Rice Pilaf

Rice pilaf

This is such an easy dish to make and it is TASTY. I could be because you saute everything in butter... humm, so you could make it a titch healthier if you cut some of the butter. heh heh. anyway- on to the main event, rice. This is a great recipe to use some of that left over rice.

Here is what you need:

1.5 cups uncooked rice
1 bell pepper
1 onion
4-5 cloves of garlic
mushrooms

Start by cooking your rice. Use a two to one ratio of water to rice, so if you have 1.5 cups of rice then use 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil for two minutes and then set on low and let it simmer for 20 minutes. In the mean time saute onion, garlic, red bell pepper, and then start on the mushrooms. By the time you are finished with the vegetables the rice will be done. If you have a wok it is probably an appropriate pan for making this dish since it will be bigger than your skillet- but i have yet to bust that bad boy out. But it does leave a mess if you stick with the smaller pan. ANYWAY- (i have a problem with rambling sometimes). Add a few more tabs of butter to the rice and then season with sage, garlic powder, chicken bullion, and pepper. And enjoy!!!

Chicken and Mushroom soup

Look at me multitask!
Simmering soup... mmm!
After the tomatoes, peppers, onions, and garlic have been roasted in the oven...

the finished product. SO GOOD... if i do say so myself.

Chicken and mushroom soup-

What you need:
Rotisserie chicken
2-3 cups carrots
2-3 cups celery
1-onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
3-4 tomatoes
2 red bell peppers

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Next, set your stove top to a medium high heat and fill your pot about half way full of water. Add chicken bones, skin anything that is left from separating the actual chicken from the carcase. (i know it sounds kind of gross... but stay with me people, you WILL NOT regret it.) Add 3-4 cubes of chicken bullion and let it boil for 45 minutes.

Place the chicken in a air tight container in the fridge and save for later. Next you want to get out your tomatoes. You can either blanch them in boiling water for one minute so the skins will come off easily OR you can just go ahead and cut them into quarters and deal with the skins later. i have done it both ways and it works both ways. Place tomatoes in a greased 9x13 pan. cut onions into bite sized pieces. Put half of the onions in the 9x13 pan with the rest of them put in a pan to saute. Mince a few cloves of garlic and place in the pan and the rest put in the pan to saute. And finally cut your red peppers and place in the pan. Salt, Pepper veggies and then drizzle a little olive oil on the top of the veggies. Place in the oven for 20 minutes.

In the mean time you are busy sauteing onions, garlic, celery. By the time you get here you can usually strain your bones and discard. I just have a huge bowl that i strain the broth into and then as soon as the pot is empty of all of the stragglers put the broth back into the pot. Add 5-6 cups of warm water to the broth and add 3-4 more cubes of bullion. Turn the heat down to a medium low heat. Add one cup of rice. Chop and add carrots, and all of your sauteed items to broth. Start sauteing mushrooms and in the mean time the tomatoes, peppers, and onions should be done. Add them to the soup. Cut up the chicken that you placed aside and add to soup. Continue to saute the mushrooms and add them to the soup as they brown. Remember- don't crowd the mushrooms or they won't brown! (That is from Julie and Julia) I end up doing about 1.5 sliced mushrooms at a time and they brown nicely.

When you are finished with that... and truthfully it kind of takes awhile to saute the mushrooms. But when you are finished you can season the soup with thyme, garlic powder, sage, salt, pepper. Don't skip this step because the soup will be mediocre at best without them. But with them they will make your soup sing!

I like to serve this with crusty bread and sometimes I slice an avocado on top. This recipe makes a pretty full pot. I never have figured out how to scale it down. If you figure it out let me know. If not there is plenty for leftovers and even more to freeze for later. Enjoy!

Pork Fried Rice

Ingredients:

1 cup bean sprouts

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup sliced mushrooms (3 oz)

3 cups cold cooked rice

1 cup cut-up cooked pork

2 medium green onions sliced (2 tablespoons)

2 large eggs, slightly beaten

3 tablespoons soy sauce (*We found 3 tablespoons to be WAY too much.  My sister made it with 1 1/2 tablespoons and said it was perfect.)

Dash of white pepper

1. Rinse bean sprouts with cold water; drain.  2.  Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in 10-inch skillet over medium heat; rotate skillet until oil covers bottom.  Cook mushrooms in oil about 1 minute, stirring frequently, until coated.  3.  Add bean sprouts, rice, pork and onions.  Cook over medium heat about 5 minutes, stirring and breaking up rice until hot.  4. Move rice mixture to side of skillet.  Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to other side of skillet.  Cook eggs in oil over medium heat, stirring constantly, until eggs are thickened throughout but still moist.  Stir eggs into rice mixture.  Stir in soy sauce and white pepper.

*The recipe says to use cold rice, even day old rice, because it prevents it from getting mushy.  We didn't have day old rice, so we made some in the microwave and then stuck it in the fridge until it had cooled down a little.  That worked just fine.