Quick Spanish Rice

This rice is a great side dish to your favorite Mexican meal! It's super quick to make and I usually have everything on hand too.  A little rice ends up making a lot too, I'm always surprised.  Growing up my mom always made a rice similar to this in the crockpot.  It took about 4-5 hours to make but I have found this one to be very similar and takes just 20 minutes.  This recipe is from my cousin Rachelle, she always has a healthy recipe to share.  Hope you enjoy it! 

Spanish Rice

1/2 cup basmati rice (white or brown)
2-3 Tablespoons olive oil
water
1 can Rotel
1/2 cup corn
1/2 green bell pepper
1 jalepeno pepper
2 Tablespoons taco seasoning
1 teaspoon cumin
1 bunch cilantro
1/2 lime (juice)
salt & pepper to taste

 Saute the uncooked rice in olive oil until it gets toasty and light brown.  

 Add water to the rice until the water is about 1 inch above the rice.

 Add 1 can of Rotel (don't drain),

 chopped green pepper and jalepeno,

 corn,

 and seasonings (taco seasoning, cumin, and any other spices you like)

 Cook the rice and veggies for about 15-20 minutes until rice is cooked and water is absorbed.  If the rice isn't soft yet, add a little more water and continue cooking until water is absorbed.

 Add cilantro and lime juice, salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

Spicy Fiesta Relish

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! We had an great weekend spending time with Stephen's family who was all here for Christmas.  The Murrill girls were especially sweet and I it was a treat to spend so much time with them!  So this Christmas I decided to make many gifts.  I like the thoughtfulness that goes into homemade gifts and this relish was one gift I made.  I made this for Stephen's dad who loves this kind of thing when we go to Mexican restaurants, but many other people enjoyed it too.  It is so easy to make I couldn't believe it!  I had always been hesitant to embark on the pickling process but it really was a breeze.  The serving size for this recipe is quite large, enough for you and all your friends, but you could adjust it to make less.  I ended up with about 7-8 jars of various sizes.

Spicy Fiesta Relish

4 lbs carrots (peeled and sliced)
1 lb fresh jalepenos (sliced)
3 red onions
1 cup frozen corn
9 cups white vinegar
1 1/2 cups sugar

 Slice jalepenoes into even pieces.  Be careful not to touch your eyes in the process! 

 Peel and chop the carrots into nice even pieces as well. 

 Slice 3 red onions into large pieces.  Break them apart into a big bowl. 

Combine all ingredients into a large bowl, add 1 cup frozen corn.

(Add other ingredients you like such as garlic, cauliflower, etc. Let me know what ideas you have!)

Combine vinegar and sugar into a large pot (I had to use 2 large pots for the size of this recipe) and stir until the mixture comes to a boil and the sugar is dissolved.  Pour the vegetables into the vinegar, turn off the heat and cover.  Make sure the vegetables are covered by the liquid.  Let it sit for 1 hour.  Then store in glass jars in the refrigerator, unless you seal the jars... I'm still working on that.  At this point, it will likely taste very vinegary, put in the refrigerator for a couple days to let the flavors marinade then enjoy with chips, crackers, or on top of your favorite Mexican dish.

 Add a bow to dress it up!

 

Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut Squash Soup

1 onion
3-4 cloves garlic
1 butternut squash
1 acorn squash
2 sweet potatoes
3 cups vegetable broth
ground nutmeg, curry powder, salt, pepper

 Chop acorn and butternut squash in half and scoop out seeds.  Peel 2 sweet potatoes. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast in the oven at 400 degrees 45 minutes to 1 hour.

When squash is about done, saute onion and garlic in olive oil.  Scoop roasted squash out of the skins and add to the vegetable broth, onion and garlic.  Season to taste.  Bring to a boil and cook about 15 minutes.  Puree soup with blender or immersion blender.  Add more seasonings if needed.

Vegetarian White "Chicken" Chili

This is such a great soup that I just have to share it with you.  I made it for our chili cook-off a few weeks ago at church and it was so good.  It did end up a little spicy though, a patient at work brought in some habanero peppers from his garden, I popped one of those in there and WOW it heated right up! Anyway, you can adjust the spiciness of it to your liking but it has great flavor, a wonderful creaminess (without any cream, it's vegan!) and just a great soup/chili. 

People always ask and I wonder myself how it is creamy without cream.  I think I've come to the conclusion that cooking the beans from scratch makes a difference.  I use a crockpot set on low and just dump a bag of navy beans in with some "chicken" broth in the morning before I leave for work.  When I get home, I have really tender beans and a nice starchy water that lends well to a creamy base for the soup.  I've always wanted a white chicken chili recipe that I could make vegetarian and wasn't too fatty.  My friend Rachel from school shared this recipe with me and I've adapted it to be vegetarian. So enough chatting, here's the recipe.

White Chicken Chili

1 onion (chopped)
8-10 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 jalepeno pepper or other hot pepper of choice
1 cup bell pepper (chopped)
3 cans navy beans (or dry beans)
Vegetable broth
2 cutlets Quorn chicken (optional)
1 cup corn
3 roma tomatoes (chopped)
1 Tablespoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
salt and pepper to taste
1 bunch cilantro (chopped)
1/2 lime

 Prepare dry beans with vegetable broth ahead of time. 

(I recommend this way, but canned beans are good too.)

 Saute onions and garlic

 Chop bell peppers, I use different colored peppers because I like the bright colors in the soup. 

Saute peppers with onion and garlic until tender.

 Chop and add a hot pepper

 This is Quorn chicken. It has a great texture and takes on flavor really well, we love it!

(You can find it at Reasor's and Whole Foods.)

 Thaw 2 cutlets and chop into small cubes

Add remaining ingredients: corn, tomatoes, beans, and seasonings. 

When the soup is done cooking (15-20 minutes) add the cilantro and lime juice.

Hope this recipe makes sense.  If it's not thick enough you can add a little corn starch at the end.  The measurements are pretty relative, I usually just go with what looks good.  Hope you enjoy, it's one of my favorite soups and is so easy to make!

Classic Apple Pie

I love to bake different, interesting desserts with new recipes but sometimes it's good to go back to the basics.  I love apples and recently at Aldi, they have been on sale which makes me think I need to buy a couple bags every time I go in there.  Needless to say, I had apples everywhere and decided I needed to use the granny smiths for a pie.  I was just necessary ;)

Apple pie also makes me think of the holidays, I am really looking forward to Thanksgiving and being with family.  (Sister, I'm sorry I made your favorite pie while you were not here!) Anyway, let me know of your favorite holiday desserts and pies too!

Classic Apple Pie

 Start with 6-7 tart apples,

 peel the apples,

 then chop them

 into small slices

and place in a bowl

 add 2 Tablespoons flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 

a couple pinches of nutmeg, and 1/4 cup brown sugar.

Mix together and let it set for a few minutes while making the dough.

 Prepare a basic pie crust , or you could also use a store bought crust but the real one is so much better and is pretty easy too when using a food processor. 

Start with 2 1/2 cups flour, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 4 tablespoons shortening, 1 stick butter (slice butter and shortening into wedges)

 Pulse the mixture in a food processor until it looks like a course meal.  Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup cold water and pulse a few more times.

 Until the dough looks like this and you can form it into a ball. 

 Divide the dough into 2 pieces with a little more for the bottom crust

 Roll dough into a circle that is large enough for your pie dish.

 Place the first dough into the bottom of the dish, then add the apples.  I like to make sure the apples are pretty flat across the pie so there aren't lumps but that is purely optional and likely not important. 

 Place the top crust over the filling and seal the edges

 Bake at 400 degrees for 55-60 minutes.  

Enjoy with some vanilla bean ice cream!

Whole Wheat Bread 2

I am always looking for a good bread recipe, and it's fun to have several to go between.  This is in my list of favorites and what I really like is that it has some hidden nutrients that you wouldn't typically think of putting in bread such as: lecithin, wheat germ, and flax seed just to name a few.  It also has a nice soft texture which I always look for in wheat breads, they can just get so dry and hard after a couple days.

So this recipe makes 2 loaves, great for sharing with a friend or neighbor!

Whole Wheat Bread

2 cups warm water
1 package yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons)
2 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 Tablespoons oil
1 T. Lecithin (optional, but does help with a soft texture)
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons wheat germ
2 Tablespoons flax seed
1 Tablespoon vital wheat gluten (optional)
2 cups white bread flour
3 cups whole wheat flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water.  Add brown sugar, honey, oil, lecithin, & salt.   Mix, then add flour, wheat germ, gluten, and flax seed.  Knead for about 8 minutes, add flour as needed.  Let dough rise until doubled then divide into 2 loaves.  Let rise in the pans another 45 minutes - 1 hour.  Bake 375 for 1 hour.

Then enjoy some fresh baked bread on a cool fall evening, with a little melted butter!

On another note, I was excited last week at the grocery store to find fresh cranberries are back in season!  I was so disappointed last year when I realized they aren't sold year around.  I'm ready to bake this Cranberry Swirl Bread again, it's great for the holidays and really any reason you can come up with to make it!  So give it a try this season, it will probably become your favorite bread!

Caramel Apples

This past weekend our church had a fall festival.  It was really fun and we sold food to raise money for the youth group to go to a prayer conference in the spring.  So, I decided to make caramel apples to sell this year!  I was a little nervous on how they would turn out but they were great! The caramel had great flavor and good consistency too.  They're really easy to make and a fun fall treat.

Caramel Sauce

1/2 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
2 Tablespoons vanilla

Melt butter and brown sugar together.  Add corn syrup and stir mixture until it reaches 300 degrees (you will need a candy thermometer).  Stir in sweetened condensed milk and vanilla, return to a boil and stir until it reaches 250 degrees.  Take a taste and see how the flavor and consistency is.  Then dip your apples.  I think the caramel is enough for about 10 apples depending on how big they are.  I made quite a few more so I'm not sure how much one recipe will make.  They were delicious though!!!

 Insert popsicle sticks or wooden rods into the apples.  Dip the apples in the caramel, let it cool a little bit (30 sec - 1 min), then roll or sprinkle your favorite toppings.  We used peanuts, sprinkles, heath, and Reese's pieces.  Also place the apples on wax paper after dipping, you will be thankful you did... we learned the hard way!

Thanks to all my friends who helped make the apples!