On Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:53:43 -0600, Andy > wrote:

>brooklyn1 > wrote:
>
>> Andy > wrote:
>>>
>>>You could separately cook an amount of the pasta and add it in before
>>>serving.
>>
>> For folks who can't cook the two together that method gives them
>> double the opportunity to screw up.
>
>
>Winging it without knowing the box's actual ratio of rice to pasta is going
>to be just as difficult to get right even for folks who can cook.
>
>Andy

I've never seen a product in a box/bag containing both rice and orzo.
I always eyeball about half and half but that ratio can be anything
and sometimes I've been short on orzo so used less and used more rice
and vice versa... been making this basic dish some 50 years with more
versions than I can remember. The ratio of rice to orzo makes not a
whit of difference... all that matters is ratio of liquid to solid,
time, temperature, and method. I've made this with any brand of
ordinary long grain and even basmati and any brand of orzo. I'm not a
big fan of plain rice so make it rarely. I even use the rice/orzo
blend for fly lice. I use the blend of rice and orzo for just about
all rice dishes, never tried for rice pudding but then I don't make
rice pudding anymore, last time had to be early '60s aboard ship.

I'm pretty sure that Rice-A-Roni uses precooked/instant rice and
noodles... if I remember correctly it's more like a minute rice
dish... haven't made it since my daughter was a rug rat, some 40 years
ago. In fact she visited this past weekend with the two grands (3 &
5), who are very picky eaters, so she brought two boxes of kraft mac
n' cheese... last I ate that was also when she was a rug rat. I
tasted it, I had forgotten how awful it is... after she left I hand
washed the pot and dishes, turned my sink water lurid orange. I only
tried that one taste, was quite a bit left over, got tossed out for
the critters.... birds like it, contained a whole stick of butter, but
all I had was no fat milk or regular evap, she used fat free. I have
plenty of real food that I think kids like but they wanted none of it,
not even my version of of ricearoni... I have tube steaks, PB n'
Jellee, tuna, an assortment of cheese, eggs, fresh fruit/canned fruit,
all kinds of dry cereals, pasta, home made sauce, I even have like a
dozen burgers, real, not mystery, and lots more... but they wanted
none of that. Oh well, good it was only a four hour visit.