Spanish Rice with Black Beans

What you need...


The end result...

I stocked up on rices this past weekend and now have to do something with them. So it's another rice recipe. Tonight I made Spanish rice with black beans, cheese quesadillas and guacamole. The kids are full and happy. I started with a basic white rice recipe and then churched it up a bit.

What you need...
1 C White Rice
1/4 C Orzo
1/2 C chopped bell peppers (I used yellow and orange b/c they are pretty)
A couple of tomatoes ~ chopped
1/2 C cheddar
1/2 C mozzarella
1/2 C sour cream
1 can black beans
1/4 white onion ~ chopped
1/4 C prepared salsa
3 C boiling water (I added bouillon to mine)
½ stick butter

While bringing bouillon to a boil, I melted butter in 350 degree oven with orzo and rice. Once butter was melted, I dumped everything (except water) into the dish and then poured boiling water on top. I carefully stirred it together, covered it and popped it back into oven for about an hour. Delish!

Basic White and Brown Rice

There are two basic rice dishes that I use. I cook my rice in the oven. Yes I know, the suggested way is on the stove top but seriously, my rice never turns out. So I found these two recipes and the search was over..love was right before my eyes. (Are you singing Survivor too?) Anyway...here they are in all their glory.

White Rice
1 C White Rice
1/4 C Orzo
1/2 stick butter
3 C boiling water (I use veggie broth or veggie bouillon)

While bringing broth (or water) to a boil, melt half of a stick of butter in 350 degree oven and coat orzo. The water comes to a boil about the same amount of time that it takes for the butter to melt and coat orzo. Add rice to orzo mix, pour boiling broth on top, stir in, cover and cook for 30 mins.



Brown Rice (thank you Alton Brown)
1 1/2 C Brown Rice (med or short)
2 1/2 C water
1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the rice into an 8-inch square glass baking dish.

Bring the water, butter, and salt just to a boil in a kettle or covered saucepan. Once the water boils, pour it over the rice, stir to combine, and cover the dish tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, remove cover and fluff the rice with a fork. Serve immediately.

Roasted Tomatillo & Hatch Chili Salsa

What you need...


The beautiful result


As I was saying on my family blog, Scott and I spent hours this weekend processing a bushel (1 and 1/9 bushel to be exact) of Hatch Chilies. We did it last weekend too but after gifting some and eating some, we decided we needed more. Today I made Roasted Tomatillo & Hatch Chili Salsa as well as last weekend's Hatch chili/lime/sour cream dip. It was incredible. I'm pretty sure Scott loves me a little bit more after today's lunch. Seth thought it was "bonus-dangerous good." That's "fantastic Mom, you're amazing" in 5 year old speak. Y didn't get any but on a side note, did eat the chili/lime/sour cream dip with his hands. Just saying.

What you need...
4 tomatillos husked
1 large tomato
1 C Hatch chilies - roasted
1/2 white onion peeled
4 garlic cloves
2 serrano peppers - seeds removed
1 teaspoons cumin
1/2 cup cilantro
1 med lime
Salt

Chop tomatillos, garlic and serrano peppers (remove seeds unless you like it hotter) and roast in a 400 degree oven for 15 mins. While that is roasting, put roasted chilies, onion, cilantro, tomato, juice of one lime, salt (to taste) and cumin into the food processor and wait. ;) Remove tomatillo mix from oven and place in food processor. Blend well. Probably the best salsa I've ever had. If anyone knows about Scott's salsa, you know what a huge statement that is.

Sour Cream Banana-Blueberry Muffins

What you need...


A pretty muffin.


Well today I decided to deviate from our normal banana nut bread recipe. I had both bananas and blueberries on hand dying to be utilized. I also had some sour cream in the house (not something I normally keep around) so I pieced a few recipes together to make sour cream banana-blueberry muffins. I also used white flour, something I rarely do. They are beautiful and totally delish. More like cake than something to accompany breakfast...of course if you want to serve this as breakfast go ahead…no judgment here.

1 C Brown Sugar
2 Tbsp butter
1 egg, beaten
3 Bananas
½ C Blueberries
2 Tbsp Sour Cream
2 C Flour
2 Tbsp Vanilla
1 Tsp Baking Soda
½ Tsp Baking Powder
½ Tsp Salt

Cream sugar, vanilla, bananas, blueberries, butter and egg together. Then mix in dry ingredients. 400 degrees for 25 mins for muffins.

Hatch Chili Lime Cream Sauce

August in Texas means a lot of different things. It's hot. Pre-season Cowboys football is on the T.V. And it's Hatch chili time. Scott and I have had hatch chilies in some form at every meal for a week. I think we are just putting on our winter coat of fat. Tonight we had spinach & mushroom quesadillas with caramelized red onions. I couldn't decide what to top them with so I made hatch chili salsa, guacamole and hatch chili lime cream sauce. Everyone in the family loved it.

1 C Sour Cream
1 C hatch chilies (roasted)
1/4 C jalapenos
1/2 red onion
1 lime ~ juiced and zested

Blend in food processor. Great as a dip. Barring cake, I'm pretty sure it's good on everything.

Autumn Bread

Today was my five year old's first day of Kindergarten. That's pretty important stuff around these parts! So with the pretend feeling of fall in the air, I decided to make a loaf of Autumn Bread last night. It was yummy :)

What you need:
1 C Brown Sugar
2 C Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 C Coconut Oil
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 apple ~ peeled and chopped
1 C canned pumpkin
1/2 C coconut
1/2 C white chocolate chips
1/2 tsp fresh ground ginger
1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon

(I would normally add in 1/2 C walnuts but left them out since my 1 year old hasn't mastered walnuts yet.)

350 degrees for about an hour (my oven took a little longer)

This morning my boys had big, thick slices of this toasted with butter. Mmmmm...butter.

Asparagus & Mushroom Ravioli

Another super easy meal. This is a true Go-To in our house. I’ve made this pesto pasta with just about every green veggie and every type of pasta and it always turns out and is always eaten. Seth usually has a couple of servings. Reheats well in the skillet..which is important to me since I’m like the only American without a microwave. (long story..don’t ask)

1 bunch Asparagus ~ chopped into bite size pieces
6 large Mushrooms ~ chopped
2 cloves garlic – minced
2 Tbsp butter
1/3 C prepared Pesto
And the standard..S&P, EVOO and 4 cheese blend to top

Sautee asparagus, mushrooms and garlic in butter and a little EVOO over med heat while your store bought ravioli is cooking. They take about the same amt of time. I'm sure the day will come when making homemade ravioli with my very own pasta maker will be fun. Until then, I'll take help from Costco. Place cooked ravioli in a baking dish, brush on the pesto and then top with the asparagus/mushroom mixture. Sprinkle whatever cheese you like and top with black pepper. Put into a preheated oven just long enough to melt the cheese. It looks really pretty, taste really good and only takes about 25 mins from pantry to plate.

Banana Nut Bread

The stuff you need.


He is so silly.


Mmmmm...my kitchen smells so good!

You know when you walk into the kitchen and the smell of over ripened bananas almost knocks you out that it’s time for banana nut bread! I have a fool proof recipe. You can tweak this recipe over and over and it just keeps turning out.

1 C brown sugar
1 1/2 C banana (about 3 larges ones) mashed
3/4 C Coconut oil (I know, right? 3/4 Cup! Is she serious? Yes…yes she is.)
2 eggs
2 C whole wheat flour
1/2 C nuts (optional)
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg (fresh taste better & you'll feel fancy buying whole...and really...don't we all want to feel fancy?)

Mix all ingredients and pick muffins or loaf pan.

For muffins ~ 20 mins at 400 degrees
For loaf ~ 45-55 mins at 350 degrees


My friend Michele has used a cup of applesauce in place of oil and says it works. I’m sure it probably does but my boys eat my applesauce as fast as I can make it so I never have a cup left over. I’ve used half a cup of oil before and it turns out..its not as good but its still really good.

Spinach & Tomato Couscous

Ahh couscous...all moms in a hurry need to take advantage of what couscous has to offer. Seriously takes 5 mins to cook. This makes a great side dish but today it was our lunch. I love the East Texas tomatoes I'm getting at my farmers market. They are so sweet, like candy! Ok, so I'm slightly exaggerating. I'd be terribly disappointed with Santa if he left tomatoes in my stocking instead of Lindt's Dark Chocolate with chili.

1 C Couscous
1 C boiling water with vegetable bouillon
1 pat of butter

1 large handful of fresh, organic spinach ~ chopped
1 large tomato ~ chopped
3 Mushrooms ~ chopped
1 clove of garlic
S & P

Cook couscous in water with vegetable bouillon according to directions. In a skillet I sauteed chopped tomatoes, minced garlic, chopped mushrooms, spinach and S & P. I cooked it for a couple of mins. Once the couscous had had it's 5 mins of rest, I tossed everything together. Topped with parmesan and pepper it was a hit. From pantry to plate was about 10 mins.

Spinach & Mushroom Rice

And the little guy loves it :)

Rice. Total fan favorite. For the first three years of Seth's life, it was one of the only foods I knew he would eat. Wyatt loves it because I make it very sticky and it sticks to his spoon. He's an extremely independent child and refuses to let anyone spoon feed him. Sticky rice sticks to the spoon, sticks in his belly, sticks to the table, the high chair, dog fur, etc..still it's a staple.

2 large handfuls of fresh, organic Spinach..chopped
5 large mushrooms..chopped
3 C boiling vegetable broth
1 Tbsp prepared pesto
1 C long grain rice
1/4 C orzo
1/2 stick of butter
S & P

Bring broth with pesto to boil. While this is coming to a boil, melt half stick of butter in 350 degree oven. Once melted, turn rice and orzo until coated in the yummy melted butter. Add in the handfuls of chopped spinach and mushrooms. Add S&P. Pour boiling broth over the top, stir in, cover and place into oven for 30 mins. I normally top it with parmesan and fresh ground black pepper. This basic rice recipe is served mah-ha-aaany times a week in mah-ha-aaany different ways here at mi casa. Just watch..you will see.

Minestrone Soup

The usual suspects for Minestrone


The finished product. Makes my heart smile :)

This is a classic around here. Both of my boys love soup as much as I do. Anytime you have fresh veggies in your crisper that have seen better days..it's time to make a pot of Minestrone.

1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
2 large tomatoes (yummy ones from East Texas)
1 yellow onion
3 sm potatoes
2 C kidney beans
2 stalks of celery
3/4 C carrots
2 cloves garlic
1 can low-sodium V8
4 C water with veggie bouillon
S&P
Pasta

Su Chef Seth and I chopped and dropped all of the veggies, V8 and bouillon water into my dutch oven for a good 45 mins and cooked on low. In a separate pot I cooked up the pasta. Any pasta will do, cheese tortellini is my favorite but I was out. I served the soup over the pasta and topped with a little bit of cheddar cheese and fresh ground black pepper. Oh yeah..almost forgot to add..soak your dried beans overnight and/or precook in a pressure cooker before you add to this soup. Duh, right? Canned works too...but I'm guessing you knew that.