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rice

Herbed Risotto with Chicken and Carmelized Onions

Apr 13th, 2012
by erin.
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Risotto with carmelized onions and chicken

Date: 4/9/2012

Recipe: http://annies-eats.com/2011/01/13/herbed-risotto-with-chicken-and-caramelized-onions/

Modifications: I cooked 3 chicken breasts, but it seemed like FAR too much chicken – I probably only used 1.5 and then we saved the rest for another meal. I also forgot the butter at the end and it still seemed plenty rich and delicious :)

Time to table: 45 minutes

Servings: 4 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Like

Notes: Risotto is one of those meals that is always a hit. How could it not, with all that cheese and butter?? The carmelized onions really put this one over the top for me. It was delicious. Annie (of Annie’s Eats, not my child) says this method is easier, but for the time you save from stirring, I spent shredding chicken, which is one of my most hated tasks in the kitchen. This still seemed plenty involved – wouldn’t be what I would call a “quick dinner” but it was worth it! Luke enjoyed watching me cook – good thing :)

Luke watching mom cook

Now Annie's plate
Annie was well accessorized for this dinner

Adobo seasoned chicken and rice

Jan 1st, 2012
by ben.
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Adobo Chicken and Rice

Date: 12/18/2011

Recipe: http://www.deliciousmeliscious.com/2011/12/adobo-seasoned-chicken-and-rice.html

Modifications: I’ve never heard of, nor could we find, tomato powder, so we substituted tomato paste. We used boneless, skinless chicken thighs as well so we didn’t have as much meat as the original recipe called for.

Time to table: 60 minutes

Servings: 6 adult servings

Ben: Like

Erin: Like+

Annie: Like

Notes: I wasn’t really excited for this recipe but it surprised me, I really liked it a lot. More than that I liked that it’s very adaptable so you can take this same process and make many different variations. Annie claimed she was done after a few bites, but then shockingly found her appetite again when the grapes were brought out.
Adobo Chicken and Rice

Sour cream cod and cheesy spinach rice

Dec 20th, 2011
by ben.
2 comments

Sour Cream Cod and Cheesy Spinach Rice

Date: 12/11/2011

Fish recipe: http://lizscookingblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/sour-cream-halibut.html

Rice recipe: http://ellysaysopa.com/2011/10/07/creamy-cheesy-garlicky-rice-with-spinach/

Time to table: 60 minutes

Modifications: We used cod instead of halibut from the recipe because the halibut was over twice the price of cod and we just don’t care that much.

Servings: 2 adults, with extra rice

Ben: LOVE

Erin: Loved the rice, liked the fish

Notes: Erin and I ate this after Annie went to bed as a stay-home-date-dinner :) Sure is easy to forget how laid back a meal can be without a toddler to prep, cajole, and clean up after at the same time. Seriously though, the fish was good, but the highlight of the meal for me was the rice. The recipe doesn’t lie when they say it tastes just like risotto without all the work, it was delicious.

Sour Cream Cod

Cheesy Broccoli Rice Casserole

Dec 10th, 2011
by erin.
1 comment

Cheesy Broccoli and Rice Casserole

Date: 12/6/2011

Recipe: http://www.forkknifeandspoon.com/blog/2009/12/12/emulsifying-worlds.html

Time to table: 45 minutes prep, 30 minutes bake time

Modifications: I steamed the broccoli just using a steamer basket and then chopped it even more because I like tiny pieces of broccoli and it appears Annie does too. Only needed 1 can of cream of mushroom soup. I think our bag of broccoli was maybe 16oz, not 20 but there was still plenty in there.

Servings: This makes a ton – filled a 13×9 pan. I’d say it would easily serve 6-8. We ended up freezing half of it for some other time, and still had enough for a lunch too.

Ben: Like

Erin: Like

Annie: Love

Notes: This was pretty time consuming. Brown rice takes a long time to cook, and making a cheese sauce takes awhile as well. It’s certainly healthier than the original, and wasn’t particularly difficult, but it wasn’t a quick weeknight meal by any means. We did all like it quite a bit, so I found it worth the effort – really any meal that gets Annie to love broccoli is a win in my book.

Cheesy Broccoli and Rice Casserole

Big bite!
Any meal that gets this face is a hit with Annie!

Fried rice

Sep 29th, 2011
by ben.
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Fried Rice

Date: 9/20/2011

Recipe:

  • 1.5 cups dry rice (cooked a day ahead and refrigerated)
  • 3 T oil
  • 1 T toasted sesame oil
  • 1 T soy sauce
  • 3 eggs, beaten
  • 1/3 lb shredded chicken or pork
  • 1 c. frozen carrots/peas mix
  • 3 cloves garlic, diced
Heat the oil in a skillet and dump in the cold rice. Cook the rice for a few minutes in the oil, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic, peas/carrots mix, shredded meat and stir to combine. Drizzle the tablespoon of toasted sesame oil and soy sauce over the rice mixture and stir to combine. Let the rice cook for a few more minutes to cook the peas/carrots and garlic.
Meanwhile, scramble the eggs as you like them in a separate pan. When the eggs are done and the rice mix is hot, stir the eggs into the rice mix.

Time to table: 20 minutes

Servings: 2 adult dinners, 2 adult lunches, 1 toddler dinner

Ben: Love

Erin: Like

Annie: Dislike

Notes: For some reason, Annie wouldn’t even LOOK at this dish tonight. She was excited to get into her chair, as usual, took one look at the food and looked away in disgust. Ok then, kid. [Note from Erin: Ben seems to forget that the culprit of Annie not liking this MAY have been her puking the day prior and still being a bit wary around food. She's eaten this before just fine - not devouring it but she'll eat it] I like making fried rice because it’s another dish where you can use whatever you happen to have on hand, we’ve used onions, green onions, celery, and sweet potato as some examples. I also used to add some spice to give it some flavor, but since Erin doesn’t like any, I’ve just taken to doctoring mine with sriracha after the fact.

Annie does not want fried rice

Beans & veggies over rice

Aug 9th, 2011
by ben.
2 comments

IMG_1350

Date: August  5th, 2011

Recipe:

  • 0.5 cans of refried black beans
  • 3 cloves garlic, diced
  • 0.5 of an onion, diced
  • 1 cup sweet potatoes, diced
  • handful of spinach
  • 0.5 cups shredded cheese
  • 0.5 cups water
  • 1 cup dried rice
  • seasonings to taste (I used red pepper, chili powder, garlic granules, and cumin)
  • sour cream to top with
Cook the rice according to directions. While the rice is cooking saute the sweet potato and onion. Add the garlic for another minute or so. Add the refried beans and water and mix it together well until the water has evaporated or mixed in. Turn off the heat and add in the cheese and spinach and continue stirring until the spinach has been mixed in and is wilted.
Spoon some rice into a bowl and top with the black bean mixture and then top with a dallop of sour cream.

Time to table: 30 minutes

Servings: 1 adult lunch, 2 toddler meals

Ben: Love

Annie: Love

Notes: This was one of the best lunches I ever made while working at home, I think it was the sour cream that put it over the top. I initially wanted to make a taco or quesadilla, but realized that we were out of tortillas, so the rice was a fallback, but this was DAMN good. Annie enjoyed it as well, in spite of the spinach that was hidden the the black beans. I’m going to make this again for dinner so Erin can tell me how awesome I am.

Grilled stuffed banana peppers

Aug 6th, 2011
by ben.
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Stuffed Banana Peppers

Date: August 3rd, 2011

Recipe:

  • 1 cup dry rice, cooked
  • 0.5 onion, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, diced
  • 0.25 cups cilantro, chopped
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 cups shredded cheese
  • 1 T cumin
  • 1 t chili powder
  • 1 t paprika
  • 5 banana peppers sliced in half with the ribs and seeds removed
Cook the rice according to directions, towards the end of the rice cooking, saute the onions for a few minutes until translucent and add the garlic for an extra minute or so. Combine everything except the banana peppers in a mixing bowl.
Fill the banana pepper with the mixture and prepare the grill. Grill the peppers for 7-10 minutes, until they are charred on the bottom and soft.

Time to table: 40 minutes

Servings: 2 adults, 1 toddler

Ben: Like

Annie: Love (she only had the filling, not the peppers)

Notes: We got 5 banana peppers in our CSA box and this was a great way to use them, especially since Erin was not home for dinner. These were spicier than I thought they’d be, so it was a good decision to only have Annie eat the filling. Erin did have the filling the next day for dinner as some leftovers and thought it was good.

Annie eating rice

Stuffed Banana Peppers

Stuffed Banana Peppers

Stuffed Banana Peppers

Stuffed Banana Peppers

Chicken stir fry

Jul 8th, 2011
by ben.
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Stir fry

Date: June 30th, 2011

Recipe:

  • 4 cups napa cabbage, chopped
  • 3 carrots, sliced on the bias
  • 2 cups snow pea pods, cut in half
  • 1 lb chicken thighs, sliced thin
  • 2 cups rice
  • stir fry sauce

Sautee the chicken in oil under nearly done and remove to a bowl. Sautee the carrots until soft, 7-10 minutes, add the snow peas and cabbage for a few minutes, until the cabbage is wilted. Add the chicken back in with enough stir fry sauce to cover everything. Cook until the chicken is hot again. Serve over the rice.

Time to table: 1 hour

Servings: 4 adults, 1 toddler

Ben: Like

Erin: Like

Annie: Like

Notes: I should have put a ton of garlic in here, that was an oversight on my part. I think making your own stir fry sauce would be good as well, we just used the store bought stuff this time.

Stir fry

Thai Curry

Jun 21st, 2011
by ben.
1 comment

Curry

Date: June 16, 2011

Recipe:

  • 15 oz coconut milk
  • 1 cup vegetable  broth
  • 1-2 T curry paste
  • 1 T brown sugar
  • 2-3 cloves garlic
  • 1 T fish sauce
  • 1 inch of ginger, peeled and diced
  • 1-2 thai chilies (optional, for heat)
  • 2 c broccoli
  • 2 c sweet potato, diced
  • 1 red bell pepper, diced
  1. Start cooking 1-2 cups rice. I like to make extra and use the leftover rice for fried rice.
  2. Food process the brown sugar, garlic, fish sauce, ginger, and thai chilis. Maybe add some of the broth to make it process easier.
  3. mix the first four ingredients into a saucepan and add the mixture from the food processor.
  4. simmer for 5-10 minutes to let everything cook together and then serve the curry over rice (I like basmati rice).

Modifications: I skip the thai chilies and just add spice to my portion, in deference to Erin and Annie

Time to table: 30 minutes

Servings: 3 adult meals, 1 toddler meal

Ben: Love

Erin: Like

Annie: Like

Notes: This is really easy to make and versatile as you can use any number of vegetables or meat in the curry. On a side note, rice and Annie don’t seem to mix, as rice is a pain to clean off floors and carpet.

Annie loves broccoli

Not feeling the broccoli so much.

Annie eating curry

Esquire Jambalaya

Jun 13th, 2011
by ben.
No comments yet

Jambalaya


Date: June 8, 2011

Recipe: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/food-for-men/jambalaya-recipe-0211

Modifications: I cut this recipe in half because it was huge. I didn’t use the parboiled rice, I just used basmati that we had. The pot already had quite a bit of moisture so I added around 3 cups of broth for the 2 cups of dry rice that I used. I cooked it in the oven for 20 minutes and it turned out great. I didn’t have quite enough chicken, so I threw some pulled pork in there to make  up the difference.

Time to table: 30 minutes prep, pre-cooking, 20 minutes in the oven

Servings: Two adults, one toddler, with enough leftovers for another four adult meals.

Ben: Love

Erin: Like

Annie: Love

Notes: I’ve been wanting to make this recipe since I saw the February 2011 issue of Esquire, and since we had leftovers from the grilled beer butt chicken and the grilled pork shoulder, I thought it was an opportune time.
Jambalaya

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