Coconut Rice

C is not a huge coconut fan, so I was a little apprehensive when I decided to make this side dish when we were having pineapple and chicken kabobs for dinner. The smell? Amazing. And the taste? Just a hint of coconut with a slight cinnamon undertone. And C LOVED it. So even if you are not a huge coconut fan, you can't go wrong with this dish.

Coconut Rice
As seen on Branny Boils Over, from Epicurious

Ingredients
2 C long grain rice
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 (13- to 14-oz) can unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup water
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions
-Rinse rice in sieve under cold water and drain thoroughly
-Melt butter in 2-3 quart saucepan over medium to high heat.  Add rice and cook, stirring constantly until rice becomes opaque, about 3 minutes.
-Stir in coconut milk, water, cinnamon stick, and salt and bring to a boil.
-Reduce heat to low, simmer covered, 20 minutes, then remove from heat and let stand, covered, 5 minutes.  Remove cinnamon stick and fluff with a fork.

Classic Stuffed Peppers

I came across this recipe from Joelen and bookmarked it awhile back. Overall, the dinner was good. I omitted the cheese the original recipe called for and forgot to drain the tomatoes. It was a hit with C and both girls, but I feel like the recipe needs tweaking. More flavor, more spice...just something else. But, the peppers maintained a crispness that made it delish! I did not freeze these, but prepared them on Sunday and made them tonight.

Classic Stuffed Peppers
adapted from Food.com and Joelen's Culinary Adventures

Ingredients
4 medium green peppers, 1/2 inch trimmed off top and cored/seeded
1/2 C long grain white rice
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped fine
12 ounces ground beef
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 14 1/2 oz can diced tomatoes, drained with 1/4 C juice reserved (Um...I did not drain nor did I reserve the juice. I will definitely do this next time while I tweak my recipe).
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
black pepper
1/4 C ketchup

Directions
1. Bring 4 quarts water to a boil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon salt and bell peppers. Cook until peppers just begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Using slotted spoon, remove peppers from pot, drain off excess water and place peppers cut side up on paper towels.
2. Return water to boil; add rice and boil until tender, about 13 minutes.Drain rice and transfer to large bowl; set aside.
7. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350°F.
8. Meanwhile, heat 12 inch heavy bottomed skillet over medium high heat until hot, about 1 1/2 minutes; add oil and swirl to coat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add ground beef and cook, breaking beef into small pieces with spoon, until no longer pink, about 4 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant about 30 seconds
9. Transfer mixture to bowl with rice; stir in tomatoes, parsley and salt and pepper to taste.
10. Stir together ketchup and reserved tomato juice in small bowl.
11. Place peppers cut side up in 9 inch square baking dish. Using soup spoon, divide filling evenly among peppers. Spoon 2 tablespoons ketchup mixture over each filled pepper. Bake until filling is heated through, 25 to 30 minutes.

*To freeze, prepare peppers and fill as directed. Top with ketchup mixture and place in a freezer-friendly container. To cook, thaw completely and bake at 350 until heated through.

Day 21: A Recipe

Cabbage Rolls:
extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup tomato sauce
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups steamed white rice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large heads green cabbage, about 3 pounds each

1. Saute onions and garlic in oil, add the tomato paste and sauce, let cool
2. Bring to boil a large pot of salted water and blanch the cabbage heads whole. Let cool, peal the leaves off and cut back the large vein in the middle.
3. in a large bowl mix meat, rice, salt pepper, onion mix, and parsley. Fill each leaf with mix and roll.
4. There are two methods to cook these: Put them in the crock pot, in a single layer and cover with crushed tomatoes, you can season it is you like, but you do not need to, just set for 8 hours and they are done. You can also put them in a baking dish and bake at 350 for about an hour or until the meat is done
To freeze: line them up in large ziplock bags and lay flat till they are frozen.

Saucy Pepper Steak

While at Cleveland's West Side Market last weekend, my brother and SIL started talking about their new favorite recipe, Saucy Pepper Steak.  They both raved about it and how they have made it every week for, like, a month.  Since I am always looking to expand my recipe database, I decided to pick up a few peppers and make it this week!  The top round is super tender and the sauce was really great and had a nice zest to it.  I made a few adjustments because our kids have big appetites and used Open Pit BBQ Sauce, which was the perfect decision.  This is something I will definitely be making again.

Saucy Pepper Steak

Adapted from Kraftrecipes.com

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

4 bell peppers, cut into strips (Next time I will mix it up with red and yellow)

1 large onion, sliced

1 1/2-2 lbs well-trimmed boneless beef sirloin (I used top round), cut into strips

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 C lite soy sauce

1/2 C barbecue sauce

White or brown rice

Directions:

-Spray large nonstick skillet with cooking spray.  Cook bell peppers and onions 6-8 minutes, until crisp tender.  Transfer to a bowl and keep warm.

-Add meat, garlic and pepper to same skillet and cook meat to desired doneness.  Add soy sauce and heat through.  Add BBQ sauce, and cook until heated through.  

-Add peppers and onions back to pan with meat and toss gently to coat in sauce.  Serve over rice.

Recipe: Salsa Chicken

This is one of my family's favorite meals and it is SUPER easy! Very Weight Watcher's friendly! I serve the salsa chicken with Chipotle-style rice and corn!

Salsa Chicken
Ingredients:
3-4 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1-2 jars chunky salsa
1 package taco seasoning

Spray your crockpot. Toss everything in and cook on low for 6-7 hours. I usually shred the chicken. Serve with a dollop of low fat sour cream ( I use LF because I hate fat free sour cream!)

Chipotle-style Basmati Rice:
Ingredients:
1 tsp oil (I use olive, although the recipe calls for vegetable)
2 tsp fresh cilantro (I keep the frozen cubes from Trader Joe's in my freezer, because I usually forget to buy the cilantro)
2/3 C white basmati rice
1 C water
1/2 tsp salt
1 lime

In a 2 quart heavy saucepan, heat oil over low heat, stirring occasionally until melted. Add rice and lime juice; stir for one minute. Add water and sald, bring to a full rolling boil. At boiling, cover and turn down to simmer over low heat until rice is tender and the water is absorbed. Add cillantro, fluff and serve.