Cheap Eats: Puffed Rice!

The Topic: Finding new uses for favorite foods with Managing Editor Elizabeth Castoria


The Dish: Growing up, our household did not have "sugar cereals." Anything sweeter than Raisin Bran was totally verboten, and my sister and I could just go ahead and forget anything that involved a cartoon character on the box. My mother referred to sugar affectionately as the "white death," which of course made me desperate to try every possible type of fiberless, over-sugared, candy-colored morning abomination possible. (I was definitely most enticed by Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs, despite the fact that they're fictional.) So, in what could probably best be described as a non-stop bender of sugary breakfast bingeing that occurred once I had a driver's license, I ate a lot of cereal. This was not a particularly proud, nor nutritionally balanced, time in my life, but it did teach me the value of cereal. 

Is it just for breakfast? Please. Eating cereal for breakfast is like riding a bike with training wheels. As my palate has matured somewhat past the CFSB point, the simple magic of puffed rice has me totally enchanted. Plus, you can find it just about everywhere, including gas stations, and it's cheap. Does it offer a ton of nutrition? No. Are there cartoon characters on the box? Yes. Can you find more-nutritious, less-cheap organic brands? Yes. But for the purposes of this post, all that really matters is the fantastic snap, crackle, and, oh yes, the pop that puffed rice provides. Here are my three favorite non-breakfast uses for this crunchtastic cereal.

1. Sushi! This definitely falls under the it's-so-crazy-it-just-might-work category, but go with me. This culinary genius credit goes to Joelle of Vegan Bachelor Soup fame, who a) is fun to make sushi with and b) puts crazy things in her rolls! Like puffed rice! And they are light and crunchy and surprising and wonderful and should be required at all sushi restaurants. One note of caution: eat your awesome sushi promptly, because if the cereal sits next to the avocado or spicy tofuna for too long, it gets soggy, not snappy.
   
2. Breading. Someone cleverer than I has likely thought of this already, but it bears repeating. You want something breading in the finest of crunchy coatings? Then here's what you're going to do: smash up some cereal, and bread away. It's a finer coat than panko, crispier than breadcrumbs, and works particularly well with recipes that involve baking the coated item.
   
3. Sandwiches. I know! Cereal in sandwiches? What's next, dogs marrying cats? Don't forget, friends, fortune favors the bold. The next time you're making a signature PB&J, put a layer of rice in between the PB and the J. Again, this isn't like adding superfood powder to your smoothie in terms of nutrition, but the sublime texture of something crunchy in the middle of an already-delectable sandwich totally can't be beat. 

The Final Word: Whether or not your foray into the world of cereal experiementation is prompted by years of careful parenting, or simply because you happen to have access to puffed rice and want to do something slightly more interesting than pour coconut milk on it, thinking of your favorite staple foods in new ways can yield fantastic, inexpensive results. Snap!

Greens for Less (Green)

The Topic: Standout Salads by VegNews Managing Editor Elizabeth Castoria

The Dish: It's very clear—my love for salad is here to stay. I could (and often do) nosh a big pile of greens for two meals every day, and nothing makes me happier than seeing a big, beautiful kale salad as a part of any meal. But you know what I don't particularly love? Making salad. As a kid, my family cooked dinner together just about every night, and somehow the task of making salad almost always fell to me. Woe, the injustice! How I longed to sauté, to scramble, to, well, anything but make salad! Clearly, my burgeoning culinary talents were squandered. But, on the bright side, I now make a pretty decent salad, which can't always be said of my other kitchen experiments. Plus, buying restaurant salads (like the one pictured above from Herbivore) can be insanely expensive. So, how's a gal to eat gargantuan amounts of veggies every single day while saving money and not spending her entire life chopping broccoli? Simple. Here are my time-tested salad-making methods:

1. Buy in Bulk. Duh. I like to fill my cart once a week or so with a couple kinds of kale, pre-washed spinach (hint: buying the spinach with its stems means you have to spend time chopping, washing, and you usually pay by the pound, which means you're literally throwing money away!), red and green cabbages, and romaine. Is cabbage usually the cheapest of these? Yes. Does it also fill you up and add awesome crunchiness to your salads? Hell yes.

2. It Slices! It Dices! So, the greens are probably not what take you the most time, salad prep-wise. With a handy food processor equipped with a shredding disc, carrots and beautiful red and golden beets are done in no time.

3. Go Big. Find yourself a huge freaking bowl. Like, a really, really, really big one. Really. Big. I like a simple stainless steel bowl (check out your local restaurant supply store for super cheap options!) that's really wide, fairly flat, and ideally about the size of my torso. I'm on the short side, but who's counting? This enormosity is now your salad bowl. Put all your prepared veggies (in addition to those mentioned, I like green onions, hearts of palm, garbanzo beans, cucumbers, bell peppers, and sometimes cubed tofu) in said bowl. Now, the most crucial step...

4. Stay Naked! You know what dressing your whole salad does? Freaking ruins it, that's what! Leave your week's worth of salad in the huge bowl undressed, and it'll stay fresh through the week. Dress it the first night you make it, and you now have a huge pile of slimy pre-compost. Throughout the week, serve yourself a plateful, and just dress that. Voilà! Soggy spinach is a thing of the past.

The Final Word: Here's hoping you find yourself with tons more time, a happily full stomach, and a slightly more full wallet. Just think, if you started a company that you only worked on in the time you saved by not having to make salad every night, someday you could be totally rich! Or, you could just sauté something to go with your salad.