Miracle Rice

I bought Rice Select Royal Blend ( White, Brown, Wild and Red.  The rice simply looked appealing and I couldn’t pass it up even though it is expensive.  Little did I know, what a smart move, this was.  Either the rice is miracle rice, or how I made it, earned the title.  All, I know is that this dish was scrumptious plus.

The recipe comes on the bottle although I changed it, for the better, I think.

Ingredients:                       

1 cup uncooked rice mix

1 1/2 cup organic vegetable broth

1 teaspoon margarine

7 small mushrooms sliced

2 small onions, sliced

1 teaspoon olive oil

Method:

Combine all ingredients, except rice and mushrooms and olive oil.

Bring to a boil.  Stir once.

Cover with a tight fitting lid.  Reduce heat and simmer for fifteen minutes.

While the rice is cooking, in a skillet, lightly brown the mushroom and onion slices.  Cook for about three minutes.

Remove from oheat and let stand, covered, for another five minutes.

Add the onions and mushrooms to the rice.  Mix well but gently.  Let stand for another five minutes.

Eat hardy.

He Did It By Himself Chicken

I make chicken for almost every Friday night and seek out a new recipe, each week.  This week, hubby offered to make the chicken if I would select the recipe.  Good deal to take.  I asked him what he wanted and he said a “stir-fry”.   Great, I love them.  I told him to pick out a generic cookbook and I would find a recipe.  Do you know the danger there is in asking a man to pick out a cookbook when he does not know Florence Tyler from Pillsbury?   I am not sure which was his first choice but it could have been Dorie’s or another without chicken recipes.  It did not take that long to get a Taste of Home annual.  It took me only a minute to find THE RECIPE.  It is appropriately called. Chicken Stir-Fry.  How could I go wrong?

The moment, I saw, it called for ginger and soy sauce,  I knew, I was in safe territory.  The next clue, I had, this would be a success was the vegetables, in the recipe.  He did a fantastic job.  It tasted slightly oriental and with a lovely rice dish, I had previously made, we had a great combination.

Chicken Stir-Fry   adapted from the 1997 Taste of Home Annual Recipes.

He Did it Himself Chicken 

2 cutlets, halved

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon ginger (dried)

2 tablespoons Canola oil

1/2 bag of frozen stir fry veggies (cauliflower, carrots, broccoli)

1 small onion, cut into small wedges

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 cup vegetable broth

Cut chicken into one half strips.

Place into a resealable plastic bag.

Add cornstarch to chicken in bag and shake to coat.

Combine soy sauce and ginger and add to plastic bag.  Shake well.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes

Remove from refrigerator.

In a large skillet, heat two tablespoons of oil.

Stir-fry chicken  until no longer pink, about three to five minutes.

Remove and keep warm.

Add remaining oil and stir-fry the vegetables for t minutes or until crisp tender.

Add vegetable broth (or chicken broth)

Return chicken to pan and cook and stir until thickened.

Enjoy.  I did. 

  

Brown Sugar Chewies

This week, in My Girl Paula, we are selecting any recipe that appeals to us.  These cookies sound like my kind of cookie.  The clue is the word, “chewy.”  I am off to bake them so I can report back to you.  Never too late for a good cookie.

Brown Sugar Chewies      Paula Deen                       9 servings        adapted

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup margarine

• 1 cup packed light brown sugar    

• 1 egg, beaten

• 3/4 cup gluten-free flour mix

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/4 cup chopped pecans

• Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray an 8-inch square pan with vegetable oil cooking spray.

In a small saucepan, melt the margarine.

Turn off the heat, add the brown sugar and stir until smooth.

Stir in the egg.

Stir together the flour and baking powder and stir into the brown sugar mixture.

Stir in the vanilla and pecans. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes.

When cool, dust the top with a sifting of confectioners’ sugar.

 

Little Dreams with Salmon

Dinner was looming ahead and I didn’t feel like cooking.  Hubby called and offered to bring dinner home without me, mentioning this.  Mental telepathy.  I turned him down since he would still need a gluten free meal.  If I am cooking for one, I can cook for two.

It is curious how we love to cook but when we don’t want too, it grows in size, as an obstacle.  My green monster was growing larger by the moment.  I did what I usually do when I don’t want to cook and decide to.   I made pasta.  I am still a cook, at heart, so I couldn’t just make pasta.  I had to make a meal out of pasta and my fooling around turned out to be ugly and delicious.

Ingredients:

a piece of salmon

2/3 package pasta of choice

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 cup vegetable broth

3 mushrooms

1/2 red onion

1/2 yellow pepper

salt and pepper to taste

3/4 cup ricotta cheese

I started by pairing pasta and salmon.  If you add salmon, you can do almost anything to it and it will be good. 

I took one pot and one skillet and put water to boil, in both of them. 

When the water in the skillet began to sputter, I put one piece of salmon into it.  (only feeding two of us) 

In the saucepan, I poured about 2/3 of the bag of little dreams, such cute pasta.  Follow directions on package.

Cook salmon in a combination of water and lemon juice for about twenty minutes till cooked.                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                                            

Remove salmon and put aside.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Using the same skillet, lightly fry mushrooms, red onion and yellow pepper.  Cook for a few minutes.

Combine the pasta, salmon, cut into pieces and vegetables.  

Add a heaping few tablespoons of ricotta cheese.

Mix everything together and heat in oven or microwave for a short time until everything is warm or hot, according to your taste.

This got a B+ from hubby who had low expectations of this dish.  Now, he wants it again.

Crispy and Creamy Potato Pie – Tyler Florence

I am sure that I am not the only person to miss our Tyler Florence Fridays or perhaps, I should say, Tyler’s recipes.  As I look back, I find many recipes that turned out to be special.  The one that means the most to me is his recipe for spaetzle.  I remember having this as a child but then, it was big and clumpy, Not Tryler’s.  His spaetzle were small and prettily shaped and best of all, I could not get enough of them.

It seemed like a good idea to make another Tyler recipe.

Crispy and Creamy New Potato Pie

Tyler Florence

4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

• 2 pounds potatoes, washed and halved        
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon horseradish ( prepared)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup chives, chopped
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Wash and boil potatoes in salty water with bay leaf until fork tender.

Drain potatoes and mash along with horseradish, sour cream, and chives.

Season with salt and pepper.

Put mixture into a 10-inch skillet with 1 tablespoon olive oil and bake until golden and crispy.

To serve, invert onto a plate and cut into pieces.

They Just Look Like Tarts – CEiMB

This is the weekly recipe from Ellie Krieger.   Our wonderful host is Bella Baker who is celebrating her thirtieth birthday.   Aw, go ahead and wish her a Happy One.

 These are supposed to be more like puffs but there were some logistical problems with gluten products so I changed them and made these adorable tartlets.  This is my new tart pan who says a tart needs a crust?

Thanks again to Ellie for a great recipe  and to Sara of imafoodblog.com., our hardworking leader.  Now, go and enjoy.  Check out the other results at Craving Ellie in My Belly.

After the intermission, we will show  you this premier and sell you popcorn and soda.  As a bonus, you will get the recipe.

Mock Crablets

Ingredients:

• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 pieces of roasted red pepper 
• 1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
• 1 scallion, including green top, finely chopped
• 1 pound MOCK crab
• 3/4 cup corn meal
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:                                                                                  

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Spray mini tart pan or min muffin tins.  The tart pans turn out to be really pretty.

In a medium bowl mix together the egg, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, and roasted peppers.

Stir in the bell pepper and scallion.

Gently fold in the MOCK crab, 3/4 cup of the corn meal and salt and pepper to taste.

Fill each tartlette with batter.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until lightly golden.

These would make a great appetizer.  They look pretty and can be picked up without them falling apart.  They are tasty as well.  Easy to make.  Easy to eat. 

Salmon with Maple Glaze

I have been posting my salmon recipes, on Sweet and Savory Says it All, for the past few weeks.  Time to bring them back here.  It is exciting to find so much of a variety when making salmon.  I am not sure where I got today’s recipe but it is a good one.   If you have seen it before, please let me know where.  I want to give credit where credit is due.

Salmon with Maple Glaze

2 salmon steaks

1/4 maple syrup

1 tablespoon creamy Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon soy sauce or 1/2 tablespoon Tamari

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

While the oven is heating up, place in a plastic bag, all ingredients.  If you want a longer  marinating time, make this, earlier in the day and refrigerate.

Pour salmon and marinade into baking pan.  I use 9 inch round or square for two salmon steaks.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Remove from the oven and enjoy.

Maple-Mustard Chicken Thighs CEiMB

I look forward to seeing the new recipes posted at Craving Ellie in My Belly.  I usually run them all off rather than take a chance on dirtying the cook book.  Why do I buy them?  Nowadays, we seem to be able to get loads of recipes online, yet I love having cookbooks and cooking magazines around, to read.  I don’t know about anyone else but I learn so much.  Even hubby was reading Mark Bittman’s, How to Cook Everything.  I pick up the greatest tips, reading anything about cooking.

I was pleased when I saw that we were cooking a mustard chicken but not so pleased that it called for  dark meat.  I do want to thank  Tessa from Handle the Heat for selecting  this recipe.  Although, I don’t particularly like mustard, I love it with chicken.

All my children love dark meat but hubby and I hold out for the white.  I had a package of cutlets, in the freezer, so I happily got rid of one more item filling my freezer.  It is that periodic “clean it out” time.  It was filled with so much for Chanukah that it ended up with almost every inch crammed full.

I defrosted them  (the cutlets) in the fridge so when I went to use them, they were still partially frozen and easy to cut.  I took the frozen chicken in one slab and sliced it in about  inch sized pieces, probably a bit bigger.   I got this rich and thick “glob” and I knew it was going to be good.  Yes, I know, “glob” is not the most appetizing word.  Sorry.       

Maple Mustard Chicken  (adapted)                    Ellie Krieger                                        Here is the original recipe.

2 to 4 servings

 Ingredients

• 4 chicken cutlets
• 2 tablespoons grainy  mustard
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Rinse chicken and pat dry.

Combine mustard, garlic, marjoram and maple syrup in a small bowl.

Spread about 1 1/2 tablespoons mustard mixture evenly on top of each chicken thigh, being careful to cover as much of the surface as possible to form a “crust.”

Arrange chicken in a glass baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes, or until mustard mixture has formed a crust and is slightly hardened, and juices run clear when the chicken is pierced.

This is an easy recipe to put together.  Basically, it is making a  sauce and getting a pan to bake  in.  There are only a few ingredients.  It went quickly and turned out nicely.  I would gladly make it again.

       

                                                                                         

Linguine with Lemon, Mushrooms, Garlic and Thyme IHCC

This week, I  Heart Cooking Clubs, IHCC is having potluck so we can choose any of Nigella’s recipes.   Since, I have a yearning for pasta, I went seeking an easy lunch recipe that had flavor and this fits the bill.  Unfortunately, I had neither parsley or thyme, in the house, but I got around that with dried ingredients. 

I am also sending this to another of my favorite places, Presto Pasta Nights, PNN being hosted by Reeni of Cinnamon and Spice and Everything Nice (perfect name for Reeni).    Thanks to Reeni and our leader, Ruth who originated the idea of Presto Pasta Nights and kept it going, successfully, all this time.

Fettucini with Lemon, Mushrooms and Garlic                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Ingredients

• 4 ounces thin sliced mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon  extra-virgin olive oil
• 1  teaspoons  salt
• 1 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 lemon, zested and juice
• 1/2  pound fettucine -  gluten-free
• 1 T dried parsley
• 2 to 3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan, or to taste
•  ground black pepper , to taste

Method:

Slice the mushrooms finely, and put them into a large bowl with the oil, salt, minced garlic, lemon juice and zest.

Cook the pasta according to the package instructions and drain loosely retaining some water.

Quickly put the pasta into the bowl with the mushroom mixture.

Toss everything together well, and then add the parsley, cheese and pepper before tossing again.

Eat with joy in your heart. (Nigella has a way with words.)

My Green Soup that Started Out Red – IHCC

I owe this soup to Nigella but there is absolutely no resemblance to it except for the rice and tomato.  This is not an insult to Nigella who is a superior cook but to me who has recipes grown on her.  That is exactly what happened.

Nigella said to start with tomato sauce but being an obstinate person, I used canned whole tomatoes.  I just couldn’t use sauce.  Where was the challenge?  I had planned to spice this up and add the rice and maybe a little something hanging out, in the fridge.  I guess, I did that but…….

I am using my crock pot and this soup is cooking or just starting, as we read and write, but after work, I will add a finished photo.

Ingredients:

1 16 ounce can whole tomato, mushed                                                                            Before Photos

3 cups vegetable broth 

2 cups water  plus another 1 or more                                                                                                                        

3 stalks celery chopped roughly

4 scallions, chopped

2 cups green cabbage                         

1 cup chopped spinach

2 teaspoons parsley

1/2 teaspoon coriander                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

1 teaspoon basil

1 tablespoon brown sugar

handful of rice (that comes from Nigella and she uses basmati)

smidge of black pepper (I know.  It is not green.  Neither are the tomatoes.)                              

This is one of those throw it in the pot and cook.  I put every ingredient, except the rice, in the crock pot and left it piled up for a photo shoot.  Without the shoot, it would have been mixed up.

I will put the rice in before I leave the house and mix it in thoroughly.  If necessary, I am going to add some more veggie broth.  I will have to let you know.  I am not up to that, yet.

Mine will cook on medium for four hours. 

I am betting it will be good.  It was but if you don’t like cabbage, you may not like this.  The cabbage gave it the strongest taste.  I am going to make this with either sausage and mustard or meatballs and tomato sauce.