Resuming recipes... Easy 20 minute Beef/Veggie/Rice skillet

Happy Tuesday Friends!!

I have been remiss lately with the recipes...again. My most sincere apologies. I absolutely love discovering, trying, and then reporting all of our trials. But alas, I have let all of our "stuff" get in the way and just haven't been making new recipes much lately. We have had a couple lately which I will be presenting for you today and I also found some really wonderful sounding recipes this weekend and am super excited about trying and sharing them!! So....Let's get to it shall we?! :)

This is not only quick (Yay!! My fave!!) but it's a one pot too!! Woo Hoo!!

20 Minute Vegetable Beef and Rice Skillet Dinner (courtesy of FoodChannel.com)

Ingredients
1 pound ground beef (I used 2lbs.)
1 small onion, chopped (I used several shakes of dried minced)
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained (used 2)
1 can (10-1/2 ounces) condensed beef broth (used about 18oz)
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables, thawed (pretty sure I used bout 2 cups)
2 cups instant white rice, uncooked (I did 2 heaping cups)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (yeah...I just added shredded taco cheese until it looked good)

Preparation
BROWN meat with onion in large skillet on medium-high heat; drain.
ADD tomatoes with liquid, broth and vegetables; stir. Bring to boil.
STIR in rice and cheese; cover. Remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes.

pre-rice and cheese

I made a HUGE batch!! There was a TON of leftovers...but that's ok. It was yummy! And have I mentioned that it was easy....and fast....and only took ONE POT?!?!!! :D

We enjoyed it the night I made it and we've also enjoyed it for lunches since.

This one is definitely going to be added to the "oh crapdoodles!!...I forgot about dinner tonight" arsenal.

Hope you all enjoy it as much as we did.

Mo

Orange Turkey with Rice

Well, I find myself playing catch-up again. This is the 3rd recipe that should have been posted last week with the others but my "blogging ninja" day only took me so far...
So...with pictures and everything!!! I give you Orange Turkey with Rice found in the Cook's Library One Pot cookbook. Although, let me preface this one with-this is NOT a One pot meal. 2 at best (if you have 6 cups leftover cooked rice), but most likely 3...
Serves 5 with leftovers as modified (originally says it serves 4)

1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 medium chopped onion (I used dried minced)
1 lb skinless lean turkey cut into thin strips (I used 1 1/2 lbs.)
1 1/4 cups unsweetened orange juice
1 bay leaf
3 cups small broccoli florets (I used 3 heaping cups)
1 large zucchini, diced
1 large orange
6 cups cooked brown rice (I used long grain white)
salt and pepper
to garnish;
9-10 pitted black olives, drained and quartered
shredded basil leaves

Heat the oil in a large skillet and cook the onion and turkey, stirring, for 4-5 minutes until lightly browned. Pour in the orange juice and add the bay leaf and seasoning. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to a boil and cook the broccoli florets, covered, for 2 minutes. Add the diced zucchini, then bring back to a boil. Cover and cook for another 3 minutes. Drain and set aside. Using a sharp knife, peel off the skin and white pith from the orange. Slice down the orange to make thin circular slices, the halve each slice. Stir the broccoli, zucchini, rice, and orange slices (my oranges got mangled in the mixing) into the turkey mixture. Gently mix together and season, then heat throught for a further 3-4 minutes, or until the mixture is piping hot. Transfer the turkey rice to warm serving plates and garnish with black olives and shredded basil leaves.

This recipe was good. I, somewhat unfortunately, bought iron-enriched rice which just doesn't cook as well as non. Not a mistake I'll be making again. Otherwise, it was tasty. Good flavors and everything all in one easy scoop. Meat, veggies, starch. Good stuff. :)
Hope you try this one and enjoy!

Mo

Sage Chicken & Rice ... New recipe post numero uno :)

Ok, ok. Try not to faint. I know it's been a while since I posted any recipes. I suck. It's ok, I'll admit it when I've totally failed... ;) But I'm working on getting back on track. As a matter of fact...I have 3 new recipes to post! How's that for shocking?! hehehe
So. Last week I actually cooked. And new recipes even... Apparently miracles never cease.
I decided to hit up the cookbooks that have been collecting some serious dust on my shelf and see what I could find. I found a great cookbook, in theory, sitting there called Cook's Library One Pot. One pot recipes?! Sold!!! But then I started looking through it. A great deal of them aren't do-able in our house. There's a decent section on lamb....not happenin in my house! If my husband has a strong desire for lamb, he has to have it at a restaurant. Not comin in to my kitchen. Period. Same goes for rabbit, veal, venison, goose, and duck. Now, before anyone gets all defensive of game hunting. I have nothing against it. I just don't want to eat it. Nor will I prepare it. It's just one of my weird things.
Ok. Beyond that... I realized something when going through this cookbook. One pot means everything is all mixed together... LOL Yes..I know. Brilliant deduction huh?! But this is relevant because my sweet little love of a daughter doesn't eat things when they're mixed together. Even if she likes all of the individual components. And she won't eat rice. This is a problem because that's a large component of many of the recipes in this book.... hmm... And I was so excited about this "one pot" thing... :(
Well, I decided to go ahead and try a couple of the recipes anyway. I'm going to continue to try to get Justice to eat things she previously has refused. It's worked at least once so far....I'm hopeful that it will continue to work, even if not with everything.
So.
Sage Chicken and Rice - serves 4 (served 4 plus lots of leftovers w/my changes)

1 large onion, chopped (I sliced 4 green onions)
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 celery stalks, sliced
2 carrots, diced (I diced several baby carrots)
2 sprigs fresh sage (I used dried)
1 1/4 cups chicken bouillon/broth (whichever form you prefer - cube, storebought, homemade)
12 oz skinless, boneless chicken breasts (I used 2lbs ground chicken)
generous 1 cup mixed brown and wild rice
14 oz canned chopped tomatoes
dash Tabasco sauce
2 zucchini, sliced thinly
1/2 cup diced lean ham
salt and pepper to taste
fresh sage, to garnish

Place onion, garlic, celery, carrots, and sage in a large saucepan and pour in chicken bouillon.
Bring the vegetable and herb mixture to a boil, then cover the pan and let simmer for 5 minutes.
Cut the chicken into 1-inch cubes and stir into the pan with the veggies. Cover the pan and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.
Stir in the mixed brown and wild rice and chopped tomatoes.
Add a dash of Tabasco sauce to taste (I used several and there was just the slightest touch of kick after several bites) and season well. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 25 minutes.
Stir in the sliced zucchini and diced ham and continue to cook, uncovered, for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the rice is just tender.
Remove the sage sprigs (if you used fresh) and discard.
Garnish with sage leaves and serve.

The reviews from our house were eh....
I've never been a fan of wild rice, nor is Nick although he didn't mind it too much. The brown rice pretty much 'bonded' with the ground chicken so it made a different texture. Not horrible, but not fabulous. The seasoning and veggies were good. It'd be worth another try with regular chicken breasts and maybe more brown rice than wild. Or maybe just with white rice instead. All in all, not a bad dish. Of course, Justice wouldn't eat any of it and ended up with some of her lunch leftovers. We had plenty of leftovers and it's been had for lunch a couple of times.
Hope you try it and enjoy. Can't beat One Pot!! (unless you're Justice...) :)

Mo

Fabulously fast and extraordinarily easy! Woo Hooo! :)

This week has started off well like several weeks have lately, let's see if I can keep it going. Not incredibly likely since I found a great coupon for Kids Eat Free at Chili's tomorrow...but we'll see. :)
Last night I made Creamy Rice with Ham and Peas. This was great! Not only was it easy (a pretty important pre-requisite of mine) but it was super fast! Yeah Baby (in a very Austin Powers kinda way)!! And....here comes the Bonus.......
1 pan baby!!!!!
Woo hoo!!!!!!!! :)
Not too much to tell here except the obvious fact of me forgetting to take pics AGAIN!!! I promise...One day, that will change! That's an absolute promise. I will not however comment on the timeline associated with said promise... ;)
So here's the recipe courtesy of The Food Channel.

Ingredients
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine
1/2 cup chopped onions (I omitted)
2 cups milk
1 cup chopped ham
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 chicken bouillon cube
2 cups instant white rice, uncooked
1/4 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese (I used a little more-we LOVE cheese)
Preparation
MELT butter in large skillet on medium heat. Add onions; cook and stir until tender.
ADD milk, ham, peas and bouillon; stir. Bring to boil.
STIR in rice and Parmesan cheese; cover. Remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes.

This was delicious and easy. Definite repeat. Now...if only I could figure out how to get Justice to eat it next time.... Wish me luck or of course, let me know if you have any ideas.

Mo

P.S. I already made Monday's dinner...! Woo Hoo!!! :) Go me! :)