Baked Garlic Rice Pilaf

A lot of times I have a hard time coming up with side dishes.  I work so hard to plan the main dishes of my meals out that by the time I go back to fill in side dishes I am ready to be done with my grocery list.  This one is one that we keep coming back to.  I just love it.  It is easy.  Once you stick it in the oven you don't have to do much to it so you can concentrate on the rest of your meal.  Sometimes rice is a little finicky.  I don't always have the patience to wait for it to cook completely on the stove so I love that you can just throw this in the oven and it comes out perfectly cooked every time.

We always add more garlic to the recipe.  I also like that it is an easy recipe to halve or double depending on your needs.

Baked Garlic Rice Pilaf

(Source: What's Cooking in the Orange Kitchen?)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 cup long-grain white rice

2 1/2 cups chicken broth, divided

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375*.

Heat butter in a skillet; add garlic and rice and cook until both are golden brown.

Add 1 cup of broth and the salt and pepper.

Bring to a boil and pour into a covered casserole; bake for 25 minutes.

Stir in remaining 1 1/2 cups broth; cook for another 45 minutes.

**This can be doubled without increasing the cooking time.

Shepherd's Pie

I wanted to make something Irish for St. Patrick's Day.  I kept leaning towards making corned beef and cabbage but I have never had corned beef so I was a little afraid to try it.  I decided to try this since we already know we like Shepherd's Pie it was just a little different spin on it.

The husband REALLY liked this.  He says it is even better than my normal version.  I liked it but I can't say it was my favorite.  It is still worth trying though . It was definitely good.  I just am not a big fan of beef and this has the ground beef and beef broth so it intensifies the beef flavor.  When I eat ground beef I usually like it so I can mask the flavor of it a little bit.

Next time I make it I will leave the skins on my red skin potatoes just because I like them.  I would also add the full amount of cheese in when I mash the potatoes so that it is just potatoes on top.  That way the potatoes would be a little more browned on top.



Shepherd's Pie
Adapted from Allrecipes, Serves 6

8 small red skin potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp finely chopped onion
1/4 cc. shredded Cheddar cheese
salt & pepper to taste
5 carrots, chopped
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 lbs ground beef
1 c. white button mushrooms, chopped
1 c. baby bella mushrooms, chopped
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tbsp ketchup
3/4 c. beef broth
1/4 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain and mash. Mix in butter, finely chopped onion and 1/4 cup shredded cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste; set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add carrots and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain, mash and set aside. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C.)

Heat oil in a large frying pan. Add onion and cook until clear. Add ground beef and cook until well browned. Add mushrooms and cook until tender. Pour off excess fat, then stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Add ketchup and beef broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Spread the ground beef in an even layer in individual ramekins. Next, spread a layer of mashed carrots. Top with the mashed potato mixture and sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Irish Soda Bread

This is my last shot.  I am going to try to stay on top of the blog one more time.  If I cannot do it I am just going to scrap the whole thing.  Part of why I fall of the wagon is because I hate my pictures.  We just use a point and shoot so of course they won't be as good as some  but when I look for recipes I look mainly at the pictures.  If the picture isn't appetizing then I don't usually even look at the actual recipe.  Another reason is because sometimes I just don't have anything to say about a recipe.  Sometimes I feel like it is quite monotonous.  Yes, the recipe is good.  I encourage you to try it.  Really how many ways can you say that something is yummy?  I started the blog because I like to write and I like to cook and bake.  I need to find that again.

This post inspires me to give it another go.  With the time change it is still daylight when we have dinner.  So we can take the pictures outside and use natural light which I feel gives the pictures a HUGE boost.  So maybe now that my pictures will look a little better I can stay on top of this more.

I have never had soda bread before.  I just thought it looked good and I decided we need it as part of our St. Patrick's Day menu.  I am glad that I gave it a try.  The bread was definitely tasty and had just the right amount of "sweet" to it.  My bread was still a little doughy in the middle even though the toothpick came out clean.  Not doughy enough to ruin it but I wish I would have baked it a few minutes longer.



Irish Soda Bread
Source: Allrecipes

4 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375 F.Lightly grease a large baking sheet.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and margarine. Stir in 1 cup of buttermilk and egg. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead slightly. Form dough into a round and place on prepared baking sheet. In a small bowl, combine melted butter with 1/4 cup buttermilk; brush loaf with this mixture. Use a sharp knife to cut an 'X' into the top of the loaf.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Continue to brush the loaf with the butter mixture while it bakes.

Weekly Menu (03/01/2010-03/05/2010)

Monday:  Glazed Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, & Asparagus

Tuesday:  Skillet Chicken with Broccoli, Pasta & Parmesan

Wednesday:  Stir-Fry

Thursday:  Sweet and Spicy Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos

Friday:  Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Chicken Burrito Bowls

This first time I went to Chipotle I didn't think I would like it...something about fast food chicken just gives me the willies.  But I was pleasantly surprised and I really liked it.  However, Chipotle just so happens to be a death trap so we needed to find a way to recreate it at home without clogging our arteries (quite so badly).  So that is what we did and boy was I excited. 

The blogging process in our house goes like this...we plate the food, I take a bite off my plate, then Philip takes a picture if I deem it worthy.  :) My reaction to this was "Holy cow! It tastes just like it!" I anticipated it being good but holy moly.  The only thing was there was WAY too much lime juice in the rice.  I also said that I would like another jalapeno added to the corn salsa and then immediately bit down on a jalapeno and about died so I think for my "gringaness" I might leave it. 



Chili-Lime Chicken

Marinate boneless skinless chicken breasts in the juice of 3 limes, 2 Tbsp. chili powder, 1 Tbsp. olive oil, 1/2 Tbsp. garlic powder. Cook thoroughly and chop into bite-sized pieces.

Cilantro Lime Rice

Cook rice (2 cups of uncooked rice for 4 cups of cooked rice).  Add 1/3 c. chopped cilantro, the juice of one and a half limes, and 1 Tbsp. butter. Mix well, keep warm.

*I think I would start with a half of a lime and then add more to taste. 

Corn Salsa (This I more or less just threw stuff in a bowl and mixed it up. Since I didn't measure I am just guessing on how much I used.  Definitely make this to your taste.)

2 cups frozen corn

1/4 cup chopped red onion

1 jalapeno, de-seeded and minced

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Squeeze of lime juice

Heat a small amount of oil.  Add corn and saute until slightly browned.  Add the rest of the ingredients.  Refrigerate. 

Then I assembled the bowls, added shredded monterey jack cheese and sour cream.  You could really add anything that you like to it, i.e., black beans, refried beans, salsa, etc.

Weekly Menu 02/01/2010-02/12/2010

Monday (02/01): Stuffed Chicken Breasts with egg noodles

Tuesday (02/02):  Chicken Stir-Fry

Wednesday (02/03):  Pecan Crusted Tilapia, Roasted Broccoli & Rolls

Thursday (02/04):  Teriyaki Meatballs, Rice & Peas

Friday (02/05):  Sloppy Joes & Oven Fries

Saturday (02/06):  Grilled Salisbury Chicken, Pasta & Green Beans

Sunday (02/07):  SUPERBOWL! Chicken Wings, Taco Dip, Stuffed Jalapenos (and I haven't figured out the rest yet)

Monday (02/08):  Kabobs & Wild Rice

Tuesday (02/09):  Red Chile Chicken with black beans and rice

Wednesday (02/10):  Spaghetti and Meatballs, Garlic Knots & Salad

Thursday (02/11):  Pork Tenderloin, Roasted Potatoes & Broccoli

Friday (02/12):  Fish tacos, Mexican Rice & Homemade Salsa

Chocolate Waffles

I almost felt guilty eating these for breakfast but they were so good! It was like chocolate cake but better.  Well not really...they were not as sweet as cake.  I wish we could have had fresh strawberries on top but since they aren't in seasonal the grocery store didn't have any that looked for good so we just settled for strawberry syrup.  It was a decent replacement but I bet they would have been phenomenal with fresh strawberries.

We got about 9 waffles out of this recipe.  WAY too many for us so when I make it next time I will definitely cut the recipe in half.

Chocolate Waffles

Source: adapted from Annie's Eats, originally from Alton Brown

Ingredients:
1½ cups (7 oz.) all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. (1¾ oz.) sugar
½ cup (1½ oz.) cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
3 large eggs, beaten
4 tbsp. butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
¾ cup mini chocolate chips
Nonstick cooking spray

Directions:
Preheat the waffle maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  Preheat the oven to 200˚ F.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and baking soda.  Whisk to blend.  In another bowl combine the eggs, butter, vanilla and buttermilk.  Whisk to blend well.  Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until incorporated.  Stir in the mini chocolate chips.  Let the batter rest for 5 minutes.

Fill the waffle iron with batter and cook until the waffle is crisp and completely cooked.  Transfer finished waffles to the preheated oven and repeat until all the batter has been used.  Serve immediately with fresh berries and whipped cream.