Take Out Rice Fixes Dinner

Sometimes I just make up a recipe as I go.  It may be based on an actual recipe or simply an idea and a hope that flavors will work together.  The list of ingredients reads:

Kielbasi

Shrimp

Celery

Red Beans

Rice

Chicken stock

Various spices - I went through the cabinet so I cannot be 100% accurate on this but I believe in addition to salt and pepper I used:  garlic, Old Bay, a bay leaf and a sprinkle of chili powder.

The kielbasi was carmelized in my dutch oven on the stove (Click here for the post about the Magic Pot) then add the celery to soften.  Deglaze with chicken stock, add the beans then oh, the rice...the rice is an empty spot in the pantry.  How did this happen?

Well, the same way it happens with anything else.  It was eaten and not replaced.  Argh!  I have already started to prepare the meal.  Substitute?  Think  Think.  Think.

I texted the Mr. on his way home and asked him to stop at any Chinese restaurant and purchase a quart of white rice.  Yahoo.  Problem solved.

Continue adding the remaining ingredients and turn off the heat.  When I can add the rice, I add a bit more chicken stock and heat the meal through.

The funny part is, the Mr. felt a little odd just picking up rice so he did accept a few fortune cookies and....

ordered two egg rolls.  One for himself and one for our older son.  It was a multi-cultural, multi-culinary experience in our kitchen.  Is it sheer irony that the fortune regarding good planning was not mine?
 

Missing all the excitement, when my younger son arrived home a few hours later and simply heated what he knew were the evening's left overs, he began to eat and simply said, "Dinner is good, Mom."  A little help from the Chinese restaurant and we are all Fed Well.