Green Rice

I got this idea from Rachael Ray, but hers had a lot more green. This is a great side dish for any meal or even by itself if you are going meat-less. Forgive the picture, all I had at the moment was my iphone.

Green Rice
Source: Me, inspired by Racheal Ray

rice
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
1 cup of cilantro, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp toasted sesame oil

Prepare two servings of rice according to the package directions. I like to use jasmin rice, but you can use whatever you like. Set aside to cool. In a large skillet, heat olive and sesame oil over medium high. Add shallot, garlic and jalapeno. Sautee for a minute or so, then add the rice. Toss to coat the rice and let it sit for a few minutes before you toss it again. It should develop a little crunch. After about 10 minutes or less depending on how much rice you have, remove from heat and stir in cilantro. Serve immediately.

Go Fish!

I love fish, and pretty much all seafood. But my husband is allergic to a lot of it, so we don't eat it very often. Other than shrimp and crab. He can eat shellfish...odd, I know. Anyway, since he has been working out of town this week, I've been eating a lot of fish. It is good for you and most importantly, it tastes great!

This was actually my first time to have grouper. My favorite fish is mahi mahi, but it is kind of expensive. I also like tilapia, but this time grouper was cheaper so I went for it. I LOVE it! I think it ranks above tilapia in my book.

Also, this recipe only has about 350 calories and it is VERY filling!

Italian Baked Grouper with Brown Rice
Source: Me

1 4 oz. grouper filet
cooking spray
2 tbsp Wishbone Light Italian Dressing
1 pepperoncini, minced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tsp grated parmesan cheese
1 cup cooked whole wheat brown rice
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
1/4 cup bell pepper, minced (mine was orange, but I don't think the color matters)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place grouper in a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Pour dressing over the fish. Top with pepperoncini, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, salt, pepper and parmesan cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes until fish flakes easily with a fork.

While the fish is baking, heat a saute pan over medium heat and add the oil, garlic, shallots, and bell pepper. Saute until tender. Add rice and cook an additional 5 minutes or until heated through.

Plate rice and place fish on top.

Recreating a Masterpiece

Ok, so maybe not a masterpiece but the Fried Macaroni and Cheese at The Cheesecake Factory is my all time favorite appetizer. Talk about the ultimate comfort food! I go there just to order that fried cheesy goodness.

I've had some leftover risotto in my fridge a little over a month now and I've been planning to make risotto cakes by frying the leftovers. Not that I've ever done it before, but that was the suggestion I got when I asked for my fellow bloggers input. I've been waiting for a night when I would be eating alone, since the husband would not be a fan, and when I would have the time and patience to experiment.

Now I realize risotto and macaroni and cheese are not the same thing. But, you've got a starch and lots of cheese so they are pretty close. The real recreation was the sauce. When you order Fried Macaroni and Cheese at The Cheesecake Factory, it comes plated on a tomato cream sauce that perfectly complements the heaviness of the fried pasta and cheese. I knew I wanted a similar sauce with my Fried Risotto.

The sauce came together pretty effortlessly and I must say it tasted pretty darn close to the original. I actually wish I had made more! The risotto cakes were a little harder. I let the risotto defrost most of the way and patted it into cakes. I then dipped each cake into flour, then egg, then seasoned bread crumbs. Easy, right? Wrong! The cakes began to fall apart when I put them in the egg mixture. I then had to re-make the cakes to add them to the bread crumbs but then they fell apart again! So, I ended up with everything kind of mixed together, pressed back into a cake and topped with more breadcrumbs.

They still turned out very tasty, but I'm sure it wasn't supposed to be that hard. So, anyone out there who has a suggestion as to how to keep my cakes together so that inside is just risotto and not a mixture of the breading as well please enlighten me.

All in all, I really enjoyed my recreation of the masterpiece. The sauce was perfect and the cakes weren't bad either. :)

Fried Risotto with Tomato Cream Sauce

Source: Me

Leftover Risotto formed into patties

1 dish of flour

1 dish with 1 large egg, beaten

1 dish with seasoned bread crumbs

olive oil for frying

2 tbsp marinara sauce

2 tbsp Alouette Herb & Cheese Spread

1 tbsp parmesan cheese

pinch of salt

Dip each patty into the flour, then the egg, then the bread crumbs. Add oil to a skillet over medium heat and fry until golden brown. Remove to a plate and prepare sauce.

Add marinara to a pan over medium heat and warm through. Add the Alouette and stir until combined. Add parmesan and pinch of salt.

Place the sauce in the center of a plate and top with risotto cakes. You can top with extra sauce if you have any and/or parmesan cheese.

Garlic Cream Chicken and Rice

Ok, finally another food post! I realize this is a food blog and my past two entries were about my anniversary/my life, but hey, it's my blog. I can post anything I want. I can even be a little attention-whorish sometimes. ;)

But now, I am back with food. Tonight we had Garlic Cream Chicken. I've had this recipe saved for a while, but for some reason I just haven't made it yet. I changed it a lot, but the biggest change was that the original recipe called for 3 heads of garlic (for 4 chicken breasts) and you were to leave the cloves whole through out the cooking process. Now we love garlic at our house, but have you ever heard the saying, "too much of a good thing?" I decided to cut down on the garlic a lot and to press it so that you wouldn't bite into a chunk while eating your chicken.

I served the chicken over rice to soak up the wonderful garlic sauce. It really is a great recipe!

Garlic Cream Chicken and Rice
Source: Adapted from Elizabeth's Cooking Experiments, which she adapted from www.adamandmonika.com

6 cloves garlic, pressed
4 chicken cutlets (or 2 full size breasts)
salt & freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 tbsp butter
1 1/2tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
flat leaf parsley, rough chopped, for garnish
cayenne pepper, sprinkled over the top

Season chicken liberally with salt & pepper. Heat the butter and oil n a large deep pan over medium heat. Sauté chicken until nicely browned (~5 min per side). Chicken does not have to be fully cooked at this point. Transfer chicken to a plate and get the rice cooking.

Add garlic to the pan, lower heat to medium, and sauté until soft. Be careful not to burn the garlic. Add stock and bring to a boil. Return chicken to the pot. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove chicken to a platter and cover with foil.

Add cream and boil for about 3 minutes. Plate rice, sprinkle parmesan cheese over the rice. Add a little sauce then chicken and more sauce. Top with parsley and sprinkle with cayenne pepper.

Creamy and Cheesy: A Labor of Love

Yep, I'm talking about risotto. I've made it once before, a smoked gouda version you can find here. This time I kept it simple, just a basic parmesan risotto. The recipe came from the pioneer woman and it was FANTASTIC!! This, by itself, was my meal. The hubs wasn't too thrilled to have a dinner that didn't include meat, but he had to work late and tonight I was cooking for me. I put the leftovers in the fridge in case he wants some when he comes home, but I won't be surprised if I find them in the same spot I left them tomorrow morning. Oh well, that just means I'll have a yummy lunch tomorrow!

PW’s Perfect Risotto
Source: The Pioneer Woman-my changes/additions are in italics

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 small or 1/2 medium onion - I used 1 shallot
3 to 4 cloves garlic
1 pound Arborio rice - I used Jasmine rice because it's what I had
7 to 8 cups chicken broth
1 to 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 cups (total) grated Parmesan, Romano, and/or Asiago cheese - I just used parmesan
Salt & Pepper to taste
Chopped chives - I used chopped cilantro since I had some that was about to go bad.

Heat oil in large skillet, then add chopped onion and garlic and cook until soft. Dump in 1 pound dry Arborio rice, and stir to coat. Then add the broth, in 1-cup increments, stirring after each addition until liquid is absorbed. Rice is done when it no longer has a hard bite. After all liquid is absorbed, add cream, cheese, salt & pepper, and stir to combine. Stir in chives and serve immediately.

This recipe makes a TON of risotto. I am going to freeze some of mine and see how it reheats. This recipe could easily have been halved and still fed the 2 of us for a few days. LOL!

Wow, now that's what I call SPICY!

After my purchase of garam masala last week, Kate said I HAD to make Chicken Tikka Masala. Of course I had never heard of it, so I was on a quest to find out what this new chicken dish was all about. Turns out it is a very well known Indian dish. But seeing how I’ve never really been exposed to much Indian food, it was not well known to me. I’m not even sure if we have a good Indian restaurant in Central Alabama. Was it even something I would like?

I searched Kate’s blog because I knew if she was recommending it, it must be on there somewhere. It took me a few minutes since she has 50, yes 50, chicken recipes posted. I finally found it and it looked great! I decided to look around at other recipes also because hers called for a few things I didn’t have on hand. Let me tell you, a lot of food bloggers have made this dish and everyone seems to love it. I was convinced and set out to make my own.

I found what looked like a fairly easy recipe on allrecipes.com (but it didn’t actually call for garam masala and that is why I was making this dish!) and then found out that Jaime at Good Eats ‘N Sweet Treats had used the same recipe but added the garam masala to the chicken and the sauce. We also spell our name the same way so I was pretty sure she would be right on this too. ;)

I also discovered that most people serve theirs with Naan, an Indian flat bread. I looked at recipes and even chose one, but at the last minute decided I just wasn't up for that much work on a weeknight. So, I had garlic crescent rolls with mine and they were delicious!

I wish I had thought to make the marinade last night and let the chicken sit in it until tonight, but that much forethought just doesn't happen these days. I did let it sit for the recommended hour, but I think it would have been even better over night. I've never had the "real thing" before, but if it tastes anything like how mine turned out, I really like Indian food! The flavors were unlike anything I've ever had before. It was spicy, but the spice didn't overpower the dish. It was the perfect amount of spiciness for me. :)

Chicken Tikka Masala
Original Source: allrecipes.com-my changes/additions in italics

1 cup yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
4 teaspoons salt, or to taste - I only used 1 teaspoon…who uses that much salt??
1 teaspoon garam masala
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces - I just grilled the breasts whole and cut them up later

1 tablespoon butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons garam masala
2 teaspoons paprika
3 teaspoons salt, or to taste (again, just 1 teaspoon)
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

In a large bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper, ginger, garam masala and salt. Stir in chicken, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour. Preheat a grill for high heat. Lightly oil the grill grate. Thread chicken onto skewers, and discard marinade. Grill until juices run clear, about 5 minutes on each side.

Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic and jalapeno for 1 minute. Season with cumin, paprika, garam masala and salt. Stir in tomato sauce and cream. Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes. Add grilled chicken, and simmer for 10 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter, and garnish with fresh cilantro. I served the chicken and sauce over jasmine rice.

Quick Shrimp Alfredo

I'd been thinking all day about what I was going to make for dinner tonight. Taylor wanted leftover roast from Saturday night. I however took leftovers for lunch today, and probably will tomorrow too, so I was NOT eating that again. I wanted something quick, but really good. I got home from work around 5:30 and was sitting down to eat at 6:00. Not bad! This isn't an authentic alfredo sauce, but it tastes similar so that is the name I chose.

Jaime's Quick Shrimp Alfredo
Source: Me
Serves One

1 cup uncooked Jasmine rice
2 cups chicken stock
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 tbsp Alouette Garlic and Herbs Cheese Spread - See product rave below.
1/2 cup milk - give or take
parmesan cheese, to taste
10 medium shrimp - I only had frozen shrimp, but this would have been even better with fresh!
parsley and red pepper flakes for garnish


Add the sesame oil and pressed garlic to a sautee pan over medium heat. Add the uncooked rice
and stir to coat. I have found that toasting the rice prior to cooking adds a nutty background flavor, which in this case is enhanced by the sesame oil. Toast for about 5 minutes, stirring often.


Add the rice to the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Stir and then cover, reducing the heat to simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes. **You will have more rice than you need for the sauce and the shrimp. I plated my serving and saved the rest in the fridge for another quick dinner idea to come soon!**


While the rice is cooking, add the Alouette to the sautee pan from earlier (make sure you remove all the grains of rice) over medium low heat. Add a little milk and stir. As the cheese spread melts, continue to add milk. The amount of milk you need to add depends on how thick you like your sauce. Once the Alouette is completely melted and combined with the milk, add parmesan cheese. Increase heat slightly continuing to stir. Add the thawed, or fresh, shrimp to the sauce and let cook completely. Stir the sauce every once in a while, coating the shrimp. Once the shrimp is done, you can reduce the heat to warm/simmer and wait on the rice to finish cooking.

Once the rice is done, pour sauce and shrimp over one serving of rice. Sprinkle parsley and red pepper flakes on top. A perfect, quick, simple weeknight dinner!

Good Friends and Good Food

Last night we had some friends over to have dinner and play cards. For me, it was the perfect time to try out a new recipe. I bought some smoked Gouda when I went grocery shopping last week and scoured the web for something new and interesting to make with it. When I came across a recipe for Smoked Gouda Risotto I knew the search was over, sign me up. Anything with rice and cheese sounds perfect to me. However, my husband is the complete opposite. Cheese and rice? No thanks. It’s not American or Cheddar cheese? He’ll pass. He’s gotten more adventurous with food since we’ve gotten married, but I guess he has to draw the line somewhere. But last night I had two new people to be my guinea pigs, so I went for it.

Let me just tell you, risotto is a labor of love. Do not make this dish if you want to be able to do other things while you cook. You might as well chain yourself to the stove top for 45 minutes because that’s the only place you’ll be. Also, your arm will get a nice workout from all the stirring. Yes, it’s sad that I count cooking food as exercise.

I really enjoyed this dish, and my guests seemed to also. It is rich and creamy with a great nutty flavor from the smoked Gouda. You could probably add any kind of cheese you like and it would be wonderful. I served the Smoked Gouda Risotto with grilled chicken and green beans. (I made some sautéed potatoes for my husband since he wasn’t touching the rice. I will post that recipe later) My changes/additions are in parentheses in italics.

Smoked Gouda Risotto

Source: Recipezaar.com

2 cups water

2 (16 ounce) cans chicken broth or vegetable broth

1 tablespoon butter

2 cups arborio or other short grain rice

1/2 cup dry white wine (I used more chicken stock instead)

1/3 cup shallots (I used 2 cloves of garlic, pressed)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups shredded smoked gouda cheese

5 cups chopped arugula or spinach (I omitted this)

1. Combine water and broth; set aside.
2. Melt butter in a large nonstick saucepan over medium heat.
3. Add 1/3 cup shallots, cover and cook for 2 minutes.
4. Add rice.
5. Cook 2 minutes uncovered, stirring constantly.
6. Stir in 1/2 cup wine; cook 30 seconds or until the liquid is absorbed, stirring constantly.
7. Adding salt and 1/2 cup broth mixture, stir until absorbed.
8. Continue adding broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly.
9. Be sure broth is absorbed before adding the next (about 20 minutes total).
10. Stir in Gouda, cook just until melted.
11. Stir in arugula or spinach.
12. Cook just until spinach is wilted.

(I garnished it with some parsley)