Mexican Rice Casserole

I watched Ree Drummond on her first episode of Pioneer Woman and cringed.  I thought she was terribly awkward and that it made the episode absolutely horrible.  I have met her in real life and she was so easy-going and personable that it was hard to watch her be so cold and forced on the show.

I still tape the show every weekend and watch it if I have time.  I still see a very different woman on the show than the one I met, but I can make it through the show without cringing.  A few weeks ago, she had a Fiesta episode, where she made this Mexican Rice from scratch.  We have a four pound bag of rice in our pantry, so I figured it would be a great recipe to try.  The recipe she makes serves 12 people, and I scaled it down so that it served four people, and the two of us still had 3 meals worth of rice, so beware, even this recipe makes a lot of rice.

Mexican Rice Casserole
slightly adapted from Food Network 
Ingredients
1 tablespoons canola oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 cup long grain rice
14.5-ounce cans whole tomatoes
One 10-ounce can diced tomatoes and green chiles, such as Rotel
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups grated Cheddar
Fresh cilantro, chopped, for serving

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2) Heat the oil in a large skillet and add the garlic and onions. Cook, 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and add the rice. Stir constantly, making sure the rice doesn't burn. Cook over low heat, about 3 minutes.
3) Next, add the whole tomatoes, diced tomatoes, cumin, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine and let cook, about 2 minutes.
4) Finally, add the water and stir the mixture together. Bring the mixture to a boil, and then reduce heat to low. Cover, and simmer until the rice is not quite done, 10 to 15 minutes.
5) Top with the cheese, and then bake with the lid off until the cheese is melted and the rice fully cooked, about 15 minutes.

This rice was amazing.  Ours was a little bit spicy, but I think I got a spicy can of Rotel.  This definitely is a little more work than packet Mexican Rice, but the flavor in the end is the payoff.  Even only using one cup of rice, we had a lot of leftovers, which were happily eaten.  I'll definitely make this as a side to many of our Mexican dishes to come. 

Stuffed Peppers

Growing up, I hated stuffed peppers.  There actually wasn't a vegetable that I hated more.  I read in college that taste buds change every five to seven years, so I decided to give the things I disliked when I was young another chance. 

I now love green peppers.  I use them in a lot of my cooking now just because I love the moist crunch of them in dishes.  I have been keeping my eye out for a good stuffed pepper recipe, but they all use tomato sauce in them, which I'm allergic to, so I haven't had a chance to try any of them.  For this recipe swap, I received a stuffed pepper recipe from Cooking with Christen.  I was super excited to find that it didn't call for tomato sauce at all, so quickly put it on my meal plan.

Stuffed Peppers
slightly adapted from Cooking with Christen
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil                            
1 onion, chopped
1`rib of celery, chopped                     
1/2 small bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped                   
1.5 lbs ground turkey
1 can French Onion soup                  
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
½ soup can of water           
1 ½ cups raw rice
2 tablespoons basil
salt, red, and black pepper to taste
4 large bell peppers

Directions
1) In a large dutch oven, sauté in a small amount of cooking oil, the onion, celery, chopped bell pepper, and garlic until slightly cooked through. 
2) Add the raw ground beef and brown well.
3) Add soups, water, rice (raw), salt, black and red pepper.  Mix well.  Cook until just heated through (the rice will not be fully cooked at this point, just warmed).
4) Cut the stem ends off of the whole bell peppers.  Scoop out seeds and clean well.
5) Spray a (9×13) baking dish with Pam.
6) Stuff each bell pepper about ¾ full of the rice mixture.  Quickly invert each bell pepper, rice side down, into the baking dish.
7) Put the remaining rice mixture around the bell peppers.  Cover the dish tightly and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes.  Do not open the cover until the cooking is complete.

I have to admit that I didn't make these as directed.  I thought I knew what I was doing and so I didn't read the directions very well.  I cut open the side and stuffed them, which made everything so much more difficult.  The mixture came out the top when I was stuffing them, which resulted in some burned fingers.

I thought this recipe was great though.  This is my third recipe swap in a row using French Onions of some sort, so this time I used canned soup from the store.  I do have to say that I'd prefer using homemade soup both for the cream of mushroom and the french onion soup, but that would take a lot of extra work. 

The peppers were soft, but still had a little crunch, and the stuffing for them was amazing.  It made plenty of extra stuffing so for a meal I ate the stuffing as a side.  The rice came out perfect and took on the flavors of the soups.  I would definitely make this again, I'd just read the instructions better so that I don't hurt myself as bad. 

For a list of all the recipes made during this swap, visit A Taste of Homecooking: Recipe Swap Roundup.

Crock Pot Asian Pork with Mushrooms

Crock pots make meals very easy.  You spend a minimal amount of time in the morning gathering the ingredients, and then you combine them all in the dish.  When you get home from work 8 hours later, it is like magic has happened in your house.  The aromas are to die for, and your food slowly cooked while you were at work resulting amazingly juicy meats.

A lot of crock pot recipes that I've found are for the same types of things over and over again: pot roast, pulled pork sandwiches, and soups.  I found this recipe for Crock Pot Asian Pork with Mushrooms and figured that if it turned out good, I'd have a new recipe to add to the few crock pot recipes that I had. Not only did it turn out good, both Jacob and I talked about how great it was the entire time we ate it.

Crock Pot Asian Pork with Mushrooms
slightly adapted from Skinnytaste
Ingredients
2 lb lean boneless pork roast 
kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup low-sodium fat-free chicken broth
1/2 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons Splenda
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon Chinese five spice  (I couldn't find Chinese Five Spice, so I used Jamaican Five Spice)
3 cloves crushed garlic
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger root
3/4 cup of water
8 oz baby bella mushrooms

Topping:
1/4 cup cilantro
1/4 cup green onions

Directions
1)  Season pork with salt and pepper.
2)  Turn a skillet onto medium-high and place olive oil in the bottom of the skillet.  Brown pork on both sides approximately 7-8 minutes.
3)  Combine chicken broth, soy sauce, vinegar, splenda, sesame oil, five spice, crushed garlic and ginger root, and water in the crock pot.  When the pork is browned, place into the crock pot.  Cook on low for 8 hours.
4)  About an hour before you're about to serve, remove the pork and shred it.  Put the shredded pork back into the crock pot with the mushrooms until the mushrooms are soft and have absorbed some of the liquid.

5)  Set crock pot mixture atop rice and top with cilantro and green onions.

This is an excellent dish for anyone who has a busy day and needs an easy crock pot meal.  The meat browns while you're throwing all of the liquid elements into the crock pot, so browning the meat doesn't take any extra time out of your getting ready routine.

The pork shredded with one fork, it was so juicy and soft.  The soy sauce, sesame oil, and balsamic vinegar created this great sauce that the rice absorbed and made the meal even more amazing.  We removed the mushroom stems, but put them into the crock pot whole.  The result was these amazingly juicy mushrooms that burst with liquid in your mouth.  The green onions provided a little bit of crunch and the cilantro that extra bit of freshness and flavor.  It was so hard to keep myself from going up for seconds. .

Ground Turkey with Potatoes and Peas

I have to admit that we've been a little dependent on the Skinnytaste blog recently.  It seems like everything I make from the blog is a huge hit and we're working hard on reducing our portion sizes.  The food on the Skinnytaste blog seems to be super filling because my husband never goes into the kitchen for seconds.  We've had a lot of leftovers, which helps for lunches the next day.

I liked this meal because it seemed heartier, which is always good for a late autumn night.  It was also super easy to put together, and most of the time is spent chopping things, so the meal seems to go from the skillet to the table quickly.  Plus it is one of those one-pot meals so cleanup was super easy, which was great since we had a lot of Trick-or-Treaters.

Ground Turkey with Potatoes and Peas

slightly adapted from Skinnytaste

Ingredients

1 medium tomato
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
1/4 cup red onion
1.25 lb 93% lean ground turkey
4 medium scallions, chopped
1/2 cup canned peas  or 1 cup fresh peas
1 potato, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch strips
8 oz can canned tomatoes
3/4 cup water
1/2 tsp cumin, or to taste
salt, to taste
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup cheese

Directions
1) In a food processor or by hand finely chop tomato, garlic, red onion, and cilantro.
2) In a large skillet, brown turkey.  Season with salt and cumin.
3) When meat is browned and cooked through add scallions, chopped tomato mixture, peas, potato, tomato sauce, water, cumin, salt and bay leaf.
4) Cover and simmer over medium-low heat until potatoes are cooked through, about 25 minutes stirring occasionally. Add more water if needed. Remove bay leaf and serve over rice.  Add cheese if you'd like to finish off the meal.

I used a whole cup of peas like the original recipe called for and the dish seemed a little overrun with peas.  This could be due to the fact that I used canned peas instead of fresh peas.  The tomato taste was prominant, but I couldn't really taste any of the other spices.  When I make this again, I'll probably up the amounts of the spices quite a bit, so that they don't get lost in the tomato elements of the dish.  I thought that the potatoes and the rice would make this dish too starchy, but everything seemed very proportionate in this recipe.

Summer Squash and White Bean Saute

I love Farmer's Markets.  Going around and viewing the produce, breads, oils, and pastas.  Sampling homemade salsas, peanut butter spreads, and honey.  It just screams summer, and since the majority of these main ingredients are found at the Farmer's Market, it is a great summer dish.  With only two main preparation steps, it doesn't eat up too much time too, so you can get back out to having fun in the sun again.


Summer Squash and White Bean Saute- adapted from EatingWell.com

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, halved and sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced
• 1 medium yellow summer squash, halved lengthwise and sliced
• 1/2 eggplant 
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano, or 1 teaspoon dried
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 15- or 19-ounce can cannellini or great northern beans, rinsed (see Tip)
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• 2 tablespoon red-wine vinegar
• A couple of pinches finely shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions

• Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until beginning to soften, about 3 minutes. Add zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, oregano, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook, stirring once, until the vegetables are tender-crisp, 3 to 5 minutes.

• Stir in beans, tomatoes and vinegar; increase heat to medium and cook, stirring, until heated through, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in Parmesan.

I love the bite that the red-wine vinegar gives to this dish.  The vegetables are all taste amazing, and you cannot stop shoveling this in your mouth.  The vibrancy is amazing with all the red, yellow, green and purple that you get from the produce.  You leave the table feeling not weighed down by a heavy meal.  I upped the vinegar in the dish just because I love vinegar, but you could easily reduce it or just use olive oil if you don't like red wine vinegar.

Pretty Produce

Finished Product

Rice with Roasted Poblanos, Spinach, and Queso Fresco

My husband loves Mexican food, so he was ecstatic when I told him that this week was Mexican food week for the recipe swap. 

For the swap I recieved Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations Rice with Roasted Poblanos, Spinach, and Queso Fresco.  I served it with a modified Creamy Salsa Chicken, which both are Rick Bayless recipes.

Rice with Roasted Poblanos, Spinach, and Queso Fresco

adapted from  Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations 

Ingredients

• 2 medium fresh poblano chiles
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil
• 1.5 cups white rice, preferably medium grain
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 cups loosely packed sliced stemmed spinach leaves
• 1.5 cups coarsely crumbled Mexican queso fresco (or firm goat cheese or feta)

Directions 

• Roast the chiles over a gas flame. Once all the skin is charred, approximately 5 minutes, transfer to a bowl and cover for 10 minutes. Remove the skins, seeds, and stems, rinse, and chop into 1/4 inch pieces.
• Heat broth in a small saucepan.
• In a separate 3-qt saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add raw rice; stir regularly for 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic and stir for a few seconds. Make sure the grains of rice do not brown.
• Add the warm liquid and chopped roasted chiles. Stir, cover, and cook on the lowest heat setting for about 15 minutes.
• Remove the pot from the heat and add spinach, distributing it over the rice, but not stirring. Cover the pot and let is stand for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, test the rice. Mine was done and all of the liquid was absorbed, but if this isn't the case for you, Rick suggests sprinkling 2 tbsp water on top of the rice and returning it to low heat, covered, for 5 minutes.
• Uncover the rice, sprinkle with cheese, and fluff everything together with a fork.

I have to admit that I struggled with this recipe a lot.  I made it all according to the directions and at the end, even after sprinkling the extra water and cooking it extra, the rice was still hard.  After about 45 minutes, it was finally soft enough to eat, but then I found that for some reason my batch cooked really weird and some was soft and some was hard.  I thought the spinach and the poblanos were an interesting addition, but I felt like the cheese didn't really go with the dish.  I couldn't really taste it (after adding more than the recommended 1.5 cups of cheese).  I think this dish would be better with a much stronger cheese like feta. 

I had fun roasting the peppers, but I don't think that this dish will make it back onto my table.