here's what's in the rice cooker tonight:

Just a quick disclaimer: I am not on the payroll of any rice cooker manufacturer. I just really like mine.

Here's what I did for dinner tonight:

• heated one teaspoon of olive oil in the bottom of my rice cooker and sprayed the sides with olive oil spray
• chopped half an onion (with my new chefs knife, thanks Boo!)
• added this to my oil
• added a cup of shredded carrots (I bought them already shredded)
• added a cup of sliced mushrooms
• added a cup of chopped collard greens
• added one clove of garlic (used my new garlic press! woohoo!)
• let this cook until the onions were clear and the other veggies were getting soft
• added one cup of jasmine rice
• added two cups of water
• added a sprinkle of sea salt
• put the lid on the rice cooker and waited until the little timer went off

IT WAS SOOOOOO GOOD! By the time the timer went off, the veggies were perfectly tender... the rice was cooked perfectly and the flavor was uh-mazing!
I could have added meat... I actually meant to add some chicken and forgot. I didn't miss it. This really would have made about 4 servings for a side dish OR... about two big pig out servings for my feast tonight. It was ten Weight Watchers points... about 1/3 of my daily points, which is appropriate for dinner. The only labor involved was chopping the onion and measuring the rice and water. Seriously... go get a rice cooker... or dust that one that you got at your bridal shower fifteen years ago off and see if it still works. I've got a feeling it's going to continue to be the most often used appliance in my kitchen... other than... maybe the coffee pot.

Now if I could just get my hands on some quinoa...