Rice and Broccoli Timbales

This is a favorite of Ryan, my husband.  I like it too.  I think most normal kids would, but due to just plain stubbornness, mine take their two requisite bits and run away from the table.

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked rice (the original recipe calls for wild rice, but I use plain old white)
1 10-oz package chopped broccoli, cooked until tender-crisp and chopped into small pieces
1 tbsp chopped fresh or 1 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp salt
3 oz cream cheese
2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup spaghetti or marinara sauce, heated

Directions:

Combine all ingredients except the marinara sauce in a bowl.  Blend well.
Put a spoonful of marinara sauce on each plate and spread around.  Spray a 10 oz custard cup with nonstick cooking spray.  Press 3/4 cup mixture into cup; invert onto serving plate.  Repeat with remaining mixture.  If desired, pour remaining sauce over timbales.  Sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese if desired.

The last time we made this, we decided to entice the kids even more by shaping them with cookie cutters.  It didn't work, but they looked good.

 Forming the timbale with a heart cookie cutter.

 I have a new picture editing program and I turned these pictures in the program, but can't get them to show up that way.  Sorry about that.  But here is the heart for my daughter.

And the teddy bear for my son.

Beef and Bean Stir Fry

This one came from Reader's Digest. Unfortunately I partially botched the recipe a bit. But it wasn't irreparable. I just don't doubt that it could've tasted way better than it did.

Ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 lb. boneless beef top loin steak, trimmed of fat and cut in thin strips (I used ground beef. Not too fancy, I know.)

2 gloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. chopped fresh ginger (I didn't use fresh ginger, but ground)

2 carrots, thinly diagonally sliced

3 1/2 cups brooli florest (8 oz.)

6 green onions, cut in long thin strips (I'm pretty sure I didn't have any. Don't recall if I substituted with yellow onions or not.)

1/4 cup orange juice concentrate, thawed, or orange juice (Here's where I messed up. I put the whole container of concentrate, then when I realized, tried to scoop some back out. Needless to say, ours was a bit heavy on the orange flavor.)

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1 15-oz. can cannellini beans

In 12-inch skillet with flared sides or a large wok heat 1 tbsp. of the oil over medium-high heat. Cook and stir beef, garlic, and ginger until beef is browned, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from skillet. Heat remaining oil. Add carrots and broccoli; cook and stir 3 minutes. Add green onions; cook 1 minute more.

Add orange juice concentrate, soy sauce, and crushed red pepper; toss to coat. Add cooked beef and beans; cook until heated through.

We serve with rice. Although the flavor was a bit off, I still recall enojoying it and know that if I followed the recipe better (and added green onions) it would be even better. Perhaps one of you can cook it properly and let us know? :)

Hawaiian Haystacks

I first had Hawaiian Haystacks at a luncheon at church put on by a lady who lived in Hawaii most of her life.  I have come across a few recipes since then for the sauce, and this, by far, is most like Sister Watanabe's.  It's really easy to make and is just scrumptious.

If you've never had them before, here's how they work.  You start with a pile of rice, topped with the sauce.  You then add a variety of toppings that suits your taste.  I've also heard them referred to as chinese sundaes.

Ingredients:

2 c. chopped green pepper (or one can Ortega green chilis)
1/2 c. margarine or butter
2 c. chicken broth
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 c. flour
2 cups milk or evaporated milk (I've never used evaporated)
2 cans chicken chunks or 2 boiled chicken breasts, cut into chunks

Instructions:

Saute green peppers in butter in the bottom of a pot.  Add chicken broth, salt, and pepper.  Whisk flour in slowly.  Add milk.  Bring to a boil.  Add chicken. 

Now, a lesson to be learned here is that whenever you use flour or cornstarch to thicken a sauce, you MUST let it come to a full boil.  It will never reach it's full thickening potential without it. 


As far as toppings, go, there are a few things that are kinda considered essentials for every haystack.

• Grated cheese
• Pinapple
• Something onion-y; chives, green onions, or diced purple onion are good choices
• Something ham-y; bacon bits, diced ham, or crumbled bacon

Let your imagination go from there.  I like raisins.  My husband likes coconut and crispy chinese chow mein noodles.  I've seen corn, water chestnuts, mandarin oranges, slivered almonds, and peanuts.  Just use your imagination and whatever you have lying around the house.

The best thing about this dish is that everyone can personalize it to their own tastes.  It is easy to please even the pickiest eaters with this dish.

Here was my evening's creation with the sauce, cheese, raisins, pineapple, bacon bits, and some chives from my garden that you can't see but are really there.  I usually put corn on mine too but we were out.

Teriyaki Chicken with Cabbage

Hi again.  My wonderful sister Julie has invited me to be a regular contributor to her blog.  Well; she didn't invite as much as I asked.  As I've expanded my repertoire in the kitchen I've realized how much fun it is to cook and now have a desire to share that with everyone else.  And so here I am. 

I'm going to start with one of my favorite easy recipes.  I know what you're thinking after reading the title.  "Are you serious lady?  Uh-uh.  No way.  Chicken and cabbage do not belong in the same dish."  Well, that was what I thought, too, the first time my sister-in-law served this.  And now I love it.  It's one of those dishes that's not really an exact science.  You take the ingredients and cook however much your family needs.  So I'm not giving quantities, just ingredients.

Ingredients:

Chicken pieces.  I prefer thighs; tonight was breasts
Teriyaki Sauce
Cabbage
Vegetable Oil
White Rice

Instructions:

Marinate the chicken in teriyaki sauce.  The original recipe says to marinate for 2 days, but let's be serious here...  I rarely think about my meals that far in advance.  I've marinated it for as little as 2 hours.  The flavor isn't as rich, but it's still good.  Cook the chicken in an oven-safe casserole at 375 for 35-40 minutes.

Put some white rice onto boil.  I like to rinse it first when doing this recipe because I like the sticky texture it gets.  Everyone has a method for making perfect rice, and here's mine:  Add 1 part rice and 2 parts water to the pan.  Cover it, and start the flame on high until boiling, then turn it down to as low as it will go.  When pocks form in the rice, turn it off and let it sit until you're ready to eat.  I like using my glass-lid pot for making rice.  That way I don't have to keep lifting the lid to tell if I have pocks yet.

Next, cut your cabbage into strips.  (I do about 1/4 -1/3 an average cabbage for my husband and I; the kids refuse to eat it.)  Put a little oil in the bottom of a frying pan.  Add the cabbage.  Add salt and pepper.  (I tend to be liberal with the pepper.)  Cook it down until the cabbage is wilted but still has a little bite.  It will continue to soften after you take it off of the heat, so don't let it cook too much. 

When your chicken is done, shred it with two forks. 

Serve with the rice on bottom, then the cabbage, and then the chicken. 

I forgot to take a picture until the end of dinner; hence the haphazard look to the pile of food.  I had been trying to convince my son that it really is chicken, which he loves, and that he can eat the chicken without eating the green.  But no such luck tonight.

Since I only used about 1/3 of the cabbage tonight, I'll be sharing another cabbage recipe soon.

Rice Balls

This is a new idea for me, but I love it. This post is done by a guest author, my talented sister Heidi. She wanted to make this recipe and I hadn't yet. So we figured it would be a great opportunity for her to guest-blog! Enjoy her wonderful recipe!

~ Julie

Like many moms of young children (mine are 18 months and *almost* 3) I often struggle with what to make for lunch. I find myself in the same rut: mac & cheese, pb&j, grilled cheese, and quesadillas. I like chicken nuggets (as do my kids) but after watching an episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution where he shows how chicken nuggets are made (ewwww) I can't ever do that to my children again. So I set out on a mission, to find easy but healthy food to feed my kids. Of course, the first thing I turn to is Mrs. Jerry Seinfeld's book, Deceptively Delicious. I thought the Rice Balls looked easy and wondered if I made a double batch, would they freeze well. I called my baby sister Julie and discussed the possibilities. She invited me to try it and then do a guest post on her blog. And here I am.

The recipe is as follows:

1/2 cup short grain brown rice (or 1 cup leftover cooked rice) - I have come a long way in eating whole grains and whatnot, but when it comes to rice, I will never cross over to the dark side. It was long-grain, nutrient-lacking white rice for me, which was leftover from dinner a couple of nights before.
Nonstick cooking spray
3 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 pound chicken cutlets, rinsed and dried - I made boneless skinless chicken breasts for dinner the night before and just cooked up a couple of extra then.
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup sweet potato puree
1/4 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese - Frankly, I think reduced fat cheese is almost as much of an insult to all that is yummy as american cheese is. Yuck.
1/4 low fat buttermilk - I didn't have buttermilk so I used plain whole milk.
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup spinach or broccoli or butternut squash puree - I used butternut squash
1 1/2 cup whole wheat cracker crumbs or breadcrumbs
*Her recipe didn't call for flax seed meal, but most of her breaded recipes do so I threw in a couple of tablespoons just for good measure

Instructions:

1 - Place the rice in a small saucepan with 1 cup of water; cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to very low and cook until the rice is tender, 30 to 40 minutes. You can also use your rice steamer.

2 - Meanwhile, coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set it over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add 1 tsp oil. Sprinkle the chicken with 1/4 tsp salt and the pepper, and cook until no longer pink in the center, 4 to 5 minutes per side.

3 - Cut the chicken into chunks and place them in a food processor or blender. Add the sweet potato puree, cheese, 1 tsp salt, and the buttermilk, and blend until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and stir in the cooked rice.

Roll the mixture into 1-inch balls and place them on a sheet of waxed paper or aluminum foil.

4 - In a shallow bowl, beat the egg and vegetable puree with a fork. Put the crumbs (and flax seed) in the bowl. One at a time, dip the rice balls in the egg mixture, then roll them in the crumbs to make sure it has an even coating.

**This is where I deviated from the recipe. I stuck them in the freezer on cookie sheets until they were frozen. then I put them in freezer safe bags and waited for a few days to see how they would work as a frozen food.

5 - Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set it over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add the remaining 2 teaspoons oil. Add the rice balls and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, turning occasionally and spraying with cooking spray until browned and crisp all over. Serve warm.

I found that they did very well going straight from freezer to pan. You just need to make sure that when you cook them, the pan isn't so hot that you burn the outside before the inside is warm.

Now, for the purposes of full disclosure, when I put this in front of the kids, my younger one dug right in. She even picked them over the strawberries. My older one, on the other hand, ate a few strawberries then took a bite of the rice balls and immediately declared them "icky". Of course, at that point, the little one heard that big brother had called them icky, so the little monkey-do had to call them icky too and now neither kid will eat them now. But I would comfortably say that your standard kid is really going to like them.

Stir Fry

Or, you can call it Hu-Hot if you want. This is our middle of the line version. We've done it more authentic, but this is a lot easier and simpler to make for a whole family.

Ingredients
chopped carrots
chopped celery
chopped garlic
chopped onion
chopped bell pepper
other options: olives, mushrooms, corn, black beans, broccoli (I highly recommend broccoli. So great in stir fry.)
Chicken, cut in 1-2 inch cubes
*You can really use whatever vegetables you want, and in the quantities you choose. That's the beauty of it.
Cooked rice
*optional: Cooked spaghetti noodles

Sauces: Hoison Sauce, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, General Tsao's, Black bean and Garlic sauce, hot chili and garlic, any sauce you find in your asian foods section at the store. (You can easily sprinkle flaxseed on your plate, or just add it to your sauces.)

Prepare vegetables and chicken (you can use whatever type of meat you want, or multiple types together.) In one pan, saute the vegetables. In another, begin cooking the meat. When mostly cooked, add your choices of sauce to your meat. It's meant to be saucy, so keep adding! Mix and match, or if you're not familiar with them, try them one at a time. (Meaning, for one meal, use one sauce to get familiar with it. Then when you're more confident, begin making combination sauces.) Let it heat through and combine the sauces if necessary. Then when the vegetables are sauteed to your liking, add it to the meat and sauces and combine thoroughly. I like to go heavy on the vegetables. The flavor is still great, so it's such an easy way to get your veggies. Serve on fresh rice, or with a combo rice and noodles. It's quite good if you've never tried it.

This has easily become a family favorite for us. It's different every time, you use the quantities you want and are comfortable with. You can feel good about it because it's packed full of veggies and it just tastes really good!

Chicken and Rice Soup

This is another Emeril recipe. It turned out pretty great. A very chicken-noodley-comfort-food feel to it.

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion
3/4 cup chopped celery
3/4 cup chopped carrots
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp salt
1 tsp Baby Bam
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
1 Bay leaf (I don't have individual Bay leaves, so I just dump some of my crushed bay leaves in.)
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper
8 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (If I don't have this, which is usually the case, and I make it with water and chicken boullion, I leave out any additional salt.)
1/4 cup uncooked long-grain rice (I only had plain rice. Not instant, but not long-grain)
10-12 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (until I have a garden, mine's never fresh)

Heat a large saucepan over high heat. Add the olive oil and, when hot, add the onion, celery, and carrots. Saute until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic, salt, Baby Bam, Italian Seasoning, bay leaf, and crushed red pepper. Saute for 2 more minutes. (Do not allow garlic to brown.) Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil, Cover and reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the rice and stir well to combine. Cover and continue to simmer for 20 minutes. Add the chicken and cook until just cooked through, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add the parsley, stir well, and serve.

I had never made a soup that cooked the meat product like that. I was a bit skeptical, but it worked great. I have since done it a few more times in different recipes and I love this method. This was a great soup. Definitely going to eat it again.

Habichuelas Rojas Guidadas con Arroz

I think the literal translation is Stewed Red Beans with Rice. This is a Dominican dish that Aaron had on his mission. I really like this one. We've had it a few times and we're getting better at making it. I really like it! Aaron was the chef on this one as well.

Ingredients
2 cups red kidney beans, boiled very soft
Water in which you boiled the beans
½ cup chopped celery
1 small red onion cut into 4 quarters
1 cube chicken stock (we use granules, or bouillon)
½ tsp chopped coriander/cilantro
½ tsp thyme leaves
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp oil
½ teaspoon mashed garlic
Pinch oregano
Salt

In a pot heat the oil. Add oregano, onion, garlic, tomato paste, celery and herbs. Stir and add two Tablespoons of water. Add the beans and simmer. When the water has almost evaporated add the chicken stock and two more Tablespoons of water, stir. Add the remaining water mashing beans over heat. Boil at medium heat until it reaches a creamy consistency. Adjust salt to taste.
Serve with white rice, a side dish (or salad) and meat.

We've learned that if you cook your kidney beans too long and let them soak too long, they will turn sweet. This is not yummy for this recipe.  I imagine you could easily used canned beans, using the liquid from them as well. You would just need to be cautious later on and add water if needed.

Cabbage Rolls in Creamy Bacon Sauce

So the title of this one sounds pretty good (if you're not afraid of cabbage.) However, I will warn you that the picture for this one looks really un-appetizing. Well, it looks just plain gross. BUT don't be afraid! It's mostly my own fault that it doesn't look as beautiful as the one in the book. I'll explain later. So don't be scared away because of my bad picture (and not so great camera. The fuzziness of the picture really isn't helping this one any.) For the record, these did taste good. They weren't spectacular or anything, but a nice recipe for using up my cabbage (which I just hate to waste, but have a hard time using.)

Ingredients

1 large head cabbage, core removed* Read note below
1 lb beef (extra-lean) (I only had turkey, but it worked great)
1/3 cup uncooked instant white rice
1/3 cup milk
1 egg
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1 cup beef broth
½ tsp caraway seed
½ cup milk
½ cup sour cream
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
¼ cup cooked bacon pieces (I just used bacon bits, but fresher, larger chunks of bacon would've been really nice.)

Fill 5-6 quart Dutch oven half full of water. Heat to boiling. Place whole cabbage in water, core side down. Cover; cook 2 to 3 minutes, turning over once, or until leaves can be removed from head. With slotted spoon remove cabbage from water. With tongs, carefully remove 6 leaves from head. Save remaining head of cabbage for later use. Shave or trim part of the thick rib from each lead. Return leaves to water; cook 2 to 3 minutes or until wilted. In medium bowl, mix ground beef, uncooked rice, 1/3 cup milk, the egg, Worcestershire sauce, ¼ tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper. Spoon about 1/3 cup of the ground beef mixture on thick end of each cabbage leaf. Roll up, tucking sides in. Place filled cabbage leaves in 12-inch skillet, seam side down. Add broth and caraway seed. Cover; heat to boiling. Reduce heat; simmer 25-30 minutes or until thermometer inserted in center of ground beef mixture reads 160. With slotted spoon, place cabbage rolls on serving platter; cover to keep warm. In small bowl, mix milk, sour cream, flour, remaining ¼ tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper with wire whisk. Pour into skillet. Cook and stir over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Serve sauce over cabbage rolls; sprinkle with bacon.

*My biggest issue with this recipe was my cabbage. I didn't have a new head, but an older one that only had the smaller, whiter leaves from the center. So that made the rolls pretty transparent, making them look pretty weird. The leaves were also much smaller, so I had to use multiple leaves to wrap up each one. This meant that I only had enough leaves for 3 instead of 6 like the recipe calls for. So that's mainly the reason for my weird looking rolls. Had I had the larger green leaves from the outer cabbage, the rolls would have looked much friendlier.

The biggest issue with the actual taste was the caraway seeds. It might've been because I still cooked them in enough broth and caraway seeds for 6 but only have 3. So the caraway seeds were quite strong, especially if you bite into one. Kinda minty. Aaron's happened to have a lot of caraway seeds from the broth, so he didn't love the minty flavor.

Chicken Rice

A long time ago my husband and I created chicken rice. We both grew up with white instant rice which was then slathered in butter and salt. I can probably eat this once a year and enjoy it. Otherwise I'm not a huge fan. However, we eat rice a lot. It's not instant, but more sticky because it's cooked in the crock pot. I do prefer sticky rice. However, it's still really boring just cooked in water, so we started cooking our rice in chicken broth. At first we would just use half and half, and now we just use chicken broth instead of water. (Although the broth is homemade, so it is essentially still water :) You use boiling water and chicken boullion.) So I don't know how this would work with instant rice, but I imagine it would work just as well. Just substitute your water with chicken broth and cook as the rice directs. It will have a slight color change, but it's a lot less boring and adds some flavor to your rice meals. (We do use plain white rice sometimes. Like with stroganoff or things that have a sauce to go on the rice. But if we're eating rice plain, like next to fish, we make chicken rice.)

I have also experimented with beef broth, for a beefy rice. It's not bad. I just don't have too many meals that go well with that flavor. But if you do, it works just as well.

Slow Cooker Pepper Steak ... in progress

So this one didn't come out like it should have. But we can tell it has tons of potential, so we're keeping it around. There are a few reasons why it didn't turn out. One, I bought less steak than it calls for, planning to half it, but really had to 1/3 it. But then I put the full amount of soy sauce in the slow cooker, etc. So it didn't come out like it ought to. And the picture isn't nearly as pretty as the one on the card I have. But, we're going to try it again, because like I said before, it has great potential. So here it is.

Ingredients
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 lbs boneless beef top sirloin steak, cut into strips
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce (I would highly suggest finding reduced sodium)
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 green bell peppers, cut into strips (mine are chopped. I forgot)
1/4 cup cold water
1 tbsp cornstarch
Hot cooked rice

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-low heat. Brown steak strips in 2 batches (or 1 if you pan is large enough.) Add garlic; cook and stir 2 minutes. Transfer steak strips, garlic and pan juices to crock pot. Add onion, soy sauce, sugar, salt, ginger and black pepper to crock pot; mix well. Cover; cook on low 6 to 8 hours or until meat is tender (up to 10 hours.) Add bell pepper strips during final hour of cooking. Blend water and cornstarch until smooth; stir into slow cooker. Cook, uncovered, on high 15 minutes or until thickened. Serve with rice.

As a note, I do not typically add salt to any of my recipes unless it is absolutely necessary. So although I may list it in the ingredients, my versions most likely don't use it. So you can use it or not.

Stroganoff

A family classic. It's just mom's recipe. I never liked it with mushrooms growing up, but I've since gotten over my phobia of most vegetables. I think I even used more that it usually calls for, because they were in my fridge already opened. For some reason, it tasted a tad bit bland last night, but we're not sure why. I wasn't exactly measuring out the seasonings, but I tend to use more than recipes call for that way. Despite it not being too flavorful, we still enjoyed it, and on average the stroganoff tastes fantastic!

Ingredients

1 lb. lean ground beef (I have used ground turkey)
1 tbsp onion powder (I used chopped onions, since they were already chopped up in my fridge. Probably about 1/4 cup or so)
¼ cup margarine
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1 4-oz can mushrooms
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream

Melt margarine over medium heat, add onion powder. Add meat and brown. Add flour, salt, garlic, pepper, and mushrooms. Cook 5 minutes. Add soup, simmer uncovered 10 minutes. Stir in sour cream. Heat through. Serve with rice (or egg noodles.) If you don’t have lean ground beef, you can leave out the margarine. If you have 7% fat or less, you need the margarine to make the sauce.

Mom, maybe you can answer the question of why it uses cream of chicken soup instead of cream of mushroom?