Rice Cooker Magic

The Chief Taster espied an orphaned rice cooker the other day on what I fondly call our local "sidewalks o' plenty," and in his immeasurable wisdom, made off with it (as well as a slightly outdated postal scale and a toaster oven). At first I was suspicious, having in the past observed rice cookers used solely to make plain white rice -- and white rice is just so not me, you know?

Tonight, however, I came home from work late. I had a craving for stuffed acorn squash, but I knew it would take forever . . . and yet, that rice cooker gleamed seductively on the table. What the heck, I thought, so I threw in:

1/2 cup wild rice
1 cup pearl barley
5 dried shiitakes, stemmed and broken into pieces
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp chicken bouillon powder
2.25 cups water

In the plastic veggie steamer insert, I placed:
1 acorn squash, halved and trimmed to fit

Closed the lid, plugged it in, did a load or two of laundry . . . dinner! (Some assembly required.)

This thing is going to revolutionize my late-working nights.