Rice Pilaf

I grew up eating the boxed rice pilaf and I had a craving for it the other day. The boxed stuff has a lot of sodium so I was curious about making it at home from scratch. This was so easy and I don't know why people use the boxed mix.

I will give you a warning...red onion turns green so you should use the white onion.

Rice Pilaf

Adapted from All Recipes 

Serves 4

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup orzo pasta
1/2 cup diced white onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup uncooked white rice
2 cups chicken broth or veg broth

1/2 cup slivered almonds (optional)

Melt the butter in a lidded pot over medium-low heat. Stir in almond and orzo pasta until golden brown. Add onion and cook until onion becomes translucent, then add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Mix in the rice and chicken broth. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the rice is tender, and the liquid has been absorbed, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork.

Broccoli Slaw

This is the broccoli slaw recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I loved this! It was refreshing and surprisingly light. 

I did use real buttermilk instead of my usual substitute (milk + white vinegar) because I wasn't sure of the flavor impact.

Next time I would add some dice chicken, or red cabbage or maybe sprinkle some crispy bacon pieces on top because...why not?! If I added more I would make more dressing too.

Broccoli Slaw

makes about 9 cups

2 heads of broccoli (florets and stems)
1/2 cup thinly sliced almonds or walnuts
1/3 - 1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)

Buttermilk Dressing:
1/2 cup buttermilk, well-shaken
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar

Salt & Pepper

Trim broccoli and cut into bite sized pieces using a knife, food processor, or mandolin slicer.

Toss the sliced broccoli with the almonds or walnuts, cranberries or raisins, and red onion in a large bowl (I used my largest cooking pot). 

In a small bowl, whisk all the dressing ingredients together. Pour the dressing over the broccoli and toss it well. Season with additional salt and pepper if you'd like.

Store in the fridge until ready to serve for up to a week.

No Bake Nutty Date Bars

I made these after trying a Larabar. These don't take like Larabars but are a sweet nutty snack. Also check out the No Bake Granola Bites!

No Bake Nutty Date Bars
8 oz  pitted dates
2 cups of mixed nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, peanuts, etc)

Put 1 3/4 cups of nuts in the food processor and pulse until crumbly and small. Pour into another bowl.
Put dates into the food processor and pulse until lumpy and chopped up. Add in a tbsp or 2 of water to thin the mix out.
Add chopped nuts back in and pulse until combined.
Once mix is done add in the remaining nuts and pulse to add some texture.

Scoop the mix into the muffin tins until you have your desired serving size. The muffin tins need to be lined with saran wrap or muffin papers because this is very sticky. Because I make these often I purchased the silicone muffin liners which also work as the "packaging."

This makes 6 - 9 muffin sized portions.

Cilantro Lime Pesto

Cilantro is going bad! What uses up lots of fresh herbs? Why pesto of course! This recipe is from The Washington Post and is a great starting point pesto ideas. The recipe below omits any cheese and the arugula, but I think they would both be great additions for next time I attempt this recipe.

How do you serve pesto? 
Pasta: One night we served it over this new quinoa pasta we wanted to try. The pasta was good and tasted like regular pasta, but when I read the ingredients label it didn't really seem much better than regular pasta. But I didn't look to far into it - it tasted yummy! Add about 1/2 cup for 1 lb of quinoa pasta. 
Rice: Another night we served it combined with left over white rice. Heat rice in a skillet over medium with a little olive oil (1 tbsp) and some water (2 tbsp). Once rice is softened and back to its sticky consistency, add the pesto and stir until pesto is mixed in and rice is hot. The rice was served with homemade tortillas and salsa poached chicken.

You may be wondering about the paprika, I included it but I didn't really taste it. Next time I would add more or omit it to see if I notice a difference.

Enjoy!

Pasta with Pesto

Cilantro Lime Rice

Cilantro PestoMakes about 1 cup

1/3 cup walnuts
2 cloves garlic, to taste
1 large bunch cilantro, roots and larger stems trimmed, washed and thoroughly dried
Squeeze of ½ lime
¼-1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
 ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika

Place nuts and garlic in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely chopped. Add cilantro and lime, and pulverize. Add oil, going gradually; stop machine and taste for herb/oil ratio. Add more if it feels “dry.”

Scrape down sides of bowl as needed, and transfer pesto to a small mixing bowl. Season with salt, pepper and smoked paprika, if using.