Confetti Rice

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

3/4 cup chopped scallions (green onions)

1 clove minced garlic

2 cups water

1 cup dry basmati rice

Preparation:

Place the olive oil in a medium saucepan and heat to medium-high.  Once oil is heated, put chopped scallions and garlic in oil.  Swirl and cook for 1 minute making sure not to burn ingredients.  OK...now to show you what I did to make it different and unique:

LP's confetti rice:

Heat oil as stated above, but instead of scallions and garlic, put the remainder of leftover stuffing from your trout recipe in heated saucepan (I used about 3/4 cup of stuffing).  The stuffing mix includes cremini mushrooms, scallions, bread crumbs (I picked those out), bacon, and fresh thyme.  I used this because I burnt my scallions the first time around and didn’t have anymore to start over with.  I also thought I would be brilliant and use garlic powder since I didn’t have any fresh garlic cloves (which you should ALWAYS have on hand, btw).  I suggest that you don’t do what I did...the garlic powder burns quickly and turns to an ugly gritty black.  

Once you have heated the oil, put the remainder of the stuffing mixture in the pan, put the water in pan, increase heat to high  and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, put rice in, and bring back to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 20 minutes.  Do NOT stir rice while it is cooking.  Serve and enjoy.  

Notes:

The “confetti” part of the rice compliments the stuffing in the fish and really brings the dish together.  I was back and forth on spending the $3.95 on the bag of basmati rice compared to the $1.95 for the bag of regular white rice, but it is worth it!  Basmati rice is a little longer and thinner than regular white rice and doesn’t stick together if cooked properly. It is my new love next to Ben.  : )

Mushroom and Bacon Stuffed Trout

This is our third and Ben's favorite recipe so far.  Hope you enjoy.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 stuffed trout)

Ingredients

2  (1-ounce) slices white bread

Cooking spray

3/4  cup  chopped green onions (about 2 bunches)

3/4  cup  chopped onion

1  cup  chopped cremini mushrooms (about 4 ounces)

2  teaspoons  chopped fresh thyme

4  center-cut bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

8  (8-ounce) dressed whole rainbow trout

2  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice

3/4  teaspoon  salt

1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper

Lemon wedges and fresh thyme sprigs (optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place bread in a food processor; pulse 2 times or until crumbly. Sprinkle crumbs on a baking sheet; bake at 350° for 5 minutes or until golden.

Increase oven temperature to 400°.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add green onions and onion to pan; sauté 5 minutes. Add mushrooms to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until mushrooms soften and most of liquid evaporates. Add chopped thyme; cook 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Combine mushroom mixture, breadcrumbs, and bacon in a bowl.

Open trout flat as you would a book. Drizzle trout evenly with juice; sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper. Spoon about 1/4 cup mushroom mixture onto bottom half of each fish; fold over to cover with top half of fish. Arrange fish on a foil-lined broiler pan. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork or until desired degree or doneness. Garnish with lemon wedges and thyme sprigs, if desired. Serve immediately.

Notes:

There are several changes that we made to this.  We did not get “whole” 8oz trout.  We used 8oz fillets and because of the lack of supply and need we only prepared 4 fish.  We did two trout and two salmon (because Kroger didn’t have enough trout).  I cut the fillets down the middle making sure to not cut it all the way to ends, then i cut about 1/2’’ on either side away from the skin, this creates the same “pouch” for stuffing as a whole fish would, however we did have to tie them closed with some cooking twine. With only 4 fish there was extra stuffing.  We chose to use it by putting extra stuffing in the fish, however you can use it for whatever you can come up with.

We made this with confetti rice and asian asparagus... recipes to come...

Steak Tips with Peppered Mushroom Gravy

Tonight was our second new recipe.  We found it in cooking light magazine.  LP subscribes to this and it has quite a few good looking dishes in it.  

Ingredients

2  cups  uncooked egg noodles

Cooking spray

1  pound  top sirloin steak, cut into 3/4-inch pieces

1  tablespoon  butter

2  tablespoons  finely chopped shallots

1  (8-ounce) package presliced baby bella mushrooms

1  teaspoon  minced garlic

1  tablespoon  low-sodium soy sauce

3  tablespoons  all-purpose flour

1 1/2  cups  fat-free, less-sodium beef broth

1/2  teaspoon  black pepper

1/4  teaspoon  salt

3  fresh thyme sprigs

1  teaspoon  fresh thyme leaves (optional)

Directions

1. Cook noodles according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain.

2. While noodles cook, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add steak; sauté 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove from pan; cover.

3. Melt butter in pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and mushrooms; sauté 4 minutes. Add garlic; sauté 30 seconds. Stir in soy sauce. Sprinkle flour over mushroom mixture; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add broth, stirring constantly. Add pepper, salt, and thyme sprigs. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes or until thickened. Return beef to pan; cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Discard thyme sprigs. Garnish with thyme leaves, if desired.

Notes:

We enjoyed this recipe.  We did use all of the low fat/sodium ingredients for this one (as the whole purpose of “Cooking Light” magazine is to cook light) and we followed the recipe without any changes.  We served with a caesar side salad and asparagus.  The only thing that we didn’t like about the recipe is the speed in cooking the beef.  We both thought it should have been slow cooked and then simmered with the gravy for about a minute.  Other than that it was a very hearty meal.  Hope you enjoy.

Ben & Laura

Chili-Corn Taco Pie

Tonight was the first night of our new adventure in cooking and we made Chili-Corn Taco Pie. I chose the recipe off the net and of course we tweaked it!

Ingredients

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 small can roasted green chiles

1 can yellow corn, undrained

1 small onion, diced

1 tsp. minced garlic

2 tsp olive oil

1 packet reduced sodium taco seasoning

1/3 c. instant brown rice or 1 packet of spanish rice mix

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

1 can fat free refried beans

1/2 c. shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 375*. In a large skillet, heat the oil with the garlic and onion, cooking until the onion is slightly transluscent, about 3 minutes. Add your protein, and cook until crumbled and almost cooked through. Pour the entire contents of the can of corn into the pan, followed by the taco seasoning. Add the rice and simmer about 3 minutes. Pour contents of the chile can into the bottom of an 8x8 square pan, followed by the meat mixture. Spread the refried beans on top of the meat mixture. Top with cheese, and bake until bubbling and the cheese is brown, about 25 minutes.

NOTES:

The recipe calls for the brown rice but we used the spanish rice mix and added it after the taco seasoning... this eliminates the need to simmer the rice. It also call to use a 1/2c of shredded cheddar cheese we used probably closer to 1&1/2c of shredded nacho cheese mix (we like cheese). Basically we just covered the top layer of beans with cheese. We served it with Tostitos Scoops chips and LOTS of (reduced fat) sour cream. Enjoy and please rate this dish at the bottom of the page!! thanks

Ben and Laura