Creamy Teriyaki Rice

 

This was hands-down my husband’s favorite dish at a recent House Party featuring Philadelphia Cooking Crème. My brother liked it as well. The combination of teriyaki sauce and crème isn’t an obvious one, but it definitely had fans! We left the rice plain and had this on the side as a topping, but if your entire crowd is dairy-loving, then you can go ahead and mix this together. It is good either way.

 

Creamy Teriyaki Rice

(Adapted from original Kraft recipe, found here)

Cooked Rice

3 cloves garlic, sliced

4 slices ginger, minced

2 tbsp. oil

1 package frozen peas

4 carrots, julienned or shaved

1 tub Original Philadelphia Cooking Crème

Teriyaki sauce, to taste

 

Put oil, ginger and garlic in a skillet and place over medium heat. Cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute. Add carrots and cook until tender, about two-three minutes. Remove carrots, garlic and ginger to a bowl and set aside. Cook peas until thawed and bright green, breaking apart with a wooden spoon. Add carrot mixture back in and stir to combine. Add cooking crème and stir. Season to taste with teriyaki sauce and serve over rice.

 

PS – This recipe was made with Philadelphia Cooking Crème, which was given to me free of charge for review purposes. The coupons came in a box full of “swag” for me and my guests, including a new skillet, and other kitchen wares and coupons. I was not otherwise compensated.

Bacon Salt, Re-Visited

I posted here, wondering about the new "JD's Bacon Salt" product. J and I found it at the grocery store, it was $4 (expensive for a seasoning salt, but cheap if I could use it to salt my beans and do without meat!)

We used it the next morning on hash browns, and I tried to use a heavy hand to really let the bacon flavor come through. Nothing. Not a smoky whiff. I tried a "plain" taste test- it didn't even seem to have a taste, but the fumes (msg?) DID burn my nose.

Sad.

Bacon Salt

So there is a product on the market now: Bacon Salt. Have you heard of it? Two guys made this up, and it is their mission to "make everything taste like real, delicious, bacon without all the fat or calories." Because Ernie and I are home alone today, I'm waiting for a few e-mails to come in (someone is giving away a free Kitchen Aid stand mixer with a motor problem, my grandpa is a motor whiz, and I know of at least 4 people who would LOVE to have a shiny Kitchen Aid on their counter next week- I'm just waiting for an e-mail saying to come and get it!) I thought I'd do some research on this blogosphere phenomena. There are facebook groups, bacon blogs, and rumors of new religions sprouting up around this product. What IS it?

It's available on the website in a few different flavors (hickory, original, and peppered) and a few different sizes, including the Big Pig (a 16 oz. porker of a jar.)

There are many testimonials of how good it is, how it changes lives, etc. But still- what IS it? It claims to be zero calorie, zero fat, vegetarian, AND kosher. (Do people who live the kosher lifestyle really want bacon flavored scrambled eggs? Do Mormons buy coffee-scented candles??)

Check out the ingredients and nutritional data for the original flavor here. Salt, spices, two kinds of MSG, wheat derivatives, corn derivatives (both syrup and flour), smoke flavor, colorants, vegetable shortening, natural and artificial flavors, and both disodium guanylate and disodium inosinate (two food additive flavor enhancers commonly used in conjunction with monosodium glutamate (MSG or also autolyzed yeast extract), and the guanylate version is extracted from dried fish or seaweed.)

Wow, how did these guys come up with this recipe?! The website says there is an "all natural" version coming later. But there isn't anything altogether bad about this, I think. I've been dreaming about using it in our pot of beans and pans of eggs to get that bacon flavor my husband loves without the expense or mess of meat. (Do all vegetarians start out as penny pinchers? I'm certainly not there yet, and don't intend to swear off eating anything so inherently beneficial and healthy, but GOSH is it expensive!)

So what do you guys think? Worth a try, or just another flash-in-the-pan product like this. (Or am I wrong about that one? Please say I'm not wrong!!) Would you season your Saturday morning eggs, or your next backyard grill hamburger? Maybe your pinto beans? Is this the next seasoning salt staple, like Jonny's or Lawry's?