Feed an Army - Brown Rice "Cocktail"

This may not sound like your cup of tea. But the uses are endless. Personally, I eat this with butter and fresh ground pepper. Mmm! So Good!! Today, it's gracing the table for thanksgiving dinner - and since my track record with poultry isn't all that great, I tout this as my specialty and let the turkey take second line. 

What you're going to need:

3 cups brown rice (half cooked)

1 clove minced garlic 

1 onion diced (I'm not an onion fan - I use half) 

8 large mushrooms sliced 

1 stalk celery sliced 

3 large grated carrots 

1/2 cup pine nuts or slivered almonds (I like almonds) 

1/2 cup fresh parsley chopped ( or 1 teaspoon dried) 

3 tablespoons butter 

Pepper, salt, sage, thyme to taste (lazy cooks - like me - can get away with 2 or 3 teaspoons of generic poultry seasoning) 

3 cups of Chicken stock (you can also use vegetable stock if making this a vegetarian dish) 

Cook the rice halfway-about 15 minutes. Meanwhile in a skillet, melt butter. Sauté garlic, onion, mushrooms, carrot, celery for 5 minutes. Add pine nuts (or almonds) and parsley to warm. 

Dump rice and mixture into slow cooker and season well. Add stock and turn onto high for 3 - 4 hours. Add stock or water if needed.

I like doing a blend of wild and brown rice - superstore sells a great bulk blend!