Shortcut Spanish Rice

This is a really simple recipe that adds flavor to Tex-Mex style dishes. I used it in enchiladas and as the base for burrito bowls. Feel free to double, triple, or cut the recipe in half.

For burrito bowls I serve with a can of refried beans and any other toppings I have on hand. We like cheese, salsa, sour cream, tomatoes, and avocados but anything goes.


2 cup dry white rice
3 1/2 cups water
4 chicken bouillons or enough for  4 cups of water
1 c. bottled salsa

Place all in a medium sized pot. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and cover. Let cook until the rice is tender throughout. 

Check to make sure the bottom isn't sticking and burning towards the end of cooking.

Crock Pot Honey Sesame Chicken

 This was taken from Baby Center. Next time I think I am going to broil the chicken right after I add the sauce for a minute to get the sauce really sticky. All the ingredients in this freeze, just throw everything in a bag with the raw chicken and freeze. I haven't done it though so I have no idea on cooking time if you don't thaw it first.

2 lb. chicken breasts

Salt & Pepper

1 c. honey

1/2 c. soy sauce

1/2 onion, chopped

1/4 c. ketchup

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch

Sesame seeds to sprinkle on top

Hot cooked brown or white rice

Combine the honey, soy cause, onion, ketchup, both oils, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Pour a little into the bottom of your crock pot. 

Trim the chicken of anything you don't want to eat later. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place in the crock pot and top with remaining honey sauce. Stir once to coat the chicken in the sauce. 

Cook on high for 1 - 2 hours until the chicken is cooked. Combine cornstarch and enough water to make a thin paste. Remove the chicken from the crock pot leaving the crock pot on. Immediately stir the cornstarch into the crock pot and return the lid. Cook on high for an additional 10 minutes. While the sauce it thickening chop the chicken into bit sized pieces. Make sure the sauce is thoroughly thickened before combining or it will taste chalky.

Toss the chicken with the thickened sauce, sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve over rice.

Beef Stew (for the freezer)

A traditional beef stew needs a few modifications to be frozen, but it is possible.

The main things are potatoes and flour thickened sauces dont freeze well. 

For the flour I simply didn't thicken it with anything, you can add a flour paste at the end of reheating to serve if you want it thicker, I plan on just serving it as as.

A to potatoes I just left them out. I plan on serving this over rice, baked potatoes, or pasta

but you could boil a pot of potatoes chunks and stir them in at the end. 

10 lb of beef, cubed

8 large carrots, cut into thick coins

4 large onions, diced

10 stalks of celery, sliced

2 family sized can cream of anything soup

1/2 c. dehydrated onions

8 beef bouillon cubes

2 tsp granulated garlic

black pepper

6 c. frozen peas

2 can corn

2 disposable turkey sized foil roasting pans

(I used the cheapo kind that where 13 inches x something, not the biggest but the cheapest)

Toss half of the beef, carrots, onions, and celery in each pan. Add 1 can of soup to each pan along with 1/4 c. dehydrated onion, 4 beef cubes, 1 tsp garlic, and black pepper sprinkled across the top. Add 3/4 c. of water and stir everything together. Cover with tin foil and bake at 290 for 2 hours. Stir everything, recover the pans with the tin foil and bake at 350 until the meat is tender, about 2 - 3 hours. Remove from the oven and let cool for 20 minutes. Stir 3 cups of peas and 1 can of corn into each pan. Let cool to room temperature and divide into serving sized pan. 

I got 6 pans out of this recipe. You can make the portions a little smaller than you think since this is served over something the meal will be bigger than just what is in the pan. Cover the top with tin foil and freeze fat. Once the pans are frozen solid you can stack them on top of each other in the freezer. 

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To Serve
Leaving the tin foil on top of the stew, bake at 350 for 1 hour or until the gravy is bubbly. If you freeze in a plastic baking pan or tupperware this can be reheated in to microwave. Cook for a few minutes, stir, and then cook again, stirring every few minutes, until hot.

Mongolian Beef

I didn't have green onions on hand when I was making this, if you wish to use them add them after the beef is done cooking and saute until they are tender. They don't take nearly as much time to cook as white or yellow onions.

2 lb flank steak

2 large onions, sliced
splash oil

splash oil

1/2 in ginger, chopped

1 Tbsp minced garlic

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

1/2 tsp beef bouillon granules

1 c. water

1/4 c. brown sugar

Red pepper flakes to taste

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

Slice the flank steak against the grain very thin. 

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the beef and onions and cook over high heat, stirring, until completely cooked. Continue cooking until the liquid is completely absorbed. Reduce the heat to medium low-pour the sauce over the meat, simmer 3 - 4 minutes. Remove from heat and serve.


For the sauce. Heat the oil in a pot. Add the ginger and saute until fragrant. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds longer. Add the soy sauce, bouillon, water, brown sugar, and red pepper flakes. Simmer for 5 minutes. Combine the cornstarch and enough water to make a thin paste. Stir into the hot sauce mixture and cook until thick. Set aside until the meat is ready.

Jambalaya

 Another one to cook in large batched and eat later. Rice tenders to get a little crunchy when it is frozen so after it is thawed it need and additional 10 - 15 minutes on the stove.

3 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts

2 kielbasas, sliced

3 - 4 c. cooked ham

1/4 c. olive oil

2 large onions

3 stalks celery, sliced thin

1 Tbsp minced garlic

2 bell peppers, chopped

2 cans petite diced tomatoes, undrained

3 1/2 c. white rice

7 c. chicken broth

1 Tbsp oregano

1 Tbsp thyme
1 tsp. paprika

dash cloves

Salt & pepper 

Tabasco

2 cans tomato paste

Heat the oil in a really large skillet. Trim the chicken and season with salt and pepper. Cut in half lenghtwise and cook in the hot oil until well browned on both sides. Remove from the pans and set aside. When cool enough to handle, shred the chicken.

Cook the kielbasa in the same pan until brown and crisp. Remove and set aside. 

Add the onions and cook until translucent. Continue cooking until starting to brown. Add the celery and cook until the celery is tender. Add the peppers and garlic to the pan and cook for 20 seconds.

Add the uncooked rice to the pan and stir to coat the rice with the oil. Continue cooking until the rice is starting to brown. Add the chicken broth, diced tomatoes, oregano, thyme, cloves, paprika, and Tabasco.

Simmer over medium heat until the rice is mostly tender and most of the liquid is absorbed. Stir in the tomato paste. Let cook 2 minutes more, cover the pan and remove from the heat. Let sit, covered, for 25 minutes. Remove the lid and stir in the the ham, chicken, and kielbasa. 

Allow to cool to room temperature and put into 4 gallon sized freezer bags. Press to remove air and freeze. In the case I do not freeze mine flat, I smooth it out so it can lay flat them I fold it in half. That way the frozen jambalaya fits in my crock-pot to reheat. 

To Serve:

Microwave until thawed, place in a pot with 1/2 c. chicken broth or water and simmer until liquid is absorbed, rice isn't crunchy, and the jambalaya is heated through.

Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

So I made this in two parts. First on the stove and then in the crock pot because I didn't have time to let the rice cook in the crock pot. I couldn't leave it simmering on the stove while I was at church either but I wanted it done when it was time to eat. Feel free to add as much shredded turkey as you wish, or leave it out in favor of cooked lentils or white beans.

If you threw the veggies in the pot to cook with the wild rice you wouldn't have to saute them later, I just didn't think of it until after the rice was already in the crock pot.

1 1/4 c. wild rice

6 c. chicken broth

oil

1 onion

1 stalk celery, sliced

1 large carrot, diced small

1 can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted

1/2 - 3/4 c. milk, half-an-half, or cream or any combination of them

2+ c. cooked shredded turkey (or chicken, lentils, or white beans)

Simmer the wild rice and the chicken broth until the rice is just cooked enough to eat. 

Add to the crock pot and stir in the mushroom soup, dairy, and cooked turkey. In the pot you cooked the rice in heat the oil. Saute the onion, celery, and carrots until cooked, but not tender. Add to the crock pot. Cook on high for 1 - 2 hours. Taste and adjust salt or pepper (I used Mortons nature seasons)

Chicken with Orange Glaze SRC

This month for the Secret Recipe Club I got the very lovely Vanderbilt Wife. And I picked out a tasty looking recipe called Tilapia with Honey-Tangerine Sauce. The combination of tangerine with soy and honey looked droolingly delicious.

Right off I knew I had to make one change, since I cant eat fish, but I knew it would be great over chicken too, so I tried that. I made a few other changes to suit what I had on hand but you can be sure as soon as I can find tangerines I am going to make the sauce exactly the way she did.

I served it with rice, stir fried peas, and apple-pears. 

1 Tbsp butter

1 shallot

1/4 c. orange marmalade

1/4 c. water

1/4 c. low sodium soy sauce

1 Tbsp honey

1/2 tsp. sesame oil

dash ground ginger
1 large Tbsp cornstarch

3 large chicken breasts

Saute the butter and shallot until tender. Add the marmalade, water, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, and ginger. Whisk the cornstarch with water and stir in.

Trim the chicken and cut in half lengthwise. Lightly season with salt and cook in oil on both sides until cooked.

Spoon the sauce over the chicken and broil for 3 - 6 minutes until the sauce is sticky looking.

Red Beans and Brown Rice

I started my first blog , Bean Basics, in July of 2009, long before I started this blog. It was pretty specific though, it had to be a bean recipe. But since I was cooking with mostly beans, as a meat replacement at the time, it wasn't a huge deal. In fact it was really fun to write down all the creative things I came up with. This was the first recipe I posted there, it wasn't something I came up with on my own by any means, but it was one of my favorite recipes ever. My mom used to make it all the time when I was a kid. It's cheap to make, really simple to throw together fast, and it tastes like bacon. Don't let the simplicity of it not intrigue you, this is really fantastic, nothing else tastes quite like it.

What's not to love?

1 lb bacon

2 cans red beans

1 small onion, coarsely chopped

2 heaping tbsp. flour

1 tbsp. dried parsley

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. chili powder

1 - 2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. black pepper

Dash Mortons Natures seasons (optional)

Dash Tabasco sauce

3 or 4 c. cooked brown rice

Cook bacon until nice and crispy and then remove from pan. Saute the onion in the bacon grease until tender. Whisk in the flour and cook until thickened. 

Combine the liquid from beans and enough water to make 2 cups, add to the pan and whisk in. Cook until thick and bubbly. Add the beans and remaining ingredients and simmer 10 minutes. Top with reserved crumbled bacon and serve over brown rice.

Since beans have a lot of protein on their own I don't actually crumble the bacon on top like my mom did. We have BLT's for lunch and reserve just the drippings for dinner.

Perfect Brown Rice

I have a hard time with brown rice. It usually starts getting sticky and burning on the bottom of the pan before it's done, which I can never get it, it always stays crunchy in the middle. Either way it doesn't taste good. If you don't have this particular problem crongrats! You can continue on your merry way without having to read this post. If you CAN'T get it to work though, this is for you. And it's really simple too. 

2 c. brown rice

4 c. water

Salt to taste

Pour into a casserole dish, the water should be about an inch deep. Cover with tinfoil and bake at 350 until rice is tender. This takes about 40 minutes.

You can season it any way you want, chicken broth, onions, carrots, herbs, any other flavorings you want before you bake.

Coconut Rice

2 cans coconut milk
1 can size of rice (once the coconut milk is in the dish, use the empty can to measure the amount of rice to use)
1/4 c. sugar
dash nutmeg
pinch salt

Combine all in a 9x9 inch baking dish. Cover with tinfoil and bake at 350 for 1 hour, stirring a couple times during baking. Remove from oven and serve with mango.

Mujadara

Orzo is a rice shaped barley pasta that is perfect in this hearty, tasty, and lightly spiced Middle Eastern dish. It makes a great meal in itself alongside a green vegetable or as a side dish in a Middle Eastern dinner. This dish is lightly seasoned so you really get the right flavor without the spices being so overwhelming you cant taste anything else. As one diner at my table said, "it's not what I was expecting, but its still really good"









While it may look like a long time to be cooking, the onions take almost an hour, its not really active time. Once you add the sugar you leave them to cook, just stirring every 10 minutes or if they start to crackle. It also looks like a LOT of onions, and it is, but they cook down quite a bit.

You can make it with other grains too in place of the orzo, such as barley, quinoa, or brown rice, you just have to adjust the cooking time. In the past when i have used brown rice I just boil the pot of water and then cooked the rice for 20 minutes before adding the lentils to the same pot.

I'm linking up again to Presto Pasta Night being hosted over at Girlichef this week. Check out the round ups, always something (usually most everything) looks delicious





6 - 8 large onions, sliced
3 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp Olive oil
1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cumin
2 cloves fresh minced garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste

1 1/4 c. brown Lentils
1 1/2 c. Orzo

1/4 bundle Fresh Parsley, chopped

Heat butter and olive oil in a large skillet. Add the onions, and cook over low heat until translucent. Add the sugar and continue to cook over low heat until caramelized, about 45 - 60 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, cook the lentils in 3 cup water until soft enough to eat, immediately drain. Return to pan and add 4 cup of water and bring to a boil. Add the orzo and simmer until tender. Drain and add seasonings and then toss with onions.

Sprinkle chopped fresh parsley over the top and serve.

Harira (Moroccan Lentil Stew)

Harira is a Moroccan stew traditionally made with lentils, garbanzo beans, and tomatoes. What else you add to it differs from family to family. Orzo is most commonly used, I just prefer the brown rice. Lamb is also traditional, but not very economical.

This is a great food storage/pantry staple recipe. Its mostly dried or canned ingredients. Dehydrated onions and celery work great in here.

The lemon juice (which I always keep a bottle of in my fridge) and the cilantro are the only exceptions. Cilantro is usually cheapest at Wal-mart. They sell it loose in the produce section for $0.88 a bundle. This is the one thing where fresh is important.

Dates are also usually added, a handful of chopped raisins work to, I usually leave them out though.

This is also one of Johns favorite meals

My camera phone doesn't do it justice. The stew is a rich golden red color.

2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 can garbanzo beans
8 cups water
3 Knorr Vegetarian Vegetable bouillon cubes (chicken bouillon is really tasty here too)
1 tsp. Garlic powder
1/2 large bunch chopped fresh cilantro
Salt to taste
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 can tomatoes, undrained
2 Tbsp tomato paste
3/4 cup lentils
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp. each sweet paprika, turmeric, ground ginger, ground coriander
1/4 tsp. each ground nutmeg, black pepper
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
¾ cup brown rice

Heat the oil in a large pot until hot and add the onions and cook until tender.

Add all the remaining ingredients to the pot.

Simmer, stirring occasionally, 40 minutes, or until lentils and rice are both tender.

When tender remove from heat and serve.

It's a one pot meal (the best kind!)
Bit I still like to serve canned fruit with it.
Tonight's was frozen watermelon cubes.

Creole Style Gumbo

I while ago a friend and I went to Savannah for the day to have fun and goof off all under the name of "Cafe Hopping". Savannah disappointed us greatly. But we did find a really cool little local market with a gumbo seller. It was just a man at a table with two HUGE pots of gumbo (with and without seafood). It was amazing, especially his cornbread, which I haven't been able to re-create yet, sadly. We both left happy.

This is usually served with rice. You can just serve it over rice which is easier OR if you wants to do something fancy you can plate it.

Use a shallow bowl or a plate with a bit of a lip on it. Pour the gumbo in the bottom of the plate. Cook the rice so it's kinda sticky, at least sticky enough to hold together. Line a muffin tin with plastic wrap, one for each person you are plating for. Fill the lined muffin tins with rice, pressing some so that it is packed enough to hold its shape after you remove it. Chill for about 5 minutes, but not long enough so that it gets cold, you still want it warm. Remove from the muffin tin and place in the center of the plate with the gumbo already on it. Top the rice, called a timbale, with chopped fresh herbs for color.

For a cheaper option I usually replace the chicken with a can of kidney beans. Just drain the beans and after you have cooked the kielbasa leave it in the pan. Add the vegetables and cook according to the direction. Add the beans in when you add the tomatoes. You can also add shrimp to this, which is traditional, but I can't eat seafood so I don't.

I once made this in the early afternoon and then put it in the crock-pot to keep warm. It really changes the texture of the sauce, the kielbasa gets tough, and it cooks down so that it gets uber salty. It wasn't good, I don't think I will ever be doing that again. It also does not freeze well, the sauce turns kinda solid and rubbery and looses a lot of flavor. Not at all appetizing.

Also, just an interesting tidbit, in southern cooking the combination of onion, celery, and bell peppers is called the "Holy Trinity" and is used in most everything, with garlic of course.

This is really tasty served with cornbread on the side

Gumbo
1 lb. kielbasa, sliced on the bias
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into small pieces

5 large green onions, sliced, greens too
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1 small can pimentos
1 can diced tomatoes, partially drained
1/3 c. frozen okra, chopped (Fresh probably works too, I just got a huge bag of frozen at my grocery store and keep it in there for my increasingly frequent gumbo days)
1/2 tsp. parsley flakes
1/2 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Thyme
1/2 tsp Lowrys seasoning
1/4 tsp. gumbo file
Hot sauce to taste

Roux:
6 Tbsp. Butter
3/4 c. flour
1 cup water
1 Knorr brand vegetable bouillon cube (Other bouillons or broths work, I just like the vegetable since the flavor blends well with all the other flavors already going on in here)

Saute kielbasa until starting to brown a bit. Remove from pan and add the chicken. Cook until chicken is no longer pink. Add the kielbasa back to the pan and add the celery, cook until just starting to get tender. Add the green onions and garlic and cook 2 minutes. Add the bell peppers and cook another 30 seconds. Add pimentos, okra, tomatoes, oregano, thyme, lowrys seasoning, and gumbo file. Simmer on low.

For the roux - In a separate pan heat butter. Stir in flour and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally. Continue to cook over medium low heat, stirring constantly until it starts to darken and thin. When it is a golden orange\copper color turn the heat down a bit and continue to cook until it is a dark chocolate color. This takes quite a while, usually between 30 - 45 minutes. Be really careful to not let it smoke or it will taste burnt. Add one cup water and vegetable bouillon cube. Simmer for about 10 minutes and check the flavor, you want to make sure it doesn't taste too salty but still has a good flavor. When you like the taste combine an additional 3 Tbsp flour and just enough water to make a thin paste and stir it into the roux to thicken it.

Pour roux over kielbasa and vegetables and simmer an additional 10 minutes to blend the flavors.

While I know know this looks a bit like chili I promise it tastes nothing at all like it.