Spanish Rice

I don't eat a lot of meat (not a vegetarian by any means, I just never seem to cook it much) and I love fruits, veggies, and grains (quinoa, rice, oatmeal, etc).  Today for dinner, I decided to make some Spanish Rice.  I got the recipe from a really old cookbook from my church back home, put together by MOPs (Moms of Preschoolers).

To start, I chopped up a yellow onion and a green pepper.  There were measurements for each, but I wasn't going to use just half, so I did a whole of each one.

I sauteed these in a big pan for about five minutes over medium heat.  A long time ago, I bought a big thing of sunflower oil (I can't even remember why).  It is basically the equivalent of olive oil, with even less of a taste, and apparently, is less sensitive to heat so you can cook at higher temperatures.  Anyway, I used sunflower oil to cook the veggies.

After they were done, I took a can of diced tomatoes and measured how much liquid was in it (3/4 of a cup for mine).  I added the liquid and the tomatoes to the mixture, and added enough water to make the liquid total 1 and 3/4 cups (so if you are struggling to follow, I added one cup of water!).  I also added one teaspoon of salt and two teaspoons of sugar.  Finally, I put in one and 1/3 cups of rice.

I brought everything to a boil and then let it simmer for twenty minutes.  Right when I was ready to simmer, I realized I somehow didn't have a lid that fit the pan I was using.  I didn't want to use another pan, so I stuck an ill-fitting lid over the whole thing. I think that is the beauty of Spanish rice...it seems less tricky than normal rice (which sometimes gets sticky or gloppy when I cook it).

Everything looked so delicious that while I was bringing it to a boil, I kept trying to sample it and then I would get a bunch of little super hard rice grains in my mouth and it was not pleasant.  Try to hold off on sampling, no matter how tasty is seems.

Anyway, the final product was so good.  When I first tried it after twenty minutes, the rice was still a little crunchy (I think because more water escaped with an ill-fitting lid).  I added a bit more water and let it cook another five minutes or so, and the problem was solved.

Today, I also painted my nails blue. Haha.

It's not as bright as the picture may look.

Now I might be headed back to downtown Eagle for some more rodeo...we'll see.

Tomorrow? DEFINITELY going to see the Birds of Prey!

Recap

Well, it is 1:10 am and I am just walking in the door since I left at 7:30 am.  Quite the day!  I want to post something, but don't be annoyed if it is fairly short.

It seems like days ago that I was driving to the DMV, but that was actually this morning.  I really wanted to take a picture of it this morning, but thought people might get mad.  Prior to it opening at 8 am, there was a line of people outside seriously like seventy five people long.  It looked like the happenin' place to be!  I sat in my car and ate my breakast until the doors opened, and then while everyone was taking a number, I got to stroll right up to the desk.  I could tell people wanted to wring my neck, but I felt like a VIP and it was actually kind of fun.  Plus the DMV was the one who messed up and I just needed to sign something.

After that, it was off to work -- you know the drill.

After work, my coworker & friend went to another coworker & friend's house, and she and her boyfriend made us a FANTASTIC dinner.  Again, really bad at taking pictures today, so I will just put them all at the end.  We had chicken with pepperjack and blue cheese dressing...not sure how, but the combo was so delicious.  She also had that wonderful thick, crusty sourdough bread, spread with butter and garlic powder.  We had tons of grapes (purple AND green) and super juicy watermelon.  Finally, we had a salad with candied nuts and a few blueberries, as well as maple balsalmic viniagrette.  Why yes, as a matter of fact, I was in heaven.

The only thing I didn't love was the very-strong-and-then-diluted-by-me-tequila-cocktail I sipped alongside my dinner.  Tequila - yuck. This one actually was drinkable though.

After some chatting and catching up, we went to "Eagle Days" in downtown Eagle.  We paid $12 to go to the rodeo, and watched all sorts of sporting events.

From there, we walked downtown and checked everything out.  We stayed til the end of the rodeo, so things were shutting down, but there were tons of vendors and a really cute town square.  There is even more tomorrow (parade, street fair, farmers market, rodeo, etc.) so I am looking forward to possibly catching more of it.  We ended up at a fairly new Eagle bar, and got to hear all about Eagle from my friends.  The bar couldn't have liquor (just beer and wine) because apparently Eagle is very religious and no bars have been granted liquor licenses (just restaurants).  There was also a roped off area outside, so we spent most of the time out there socializing.

My favorite part of the night?  Lots of ladies! Whoa, wait a second, get your mind out of the gutter :)  It was just a really fun group of girls, and I always have a harder time meeting girls than guys.  The main "crew" I was with had five of us, and it was great to meet a few more ladies.  One I really clicked with, so hopefully we can all hang out again tomorrow!

Also, I chose not to drink tonight.  It was fun to sit back and observe everyone for once, save money, and get to come home and sleep in my own bed.  I am also sure no hangover will be even more fun!  However, there are pros and cons, so who knows, I may just flip the coin and be the one who drinks tomorrow. Stay tuned!

The lighting for pictures SUCKED today but I tried...a little.

                                          The weather seemed sketchy but held up.

 Doesn't look cute here..but there was a row of the cutest townhouses EVER.

Goodnight!