I grew up with Rice-A-Roni. Never-ever bought Zatarain’s rice. And an impulse-buy at the grocery store turned into dinner, tonight. I’m not sure I’ll be stocking the larder with the stuff, but it made for an okay meal.

Okay, as in okay.

My main reason for not buying things like this in the first place is they’re so easy to just make. I do whatever-and-rice dishes on the stove all the time. Usually they’re of the clean-out-the-refrigerator variety and the herbs and spices are picked to match whatever it is I’m trying to get rid of – gourmet cooking at it’s finest.

Tonight, it was green beans and a yellow pepper that needed eating. I had taken a pork tenderloin out of the freezer on Saturday, but Victor cooked the Bucatini with Clam Sauce and the Focaccia, so that wa on the list of things that needed using up, as well.

I read the ingredients – I’m not a purist-purist. There are a few things I just won’t buy – ever – but I’ll grab a box of something every now and again. I got down the list and found “whiskey solids (contains barley & rye gluten).” Do I really want to know what whisky solids” are?!?

Nah… I’ll pass on that one. And since it’s so far down the list – ingredients are listed by weight – I’ll let my natural defenses filter it out of me…

I think my only real complaint about it was there wasn’t a lot of flavor. It was okay, but I guess I was expecting more from the commercials I’ve seen. Not bad, just not great.

I have a box of another flavor in the cupboard. I’ll give it a try one of these days…