This is a great alternative to spicy rice in burritos. I especially like being able to make this in the rice cooker. I should have made sure the chicken bouillon was better dissolved when I cooked this, but it still came out tasting great! I will definitely make this again.
Ingredients:
1 cup white rice
2 cups water
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules or 1 crushed bouillon cube
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
salt to taste
Directions:
1. Add the rice, water, and chicken bouillon to a rice cooker. Stir mixture to dissolve bouillon as mixture heats. Cover and cook.
2. When rice is finished cooking, add the lime juice, cilantro, and salt; fluff ingredients with paddle until well combined.
This recipe was adapted from a non-rice cooker recipe found on Allrecipes (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cilantro-lime-rice/detail.aspx).
Baked fries are awesome to make at home because they're pretty easy (especially if you have a mandoline slicer) and also really delicious. One of the baked fry recipes I make most often is this one, garlic cilantro fries. They're so good and so simple. I will note, though, that I had a lot of trouble with fries sticking to the baking sheet when I first started making baked fries. I tried lining the baking sheet with foil, like most recipes recommend, and they still stuck. I have found that the key to nice crispy fries that don't stick is to line the sheet with parchment paper. If you don't already have this in your kitchen, you can easily pick it up from any grocery store. Highly recommend using it for fries! They come out so much better than any other method I've tried.
Ingredients:
2-3 russet potatoes, cut into thin fries
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 - 1 tsp garlic powder
salt & pepper, to taste
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped, or 1-2 tsp. dried cilantro
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Soak thinly cut fries in cold water for 5-20 min, depending on how much time you have. You can skip this step, but the fries won’t be quite as crispy.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
4. Drain fries and dry with paper towel.
5. Toss the fries with the olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper. If you are using dried cilantro, you can also add that here.
6. Spread seasoned fries out on a baking sheet in a single layer.
7. Bake for 30-45 minutes, depending on the temperature of your oven and desired crispiness of fries. Flip the fries every 15 minutes while baking.
8. Remove fries from over, toss with cilantro in a bowl (if using fresh).
This recipe was adapted from "Baked Garlic Cilantro Fries" from The Talking Kitchen (http://www.thetalkingkitchen.com/baked-garlic-cilantro-fries/).
I'm always looking for good slow cooker recipes because there's really nothing better than coming home and having a mostly prepared meal waiting for me. When I first saw this recipe (and a few other similar versions), it didn't look amazing, but it looked really easy. So, I pinned it and forgot about it for a long time. Finally made it recently, though, and it was so much more awesome than expected! I was seriously impressed by how good this was. I made my own cheddar soup, since I don't keep canned around the house and it sounded a lot better from scratch. Will definitely make again!
Ingredients:
2 lbs boneless chicken breasts
10 oz can cream of chicken soup
10 oz can cream of mushroom soup
2 1/2 cups water
2 cubes chicken bouillon
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
14 oz can cheddar soup (or try homemade!)
1 cup sour cream
16 oz bag frozen broccoli florets
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Directions:
1. Spray crockpot with olive oil or other cooking spray.
2. Pour cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, water, chicken bouillon, Cajun seasoning, garlic powder, and onion powder into your slow cooker.
3. Stir together until smooth (you may want to use a whisk). Once smooth, place the chicken in the slow cooker.
4. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours (I started with frozen chicken breasts and cooked mine for 8 hours).
5. When the chicken is done cooking, shred with two forks. Then, add the broccoli, cheddar soup, sour cream, and cheese. Cook for about 30 more minutes until the broccoli is cooked through.
6. Serve with white rice.
This recipe was adapted from The Recipe Critic (http://therecipecritic.com/2014/01/slow-cooker-creamy-chicken-broccoli-rice/). I made quite a few changes from the original recipe, but the overall concept is pretty similar.
When I made the Pesto with Toasted Almonds recently, I didn't have any whole almonds. So, instead, I toasted up some slivered almonds. It's really easy to burn these, so be careful and check on them often! Mine came out pretty well, though!
Ingredients:
Raw slivered almonds
Parchment paper
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Spread the almonds in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
3. Bake for five minutes.
4. Remove the cookie sheet and shake to mix the almonds. Return to the oven.
5. Check every couple of minutes to avoid overcooking. Remove almonds when they are barely darker than they were raw. Overall, the almonds should roast for 7-12 minutes.
These instructions are based on those found at http://vinegarlic.com/2011/06/27/how-to-toast-slivered-almonds-in-the-oven-temperature-how-long-time/. However, their instructions call for a cooking time that was far too long for my oven. Mine would have burned if I left them in for 10-15 minutes.
These cheesecake cupcakes were awesome. Very dense, just the way I think cheesecake is best. I brought these to a friend's house, and she already had some homemade strawberry sauce from earlier in the week, so we just put that on top. Next time, I will definitely do some sort of fruit sauce again, because these were so perfect! There's a recipe for strawberry sauce in the link to the original recipe, but I can't speak to how good it is. Might try it sometime, but I'd also be curious to try these with a raspberry sauce!
Ingredients:
1 cup finely crushed graham crackers (from ~8-9 sheets)
1 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar
4 Tbsp salted butter, melted
2 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup heavy cream (or evaporated milk)
Strawberry Sauce
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a mixing bowl, mix crushed graham crackers with 1 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar. Pour in melted butter and stir mixture until evenly mixed.
3. Divide this amongst 12 paper lined muffin cups. Press mixture with spoon to form an even layer.
4. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and cool while making the filling.
5. In a small mixing bowl, mix 3/4 cup granulated sugar and 1 1/2 Tbsp flour.
6. Put softened cream cheese in a separate mixing bowl and pour sugar/flour mixture over top. Blend mixture using an electric mixer on the lowest speed until smooth. You may need to knock down the beaters on your mixer a couple times.
7. Mix in eggs one at a time on low speed. Scrape sides down and mix until just combined after each addition.
8. Add vanilla, sour cream and heavy cream and mix just until just combined. Tap bowl against counter approximately 30 times; this will release some air bubbles.
9. Divide mixture into muffin cups, filling each until it is full. Bake in preheated oven 20 - 23 minutes. When they are done baking, their centers should still jiggle a little bit, but don't over-bake (they will crack if they’re almost over-baked).
10. Remove from oven and cool for 1 hour. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator or freezer.
11. Just before serving, add the strawberry sauce to the top of the cheesecake. You can put the sauce on in advance, but it’s better if you wait until serving.
This recipe was adapted from "Cheesecake Cupcakes" at Cooking Classy (http://www.cookingclassy.com/2013/04/cheesecake-cupcakes/).
This a truly amazing sandwich. Not too surprising though, since it's just bacon, mozzarella, pesto, and tomato grilled into one sandwich. Will definitely make this again when we have pesto on hand.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup pesto
4 slices sourdough bread
1 medium tomato, sliced thin
4 ounces mozzarella, sliced thin 8 slices (I used shredded, just because it was all I had on hand)
8 slices fried or baked bacon
2 Tbsp. butter
Directions:
1. Heat a large skillet over medium or medium-low heat (depending on how hot your stove is).
2. Spread pesto and butter over opposite sides of all 4 bread slices.
3. Top each sandwich with a portion of bacon, tomatoes, and cheese.
4. Carefully cap each sandwich and place on warm skillet.
5. Cook until bread is crisp and golden and cheese melts, about 5 minutes per side. Halve and serve.
This recipe was adapted from a similar recipe using ciabatta bread at Three Many Cooks (http://threemanycooks.com/recipes/meaty-mains/sisters-sandwich/).
We had a ton of basil from our garden recently, and I really wanted to make pesto. Unfortunately, we didn't have any pine nuts, but we did have slivered almonds. So, I toasted the almonds up and made this. Definitely different than pesto with pine nuts, but really awesome in its own way. I would definitely make this again!
Ingredients:
1/4 cup toasted almonds
3-4 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1 pinch ground nutmeg
salt and pepper, to taste
Directions:
1. Add toasted almonds, garlic, basil, olive oil, parmesan cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper to food processor and process until a desired consistency is achieved. You may want to scrape down the sides a few times.
This recipe was adapted from the recipe at Allrecipes (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-pesto/detail.aspx).
