Side Dishes

Mexican Rice

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This recipe has been passed down from my feisty, 5’2″ Mexican grandmother, “Grama DeeDee”.  I “heart” this rice so much!  It always brings back fond memories of my grandmother and my mother when I make it.  

Ingredients:
3 cups water
8 oz can tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground oregano
4 teaspoons Caldo De Pollo chicken bouillon (Usually can be found at Walmart in the Mexi section.  If that’s not available, use your choice of chicken bouillon)
2 tablespoons light olive oil
2 cups long grain rice (Must be long grain!)
1/2 small onion minced
4 cloves garlic pressed

1.  Have all ingredients prepared before starting to cook.

2.  Blend water, tomato sauce, cumin, oregano and chicken bouillon in a bowl.  Set near stove. 

3.  Heat oil in a 3-4 quart pan on Medium.  Add rice and stir to coat rice with oil.  Continuously stir to evenly brown.  Be careful not to burn the rice!  Add onions and garlic and stir constantly until onion is transparent.
4.  Shift pan to a cold burner and carefully add the liquid mixture.  Watch out, it will steam!
5.  Stir well and bring to a boil, stirring for about 2 minutes.  Reduce heat to a simmer.  Cover and continue to cook for about 20 minutes or until rice is tender.
*Avoid lifting the lid too soon!  There have been a few instances where I’ve done this and released all the steam.  If you do this just add a little water before putting the lid back on.
*Sometimes I’ll add about a tablespoon of tomato paste to the liquid mixture (It brings out more tomato flavor) or chopped tomatoes for texture.
*When I make this, I always use my Magnalite dutch oven.  It is the same pot my grandmother and mother use to cook Mexican rice.  My rice comes out perfect every time!

*For a healthier version, use long grain brown rice, add 1/2 cup more water and cook for 30-40 minutes.

Source:  Grama DeeDee

Nigella Express Mac and Cheese (w/ variations)

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Having Mac ‘n’ Cheese at our house is very important. While I don’t necessarily have a problem with “Blue Box Mac ‘n’ Cheese”, as our ruffians call the Kraft kind, I’d take a good homemade recipe over boxed anytime! A few years ago, Mr. Blue Eyes’ parents gave us Nigella Lawson’s Express Cookbook, and her Macaroni and Cheese has made it to our “Favorites” list. Of course, being an expert chef, her original recipe calls for only the best ingredients. I am a mom of three and don’t always have “the best” on hand, so we’ve done some tweaking. I’ll give you Nigella’s (because she and I are on a first-name basis. *sputter, cough* Excuse me!) …Ms. Lawson’s original recipe first, then our TWEAKED version.
Nigella’s Original Version
8 oz uncooked Macaroni
2 Cups coarsely chopped mature Cheddar or Leichester cheese, or a mixture of both
1 Cup Evaporated Milk
2 eggs
Grating of Fresh Nutmeg
1. Preheat the oven to 425 F.
2. Cook the macaroni according to the package instructions, drain, and put it back into the pan.
3. While the pasta’s cooking, put the cheese, evaporated milk, eggs, and nutmeg into a food processor and blitz, or put them all into a bowl and mix by hand.
4. Pour the mixture back into the pan with the macaroni and stir well. Then pour it all into a 10-inch-diameter shallow dish.
5. Bake 10 – 15 minutes until it is bubbling and blistering on top.
Tweaked Version
8 oz uncooked macaroni
2 Cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 Cup Milk
2 Eggs
Pinch of Ground Nutmeg
Salt and Pepper to taste
1. Preheat the oven to 425 F.
2. Cook the macaroni according to the package instructions, drain, and add to a shallow casserole dish.
3. While the pasta’s cooking, put the cheese, evaporated milk, eggs, nutmeg, and salt and pepper into a bowl and mix.
4. Pour milk/cheese mixture over the macaroni and incorporate well into the noodles.
5. Bake for about 15 – 20 minutes, or until it is bubbling and blistering on top.
~Kara

Roasted Garlic-Rosemary Potatoes

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One of my favorite food blogs is here .  I was looking at my LDS Living Magazine the other day, where they were featuring this blog, and found a recipe I wanted to try.  Of course I tore that puppy right out of the magazine and filed it in my “Someday I Will Try This…” folder.   Someday came sooner than I thought–for I blog now!  I need a recipe for Thursday and here it is!

Ingredients
2 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
5 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
2 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary (strip the needles from the stem before chopping)
2 1/2 tablespoons coarse-grain or Dijon mustard
Coarsely ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds baby red, fingerling, or other very small potatoes (as small as possible), washed
Kosher salt


1.  Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.

2.  While the water is heating, combine the olive oil, garlic, rosemary, mustard, and some black pepper.   Set aside.

3.  Preheat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and set aside.

4.  When the water is boiling, add the potatoes and boil for about 10 minutes, or until easily pierced with a fork.  Drain, return the potatoes to the pan, and toss with the mustard mixture.

5.  Spread the potatoes out evenly over the baking sheet and sprinkle with kosher salt.  Bake 10-15 minutes, or until the skins begin to brown and sizzle.

Sara and Kate suggest placing the potatoes on a platter and scraping the bits off the foil and sprinkling them over the potatoes.  You can then garnish with a few sprigs of rosemary.

Do Ahead Tip: After spreading the potatoes on the baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 8 hours.  When ready to cook, sprinkle the potatoes with kosher salt and roast 15-20 minutes.

Source: Our Best Bites





CPK Dinner Salad

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One of my favorite dinner salads is California Pizza Kitchen’s Field Greens salad. I’ve re-created it at home as both a main and side dish.

Ingredients:
Large head of romaine or two bags of field greens
One pear, peeled and thinly sliced
3 to 4 oz. Gorgonzola cheese
Glazed or candied walnuts
Balsamic Vinaigrette (or Ken’s Steakhouse Creamy Balsamic Vinaigrette)

1. Chop romaine or simply pour contents of bagged field greens

2. Top with pears, Gorgonzola and walnuts

3. Toss with vinaigrette

A few things to consider:

  • If you’re using this as a side dish, you’ll probably want to half the recipe.
  • Since there are few ingredients, sometimes I just put the salads together on individual plates or bowls, rather than combining in one large salad bowl.

Limey Guacamole

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If you like lime–you’ll LOVE this guacamole!  Over the past 3 years I’ve been on the hunt for the best guacamole recipe; this one is a combination of several.  The real secret to this guac is the fresh style salsa.  With the fresh ingredients already chopped and the flavors already mingled, it’s easy and unbelievably tasty!  


Ingredients:  
4 large, ripe hass avocados 
1 heaping cup of fresh salsa (with onions, and cilantro) 
   (I recommend Italian Rose from Sam’s Club) 
1 tsp. minced bottled garlic
2 tsp. coarse kosher salt
1 T lime juice (I use bottled most of the time…but fresh is always best!)


1.  Peel and pit avocados, mash into a semi-chunky consistency 
2.  measure and add all other ingredients, stir until blended.  
3.  Serve with your favorite tortilla chips! 


How to choose avocados for guacamole
How to peel an avocado