Red Beans & Rice

Ok so while I'm nursing my bruised Cooking Ego over last night's disastrous soup, I think you need to take a moment to VOTE FOR MY BIRTHDAY CAKE!!!  Today is your last chance to decide what I'm baking so make sure your voice is heard!

Then come back here and check out my new favorite comfort food.

Red Beans & Rice
Recipe slightly adapted from Food Network Magazine
Prep time: 10 minutes   Cook time: 20 minutes

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 pound turkey andouille or other smoked turkey sausage, coarsely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 15 1/2-ounce cans red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 cups cooked rice 

1.  In a medium pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and onion and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is softened, 3 to 5 minutes. 

Cook until onions are translucent and meat begins to brown.

2.  Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the beans, chicken stock, cumin, thyme, bay leaf, and pepper to taste and bring to a boil. 

Sometimes simple ingredients are the best ingredients.

3.  Cover, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes.  Serve the beans over the rice.

Cover, turn the heat down, and walk away!

For many years, the most I knew about red beans and rice was that it takes hours to make and "freezes beautifully."  And even though I'd never tried it before, I had it locked into my mind that it was bland and I just wouldn't like it.  

And then we spent a long weekend in New Orleans.  And a whole new world of food possibilities opened up for me.  I learned a little bit more about the origins of this dish.  Did you know that it was developed as an easy dish to throw together on the morning of Laundry Day (which was traditionally Monday), would cook all day, and then the tired mamas would have a hearty meal ready to go at dinner time?  I did not know that, but I do know that I am frequently a tired mama who would love to have a hearty meal ready to go at the end of a long day.  So why not give this a try?

I realize this recipe is of course an accelerated version, and I do plan on trying a more traditional recipe, but I just LOVE how simple, delicious, and easy this version is.  The sausage is just a little spicy.  The beans give this an almost creamy texture, and the little bit of sauce soaks into the rice and MAKES this dish.

Love it.  TOTALLY making this again!

Chicken, Bacon, Cheddar, & Rice Casserole

I know I really try to present a positive face here, but I have to be honest.  I have good days, I have bad days, and I have INSANELY MANIC days, just like anyone else does.

And I'm pretty sure I will be having nothing but INSANELY MANIC days until Gavin starts his first day of kindergarten.  So if my posting becomes a little sporadic in the next couple weeks, please know it's not you. It's me.  It's me trying squeeze the living daylights out of these last two weeks of summer.  It's me trying to teach Gavin that stomping, screaming, and throwing a temper tantrum is not an appropriate reaction to my asking him to pick up his toys.  And it's me trying to keep my newly-walking Kieran from figuring out every child-safety lock I've put in place around here.  Because he can.  It's frightening.

Is it any wonder with all this insanity around me that I need such amazing comfort food right now?

Chicken, Bacon, Cheddar, & Rice Casserole
Recipe from What's Cooking in the Burbs
Prep time: 20 min   Cook time: 45 min total

4 tbsp butter
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp seasoning salt
1 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
4 tbsp all-purpose flour
3 ½ cups chicken stock
3 ½ cups milk
1 ½ cups uncooked rice [Note: I used arborio because I didn't have enough long-grain. Use what you have]
3 cups cooked chicken, shredded or cubed
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1/2 cup cooked crumbled bacon [Note: I used 3 strips of bacon, but 4-5 would have been even more tasty]

1.  Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat and cook onions until translucent. Add garlic, seasoned salt, and pepper. Whisk in the flour and cook until the flour begins to brown a little, 2-3 minutes.

I love the smell of onions cooking in butter.

2.  Whisk the milk and stock into flour mixture.Turn heat to medium high and add 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese and continue to stir as mixture comes to a simmer.

It's a LOT of liquid, but trust me, it's necessary.

3.  Add rice and lower heat to medium low. Cook until the rice absorbs most, but not all, of the liquid and is tender, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.

Wrong pic for this step but I just like taking pictures of bacon.

4.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

5.  Add chicken and bacon to the rice mixture. Pour mixture into a lightly greased 9 x 13 inch casserole. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar on top of the casserole. Place in oven and cook for 20 to 25 minutes or until cheese is melted and casserole is bubbling.

I split this between two 8x8 pans and put one in the freezer for later.

This casserole was just what I needed.  It's hearty, comforting, and TAAAAAAAAAAAASTY.  And I managed a little Get Ahead option by freezing half of it for another night.  I love that!!  Although I have to say the best part about this is that Gavin was so excited about it.  The entire time I was cooking he kept popping his head into the kitchen to check on my progress, or to say how excited he was about the bacon and chicken.  Gotta love it when a picky eater looks forward to dinnertime!

Gavin also helped chop onions with my new little manual food chopper.

Chicken Biryani

I'm a planner.  You know this, right?  I have to be able to plan out my meals for the week so that I know what to shop for.  Nothing drives me crazier than wanting to make a dish and discovering I'm missing That One Ingredient.  Argh!!

But life has been topsy-turvy though since Kieran was born so my meal planning isn't as stellar as it used to be.  I have a bunch of meals in the freezer but I'm trying to space those out so they last as long as possible.  So there have been days where the calendar remained blank for that day's dinner.  Those days I have all day to obsess about what to make based on what I have available.  Sometimes that's fun.  Sometimes, not so much.

One day I got lucky though.  A friend of mine posted a link to a recipe she was trying out, and in looking it over, I realized that I could make it too WITHOUT heading to the store first!  Excellent!!

Chicken Biryani
Recipe adapted from Confections & Musings 

2 tsp canola oil
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup chopped onion (about 1 medium onion)
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced [I made this optional since I didn't have one handy]
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala 
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups chopped plum tomato [Or be like me and use a drained can of petite diced tomatoes]
1 cup uncooked basmati rice [I used whatever I had in my pantry canister]
1/3 cup raisins
1 3/4 cup low-sodium chicken stock
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro [optional but it REALLY brightens the flavor if you have it]
1/4 cup sliced almonds [optional but that little crunch adds awesome]
4 lime wedges

1.  Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan; sauté about 3 minutes. Add onion and jalapeño and cook another 3 minutes.

Psst! It's easier to cut up chicken while it's still a little frozen.

2.  Add ginger, garam masala, cumin, salt, and garlic; sauté 30 seconds. Add tomato, rice, raisins, and broth; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until rice is tender.

I keep my ginger peeled and in the freezer.  Lasts longer that way.

3.  Stir in cilantro. Sprinkle with almonds; serve with lime wedges.

Oooohhhhh delicious!

If you don't have Garam Masala on-hand, I'd really recommend getting it.  It's AMAZING and becoming more popular so you should be able to find it with the spices at your grocery store.  Otherwise you probably could make some of it yourself, since it's a blend of cinnamon, cumin, coriander, nutmeg, and other more common spices.

This dish is YUMMY.  So yummy in fact that I cannot wait to make this again, this time using more of the ingredients I felt were optional, especially the jalapeno.  If you aren't a fan of the heat though, leaving it out is just fine.  Because of the blend of spices in Garam Masala, you have this flavor that's somewhere between sweet (from the cinnamon) and spicy, but not HOT spicy.

Rice with Almonds & Raisins

Do you know what goes really well with Key West Chicken?  This.

Rice with Almonds & Raisins
Recipe from AllRecipes

1 tbsp butter
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup uncooked white rice
2 tbsp raisins
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup coarsely chopped almonds, toasted 

1.  Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Saute onion, stirring, until tender. Stir in the rice and raisins, letting the rice toast a few minutes.  Add the broth and season to taste. Bring to a boil. 

Rice. Broth. Raisins.  Let's party!

2.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 15 to 20 minutes, or until rice is cooked and liquid is absorbed. Stir in almonds before serving. 

Letting the rice toast a little adds more depth of flavor

Honestly, I could eat this for breakfast.  Yup, seriously, it's that good.  The raisins add a FABULOUS sweetness to the dish.  The onions and broth lend just a smidge of savory to the background.  And the toasted almonds give it this really fantastic crunch.  Because I love texture, as well as flavor contrast, this is totally a party in my mouth.  Yummy!!

Glazed Salmon with Spiced Carrots

So if I were to say the word "spicy," what would be the first thing that comes to mind?  Hot? Habenero?  Fire extinguisher?  Hmmm, interesting.  Believe it or not, "spicy" does not always have to result in flames racing across your tongue, incinerating every taste bud in it's path.  I mean, I like a good kick in the mouth as much as the next person but it's nice to shake it up a little too.  Spicy just means that something has lots of spices in it: hot, mellow, sweet, or savory.

Glazes are such fun!

I love to play with spices.  You hear a lot that "fat is flavor," which don't get me wrong because it is, however some of us just don't like or can't tolerate a gallon of oil or bacon fat in our food.  So how do I get to enjoy tasty food without frying something in 10 lbs of butter?  Yup, spices.  

I tried three new recipes in one meal, which is rare for me.  Normally if I'm trying a new recipe I stick with tried and true compliments to make sure there is something in the meal that I'm guaranteed to like.  However I came across this salmon recipe, which included the carrots as part of it, and I was stumped as to what to make with it.  Potatoes would be too heavy.  Rice?  Wild rice would be great with salmon however I know there is not a chance that my 3-year-old would eat wild rice.  And, I'm sorry, plain rice just didn't see worthy enough to serve with this.  So I did some quick digging and came across a Spiced Rice recipe.  Again, not spiced as in "holy God get me some water NOW".  But spiced as in a deeper, almost more mysterious flavor.  All together, this meal worked.  Plus it easily comes together in under a half hour (bonus!!).  

Glazed Salmon with Spiced Carrots

Recipe adapted from Food Network Magazine

1 lb carrots, peeled and thinly sliced on a bias (fancy word for saying you need to angle your knife as you cut)

4 tbsp olive oil, divided

4 salmon filets (I just used one big piece of fish that was scored into 4 pieces)

2 tbsp honey or agave nectar

1 tbsp dijon mustard

2 tbsp lime juice, divided

Salt & freshly ground black pepper

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp cumin  (LOVE CUMIN!!!!)

Dash of cinnamon

1. Preheat broiler.  In a medium bowl, toss sliced carrots with 1 tbsp olive oil.  Spread slices on 1/2 of a broiler pan and broil 2-3 minutes until they just start to soften.

2.  In a small bowl, whisk together 2 tbsp olive oil, dijon mustard, honey, and 1 tbsp lime juice.  Brush glaze on the tops and sides of the salmon filets.  Season with salt and pepper.  Lay filets on the other side of broiler pan.  Broil for 5-7 minutes or until salmon is cooked through and carrots have softened.

Two dishes, one pan, less cleanup.  Wahoo!!

3.  Let salmon rest a couple minutes while finishing the carrots.  In a medium bowl, combine last tbsp olive oil and lime juice with the coriander, cumin, and cinnamon.  Toss in carrot slices to coat.  

Next time I may add some chopped fresh parsley for some color

I served these two lovely dishes with Simple Spiced Rice.

1 tbsp butter

1 cup uncooked rice

1/2 small onion, chopped

2 cups water

1 tsp salt

2 whole cinnamon sticks

1 small bay leaf 

1.  Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, and cook and stir in the rice and onion until the rice kernels are coated with butter and the onion is translucent, 5 to 8 minutes. The rice will give off a slightly toasted fragrance. Pour in water, and mix in salt, cinnamon stick (break it in half if it won't fit) and bay leaf. 

Toasty!

2.  Bring the mixture to a boil, and reduce heat to medium-low. Cover the saucepan, and simmer the rice until all the water has disappeared and the rice appears dry, about 18 minutes. Fluff the rice with a fork and serve. 

I love the opportunity to use cinnamon sticks in my cooking

The end result of this meal?  Lovely, lovely spiciness.  The kind that warms you through and makes you happy (which, incidentally, is probably mainly from the cinnamon that's running through this entire meal).  I'd encourage you to play around with your spices. Spicy doesn't have to be chili powder and red pepper flakes.  Cinnamon, cumin, cardamom, allspice,... these are lovely ways to wake up those taste buds and warm the soul too. ;)