Mushroom pilaf and why I love my freezer

Yesterday I decided to make a dish my grandmother used to make very often, but which I haven't eaten for over three years becuse I turned into one of those annoying vegetarians who don't usually accept food with meat picked out.

After a quick look through my cookbooks and The Internet, I found a decent recipe and modified the hell out of it, as you do.

Mushroom Pilaf
1 cup/240ml long grain rice
2 cups/480ml veggie stock (or whatever you prefer)
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium carrot, grated
~150g mushrooms, sliced (estimated amount)
2 tbsp cooking oil
spices (0.5 tsp black pepper, 0.5 tsp turmeric, a little cayenne pepper, two pinches of cumin, 0.5 tsp paprika)

First, you bring the stock to boil in a deep saucepan and keep it warm on a low flame. Then, on a frying pan you saute all the vegetables with spices of your choice, and when they're done, add the unboiled rice. Fry the rice for a couple of minutes, mixing well. Spoon everything into the saucepan with the stock, bring to boil, reduce heat and cover with a lid. This is also the point where you can taste if you got the spices right. Let all this mess simmer for about 20 minutes or until the rice is done, turn off the stove and let it stand for another 10 minutes or so.
Makes about 5 portions for a small person

Afterthought: The rice was a little too soft, so you should add less stock, maybe 400ml. I think the vegetables give out extra liquid. Also, I need to learn how to take pictures of food so it looks as good as it actually is.

-----
When Roju was coming to my birthday party, she asked me if I needed anything from the shop and I said I needed one large pack of whipping cream for my pavlova (I will write about that sometime later this week). She was nice and bought two. That extra package stood in my fridge, unopened and lonely, until it reached it's date of expiry, which is when I remembered that good stuff should be used and decided to make a creamy pasta sauce for when I'm feeling especially decadent. Or something.
I haven't eaten it yet, but from the numerous tastings I can say it turned out very nice. 

Creamy Pasta Sauce
400g can of tomatoes
1 cup/240ml whipping cream
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
salt, pepper, basil

In a saucepan, simmer the onion and garlic until they are cooked. Add the tomatoes and spices and simmer for about 10 minutes. Now, add most of the cream (leave about 2 tbsp) and simmer for 20 more minutes, mixing every now and then, until the sauce is slightly reduced. In the end, add the remaining cream, mix and serve on pasta. Or in my case, ladle portions into bags and freeze.
Makes 4 portions for a small person.