Spanish Rice

Happy Wednesday! Are you having a good week? Sorry about missing Monday; I am still fighting this cold, and I couldn't get enthused about talking about food. :D

So, today I'm sharing this Spanish Rice recipe from About.com.

It is an easy recipe; I'm not a HUGE Spanish rice fan, period - unless it's got lots of cheese sauce poured over it, and then it's something else entirely. :D BUT this is a good, simple recipe. I've ALWAYS had to cook it longer than it says, and it's still a bit crunchy, even then. It carries easily, so it's gone to two different homes as a side to Mexican dishes. It can warm in the oven with the entree and refried beans, so that works well. :)

Overall, it's a good recipe to have - so I am gonna call it a YES, PLEASE! :)

OK, I'm outta here! Have a wonderful day, my friends. Be BLESSED!!!

Crockpot "Refried" Beans

Good Monday afternoon! :) I know it's a bit later than normal, but I wasn't home much this weekend. I'm house managing for Lamplighter's Theater Company, and between church and the show, there wasn't a lot of spare time to be found! :)

That doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about what to post. :D I made this recipe last week; it's from Pennies & Pancakes, for Crockpot "Refried" Beans.

Let me just say, from the start, this gets a YES, PLEASE! :) It's a great, inexpensive, adjustable recipe. The only thing I measured was the water, because I didn't want to have it be too soupy or too dry.

The flavor is GREAT on these! I found I didn't need all the cooking time listed; be sure your beans aren't crunchy, for sure, but mine were done about a half-hour after I turned my pot down to LOW. I cut the recipe in half; we don't eat a LOT of refried beans, and I didn't want them going to waste - even though they're so inexpensive to make!

I will recommend this to you, too: keep some of the liquid if you drain off some from your beans. I was worried when I mashed them that I hadn't gotten rid of enough liquid. But they really tightened up, and I now wish I'd left just a bit more. If you keep some of the liquid, you can add it when your beans start to cool. But I don't think I'll be using canned beans if I can do a little planning ahead; these really were tasty!!!!!!

I had these vegetarian beans and melted cheese with organic blue corn tortilla chips for dinner one night; I felt so virtuous! :D And I highly recommend that, if you like cilantro, you sprinkle a little on whatever you serve these beans with. It's one of the top 5 nutrient-dense foods on the PLANET, and it gives a great freshness to the taste. But whatever floats your boat! :)

OK, I'm outta here. Have a WONDERFUL week! Be BLESSED!!! (And be sure to come back Wednesday, for a Valentine's suggestion!)

Roasted Cabbage

It's FRIDAY! How was your Thanksgiving? Are you still stuffed? :D Are your festivities continuing through the weekend? Are you decorating? :D

Anyway. Here's another recipe from our hostess luncheon; it's Roasted (I Wish It Was Grilled) Cabbage from Green Lite Bites.

The original blogger said she liked her cabbage crunchy; I don't so I put the wedges in for about an hour and 15 minutes. And they were still crunchy.

I'm going to give this a NO, THANKS. The Worchestershire sauce was a bit overpowering. I think we're going to try frying up the leftovers, and see if we like it that way better. So watch for an update; I'll need to do that this weekend, more than likely - I need the fridge room! :D

OK, I'm outta here! Working away for the open house! I hope you're coming. :)

Enjoy your weekend!!!! Be BLESSED!!!

Pico de Gallo

Good Wednesday morning! Sorry I wasn't around Monday; between working too hard this weekend, and being sick, I just didn't feel like blogging. :D So!

With that being said, :D, here is Family Favorite Recipes' recipe for pico de gallo.

OK. I have to say this: this recipe is almost EXACTLY what I would use for a bruscetta topping - except the herb is cilantro, not basil, and it's got a jalapeno in it.

But it's GOOD. :) It's just amazing to me how similar Mexican and Italian can be sometimes. :) And it was part of a grander scheme of a recipe, so as an ingredient, it was good. We didn't eat it all, and I think it's because I was trying to squeeze in as much cooking as I could while my parents were gone. :D We ate WELL that week. LOL!

I'd say try it. I'd also say, if you're looking for a bruscetta topping, just change out the herb and don't worry about the jalapeno. :D So, it's going down in the history books as a YES, PLEASE. :D

OK, I'm outta here. Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED - and try something new!

Twice-baked Potatoes

Good Friday Morning!!! How are you today? Have you had a good week? Got big plans for the weekend? Whatcha gonna do? :D

Today's recipe comes from that wonderful blogger, The Pioneer Woman - and it's Twice-Baked Potatoes. :)

As she said in her post, this is more about the method than it is  about the recipe. :) I took her method, and played with it a bit. :)

Basically, my mom said, "There's a bunch of baked potatoes in the fridge. Please figure out something to do with them!" (She's got the shingles, and is really trying to recuperate from them and my sister's large family visiting for a week. :) )

The first one I did was mostly what you're familiar with, the above one. :D I used some butter, sour cream, parsley flakes, salt, pepper, motgomery jack cheese, and bacon bits on top. I have to tell you, cold (as in refrigerated!) potatoes are hard to scoop out without breaking through the skin. But I did pretty well. :)

The second one was sweet potatoes. I wanted it to be a bit sweeter. I mean, it IS a twice-baked sweet potato. :D I added butter, cinnamon, a bit of freshly-grated nutmeg, and some Splenda/brown sugar mixture.

Goodness, this is a YES, PLEASE. Next time, I want to use warmer potatoes, so when I mash the inside with the ingredients, it will be smoother. Even the sweet potatoes were super-yummy!

I'm off! I'm performing a couple of historical monologs at the Wilson County Fair this Friday and Saturday; come see us! :D And then try something NEW! :D Be BLESSED!

Thai Noodles with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Good Friday Morning!

Have you had a good week? I really hope so. :) It's been busy as usual around here; I've enjoyed having part of my family here. And it's only a month until my baby sister's firstborn is due! I can't WAIT! :)

Anyway. Today's recipe is brought to you by Food.com.

Let's see. Tweaks. :D I stir-fried some chicken to go in. I used fresh stir fry veggies instead of frozen, and that had broccoli, snow peas, and crinkle-sliced carrots in it. I still added the grated carrot as well. And we added a sprinkle of fresh cilantro on top.

I used Dreamfields pasta for the linguine. It's treated so that one cup has five usable carbs, so that lowers the carb count to something I can eat. :D

These noodles got a YES, PLEASE! from everyone here. They weren't very spicy at all, so don't let the name stop you from eating them. I would actually up the heat index the next time I make them, with a little more Thai chili sauce or even a sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes. I like heat with peanut sauce! :)

Do you have plans to try something new this weekend? I hope so - and that you'll share with me what you made! :) Heck, these were easy - you could do this one! :)

Have a wonderful weekend! Be BLESSED!

Pineapple Fried Rice

Good Monday Morning! :) Did you have a good weekend? I'd LOVE to hear if you tried something new this weekend! What was it? Did you like it? Is it online? Can you link me? :D

Today's recipe is half of this one from The Pioneer Woman - the pineapple fried rice. We didn't get a chance to do the pork chops - I served this with chicken.

OH. MY. GOODNESS. Was this ever good! Let's see. Did I tweak much? :D We used mixed vegetables instead of just peas; we used Minute Rice microwaveable brown and wild rices. I used a grill pan on the pineapple instead of doing it outside. I didn't use a lot of onion, because my dad doesn't like chunks of onion. :D

This is definitely a YES, PLEASE. Y'all know I try to be careful with rice; I had to REALLY watch myself with this. Pineapple sends my sugars skyrocketing, too. And this was REALLY, REALLY good. I felt a little better with the rice mixture I used, but I still didn't eat as much as I wanted. Which would have been most of it. :D We'll definitely try this again - and maybe the chops, too. :D

Let me know if you try it! I'm telling you, you'll love it. :D You could spice it a bit, too, if you wanted. But don't ignore this recipe. :D

OK, I'm outta here. Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!!!!

Chickpea and Tomato Salad

It's Wednesday! How's your week going? It's supposed to be getting warmer here; today's recipe is a no-cook recipe.

It comes via Green Lite Bites. It's created to be an entree all in its own; I used it as a side dish, but it's full of nutrition and freshness!

Believe it or not, I didn't change a THING on this recipe. :) It's a LOT of garlic; I used bottled minced, instead of doing it myself. I think it was probably a bit milder - which was good, because raw garlic tends to make me nauseous if it's too strong. Go figure. :D

I've made it twice; once for Kenn and me, and one for the infamous barbecue for Kenn's discipleship group. :D I let it sit longer when I made it for the party; the tomatoes were especially tasty! I can't say that chickpeas - AKA garbanzo beans - are my favorite legume, but they're OK. I like hummus, but I think it's because of all the other stuff you add in. :D

So, this is obviously a YES, PLEASE! recipe. It's now safely pinned to my "Favorite Recipes" board! :D Let me know what you think - or if there's something you'd like me to try and review for you. :) Have a WONDERFUL day! Be blessed!