Chipotle Rice

Ok – I love a good Chipotle burrito. But what I really love about it is the rice.

I love rice in general (I could NEVER do the no carb diets. Nope, I love me some carbs)

Anyway, Matt and I figured out how to make chipotle rice in college, and perfected it. Then I moved home, and we only cooked together a couple times a month. So I forgot about it.

Well I decided it needed to make a come back.

So tonight I made it, and it was so good. A great side dish for chicken. I only had white rice, but I would suggest using basmati

It honestly isn’t any harder than making regular white rice.

[Printable Recipe]

Ingredients:

1 tbsp butter

2/3 c. basmati rice

2 tbsp lime juice

1 c. water

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp fresh cilantro

 

Directions:

Melt butter on medium heat.

Add rice and lime juice.

Stir for 1 min.

Add water and salt.

Bring to a boil.

Cover and turn heat to low.

Let simmer for 20-25 mins, until all the water cooks out.

While simmering, chop cilantro

When rice is finished add cilantro and fluff with a fork.

 

SO GOOD.

I will say that Rachel Ray and everyone on tv makes chopping fresh herbs look so easy. They barley lift their knifes and the herbs are chopped nice and small. Me, not so much. Granted, my knifes do not cost hundreds of dollars. But still, there should be an easier way.

OK, OK. I just need good knifes. Maybe one day.

Simply Potato Latkes

[Printable Recipe]
This recipe is so super easy - and very good. I like a little garlic salt and sour cream with mine.

1 Simply Potatoes package
2 eggs
2t tbsp. flour or matzo meal (we always use flour for these)
1 tsp. salt
pepper to taste
1 small onion, grated
1/2 tsp. baking powder

Mix all ingredients together and fry. Drain on paper towels.


That is not my hairy arm for the record :-D


** these pictures I found on my camera from Hanukkah 2008 - I only have the cooking and the draining steps- no clue what happened to the others.

Latkes (potato pancakes)

Happy Hanukkah!!  

I love that I get to celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas! Since Matt and I started dating 3.5 years ago we have had a tradition of making latkes and Hanukkah cookies every year for Hanukkah. In the past we used a simple recipe that was very good, but not a true Latke. I will try to get that recipe posted for you as well, but I am not sure I will make both this year. If so I will add pictures to the recipe. This year Matt's mom sent me her latke recipe - and I hope I can make it as well as she does. Having never made them it was hard to know if I had the consistency right, Matt tried to help decide. In the end he said they turned out great so that is good!

[Printable Recipe]
Ingredients
2 eggs or more ( we used 2 in the blender and 1 more to make it thinner )
3 cups grated drained potatoes ( we used 4 potatoes - 3.25 lbs)
1 onion, grated
salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste
2-4 tbsp. matzo meal 

vegetable oil (we used canola oil)

Wash and cut the potatoes and grate the onion

 

 Place 1 egg in blender then add some of the cut up pieces of potatoes, onion.

After each addition, drain in colander or strainer. Don't strain out all of the liquid but strain a good bit.

Repeat each process always starting with egg first until all potatoes are done.
Add salt and pepper and matzo meal (we used 1.5 Tbsp of matzo meal).
May need to taste to determine amount of salt and pepper and check texture to determine amount of matzah meal. You want it to be thick. It is really hard to describe the texture. It is like a thick pancake batter, but with more texture, thinner than oatmeal. It reminded me a lot of the texture of the rice cereal I feed the twins. Since I had never made it before we did 1 first to see if we had the texture right.

Heat oil.
Drop potato mixture into hot oil by teaspoonfuls. Flatten them down a little

 

Fry until golden brown on both sides.

Drain on paper towels.

Serve with apple sauce or sour cream.

These were so good. I am glad they are only a tradition 1 time a year because they were SO greasy. But 100%  worth it. I will run it off tomorrow. :-D

I debated posting this recipe. It was difficult and very much a game of trial and error with a couple calls to Miami to ask Matt's mom for help. But in the spirit of the holidays I am posting it. Feel free to try it- if you want help email me and I will offer help. It was totally worth the work, so good! I am going to post the simply potatoes latke recipe too - it is much easier and faster.

The only reason to go to Red Lobster

[Printable Recipe]

Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits


I don't eat seafood, not even shrimp or crabs (GASP I KNOW?! The only excuse I can give is that the 9 years I spent not in Maryland did not foster the love of crabs that all other Marylanders have). My family on the other hand eats the stuff. Yuck. My best friend and her family enjoy it, and have a personal discount when they go to Red Lobster. So I have been to RL more times than I can count. I order my chicken fingers with a little hint of embarrassment, then remember that I order these 6 out of 10 times at other places and move on to the reason I agree to set foot through the door in the first place. The biscuits. They are cheesy, and garlicky and HORRIBLE for you. The worst part is, that you know this, and you still can't keep yourself from having a 2nd or 3rd(shutter) I have found a recipe that claims to be the same as the RL one. So I decided to try it out, adapting it a little to fit my taste (which is quite simple and plain... seriously, PB no J, waffle no syrup...)

I am not in the mood to make biscuit dough from scratch. It is Friday, I averaged only 4-5 hours of sleep every night this week, I just want a quick dinner and a movie to fall asleep to. Sorry boyfriend. Bisquick it is!

2 Cups of Bisquick

1/2 cups COLD water

3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese (I am using mild because bf and I aren't big fans of sharp)

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp dried parsley ( using Italian seasoning because it is all we have and we don't need extra spices right now)

1/4 cup butter

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

Heat oven 450. Combine Bisquick, water and cheese in bowl.(I added a little garlic and seasons, just a little)

The Dough

Roll out on lightly floured surface 1 inch thick. Cut biscuits and place on ungreased pan. (I was lazy, I skipped this step and just dropped clumps on and flattened, I also used a little pam on the cookie sheet).

My drop biscuits



Melt butter and spices (I only used 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning, and no parsley)and brush on the biscuits. Bake 8-10 mins. (This was more like 11 mins 30 seconds, but this could be because I took the chicken out of the oven at 350 and put the biscuits in and then turned it up to 450).

This was my 2nd


You could make this healthier for you by using fat free cheese and using the butter sparingly. My cheese however was not fat free. O well.

The Results: They were almost perfect. The seasonings were perfect, they were nice and buttery, the only thing I would do differently is add more cheese, probably up it to 1 cup. Of course I had more than one... Matt had 5 6. I guess he liked them :-D We will definitely be adding this to our rotation, but maybe make it a little bit healthier.