Shepherd's Pie

The Story:
One of my very first jobs was working in a restaurant called Pippin's Pie Pantry. My favorite thing to eat there was a Shepherd's Pie. It was also very popular with the customers. The dish consisted of very flavorful ground beef in a pie shell smothered in mashed potatoes and topped with brown gravy. The prep cooks came in very early in the morning to make the pies and then cooked them fresh each day. The restaurant changed names to Tippin's and with that came a new menu and no more Shepherd's Pie.

Through lots of trial and error and many recipes, I finally figured out how to recreate the Sherpherd's Pie that I remember at 15. I have been making it for my family all of their lives. It is a very simple recipe that is kid friendly. It also freezes well and the recipe is easy to double. I often double the recipe so that we eat one and freeze one.

The Ingredients:
1 Medium White Onion Diced
1 Small Pkg Fresh Sliced Mushrooms
2 T. Butter
1 t. Minced Fresh Garlic
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 Pkg Liption Onion Mushroom Soup Mix
Lawry's Season Salt
2 Eggs
2 C. Grated Sharp Cheese
2 1/2 C. Mashed Potatoes
Paprika
Pepper
1 Deep Dish Pie Shell
1 C. Frozen Corn
1 Jars Heinz Homestyle Brown Gravy

The Preparation:
In a skillet, sautee the mushrooms, garlic and onions until the onions are clear. Remove from the pan and set aside. Brown ground beef, season with Lawry's to taste and drain the grease. Return the browned ground beef to the skillet. Add in the sauteed mushrooms and onions. Add the soup mix and 1 cup of water.Add in the corn. Cook on medium heat until there is very liquid left in the pan. The water should cook down and make a gravy like consistency. Transfer the meat mixture to the uncooked pie crust.

In a small bowl beat two eggs very well. Pour evenly across the pie. I usually use my hands to evenly distribute the eggs.

Next add the cheese. It may not take the full two cups. I usually just add enough cheese to cover the top of the pie.

Next spread on the mashed potatoes. I usually choose to make Shepherd's Pie when I have left over mashed potatoes to spend. Sometimes, I make instant potatoes, but most of the time I buy the Country Crock ready made mashed potatoes in the refigerator section at Walmart. One container costs about $2.50 and is exactly the right amount of potatoes.

Sprinkle paprika and pepper over the top and place on a cookie sheet to catch the drips. Bake at 350 degrees until the potatoes begin to turn golden, approximately 1 hour.

The Serving:
Let cool for 10 minutes before cutting. Serve smothered in brown gravy. This pie is very filling so watch your portions when serving. A little goes a long way.

This recipe is an old faithful favorite that gets my husband's rating of 7.5 and the famous thumbs up!

Sauteed Spinach with Marinated Artichoke Hearts & Mushrooms

The story:
There is not much to tell with this vegetable side dish. Since my gastric bypass surgery I have had to become more and more creative with the foods that I am able to eat. Most of the time it is all about the southern foods that my family likes to eat. But, I have to find ways to add a spin so that there is something that I can eat and walk away with feeling satisfied. Most of time that is with rice, a lean cut of meat or in my vegetables.

Considering that I absolutely love spinach and artichokes I thought I would marry them up in balsmic vinegar with some mushrooms and scallions. It turned our far better than I had imagined and is now a favorite side dish among most of my family members. I say most, because Kai detests spinach.

The Ingredients:
1 Bunch Scallions (Diced)
1 Stick Salted Butter
1.5 lbs Fresh Spinach
2 6 oz. Jars Cento Marinated Artichoke Hearts
1 pkg sliced fresh mushrooms
2 T. Balsmic Vinegar
Salt to taste

The Preparations:

In a large pan, add a stick of butter, scallions, mushrooms, Balsmic vinegar and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain and add in both jars of marinated artichoke hearts. Slowly add small bunches of spinach. The amount of spinach will look overwhelming but it cooks down quickly.

Turn spinach often and continue to add in remainin spinach as the pan will allow. It is important to continue to turn the spinach, The color should be a dark green and not brown or black. It is easy to over cook it so turn quickly.

Add in salt to taste as you continue to turn the spinach. Once all of the spinach has been sauteed take off of the heat and place in a serving dish.

The Serving:
This dish is a great accompaniment to any meal but is fantastic all by itself. Experiment with adding more or less balsmic vinegar or other vegetables such as red or yellow peppers.

This spinach dish gets the husband's thumb of approval and a score of 8.5.

The Ultimate Loaded Queso Dip

The Story:
Many years ago when I was working for a small family owned Garage Door Distributor, I was introduced to a load queso dip. I was 20 years old and pregnant with Miranda. During my pregnancy with her, I always craved Mexican food and salsa. One afternoon in the company kitchen I became very interested in the lunch of one of my co-workers. She brought queso and chips for lunch. This was so odd to me. I couldn't figure out who would want to eat queso by itself as a meal. That is until I tried it. My friend added meat and onions and refried beans to her dip. I think this is when I had the realization that you can be creative with food. Until then, I followed every recipe to the letter. We didn't have the internet so I used lots of old cook books and made lots of box dinners but always followed them to the letter with the exception of the seasonings. Those were always free game to seasoning "to-taste."

After trying her queso I decided I could be creative too. I began experimenting and added my favorite mexican ingredients. My loaded queso recipe has been a favorite at parites, company pot-lucks and of course with my kids. I cannot even count the number of times I have made this queso in the last 20 years.

The Ingredients
1 Regular Size block of Velveta
1 Pkg Taco Seasoning
2 Cans mild rotel
1 Can refried beans
1 Bushel of cilantro (remove stems)
1 Medium white onion
1 Lg can of green chiles
2 lbs of breakfast sausage ( i use Owens hot-n-spicy)


The Preparations:

Cube the velveta in a large pot. Drain rotel and mix with the Velveta.

Brown the sausage in a large frying pan until the meat is crumbly like hamburger meat. Dice the onion and cilantro and mix with the sausage. Mix in the taco seasoning. Cook until onions are soft. Add the green chiles and the refried beans to this mixture and cook until refried beans are heated.

Pour the meat mixture into the pot with the Velveta and stir well. Cook on low heat until cheese is melted. Make sure you stir or the cheese will stick.

Makes one large crock pot full. Enjoy!

Hungry Man Lettuce Wraps

The Story:

I call these Hungry Man lettuce wraps because Jeff and I have always enjoyed eating at PF Chang's and one of the things they are known for is their appetizer Lettuce Wraps. Notice I said it was an appetizer. I needed to figure out how to make their recipe but with more chicken and in larger quantities. I searched all over the Internet and found a few but never could find one that we just absolutely loved. Through many experiments, I finally developed a recipe that is filling and tastes better than PF Chang's. In fact, we very rarely go there for dinner any more. It has somehow lost it's appeal with us.

Everyone in my family loves it when I make these for dinner. Of course most of the recipes I post will be here because my family loves it. But few will win over every one of my kids, plus the husband! This happens to be one of those recipes. Kai will come back for 3 and 4 helpings and he is the lightest eater in the bunch!

The Ingredients:

1 C. diced celery
1 small can water chestnuts (drained and diced)
1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast strips
1 T. Minced Garlic
1 C. Soy Sauce
1 C. Packed Brown Sugar
1 medium white onion diced
¼ C. chopped pecans
1 C. Diced Fresh Mushrooms
3 T. Sesame Oil
1 head of leafy lettuce

Sweet Thai Chili Sauce*
Chinese Hot Mustard*
Dumpling Sauce*
Rice Wine Vinegar*
Garlic Powder*
Hot Chili Paste or Sauce*
Jasmine Rice*
Wasabi Sesame Seeds*

Sesame Seeds*

The Preparations:
In a skillet, over medium heat add 3 tablespoons of sesame oil and the chicken breast strips. Begin frying while dicing your vegetables. Once the chicken is golden on both sides, add in 1C. Soy sauce, water chestnuts, onions and mushrooms continue to cook on medium heat until most of the soy sauce has been absorbed.

Remove the chicken from the pan and dice and return to the skillet. This will allow the chicken to absorb more of the flavors and also cook well.

Continue to reduce. When the soy sauce has been mostly absorbed and your chicken is completely done add in the celery, pecans and brown sugar. Cook another 10-15 minutes until all of the juices are cooked down once again. Notice I add the celery in at the end because I do not want it to become mushy. It needs to stay somewhat firm and slightly crunchy.

It should look something like this when it is done. Notice the center, I have separated with a spoon and the juices do not run back to the middle. They are thick and staying together. This is serving time.

While that is cooking, remove the core from your leafy lettuce and wash and dry each leaf. Notice how much of the core I am removing. This allows the lettuce to break off in the right section. The leaves should fall apart and are easy to wash.

*The Accompaniments:
We enjoy steamed rice with our lettuce wraps. You do not have to do this step but it is a really great accompaniment. For my family, I steam 3 C. uncooked Jasmine Rice. I only use Jasmine rice because it is fragrant, light and fluffy. It is less likely to become sticky or mushy. I also use a rice cooker. We love rice and I cook quite a bit of it. The rice cooker is inexpensive ($20 at Walmart), easy to use and cooks the rice perfectly every time! Once my rice is done, I add 2-3 tablespoons of sesame oil, 2 t. garlic powder, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of Rice Vinegar.

Here are pictures of the ingredients that I use to season my rice and how my rice looks once it is ready to serve:

In addition to the rice accompaniment, I prepare 2 types of sauces one is sweet and spicy and the other is salty and spicy.

First, the kid’s favorite, sweet and spicy:
2 T. Dumpling Sauce
4 T. Sweet Thai Chili sauce
2 T. Soy Sauce
Mix the ingredients together in a small bowl and spoon over the lettuce wrap.

Salty and Spicy Sauce

2 t. Hot Mustard
2 t. Hot Chili paste or sauce
2 T. Soy Sauce
2 T. Dumpling Sauce
Mix the ingredients together in a small bowl and spoon over the lettuce wrap. If it isn't hot enough for you add in more hot mustard, but be careful....

Another accompaniment we use is wasabi sesame seeds. Jeff and I love these sprinkled over the top of our wraps. I buy plain toasted sesame seeds for the kids because these are too hot for them. Below is a picture of the brand I am able to buy at Market Street or Whole Foods.

The Serving Instructions:
Open a lettuce leaf and place a bit of rice and chicken mixture inside and then top with your favorite sauce and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Or skip the lettuce and eat enjoy the chicken mix over the top of rice. Both ways are good.

This is our table at dinner time.

We had this for dinner last night. Jeff was out of town so Elli took the pleasure of filling in for Dad's Thumb's Up picture. The family rating on this meal is a perfect 10!

Easy, Sweet Meatloaf

The Story:

There isn't a big story around this meatloaf. There are thousands of recipes out there for meatloaf. My family likes the sweet and salty combinations of flavors, so this is the one I use. I started with a base recipe that I found on AllRecipes.com and modified it a bit to include the seasonings that we like best. It takes about 15 minutes to prepare and an 1-1.5 hours to cook.

I often hear people make fun of meatloaf. I am not sure why other than maybe they never had really good meatloaf.

The Ingredients:
2 lbs. lean ground beef

½ c. milk
2 eggs
¼ t. ground black pepper
1 small onion, chopped
1 t. ground ginger
1 t. garlic powder
1 T. Lawry’s seasoning
¼ c. ketchup
¾ c. finely crushed saltine cracker crumbs

For the bottom of the loaf pan:
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup ketchup

For the topping:
¼ c. Red Wine Vinegar
1 C. Ketchup
1 t. Garlic Powder
1 t. Black Pepper
½ c. Packed Brown Sugar
Mix all of the above ingredients in a small bowl, very well. Cover with a napkin (it may splatter)and heat in the microwave for 1 minute,

The Preparations:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Preparing the Pan:

Lightly coat the loaf pan in oil. I use a napkin or paper towel to coat the pan. This eliminates the excess oil. You only need enough to keep the meat from sticking. Using the 1/2c. packed brown sugar, press into the bottom of the loaf pan evenly covering the bottom. Top with 1/2 c. ketchup. Use the bottom of a spoon to distribute over the brown sugar. Set the pan aside.

Preparing the Meat:

In a large bowl, add the ground beef, eggs, milk, onion, black pepper, ground ginger, garlic powder, Lawry’s seasoning, ketchup and cracker crumbs. Using your hands, mix well and form into a loaf and place in the loaf pan.

Lightly sprinkle the top of the loaf with brown sugar. Using a spoon, dig a trench down the middle, lengthwise, approximately 1/4" deep. Drizzle a thin line of ketchup through the trench.

Place on the oven and bake 1-1.5 hours, until juices run clear.

The Serving Instructions:

Remove the meatloaf from the loaf pan by using two large utensil lifting at both ends simultaneously. Place on a plate and slice into even slices. I usually cut mine with ½" thickness. Drizzle with ketchup or the special ketchup sauce.

The Accompaniments:

I always serve meatloaf with traditional mashed potatoes and southern style pinto beans. You can find my pintos recipe in an earlier post.

This gets the husband pleasin' - thumb of approval and a score of a 9.5.

My Southern Style Pintos

The story:

Growing up, pinto beans were a staple. We ate them at least once a week. Sometimes we ate them as a meal and sometimes we ate them as an accompaniment to a main dish like meatloaf or roast beef and usually always with mashed potatoes. I always loved pintos no matter how we ate them or how often we ate them. I later learned that we didn't have very much money when I was a kid and my mother had to be creative with our meals and stretch her grocery budget as far as she could. It is amazing how far a bag of beans and rice will get you.

Over the years I have modified my pinto beans recipe in a few different ways depending on the meal I am planning. In this recipe we will focus on the pinto beans as an accompaniment to a main course such as Meatloaf. I will post my modifications which include Charro Pintos and Hamburger Pintos with Sweet Cornbread in various other postings. So look for them in the future.

The Ingredients:
2 lbs. Pintos

1 Large White Onion

2 T. Garlic Powder

2 T. Lawry's Season Salt

1 T. Tomatoe Bouillon with Chicken Flavor

2 T. Black Pepper

1 Lg. Ham Steak

Salt to taste

The Preparations:

First you must prepare the beans. Pour all of the beans onto the counter and sort them from the broken beans and dirt and gravel. Make sure that you are only cooking beans and not the earth, otherwise you will be eating bits of grit. Place your sorted beans in a large soup pot. Rinse them over and over scrubbing them together with your hands until the water stays clear. Then cover the beans with at least two inches of water.

If you plan far enough ahead you can soak your beans in the water over night. It will significantly reduce the cooking time. However, if you are like me and run to the store the morning ofthen you will just need to cook them slower and longer.

Chop the onion in large quarter size pieces and add to the pot. Trim the fat off of the ham steak and cut into quarter size pieces. Place them in the pot. Make sure you water level is 2-3" above your ingredients and place on high heat until boiling.

Add in your seasonings and let boil 15- 20 minutes on high, stirring occassionaly. Check your water level and make sure it is still at 2-3" above your solids. Reduce to heat to a simmer and cover. The beans will take 3-4 hours to cook, the softer the better but don't over cook them because they can turn to mush. During the 3-4 hours you will need to keep an eye on them. The water will absorb and evaporate. You must maintain your water level throughout. You must also continually taste your beans to make sure the flavor is not diluted. Be careful with adding too much salt. It is better to under season than over season. If after the beans are completely done, you think they are a little bland, add in the desired level of seasoning to taste after they are cooked.

The measurements I listed above are just to get you started. You may actually use more than my suggested seasoning. I would not however, use more of the Tomato Bouillon because it is a strong seasoning and very salty.

A special note in case you scorch the beans:

In the event you got busy and were away from the beans too long, they may have started to scorch. If they feel like they are stuck to the bottom of the pan, stop! Do not stir them any more. Turn them off and get another pot. Transfer the beans into the new pot. DO NOT SCRAPE the bottom of the old pot. This is where the scorched flavor is and it will ruin your beans. What ever falls into the new pot when you pour is what you are able to salvage. Hopefully, you weren't gone too long and you are able to salvage most of your beans.

Once the beans are in the new pot, add in the water needed to reach the 2-3" mark above your solids and stir. Taste the beans and their juices and see if it tastes scorched try to separate your sense of smell from your sense of taste because your house will have the scorched smell but the beans may taste just fine. If you are certain the beans taste scorched then you will have to throw them out and start over. If not or only a slight hint, then I would keep them and continue on. If there is only a slight hint of scorchedness you can probably over power the flavor by adding more water and continuing to season as needed.

I hope this doesn't happen to you because it is very frustrating, but if it does, the key is DO NOT STIR up your mess!

The Accompaniments:

Beans are great over white rice

Add in a little Green or Red Tobasco Sauce

Never forget the bean partner, Tobasco Peppers in Vinegar

Sweet Cornbread

Serving Instructions:

The serving instructions are simple, just ladel them out into a bowl or strain them onto a plate depending on how you are serving them.

Chicken Adobo

The Story:

Tonight we ate Chicken Adobo which is a Filipino dish. I was taught to make this recipe by a very close friend. Often times it is made with Pork or Beef. I was taught to make it with Drummettes which is all white meat chicken like you would use making Buffalo Wings. I prefer not to deal with all of the bones in Drummettes and have altered the recipe to use regular chicken parts. This is a tangy and salty dish that is super easy, throw it in a pot, style meal. And best of all, the kids love it!

The great thing about this recipe is that it is so easily scalable if you want more or less. The recipe below would make 8-10 servings. If you want to make less add in the desired number of pieces of chicken and then add enough soy sauce and white vinegar to cover the middle of the chicken, peppers and onions. It is not necessary to cover the top of the chicken as the chicken will cook down and add it's own juices to the liquid. The ratio of soy sauce to vinegar is 1:1.

The other thing I like about this recipe is that it takes about 15 minutes to throw in a pot. Leave it unattended for an hour and come back and dinner is ready! It's so easy and versatile. Sometimes I like to add slightly more vinegar than soy sauce because I like it a little tangier. It just depends on my mood. I also like a lot of peppers. They absorb the flavors and take on a whole new pepper taste. I like a lot of them on my plate with the rice.

The Ingredients:

3 Boneless Skinless Breasts

3 Legs (Skinned)

3 Thighs (Skinned)

3 Green Bell Peppers chopped (large pieces, nickel size)

2 Med. White Onions chopped (large pieces, nickel size)

2 T. Garlic Powder

2 T. minced garlic

2 T. black pepper

2 C. Soy Sauce

2 C White Vinegar

3 C. Jasmine Rice*

2 T. Sesame Oil*

The Preparations:

In a large pot over a medium heat, combine chopped bell peppers, onions, soy sauce and vinegar. Next, give your chicken a good bath in cold water. This washes away the impurities of sitting around in blood for a few days at the grocery store. Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel. Lightly coat each piece of chicken with garlic powder and black pepper. Place the pieces in the pot with the peppers and onions. Mix well to ensure all of the chicken gets a good drenching in the soy sauce and white vinegar. Cover and let cook for an hour stirring occasionally and maintaining the medium heat.

This step is optional. I take out my breasts and chop them into bite size pieces and place them back into the pot. This is because the breasts do not seem to absorb the tangy sauce as much as the dark meat does. Chopping them in this way ensures that each bite of chicken will have that tangy flavor. I also take out each of the thighs and legs and remove the bones and chop those pieces as well. If you don't mind bones on your guests plates, you do not have to take the time to do this either. I personally, do not like seeing the bones or watching my guests try to gracefully move them aside in a bowl.

*The Accompaniments:

Steam 3 C. Jasmine rice to make 6 C. cooked rice. Before serving the rice stir in 2 tablespoons of Sesame Oil until evenly distributed. This gives the rice a great flavor and keeps it from becoming too sticky. I always use Jasmine rice because of it's texture and aroma. I also always wash the starch off of my rice before cooking. I rinse it several times until the water is mostly clear. Washing the starch off is controversial in that some say it washes away the nutrients of the rice. Washing makes the rice fluffier, lighter and prevents the sticky mushy texture that can sometimes arise. If you know me, then you know that I have never been one for chasing down the nutrition in a food. I am after the flavor.

Enjoy over rice. Make it soupy or strain it, either way it is terrific!

This meal get's my husband's approval and a rating of an 8!

Chicken Chili the Simple Way

The story:
As you will come to know through my recipes, I love spicy, salty Mexican flavors. One of my favorite things to eat is a good Tortilla soup. I have never really found a good one that I would go back for again and again. I decided to start experimenting with some of the flavors in Tortilla soup to see if I could replicate and enhance it to my taste expectations. In addition, I was looking for something easy to prepare.

This recipe was originally intended to be a soup however, with all of the ingredients it evolved into more of a chili, thus the name, TexMex Chicken Chili. It is another one of my family’s favorites. A few of them even eat it as a dip instead of a chili.

It may look complicated and inundating but it really isn't. It is cheap and easy and the kids love it. It is amazing how great it can taste using all of the short cuts of canned food. I am all about easy but only if it tastes good. I am sure you could spend a lot more time boiling and deboning a chicken, but why bother when this tastes fantastic?

The Ingredients:
3 Lg. Cans Chunk White Chicken Breast (Drained)
2 C. Dice Carrots ( I use fresh but you could use frozen as a short cut)
3 T. Butter or Margerine
1 Can Hot Rotel
1 Can chopped tomatoes w/green chiles
1 Can green chiles
2 C. Frozen Corn
4 cans Chicken Broth
1 Bushel Cilantro (remove the stems and chop finely)
1 Med. White Onion (peeled & Diced)
1 Package 2 Alarm Chili Mix
1/4c. Lime juice
1 Pkg Ranch Dressing Mix

The Accompaniments:
Shredded Colby & Jack Cheese
Guacamole for Garnishing
Tortilla Chips
1 Bushel Green Onion (for the chives)
Sour Cream

The Preparations:
In a large skillet add Butter, Diced Onions, finely chopped cilantro and all 3 cans of chicken. If using fresh carrots, add them in this step. If using frozen diced carrots, add them in with the corn into the soup pot. Cook on medium heat until the onions turn clear and the chicken becomes shredded. This is an important step in that the chicken does not taste good unless it is cooked literally to shreds. It takes approximately 15-20 minutes of cooking over medium heat to reach this state.

Add in all components of the 2 Alarm Chili mix adding in the mesa powder last. Pour in the can of tomatoes with green chiles, do not drain and it will thin out the mix just enough. Finally, pour the entire contents of the skillet into the large soup pot.

In a separate and small bowl or cup, slowly mix the ranch dressing mix with the ¼ c. of lime juice. Mix thoroughly and slowly to avoid lumps. Pour into the soup pot once mixed well.

In a separate soup pot, add in all 4 cans of chicken broth, Rotel (do not drain), Frozen Corn, Frozen Diced Carrots (unless using fresh) and Green Chiles (do not drain). Cook on high heat until boiling reduce to medium heat and cook 20 minutes more. When the carrots are soft, the soup is done.

The Serving Instructions:
Serve over broken tortilla chips, topped with Shredded Colby & Jack Cheese, chives, sour cream and guacamole.

Fully Load Baked Potato Soup

The story:
My family has always loved going to Bennigan's Pub for dinner, now closed. They served a really good, loaded baked potato soup. I took the things from that recipe and add whole and fattening ingredients and developed a new favorite for my family. We no longer ordered the soup at Bennigan's. Thankfully, I developed this recipe before they closed their doors now we have a fantastic replacement.


The Ingredients:
5 lbs of Yukon Gold Potatoes (chopped ½ inch cubes)
4 bushels of Green Onions (stems chopped)
1 package of ham steak (cut off fat and rind, finely chopped/shredded using food processor or finely dice)
1 stick butter
1 large white onion (chopped)
1 container of Hormel Bacon Bits
1 package of Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 8oz. container Sour Cream
4 cans Swanson Chicken Broth
1 pint Heavy Cream
Salt, pepper and garlic to taste

The Preparations:

Making the Soup base:
Peel and dice potatoes into bite size pieces. Place potatoes and chicken broth in one pan and boil.

Making the Mix
In a separate pan, sauté ham, white onion, 2 bushels of green onions, and butter until white onions are clear, then add in all of the heavy cream. Pour the Mix into the Soup Base and continue to cook while stirring occasionally.

Making a roux:
1/2 c. melted butter
1/2 c. flour

In a separate skillet on medium heat, add in the melted butter. Slowly add the flour mixture while constantly stirring. The mixture will begin to thicken. Continue to stir until golden brown in color. Once the roux is golden brown, add a 1/2c. from the soup base into the skillet slowly and stirring constantly. Repeat this process until the Roux is a thin gravy-like consistency. Once it has reached this consistency, add all of it to the Soup Base.

Continue to cook on low heat for 1 hour. Add in salt, pepper and garlic to your taste. Add milk if needed to thin out. Great reheated too, but may need to add more milk or cream.

Serve with topped with sharp cheese, chives, sour cream and bacon bits. Great with Croissants!!!!

White Girl Rice (Spanish Rice)

One of my most favorite things to do in the world is cook. Another one of my most favorite things to do is eat! And, my favorite kind of food is Mexican. I love all of the salty and spicy flavors. I especially love spanish rice and charro beans. Many times over the years I have attempted to make spanish rice. It would always come out mushy and gross. I tried recipe after recipe to no avail. I just could not figure out how Pancho's could do it and I couldn't. All of the recipes I tried instructed me to fry the rice in oil and then add water and tomatoes. In doing this, the ratio of liquid to rice made nothing but mush!

One day while we were at a Japanese hibachi style restaurant, Kobe's, an idea came to me as I watched them make fried rice. I began experimenting with frying cooked rice and developed a recipe that gave me perfect consistency every time. Since then, I have been making this rice with all of our mexican dinners. After sharing the rice with my friends, I am often asked to bring it as side dish to various parties that we attend.

You may be curious about why it is called "white girl rice". It is actually a label that was lovingly attached by my hispanic friends, Melissa & Tony. Melissa asks me to make the rice any time we attend one of their parties. At one of the parties, her family and other hispanic friends kept asking "who made the rice?" Being that Jeff and I are usually the only white folks at her parties, she replies "the white girl."

I have been asked many times for this recipe and I never mind sharing recipes, however, I have never taken the time to write it down. Here is the long awaited brain dump for white girl rice exactly as I prepare it!



Ingredients:


2 C. Jasmine Rice
1 C. Chopped Carrots
1 C. Chopped Onions
1 Lg Can Diced Green Chiles
1 can Rotel
1 Bushel Cilantro
1 C. Frozen whole kernel sweet corn
2 T. Knorr Tomatoe Bouillon with Chicken Flavor (this is a key ingredient. Most all grocery stores carry it in the hispanic foods section. I added a picture to help you identify it)
1 T. Garlic Powder
2 T. Cumin
2 T. Chili Powder
1 C. Vegetable Oil

Preparations:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

First prepare your rice as you would in making 2 C of steamed white rice. I use a rice cooker and in most rice recipes there is a 2:1 ratio (water:rice), however when using a rice cooker you actually use less water to rice. In fact, if you are making the rice on the stove top, cut your water to 3 C of water to 2 C of rice instead of 4:2. Your rice will come out a little on the stiff side but that is ok because of the added ingredients later. Let the rice cook and continue on with preparations.

In a large frying pan add 1 C. Vegetable oil. After heating the oil to a frying temperature, add in the onion and carrots.

Chop the entire bushel of cilantro finely but do not include the last 3-4" of the stem. I use a little bit of the stem but I toss the majority of it out and use all of the leaves. Once chopped, add to the onions and carrots.

Add in all of the dry ingredients and let simmer until the rice is done.

Once the rice is done, turn the heat up on the skillet until it has once again reached a frying heat. Add once cup of rice at a time. Fry the rice until it is coated with the spices and is slightly golden brown. It is ok if it sticks a bit to the pan. I usually let it stick a bit and then scrape it. Just don't let it burn. Continue this process until all of the rice is in the skillet. You may add a bit more oil of needed. Be careful though, your rice should not be shiney with oil. Add in the frozen corn. Once all of the rice has been fried and all of the spices are evenly mixed throughout take the skillet off of the heat.

Move the contents of the skillet to a 13 x 9 baking pan (do not grease the pan). Drain the rotel and add to the baking pan. Add in the green chiles. Stir and evenly distribute throughout. Cover the pan with foil and place in the oven. Let it cook for 15 minutes at 350 and then turn the oven off and let it sit in place for another 15 minutes.

After a full 30 minutes in the oven, your rice is ready to serve. I hope you enjoy!