.

I knew you could make Carnitas in a crockpot, so I decided to use that method to heat it. I broke the pieces of meat apart slightly, and placed them in the crockpot, then squeezed the juice of one lime over the meat. I heated the meat on high for several hours, turning it a few times so that all the outside pieces were getting crispy and sizzling.

After a couple of hours in the Crockpot, the Carnitas were tender, juicy and absolutely delicious. If you have low carb tortillas on hand, the meat could be made into incredible tacos. I ate mine simply with some sour cream and salsa and a sliced cucmber with Ranch dressing. The only thing missing was the incredible refried beans that they have at The Red Iguana.

I tried to find a web location for Del Real Foods, but all I found was this site which was under construction.

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Mushroom and Feta Breakfast Casserole

(In November 2006 I posted a slightly revised version of this recipe with a photo. Follow the link above to see how delicious this looks.)

I have to confess that for at least the first 2/3 of my life I wasn't a very good breakfast eater. Now that I'm eating the lower glycemic way, I really love eating breakfast, (even if it's "egg muffins" that I eat in the car on the way to school.)

I've given a lot of recipes for breakfast casseroles, but I just keep coming up with yet another good one. This one combined two of my very favorite things, mushrooms and feta cheese. I used a lot of feta, but if you aren't wild about feta, you could use less, or even use half feta and half another milder white cheese like Monterey Jack. I buy the presliced mushrooms that come in an 8 ounce container for this. If the budget can handle it, you could use even more mushrooms than I have called for.

MUSHROOM AND FETA BREAKFAST CASSEROLE
18 eggs
2-3 T cream, half and half or milk
1 pound mushrooms, washed and sliced (or more)
1 T olive oil
2 cups crumbled feta cheese
(or one cup feta and one cup of another white cheese)
2 tsp. Spike seasoning
Vege-sal or salt to taste
pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375. Spray 9 X 13 glass casserole dish with nonstick spray. Saute mushrooms in olive oil until they are softened but not completely cooked, about 5 minutes. Drain mushrooms if there is liquid in the pan, then spread evenly over bottom of casserole dish. Crumble feta over mushrooms.

Beat eggs with cream, Spike, salt and pepper. Pour over eggs, then stir gently with a fork so that mushrooms and cheese are evenly distributed in the egg mixture. Bake 45 minutes, or until eggs are set and top is starting to brown.

This freezes well. Microwave 2-3 minutes on high to reheat (depending on your microwave). Be careful not to microwave too long or the eggs can get rubbery.

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I've Been Tagged To Tell About Green Bean Salad with Greek Olives and Feta Cheese

It's just so completely exciting! I've been tagged for a meme by CookieCrumb, one of my favorite food bloggers. I remember when I first started reading the food blogs, about 6 months back, and people kept refering to a meme. I had to look it up. Turns out meme is some kind of biology word that means a self-replicating organism. In blog language, a meme is a fun kind of game where different bloggers tag each other to post some kind of fun rambling.

This time it's the 23 / 5 meme. Go to your 23rd post, find the 5th sentence, and then write something interesting about it on your blog.

Usually I am too busy worrying what to teach to a room full of 27 fourth graders to participate much in food blogging events, so this was my first real event, not just my first meme. I was immediately worried. Before I started my blog I had an e-mail list of people who would ask me, "Can I have this recipe?" and then I would put them on a list to get recipes from me every once in a while. When I had the idea of actually writing a blog, I transferred a bunch of those recipes over all on the same day. Since they were recipes pretty much without any real dialogue, I was pretty sure the 5th sentence was going to be pretty boring.

Therefore I decided to "bend the rules" just a teeny tiny bit. I decided that those recipes would not be counted as a post. (After all, they were just transfers. I wasn't actually blogging when I wrote them.) So I decided to find the fifth sentence from the 23rd post that I actually wrote for the blog. (Yeah, yeah, bending the rules on my very first event. That's me.)

Being just a tad anal, I have a small notebook that I keep by the computer. In my blog notebook I write down each post name, and also keep track of other important milestones in MY BLOG LIFE. (Like this one of getting tagged for the first time, and other equally fascinating topics like learning about Technorati tags.)

Referring to my blog notebook I determined that "Green Bean Salad with Greek Olives and Feta Cheese" was my "real" 23rd post. Scurry to the archives eagerly to see what the 5th sentence was. There were only 4 sentences introducing the post, so I guess the first sentence of the recipe directions has to be the 5th sentence.

It said, "Break off ends of green beans and cut or break into 2 inch pieces."

There you have it. My 23rd post, fifth sentence was about how to prepare green beans to be steamed. Sentences 1-4 were a little more interesting. I invented the green bean salad when I was in Chicago visiting my brother Rand. We were going to be eating it on a picnic at the Chicago Botanical Gardens, truly a wonderful place. The salad was outstanding, partly due to the fact that my brother is also quite a foodie and he turned me lose in his well stocked kitchen with some fresh green beans and a whole pantry and refrigerator of other delicious additions.

Now for the fun part. I am going to tag

1. Beth at Zen Foodism
2. The Mage at KitchenMage
3. Sweetnicks at Sweetnicks
4. Amy at BeautyJoyFood
5. Ana at Pumpkin Pie Bungalow

Here are the official Rules:
Delve into your blog archive.
Find your 23rd post (or closest to).
Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions. Ponder it for meaning, subtext or hidden agendas...
Tag five people to do the same.

I'm not sure what the blog ettiquette is now. Should I inform these people that they have been tagged? Maybe I'll wait a day or so and see if they discover it themselves.

Food and Drink, recipes

SugarShock Blog Writes about Effects of Sugar

I consider Kalyn's Kitchen to be a food blog hybrid, combining my foodie obsession with all tasty and unusual foods with my commitment to lower carb, lower glycemic eating. In my own eating, both those things are equally important to me. On the blog, however, I write mostly about good food simply because even though I'm committed to lower carbs, what I am mostly interested in is creating great tasting food. It's that simple. I will not eat boring, bland, or bad tasting food just to lose weight. Food is too important to me.

I do read a lot of blogs where they talk mostly about reducing carbs, and not so much about the food. One of those is SugarShockBlog, written by a very attractive woman named Connie Bennett whose life changed dramatically when she quit eating sugar and other refined foods. SSB recently featured a guest column by Nancy Appleton Ph.D. called 146 Reasons Why Sugar is Ruining Your Health.

Every person who eats any significant amount of sugar should read this article. I know for me personally my whole life changed when I eliminated sugar and other high carb foods. I feel healthier now than I have for at least 15 years. I have tons of energy (enough to write a blog at night after teaching fourth grade all day.)

Make your own decision about eating sugar or not, but do check out the article in SugarShock Blog.

South Beach Diet, Low Carb, sugar, health

Greek Frittata

(Note added July 6, 2006 - I have updated this recipe with a photo and instructions about How to Make a Frittata)

GREEK FRITTATA
(4 large or 6 small servings)
1 medium zucchini, diced in 1/2 inch pieces with skin still on
1/4 cup finely diced red onion
1 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. Spike seasoning (optional)
coarse ground black pepper to taste
1 can diced tomatoes, very well drained
(tomatoes with garlic and basil are great in this)
6 eggs
1 T cream, half and half, or milk
1/2 cup grated mozarella cheese
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Use a 10 or 12 inch heavy frying pan which can go under the broiler. Spray pan with nonstick spray if needed. Preheat broiler. Heat olive oil in pan, add zucchini, garlic, and spices and saute 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook 3-5 minutes more, until liquid from tomatoes is neatly all evaporated. While vegetable mixture cooks, break eggs into bowl and beat well with cream. Pour eggs into pan and cook 2-3 minutes or until eggs are barely starting to set. Add half of mozarella cheese and stir gently, cook about 3 minutes more. Sprinkle remaining mozarella and feta cheese over top and place under broiler until top is slightly browned and eggs are done. (This probably won't take more than a few minutes.) Cut into pie shaped wedges to serve.

South Beach Diet, Low Carb, Food and Drink, recipes

Chile Mustard Pork Kabobs

Here's a slightly unusual twist on kabobs. I use the big pork chops from Costco for this, and it's delicious. Thhis recipe is only slightly spicy. If you like lots of spice you could increase the Tobasco and Cajun Spice seasoning. Serve this with something cool, like green salad or coleslaw. I have not tried this marinade on chicken, but I am thinking it would probably be pretty tasty. If anyone tries it, leave a comment and let us know how it turned out.

CHILE MUSTARD PORK KABOBS
(6-8 servings, recipe created by Kalyn)

6-8 boneless pork chops, cut into pieces about 1-2" square

Marinade:
1/2 cup yellow mustard (not Dijon)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup canola oil
1 T garlic powder
about 6 drops red Tobasco or 12 drops green Tobasco
1 tsp. Wright's liquid hickory smoke (be careful not to put too much)
1-2 tsp. Cajun Spice seasoning (I recommend Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning)
1 T Chile Garlic Sauce (optional)

Cut pork chops into cubes and put in zip loc bag. Mix marinade ingredients and pour over. Marinate 6-12 hours, or longer is fine if you're not home and need to start this marinating in the morning.

To cook, thread the meat cubes on skewers, putting them close together so the meat will not "spin" on the skewers. Grill over medium heat 20-25 minutes, or until meat is firm to the touch and slightly browned.

This would be a perfect phase one recipe for The South Beach Diet. It would be great with Roasted Broccoli with Garlic, Slow Roasted Asparagus, or Cauliflower with Garlic and Lemon. For phase two, add something like Lake Powell Spicy Rice or Brown Rice with Cashews and Herbs.

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Georgette's Really Lemony Greek Pilafi

I was thrilled when I learned to make Pilafi (Greek Lemon Rice) from my friend Georgette because I'd always loved it in restaurants. I was thrilled again when I learned that Uncle Ben's Converted Rice is low-glycemic, even though it's white rice. It's something about the converting process that makes it slower to digest than regular white rice.

I made this a lot when I first started eating theSouth Beach Diet way, and it's still one of my very favorite side dishes. I have a plastic container of rice in my cupboard with this recipe written on the side with a sharpie marker, that's how often I make it! Don't be put off by the package directions for cooking time that is much shorter than this recipe indicates, trust me and cook it the length of time that Georgette recommends.