Quick Fix: Lemon-Pinoli Rice Pilaf

This Lemon-Pinoli (Pine Nut) Rice Pilaf is a great way to use up leftover rice.  It comes together super-quick and is really delicious.  The lemon gives the rice some brightness and makes it perfect for pairing with fish or chicken while the Pinoli, or Pine Nuts, add a nutty flavor and crunchy texture.  I threw in some parmesan cheese, which added another dimension of nutty flavor to the mix.  This dish will work with any rice you have on hand and you can add any fresh herbs you like to marry it to your main dish.

Here's the link to the video:

Here's the recipe:

2 TBLS pine nuts*, toasted

2 Cups cooked rice

1 TBLS extra virgin olive oil

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

1/4 Cup parmesan cheese

1/4-1/2 tsp dill* (fresh would be really lovely, I used dried because that's what I had on hand)

salt to taste

Start by toasting the pine nuts over low heat in a skillet.  Remove the Pinoli from the pan and set them aside once they are toasted to a golden brown.

Increase heat to medium high and add olive oil - allow it all to heat up a bit.  Add rice, stirring in to break up any clumps.  Stir in dill, lemon juice and salt (to taste).  Cover and reduce heat to low.  Let it hang out for about 5 minutes, until heated through.  Turn off heat.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and pine nuts.  Stir to combine and serve hot.    

*Note: you can reserve a few pine nuts and some dill (if you are using fresh) if you like, to use as a garnish.

Make Your Own Takeout: Pork Fried Rice

When it comes to food cravings I am generally pretty good at satisfying them right here at home.  Mostly we tend to crave Italian, Mexican and Pacific Northwest Seafood, but one cuisine that we generally go to a restaurant to curb our appetite for is Asian.  When I have lunch out on workdays, it's often Teriyaki or Pho and one of the few places my husband and I go for dinner is a local Chinese restaurant.  It's a totally Americanized Chinese menu - the type that was really popular back in the 70's, but we love it whether it's authentic or not (we honestly and perhaps sadly wouldn't know the difference) so I have made it my goal to master a few recipes myself and this Fried Rice recipe I found on Pinterest has been a great place to start.

Of course, this is me and I wouldn't be me if I didn't make at least an adjustment or two to our own liking, but I really haven't tweaked this recipe much at all.  I've really just swapped one ingredient for another, left out an ingredient (although I do intend to try it with it as well), and increased a couple others.

The key to good fried rice at home is to use rice that is a few days old and cold, right from the fridge. It will still taste delicious with freshly made rice, but the texture just won't match what your used to from your favorite restaurant or carry out place.

This recipe also happens to call for butter.  I've tried fried rice recipes before and this is the first I've come across with butter, but let me tell you, it works.  It's definitely the closest to our favorite restaurant's fried rice that I've made so far and it's definitely a recipe worth sharing.

This is also one time when I don't employ the chop and drop method of cooking.  I do chop up all the veggies and ingredients first because you'll be working pretty quickly.  So chop up your onion, carrots, garlic, scallion and Barbeque Pork and have them all set to go when you're ready.

For the carrots, I cut them in half, then half them again so they are 1/4 sticks...



Then chop them so I get small pieces like these:



If you have a wok, by all means use it, I used my non-stick skillet and it worked out just fine.  Preheat your pan over medium high heat and melt some of the butter until it's fully melted and bubbly...



Add your beaten eggs and scramble them until they are just done...



Remove them from the pan when they are cooked through and set them aside.  Do not overcook them, they will go back into the pan later and you don't want them to brown or dry out.



Melt some more butter in the pan, then throw in your carrots and onion, season with a bit of salt and pepper and stir-fry it for a bit - just until the onions and carrots become tender...





Add the last of your butter to the pan and stir it in until it's melted.  Now add your rice, scallions, pork and soy sauce...



Stir it in, breaking up any clumps of rice as you go with the back of a wooden spoon and let it cook for 2-3 more minutes.  Add the scrambled eggs and sesame oil - stir to combine...



At this point you can serve it or cover it and hold it warm in the oven at 225 degrees while you prepare more tasty Make Your Own Takeout dishes to accompany it.

Here's my modified version of the recipe:

Pork Fried Rice

4 TBLS unsalted butter, divided
3 eggs, beaten
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 small, sweet onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 lb BBQ pork, cut into bite-sized pieces
3 scallions, thinly sliced
4 Cups cooked and chilled rice
4 TBLS Soy Sauce (I used low sodium)
1/4 tsp toasted sesame oil

Preheat skillet or wok over medium high heat.  Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter until fully melted and bubbling.  Add egg and scramble until just cooked.  Remove from pan and set aside.

Melt 1 more tablespoon of the butter in the skillet until fully melted and bubbling.  Add onions, carrots and garlic.  Stir fry for 2-3 minutes just until onions become translucent and carrots start to become tender.

Add last 2 tablespoons of the butter to the skillet and stir in until melted.  Add rice, scallions and BBQ Pork to the skillet and stir in until well combined.  Stir fry for another 2-3 minutes.  Add soy sauce and eggs.  Stir to combine.  Add toasted sesame oil, stir to combine and remove from heat.

At this point you can serve it or cover it and hold it warm in a 225 oven while you make additional dishes to accompany your Pork Fried Rice.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Make Your Own Takeout: Cilantro Lime Rice

I live about 20 minutes from the nearest anything.  Grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, hardware stores...you get the idea.  And what is available 20 minutes away is limited which means we often have to drive quite a bit further to satisfy our cravings...which we almost never do.  Seriously, after spending a minimum of 2 hours in the car per day, 5 days per week the craving has to be pretty intense for either one of us, much less both of us, to be willing to put on proper clothes, hop in the car and go out anywhere for anything.  This has led to a desire on my part to learn to make as many of the foods I crave from our favorite takeout joints as possible.  If you happen to follow me on Pinterest, you may be aware I have a huge group board I call Make Your Own Takeout.  Hence, this first installment of Make Your Own Takeout: Cilantro Lime Rice.

One place I have been introduced to since starting my job in Kent is Chipotle.  I really like the burrito bowl with Cilantro Lime Rice, Carnitas, beans, corn, etc.  The rice is very good, but I knew I could not only easily make it at home, but make it even better with more flavor.  The beauty of this dish is that you can either make it completely from scratch or make it using leftover rice and, if you're in a hurry, you can even make the whole thing in your rice cooker (or saucepan on the stovetop) in one fell swoop!

I am making Chicken Enchilada Cobbler today and I had some leftover rice in the fridge I decided to use up so I started with 2 cups of the leftover rice and added the zest of 1 lime...



...and the juice of half of the same lime...



...a handful of cilantro....





...plus some ground cumin, onion powder, and salt.  Mix it all up, reheat and Voila!  Cilantro Lime Rice.  At this point you can reheat it and serve it with Fish Tacos, Fajitas or top it with Carnitas and Make Your Own Takeout burrito bowl - or any other recipe you'd like to use it in - like the Chicken Enchilada Cobbler I'm making.



Here's the recipe:

Cilantro Lime Rice

Method 1: Precooked Rice

2 cups cooked rice
zest of 1 lime
juice of 1/2 lime (or more to taste)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp onion powder
pinch of salt
handful fresh cilantro, chopped or 1 tsp dried cilantro

Mix all ingredients together, reheat and serve.

Method 2: Rice Cooker
*1 1/2 cups rice
*3 cups water or chicken stock
zest of 1 lime (or more to taste)
juice of 1 lime
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt (less if using salted chicken stock)
handful fresh cilantro, chopped or 1 tsp dried cilantro

Thoroughly rinse uncooked rice until the water runs clear.  Add to rice cooker along with all ingredients except cilantro if using fresh.  Set rice cooker per manufacturers instructions.  Serve hot with your favorite Mexican dish.

*NOTE: You may need to adjust these amounts per the manufacturers instructions for your rice cooker.  The manufacturers instructions trump those above.  If using a saucepan on the stovetop, follow the instructions for rice to liquid ratio on the package of rice you choose to use, then add everything else and cook as per usual.

Scrambled Egg & Rice Casserole - For 2 Please!

I hope everyone has been enjoying their summer - I know I have - I hope you're not all out there melting in overly-hot temperatures. Our sunshine returned Thursday afternoon and we have had lovely, sunny and not too hot weather since then, in fact this weekend has been as close to perfect as any.

I got to talk to my best friend on the phone today and catch up with her (more like download). I made a delicious, summery dinner tonight that my spouse complimented me on several times. And now I'm watching one of my many favorite movies, Top Gun, while my wonderful husband enjoys a football game over at the bachelor pad (my brother-in-law lives in an apartment above our detached garage/shop).

Remember this from my last post?

I promised to share what I did with those scrambled eggs and, at long last, I am finally getting this post put together.

I believe I may have mentioned that our great neices who were living with us moved out when school got out this year so I've been working at "downsizing" our favorite meals and preparing just enough for the two of us. You might think it's an unusual combination - scrambled eggs and rice - but I first discovered I enjoyed it when I starting having leftover rice with scrambled eggs, ham and cheese on top for breakfast and then my husband took it to a whole new level by turning it into a dinner casserole and we've been eating it for years now. This casserole is certainly one of our favorite go-to meals when we haven't made specific plans for dinner. Its so easy to make - perfect for enlisting the help of the kids if you're making it for a whole family and its so versatile you can add anything you have in the fridge.

There's been a lot of talk about meatless Mondays in the last couple months or so and although we haven't made a habit of necessarily having our meatless dinner on Mondays, we have been trying to have a meatless dinner at least once a week and one of our favorite choices so far has been portabello burgers. The reason I bring this up is that when I fix the mushroom burgers, I save the stems and put them in the fridge to use in another dish later in the week. So for this casserole, I sliced up those wonderful stems. Of course, depending on what you put in it, this dish also qualifies as meatless!

Prepare your favorite type of rice (leftover works great too) and set aside, then scramble up some eggs and set them aside.

Saute the portabello stems (or any other mushrooms you like) in a skillet with a bit of extra virgin olive oil (you can add butter too, if you like). Cook until the mushrooms start to carmelize, then add salt & pepper to taste. Remove them from the skillet and set them aside. Chop up some green onions and set them aside as well. (If you prefer to cook them, you can throw them in with the mushrooms when they are almost ready.)

Let's take a moment to talk ingredient quantity when cooking for two. For the eggs - cook the same number per person as you normally would. In other words, my husband and I normally eat 2 eggs each if we were having fried eggs for breakfast so I prepared 2 eggs per person for this dish. For veggies being added to a casserole or stir fry in most cases I have been prepping a one half serving per person. I've just found that if you prepare a full serving of each vegetable per person, you end up with way more food than 2 people can eat (and far more leftovers than we want too)! So for this dish I used 2 portabello stems (about the equivalent of 2 mushrooms) and half of a green onion. When it comes to cheese, however, I do go ahead and prep a full serving each. After all, it's going to top each dish and really, can you ever have enough cheese ? I mean, really? I'm just sayin'...

Ok, so now that we got that out of the way... Scoop the rice into a casserole dish (or individual ones like I used). My husband really likes to have a bit of EVOO drizzled over the rice at this point - so I did that, just to make him happy, see how I am? Then I grated some parmigiano reggiano cheese over that (because that's how I like it). Now top it with the scrambled eggs, mushrooms and green onions (or anything else you'd like to include).

Top it with shredded cheese - I used Monterey Jack here, which I love because it melts into such a creamy, yummy consistency that, I think, goes especially well with eggs and mushrooms.

Put your casserole dish(es) in a 375 oven just until the cheese melts and starts to bubble, then serve hot (add a salad if you like). I was so hungry and ready to eat this by the time it came out of the oven that I forgot to take a picture!

So here's the recipe, such as it is:

Scrambled Egg and Rice Casserole For 2

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2 cups steamed rice
4 eggs, scrambled
2 portabello mushroom stems, (or 2 small mushrooms of your choice) sauteed
1/2 green onion, chopped
2 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (or any cheese you like)
1 oz. Parmigiano Reggiano, shredded
salt & pepper to taste
Extra Virgin Olive Oil to taste
Butter (optional) to taste

Prepare a casserole dish or other oven-safe dish with non-stick spray or butter. Spread rice in bottom of dish. Drizzle with EVOO. Sprinkle on Parmesan cheese. Top with scrambled eggs, season to taste, then add mushrooms and green onions. Top with shredded cheese. Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes, until cheese it melted and bubbly.

Rice and Turkey Meatballs

Did I tell you I'm a henna artist? Shortly after our nieces and nephew moved in with us, I learned to do henna body art and spent the following 3 summers plying my trade at the local fairs and festivals. I still do henna every June when I work for an event company at Graduation parties.

To keep costs down and to ensure I actually ate something, I always packed an assortment of items for my crew and I to eat. I liked to keep the items small and easy to eat like cubes of cheese, grapes, sliced turkey or ham and nuts. The meats were fine, but messier than I liked and on longer days I'd be starving at the end of the day - not having really managed to get anything much in my stomach in between clients. I thought a meatball might would be a good solution.

I wanted a meatball that would be tasty cold, right out of the cooler and I wanted them to be simple to make but full of flavor and satisfying but fairly healthy. Finally, since my assistant artist and some of my other henna artist friends have issues with wheat, gluten and dairy I wanted to make them without breadcrumbs or cheese (I always put parmesan in my Italian meatballs). This is the recipe I came up with. They are great hot, but I honestly like them best right out of the fridge or cooler the next day. You could, of course, switch up the flavors and serve them with the sauce of your choice, or gravy, but if you're looking for something that packs well for lunches or picnics, these fit the bill well.

Rice and Turkey Meatballs

1 lb ground Turkey
1 scallion, finely chopped
1 tsp cumin, ground
1/2 tsp coriander, ground
pinch of chili powder
salt & pepper
2 tbls fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 cup cooked rice, cold

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare a cookie sheet or cast iron skillet with pam or a thin coating of Olive Oil. In a medium bowl, mix turkey and seasonings, then add rice until it just comes together. Scoop out and roll into small meatballs and place cookie sheet or in skillet. Bake approx. 12-15 minutes for bite-sized meatballs, or until browned and cooked through.

I think these would be great served with tzatziki sauce or Raita.