Tag Archives: brown rice

Red Beans and Brown Rice

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beans and rice

start with a pile of veggies

This dish is so colorful, with the red and green peppers, white onion, orange carrots and the red beans that it’s really a feast for the eyes. And it’s easy on the pocketbook. Whether you’re giving up meat on Fridays for lent, or just trying to have more meatless meals, this is a staple. It’s easy to whip up and very satisfying.

One family I know tries to have two meatless meals each week so they can donate more money to charities. (I can’t name them or they won’t get credit in Heaven, where it really counts.) You won’t feel as if you’re sacrificing with this version of beans and rice because you can vary the herbs and spices and vegetables to make it according to your taste – or your toddler’s.

add a few more veggies


Notes
• I use brown rice and I find it’s easier to cook it in my rice cooker. However, you could easily start with the rice in the pot and then add the veggies. Make it your way.
• If you don’t have time to chop all the veggies, just buy that bag of celery, peppers and onions in the freezer section, already chopped for you.

Ingredients
1 onion, chopped
½ green pepper, chopped
½ red pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 cup mini carrots, cut into chunks (You thought I was going to say, chopped, didn’t you.)
1 TBS olive oil
1 cup beef stock (or chicken or vegetable) More if you cook your rice in with the veggies.
1 can -15 oz – red beans, rinsed
1 can – 15 oz – diced tomatoes. Fire roasted were fabulous!
Sprinkle garlic salt
1 bay leaf
1 tsp oregano

Brown rice, cooked

delicious


Directions
Heat the oil in a large kettle.
Add the vegetables and cook for a few minutes to wilt them.
Add the stock and tomatoes and let veggies continue cooking for a few more minutes.
Add the beans and seasonings and cook for ten minutes to blend flavors.

Serve over rice.

Easy to make, to serve, to love. Beans and rice never looked so good.

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Sesame Beef and Brown Rice with Almonds

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sesame beef and rice

sesame beef and broccoli

Sesame always has me at “hello.” I love it in crackers, chicken and breads; when I ran across a recipe that used it with beef and broccoli, it moved to my “must try” file. (Which sounds quite organized, but is more of a pile – or group of piles – spread throughout the kitchen and office.)
The recipe was originally from Good Housekeeping Magazine’s Susan Westmoreland. I paired it with my own recipe for Brown Rice with Almonds, which is a simple way to take plain old brown rice and dress it up for company or anytime.

Notes:
• For the beef, I used a left over rib eye steak had been soaked in red wine for several hours and then seared on both sides. (Yes, I got it at a good price.) When I realized the steaks were quite thick I just seared one of them to set aside for a quick stir fry another day.
• I highly recommend this if you find steak at a good price: Marinate them both and then use them in different recipes.
• I cook lots of brown rice each week so that it’s ready for quick dishes when I need it.
• If you want to make the rice for a group, just double or triple, using about ½ cup rice per person.
• If you are a flavor craver, sprinkle chopped raw green onions in the rice dish.

boil broccoli


Ingredients for Sesame Beef
One pound rib-eye steak, sliced into thin strips (Marinate if you like in red wine.)
2 green onions, sliced – both green and white portions
4 cloves garlic, crushed – or about 1 ½ TBS
2 TBS sesame oil
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
2 TBS soy sauce
1 TBS sesame seeds
1 lb. broccoli, cut into pieces.

start sauce in a bowl

toss beef into sauce


Directions
• In a large bowl, combine 1 TBS green onions, 1 tsp garlic, 1 TBS oil and ¼ tsp salt. Set aside.
• In a smaller bowl, mix sugar 1 TBS soy sauce the rest of the green onion and the rest of the garlic. Place the beef in this bowl and set it aside.
• Heat 1 inch of water in a large skillet and add broccoli. Cook about 2-3 minutes or until tender. Drain and add broccoli to the large bowl and mix to combine.
• Heat the remaining oil in the skillet and add the beef mixture. Stir fry about one minute. Add the broccoli mixture and stir fry another minute until all is blended.

Brown Rice and almonds


Ingredients for Rice
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 TBS butter
¼ cup slivered almonds

Directions for Rice
• Melt butter in the bottom of a small sauce pan.
• Add almonds and let them get brown.
• Quickly add rice and mix it in the almond butter until it’s hot.
• Serve immediately.

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Stir Fry Chicken and Cashews

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stir fry chicken and cashews

the first time ever I saw your face

Like many Americans, one of my favorite Asian dishes to order is Cashew Chicken. The owner of a local restaurant complained to me about this one day. “You don’t even look at menu, you just order Cashew Chicken.” Not true. Sometimes I order chicken with almonds. But she’s the one with the hot tray of food, so I didn’t want to argue with her.

To please her I ordered Moo Goo Gai Pan, which was delicious, but I missed my cashews. As soon as I got home I searched for a recipe to make my own Cashew Chicken. (Is this “passive-aggressive” behavior or “compulsion-to-please” behavior? Ah well, why name the neurosis? Just go with it…)

whisk broth mixture and set aside

peel and grate fresh ginger


saute veggies while chicken is resting


I found this recipe on “My Recipes” which is a website that includes the Eating Light folks. Not a bad idea, lower sodium and low fat. I’ve made this twice now and we’ve been very pleased with the results.

It looks like a lot of ingredients, but it goes together in minutes. If you have a bit more time, you can let the chicken soak in the wine sauce for a few minutes. You could even do this step in the morning and cover the chicken-happily-soaking-in-wine-sauce and refrigerate until you are ready to cook.

dry roast your cashews


First two- no three – tips:
• Rice – I make a pot of brown rice nearly every week. It heats up quickly in the microwave and can easily be dressed up to make rice pilaf or used plain with dishes like this one.
• Cashews – The recipe calls for dry roasted without salt. I purchased raw cashews and placed them on a clean, ungreased bar pan. I popped them into an oven at 300 degrees for about 7-9 minutes. Voila! Dry roasted nuts. I do this on a regular basis with walnuts too and then I keep them in a baggie in the fridge to adorn my morning oatmeal. Watch them so they don’t burn.
• Rest the chicken – Many recipes call for us to start browning chicken and then to let it rest. Apparently it helps the chicken be juicier and more tender. (I know I’m a lot more tender if I get a rest.) So just set it in a bowl for a few minutes.

Ingredients
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces.
3 TBS soy sauce, low-sodium, divided
2 TBS red wine or dry sherry
4 tsp corn starch, divided
½ cup chicken broth, low sodium
1 TBS honey
1 TBS sesame oil, divided
1 medium onion, chopped
3-4 stalks chopped celery
½ cup red bell pepper, chopped – or green pepper
1 TBS grated peeled fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 green onions, chopped
¼ cup dry roasted cashews

Directions
Combine 1 TBS soy sauce, wine and 2 tsp corn starch in a medium bowl. Add the chicken and stir to coat. Set it aside. (At this point, you could have a glass of wine or check e-mail, if you like. Or you could continue to cook. Just wanted to give you options.)

Combine the remaining soy sauce, corn starch, broth, and honey in a small bowl. Set aside.
Heat 2 tsp oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.
Add chicken mixture to pan. Sauté for three minutes.
Remove chicken from pan to rest. (See Tip #3 above.)
Heat remaining oil in pan.
Add vegetables and sauté for two minutes.
Add ginger and garlic and sauté another minute.
Return chicken to pan. (We love a good reunion!)
Stir in broth-soy sauce mixture and bring to a boil. Cook another minute, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat.
Serve with raw green onions and cashews sprinkled on top.

The crunch of the cashews with the tender chicken will dance happily in your mouth. The green onions will play off the spices in the sauce. You, too, can now order something else when you eat at an Asian restaurant, because THIS will become your favorite cashew chicken. Enjoy!

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Chops and Veggies

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pork chops, veggies and brown rice

I like to buy pork chops when they’re on sale, but the best deals usually come in packages of 8 or 10 chops. With only two of us at home, I have two options: 1) buy them anyway and freeze them hoping that a large group of hungry people will be coming over soon, or 2) repackage them in freezer baggies two at a time. Yes, most of the time the second option is the best. (I do this when chicken breasts are on sale too!)

Because pork has a bad reputation for being a bit fatty (I’m not calling it names!) I tried to find a recipe that would bump up the nutrient value by adding lots of vegetables. I found a recipe called “Pork Chop Veggie Medley” on www.allrecipes.com.

But I altered it a lot and made it for two people instead of 6. You can change out the veggies to suit your taste. This was easy and fast.

Total cooking and prep time was about 25 minutes. Start the chops browning in the oil and then prep any veggies.

add veggies to steaming hot chops

Ingredients:
2 pork chops, bone in or out, no worries
2 tsp olive or canola oil
½ onion, chopped or sliced, fresh or frozen
1 minced clove of garlic
1 stalk of celery, chopped
¼ tsp salt
1/8 tsp cracked pepper
1 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes (plain or with chilies, you decide)
1 cup broccoli, fresh or frozen
½ cup corn, frozen
2 TBS water

Directions
Use a heavy frying pan.
Pour oil into pan and heat on medium heat.
Add pork chops and brown on both sides, about 3-4 minutes each side.
While chops are browning, chop onion, garlic and celery.
If you’re not using frozen broccoli, chop that now too.
Add the tomatoes and water to the pork chops and turn heat to low. Cover and let them simmer about ten more minutes.
Add the vegetables to the chops, cover and simmer about 3-4 more minutes or until veggies are done to your liking.

Tips
Serve with brown rice and a fruit dessert.
If you don’t have time to chop an onion, remember you can find them chopped in the freezer section of the grocery store.