Perfect Brown Rice

I love, love, love rice.  Recently, my husband and I started eating healthier, so we have made the switch to brown rice.  I tried several different methods to try to get it to cook up like white rice, but it was either not cooked enough (still crunchy) or too cooked (mushy).  So frustrating!  But then I came across this method. Success!


Perfect Brown Rice
Adapted from this recipe on Saveur.com

Cook Time: 40-45 minutes
Makes 2 cups


1 cup short, medium or long-grain brown rice
4-5 cups water


Rinse rice in a strainer under cold running water for 30 seconds.  Bring the water to a boil in pan with a tight-fitting lid over high heat.  Add the rice, stir once, and boil uncovered for 30 minutes.  Pour the rice in the strainer and drain for 10 seconds.  Return the rice to the pan, off the heat, and cover.  Set aside to allow the rice to steam for 10-15 minutes.  Uncover, fluff with a fork, and season with salt.

Southern Green Beans

These green beans are fantastic!  The chicken broth really gives them a great flavor.

Southern Green Beans

Adapted from this recipe on Allrecipes.com

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 6 slices bacon, chopped
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed & snapped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 -1 cup chicken broth
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cook the chopped bacon in a skillet over medium heat until evenly brown, about 8 to 10 minutes.  Drain the bacon pieces on a paper towel.
2. Cook the onions in the bacon grease, adding 1 to 2 tbsp. butter if needed, until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.  
3. Stir in the cooked bacon, green beans, garlic and chicken broth.  Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer over low heat until green beans are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Notes & Suggestions:

I ended up using 1 cup of chicken broth because 1/2 cup didn't seem like it would be enough.  After 15 minutes, the beans were perfectly tender.  If you like them a little crunchy, try 10 minutes.

Next time I think I'll add in a small amount of red pepper flakes, just to give it a kick, and add in another clove of garlic (since we're garlic lovers).    

For another variation and to make this more of a hearty dish, you could add in 8 diced red potatoes with the green beans and simmer until tender.  

  

Garlic Bread

Garlic bread goes great with just about any kind of meal.  This is a dressed up version of a much-loved classic.

Garlic Bread
Adapted from the Williams-Sonoma Comfort Food Cookbook

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

• 6 tsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp. parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• 1 tbsp. fresh basil, minced
• 1 tbsp. fresh chives, minced
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 loaf Italian bread, split

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 450 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, mash together the butter, garlic, Parmesan, basil, chives and salt until well blended.
3. Divide the mixture evenly and spread onto both cut sides of the bread.  Place the bread halves cut side up on a baking sheet.
4. Bake about 10 minutes or until the bread is toasted.  Cut crosswise into slices and serve hot.

Notes & Directions:

Be sure to use fresh herbs.  It makes all the difference in the world.  It's so easy to grow your own herbs and it's much more cost effective than buying the small packages of them at the store.

For garlic cheese bread, sprinkle 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella or Gruyere cheese on the bread before putting in the oven.  

For another version, use roasted garlic.  It has a sweet, mellow flavor.  Slice a head of garlic in half crosswise, place on a piece of aluminum foil, and drizzle with olive oil.  Wrap up the garlic in the aluminum foil and bake in a 400 degree oven for 35 minutes.  Squeeze the cloves of garlic out of their paper shells and mix into the butter mixture.

The garlic butter freezes very well.  Here's the best way I've found to do this:

After mixing up the butter mixture, spoon onto a piece of plastic wrap.  Roll the butter into a log shape and place into the fridge until it's firm.

Take it out of the fridge and cut into slices, about 1/4" thick or so.

Then you can place the butter slices into a Ziploc and freeze.

So whenever you want some garlic bread, take out a slice of butter (1 slice per piece of bread), thaw, spread on the bread and broil in the oven for a couple of minutes, or until golden.  Quick and easy!

I also keep a Ziploc full of french bread slices in the freezer as well.

Red Skinned Potato Salad

You can't have a summer BBQ without potato salad.  The bacon is what makes this soooo good.


Red Skinned Potato Salad

Adapted from this recipe on Allrecipes.com

Prep Time: 1 hour
Serves: 12

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds red potatoes
• 6 eggs
• 1 pound bacon
• 1 onion, finely chopped, or 3 green onions
• 2-3 stalks of celery, finely chopped
• 2 cups mayonnaise
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add the potatoes and cook until tender, about 15 minutes.  Drain and set in the refrigerator to cool.
2. Place eggs in a small pot and cover with cold water.  Bring water to a boil, remove from heat and cover.  Let the eggs stand in the hot water for 10-15 minutes.  Remove from the hot water, cool, peel & chop.
3. Place bacon in a larget skillet and cook over medium heat until brown and crispy.  Drain and crumble.
4. Chop the cooled potatoes, leaving the skins on.  Put in a large bowl and add the eggs, bacon, onion and celery.  Add the mayo and salt and pepper to taste.  Chill for at least 1 hour before serving.

Notes & Suggestions:

I decided to cut the potatoes before boiling them.  I'm terrible about overcooking potatoes when I make potato salad, so I boiled them for 10 minutes and they were perfect.  Tender, but still just a little firm so they hold together.  

Make sure your bacon is crispy.  Otherwise it will get soggy in the potato salad.  We had leftovers the next day, and the bacon was still nice and crispy.  

The great thing about this recipe is that you customize however you want.  I added a big squirt of mustard, just to give it a little tang.  You can also add in some shredded cheddar cheese, relish or chopped pickles, or reduce some of the mayo and add in some sour cream.  

This does take some time to prep, but the good thing is that it can be made way ahead of time.  Plus it's so worth the time!

Chipotle Crusted Pork Tenderloin & Yellow Squash Casserole

Tonight we tried a new pork tenderloin recipe.  Pork tenderloins don't go on sale very often, so when they do, I buy a couple, vacuum seal them and throw them in the freezer.  (I try to do this with other types of meat that are on sale as well).  I have a handful of favorites recipes for pork tenderloin (I will share these in future posts), but I wanted to try something new.  I came across this recipe, and It turned out really yummy!  

Chipotle Crusted Pork Tenderloin

Adapted from this recipe on Allrecipes.com

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:

• 3/4 tsp. onion powder
• 3/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. chipotle chili powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 2 1/2 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 (1 lb.) pork tenderloin

Directions:

1. In a resealable plastic bag, combine the onion powder, garlic powder, chipotle chili powder, salt and brown sugar.  Put the pork tenderloin in the bag and shake to coat evenly.  Refrigerate 10-15 minutes (or longer if desired).
2. Preheat grill to medium-high heat (400-425 degrees).  Cook pork tenderloin for 4 1/2 - 5 minutes per side (for a total of 18-20 minutes), depending on desired doneness.  
3. Let meat rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing.

Notes & Suggestions:

Before putting the rub on the pork tenderloin, I marinated it in pineapple juice (a 6 oz. can).  After a couple of hours, I drained it, put the rub on for another 2 hours.  About 15-20 minutes before grilling time, I took the meat out of the fridge so it can warm up a bit.  We do this to any type of meat before we grill it because it allows the meat to cook more evenly.  If the meat is really cold, it won't cook as well in the middle.  Another tip is to use tongs and not a fork when you're grilling any kind of meat.

My husband grilled the pork tenderloin for 4 minutes and 45 seconds per side, and it was still a little pink in the middle, which is the way we prefer it.  Remember to always let any meat rest after grilling before you cut into it. It keeps the juices in and keeps it from drying out.  Plus once you cut into it, it cools quickly so don't cut it until you're ready to eat.  

We both liked this recipe a lot.  My husband thought it needed some type of sauce, but I thought it was great the way it was. It is a little spicy, but not so hot that you can't eat it.  If you don't like a lot of spice, just cut back on the chili powder.  The whole tenderloin was plenty for the 2 of us, with enough leftover for one of us for lunch.  We also made the following squash casserole to go with it.

Yellow Squash Casserole

Adapted from this recipe on Allrecipes.com

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

• 2 large yellow squash, sliced
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 35 buttery round crackers, such as Ritz or Town House
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 tsp. salt
• ground pepper to taste

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  
• Place squash and onions in a large skillet with 1-2 tbsp. olive oil.  Saute over medium high for about 7 minutes.  Add the garlic and season with salt and pepper.  Saute another minute or until squash are tender.
• In a medium bowl, mix together cracker crumbs and cheese.  Stir half of the mixture in with the cooked squash and onions.  
• In a small bowl, mix together the eggs and milk.  Add to squash mixture.  
• Stir in melted butter.
• Spread mixture into a 9x13 baking dish and spread with remaining cracker mixture.
• Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned.

Notes & Suggestions:

I used my mandoline to slice the squash into 1/4" pieces.  While I was sauteing the squash, I seasoned it with 1 1/2 tsp. of Tony Chachere's instead of the salt.  I've made this dish a couple of times before and it never seems to have enough seasoning, so I figured I'd try that.  If you don't want to saute the squash and onions, you can also steam them.  Place them in a large skillet, add a small amount of water, cover, and cook until squash are tender, about 5 minutes.  You can also substitute zucchini for the squash as well.

The squash still turned out a little bland, so next time I will add some salt as well as the Tony's.  This doesn't make very good leftovers because when you reheat it, it becomes mushy.  So I would suggest cutting the recipe in half if you're only serving 2-4.