It’s a Winter Winner

Shrimp Risotto

5 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
3/4 cup dry white wine

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

1/2 pound uncooked large shrimp, peeled, deveined

3/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice* or medium-grain white rice

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley

*Arborio, an Italian short-grain rice, is available at Italian markets and many supermarkets.

Bring broth and 1/4 cup wine to simmer in medium saucepan. Reduce heat; keep hot.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in medium skillet over medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon garlic and crushed red pepper, then shrimp. Sauté until shrimp begin to turn pink, about 2 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 cup wine. Simmer until shrimp are just cooked through, about 2 minutes. Drain shrimp, reserving cooking liquid.

Melt remaining 4 tablespoons butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and remaining 1 teaspoon garlic; sauté until onion is pale golden, about 4 minutes. Add rice and stir to coat, about 2 minutes. Add 2 cups broth mixture. Simmer until liquid is absorbed, stirring often. Continue adding broth mixture 1 cup at a time, stirring often and simmering until liquid is absorbed before adding more, about 20 minutes. Stir in reserved shrimp cooking liquid. Cook until rice is just tender and mixture is creamy, about 5 minutes longer. Remove from heat.

Stir shrimp and 2 tablespoons parsley into risotto. Season risotto to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowls. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons parsley.

This dish is a winner. I made it for my boyfriend’s mom’s birthday dinner. If you pair this with some roasted veggies and previously blogged Poor Man’s Cobbler, you have an impressively presented and easily timed dinner. The “worst” part of this dish, if there is one, is having to watch the rice soak up the liquid, but it makes you look like you’re tending to every detail, so you can’t complain!!

Versatility Heaven!

Rice Salad

1 avocado, sliced
1 cup white rice, cooked
1 cup shredded lettuce
1 can of black beans, drained
1 can of RoTel rained
1/2 cup of cilantro, chopped
1 rotisserie chicken, shredded


Mix all ingredients and serve.

This is an extremely good dish for leftover chicken or a 2nd stab at taco night. Very simple items. I've added some light sour cream, even ranch dressing instead of an avocado. Other good items are cotija cheese, corn, sliced jalapenos or roasted red peppers.

He's Choppin' Broccoleeee...Broccoliiiieeee

Broccoli Cheese Rice

2 boxes of frozen broccoli, defrosted
2 C of instant rice, cooked
3/4 C celery, chopped
16 oz Cheese Whiz
1 C shredded cheese
1 C Milk
3/4 C onion, chopped
1 can of cream of chicken
1 can of cream of mushroom
1 stick of butter
1 can of mushrooms

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients except shredded cheese and pour into a greased 10x13 dish. Bake for 25 minutes, remove, add shredded cheese to top, bake until cheese has melted.

The possibilities are endless here for creativity. Throw some leftover turkey easily into this one for a good leftover casserole. Also just add chicken for an easy dinner during the week. Add a little jalapeno for spice. It's a fantastic base for alot of ways to make an easy dinner!

Polished Polish

Halupki 1 cup uncooked instant rice 1 lb. ground beef 1/2 onion, chopped 1 - 2 heads of cabbage 1 bottle of Heinz chili sauce 1 link of Polish Keilbasa sausage, cut into 2" pieces 2 cans of sauerkraut 2 T. vegetable oil Salt & Pepper Take off outer leaves of cabbage and boil about 12 - 15 leaves until soft. Drain delicately and set aside. Saute onion until soft in oil. In a bowl mix with uncooked rice and raw meat. Taking a cabbage leave, roll ground beef mixture like an eggroll. (See diagram at left). Repeat with remaining leaves and mixture. In a large pot, layer 1/2 a can of sauerkraut and 1/4 bottle of chili sauce. Lay halupki rolls on top of the sauerkraut, adding 1/2 link of the sausage in between. Layer more sauerkraut, chili sauce and more rolls, sausage. Top with the rest of the sauerkraut and chili sauce. Add 1 "chili sauce bottle's worth" of water to the pot. Let simmer until all is cooked through (at least an hour....but the longer, the better!!!) adding water as necessary if it dries out.

This is quintessential Polish food. My mom makes them. My grandmother makes it for Easter. It's at weddings with fried chicken. They have dinners of them at the church (see that woman above, picture clones of her en mass making these). This is Pennsylvania's version of the southern barbecue or chicken dinner. This is it. And it's fantastic. FYI, they are also called Golabki, I guess it depends which side of the tracks you're on!

At first, it sounds like it's an odd flavor combination - the acidity between the sauerkraut and tomatoes is quite alot. But for some reason it works. Please make sure to use full fat ground beef as the fat does tend to cut this and help it.

Oh man, how do you serve it? Most easily with mashed potatoes. (Little bit of milk, little pat of butter mixed in.) But on my Grandmother's easter table it's with fried chicken, pasta salad, salad, green beans, aforementioned mashed potatoes, etc...basically it's every which way!

This stuff makes leftovers BEAUTIFULLY. It's like gumbo, even better the next day!

For an "easier" but not as fabulous version, and probably sacrilege to my Polish/Czech ethnic standing, grab a crock pot. Forget the rolling. Precook your ground beef and rice and onion, mix it. Layer the sauerkraut, chili, cooked cabbage, ground beef, repeat. Like a lasagne. Leave it on all day and continue to add water. Shhh, just don't tell my grandma.

A Taste of Thai

Gang Ga Lee (Yellow Curry)

4 red potatoes, quartered
2 yellow onions, sliced and halved
3 carrots, chopped into 1 inch pieces
4 chicken breasts, cubed
1 can of coconut milk
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
4 Tbsp yellow curry powder
4 C. Jasmine Rice, cooked

Boil potatoes and carrots until soft. In oil, saute chicken and onion until cooked through and soft. Add carrots and potatoes. Add coconut milk and curry powder. Heat on low for 20 minutes until combined. Serve over rice.

This was my first Thai curry ever. If you aren't an Indian fan, and we'll get to those recipes one day, Thai might still work for you. It's a little less of a stretch flavor-wise. As you can see, most of these aren't your "exotic" ingredients.

I love this dish for comfort food on a wintery night. You can adjust the spice as necessary. Salt and pepper aren't insanely necessary here, but change at will. This is also, for a strange twist, good over pasta as well, omit the rice.

Have fun, try new things -- you may never know!

Stuffed Bell Pepper Casserole

2 chopped green bell peppers
1 small (6 oz) can of tomato sauce
1 large (15 oz) can of tomato sauce
1 lb of ground beef
1 cup of instant rice, uncooked

Mix ground beef and rice (both uncooked) along with green bell pepper and large can of tomato sauce in a greased 8x8 pyrex dish. Spread evenly through pan. Top with small can of tomato sauce. Cover with foil. Bake @ 350 degrees until cooked through - about 45 minutes.

This recipe is another one of mom's. Must go with canned corn and butter bread. Don't even consider cutting carbs here. It's the only way to go. It also lends well to making ahead and freezing before you cook it. It works with ground turkey too if you want to cut calories.

This is one of those dishes from my childhood that I remember was a great fall dish. I remember sitting in the corner of my parents kitchen, watching mom cook. I remember the little yellow pot that she had to put the corn on to cook. I remember the little vintage-y white pyrex dish that she cooked the casserole in.

Dad sometimes brought mom the bread from the Mrs. Baird's store. Rianbow bread was a special thing. Forget flowers, that stuff was tops. We'd put margarine on that and rock out. On "special" occasions, we'd put garlic powder on and microwave the bread. As a middle class kid, that was pretty cool to us.

That yellow pan for corn. Mom got rid of it later. That was one of the pans I wanted when she goes to the big kitchen in the sky. I miss it already, it had a wobbly handle, but fit perfectly on the smaller burner. Shame it's gone.

One of My First Recipes

Chicken & Rice

1 can of Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 can of Chicken and Rice Soup
2 "cans worth" of water
2 "cans worth" of instant rice
4 Bone In Chicken Thighs - 2 skin on, 2 skin off.

Mix first four ingredients in 9x13 Pyrex dish. Put the skin on thighs in opposite corners and put skin off thighs in remaining corners. Place foil on pan. Bake at 400 for 45 -1 hour until chicken is done.

This is one of my favorite recipes from my mum. Upon giving it out, she'll also tell you that they used water because they were poor, and if you really want a good one, replace the water with milk and the chicken with pork chops. That works too. Oddly enough, I've never had this one with pork chops.

You'll learn quickly through my blog here that I love, live, breathe and of course, eat, food. So I figured why not devote a huge portion of my blogging to another passion entirely.
I have several blogs:
http://randomthoughtsofananalyticalmind.blogspot.com/ - personal
http://latoomuchfortheman.blogspot.com/ - humor
http://prettysmartphotography.blogspot.com/ - my budding almost business
and even...
http://ralphthomas.blogspot.com/ - yes, my dog.

But I digress, you'll learn about me that when it's my mum's recipe, there's almost always a preset side dish to go with it. This one is a can (must be can) of french cut green beans. Over the years this has attempted to get a dish of frozen peas, or even canned peas. But it's not right. And don't get regular green beans either. It doesn't work, they don't stick on the fork with the rice well. It's wrong on many levels.

So there's your first recipe. Get to getting on it.