I was excited about some stuffed peppers when I saw some peppers on sale and as I contemplated the options of how to stuff them, I remembered I had some cooked pulled pork in the freezer and decided this would be a great option to put together. These turned out awesome. For the leftovers and to take to lunch, I un-stuffed them. I chopped them up, added a touch more bbq sauce and cheese, and put in my mini crackpots to take to lunch. And, it was awesome.
I’ve been on a little bit of a rice/rice bowl kick lately. With our little one at home, I appreciate being able to cook for the week and then diversify my lunch a bit each day. One version of this that I made was a barbecue rice. I looked online and found a little bit of inspiration from other sites, but ultimately didn’t see the recipe I was looking to use. My primary use for the rice was in a pulled pork stuffed pepper – recipe coming soon – but I was happy with how this turned out and the way of putting it all together in a meal. I also froze a little bit of the rice. I froze it on the dry side so that when it thaws back out I can add moisture to the level I want.
A few weeks ago, I planned to make arroz con pollo for dinner on a Sunday, using some rice from the cupboard, chicken legs from the freezer, and generally getting things taken care of around the house. Well, when the little one was having a rough weekend, my plans quickly shifted. I needed to adjust to food where holding him while cooking was going to be more possible. So, I decided to roast the chicken legs (recipe coming soon), and make this cilantro rice from The Native Mexican Kitchen. I did add a touch of lime at the end to brighten the flavors up a bit. Afterwards, I diced the chicken and turned the leftovers into a delicious week’s worth of protein bowls.
I’ve mentioned before I’m not a big seafood eater, but on occasion, I will eat some shrimp. This spring I made this pineapple cashew rice, my most recent meal from The Hungerpots. I made the mistake of thinking I had long-grain rice (I only had caltrose rice) and not having frozen peas in the freezer. The first night I ate it without adding any sriracha or cilantro. I also ended up adding a small can of pineapple juice to try and enhance the pineapple flavor even more.
Earlier this spring I got some pineapple fried rice from one of the restaurants near my workplace. It’s an occasional treat that I like to eat and I thought it seemed like something I should be able to make at home. I looked through a few cookbooks to see if I had a recipe for it and the Better Than Takeout Thai Cookbook had a version that looked like I could make fairly easily. The flavors were good — I enjoyed the leftovers for a few days after. I think next time I’ll cook the rice in some pineapple juice or do something to add a little more.
Along with the honey lime chicken sandwiches I made a couple days ago, I thought this rice would be a nice and easy side dish for my colleague and her friends to eat when they were in the process of moving. The recipe comes from Our Favorite Recipes, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Fort Collins, Colorado. I used to live in Fort Collins and one of the things I miss is really good green chile-flavored items. So, I was excited to try this recipe that incorporated some green chiles from an area that is generally excellent at incorporating green chiles. Because I don’t do a lot of cooking with rice, I forgot how much salt I’d need to add and found myself adding more after it was baked.
Sometimes leftover rice that’s been cooked calls for adding some vegetables to make it into a more thorough side salad and I saw this recipe in our Anderson Family Cookbook to throw together alongside some other items. The italian dressing and soy sauce created a great flavor combination, while the celery, onion, and bacon added a nice crunch alongside the rice. I was so happy with how this turned out.
I know I recently shared a recipe for using up leftover rice and here’s another one, although in this case, I used cauliflower rice. As we are getting closer to the cold days of winter, sometimes it’s nice to make a warm meal after work using fresh ingredients and this recipe has a number of ingredients I often have on-hand. I really liked this, although in hindsight, I would remove the chicken the next time I did this while cooking the vegetables because it ended up getting a little more dried out than I would have preferred. I was apprehensive about the balsamic vinegar, but in the end, really enjoyed the flavor it added.
Honey Dijon Chicken
3 c cauliflower rice
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
3 c chopped fresh broccoli
2 c chopped fresh mushrooms
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp tarragon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
Heat large skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook, stirring 3 – 5 minutes or until chicken is brown and partially cooked. Add broccoli, mushrooms, onion and garlic; cook 4 – 5 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir in rice, mustard, honey, vinegar, tarragon, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring 3 – 5 minutes or until well blended.
For our December potluck at work, I was up for making some soup and had some sweet potatoes in my house that I had harvested earlier in the fall. I started looking at different soup recipes that looked to be inspiring and this one, from the Good Neighbor Cookbook, looked to fit the bill. I assembled the soup the night before and then refrigerated it overnight. The rice had absorbed a lot of the broth overnight, so I ended up adding more broth the next day when I put the soup in my crockpot to take to the office. I was nervous that the soup was missing some flavor or wouldn’t be flavorful enough with the limited salt and other items, but I found that it was flavored quite nicely.
Sweet Potato and Rice Soup
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
4 ribs celery, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
8 c low sodium chicken broth
1 c long grain white rice
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, celery, and salt and cook, stirring often, until tender, about 10 minutes. Add the potatoes and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes more. Add the broth, rice, thyme, and pepper and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat and simmer until the rice is tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
In the middle of Iowa, there’s a fairly short period of time when sweet corn comes fresh from the cob, and this dish, from Denver and Boulder Chef’s Table, is full of Midwestern goodness. It incorporates bacon, sweet corn, and cheese curds (preferably from Wisconsin — luckily only an hour away from here, so Wisconsin cheese curds are plentiful). This recipe was a little time-intensive, and a little heavy for the hot summer day when I made it, but the flavor was great. I also love a cheese curd and incorporate them all the time into things, but if you find a great one, you’ll hear the curd squeak as you eat it, so something to watch for when purchasing your curds. While not Wisconsin, one of my favorite local cheese curd purveyors is WW Homestead Dairy. With fresh sweet corn, leftover milk from my ice cream making adventures this summer, and some bacon ready-to-be cooked, I knew it was time to make this recipe.
Corn and Bacon Risotto with Wisconsin Cheese Curds and Paprika Oil
Paprika Oil:
2 fluid ounces canola oil
1 tsp smoked paprika
Roasted corn:
2 ears sweet corn, shucked
1 Tbsp canola oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Roasted garlic puree:
2 heads garlic
1/2 c canola oil
Corn puree:
3 ears corn, shucked
1 quart milk
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
Risotto:
1 quart chicken stock
1 Tbsp canola oil
1/4 c finely diced yellow onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1 c Arborio rice
1/2 c white wine
salt to taste
1 medium red bell pepper, deveined and diced small
3/4 c Wisconsin cheddar curds
6 strips, bacon, cooked until crispy, divided
2 Tbsp chopped chives, divided
Salt and pepper to taste
To make the paprika oil: Pulse the ingredients to combine in a blender, pour into a small container or squeeze bottle, and let sit until the paprika settles. Strain and reserve.
To prepare the roasted corn: Slice the kernels carefully off the cob with a knife. In a pan with canola oil over medium heat, lightly saute them until tender, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Next, roast the garlic: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Slice off the tops of the bulbs so that the tips of the cloves are showing. Place top-down in a shallow baking pan and pour oil over the top. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and place in oven until tender and golden, about 1 hour. Remove and let cool, reserving the oil in the refrigerator for future use (it’s great on bread or in pasta sauce). hen ready to handle, press the roasted cloves out of the bulb and mash them with a fork or use a food processor to grind them into a paste. Set aside.
To make the corn puree: Slice the kernels carefully off the cobs. Add them along with the milk and herbs to a small saucepan and, over medium heat, bring to a simmer. Cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Strain the kernels, reserving the milk but discarding the herbs; place in a blender and puree, adding milk as necessary (use as little as possible) until the consistency is smooth. Cover with wax paper or plastic wrap to prevent the formation surface skin and set aside.
Begin the risotto: In a medium pot, bring the stock to a simmer. Add canola oil to another good-size pot and sweat onion and garlic over medium-low heat. Add rice and toast until translucent. Deglaze with white wine. Add 3/4 c stock to the risotto, stirring continuously. When the liquid is almost gone, add another 3/4 c and keep stirring. Repeat until rice is tender yet still has tooth, about 20-25 minutes. (You will likely use all the stock, though a little less or more may be needed to ensure the proper al dente texture.) Salt to taste.
When the risotto is finished, fold in the roasted corn kernels, 2 Tbsp of roasted garlic puree, 4 Tbsp corn puree, diced red pepper, cheddar curds, 4 pieces of bacon crumbled into small pieces, and 1 Tbsp of chives. Heat a few minutes until the cheese begins to melt. Season to taste. Ladle into four bowls and garnish each with a half piece of the other two bacon slices, remaining tablespoon of chives and paprika oil. Serve at once.
I will make crafts and cook better 