The Other Sandy

Yesterday I was cataloging a cookbook called Old-School Comfort Food: The Way I Learned to Cook by Alex Guarnaschelli. Old school comfort food? I was thinking meatloaf or chicken soup or chili mac. I was actually really hoping for a good chili mac recipe, so I opened the book at random and landed on a recipe for...fried duck hearts with golden raisins and serrano chiles. I am not making that up. I couldn't believe it either, so I flipped to another couple of pages at random and found recipes for mussels with white mushrooms and hazelnuts, and for crispy squid with garlic, red pepper flakes, and basil.

Mmm. Just like grandma used to make. If grandma'd been a Cordon Bleu chef.

So, I got really bored with my usual lunch choices and decided to try something new today. I made a very fake chicken fried rice with chicken, brown rice, and mixed vegetables (corn, peas, carrots, and green beans, thanks to the freezer case at Trader Joe's). It wasn't bad, but it was kind of bland. I don't want to add salt to it so I was thinking maybe an herb or two, but therein lies the problem. The spice rack at my house when I was growing up was purely decorative, so I have no idea what herbs actually taste like. I didn't even use the pepper shaker for the first time until I was almost 30.

I'm looking for something mild that will add a little flavor without making it taste like HERB and some other ingredients, if you know what I mean. What do you say, flist? Any suggestions?

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  ETA: This is the icon referred to in comment 6a.