Beth's Confetti Rice

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Everyone needs a good side dish that will go with many types of meat and that's what we are going to talk about today.

It's still late summer here in Southern California and we are still grilling every chance we get.  Actually, we'll be grilling well into October as the weather tends to be warm.  So I wanted to make a rice dish to go with some shrimp and scallops we were grilling (recipe coming).  You know rice goes well with any type of meat.  But I wanted to jazz this up a bit.  Something sort of like a pilaf with veggies, or like a Caribbean confetti rice, but my style.  Thus,  Beth's Confetti Rice was born!

BETH'S CONFETTI RICE

Imagine a nice basmati rice cooked until fluffy and tender, then tossed with an array of veggies.  Spicy sweet bell pepper, tender peas, crisp sweet corn, and sweet onion are combined with the heavenly rice and sprinkled with cilantro for extra flavor.  Amazing!  This is the PERFECT rice to serve with any grilled meat.  

This side dish is perfect for late summer gatherings.  It goes well with pork, steak, fish, and chicken dishes whether they are grilled or baked or pan fried.  It's just a great compliment that you will want to eat over and over.

Enjoy!

Beth's Confetti Rice

serves 4-6

1 cup long grain basmati rice, rinsed well
1½ cups chicken broth, low sodium

2 Tablespoons butter

1/2 cup red bell peppers, diced

1/2 medium sweet onion, diced
1/2 cup frozen peas
½ cup frozen or fresh corn
2 cloves garlic, minced

salt and pepper
¼ cup cilantro, chopped 

Add the rice, and broth medium sauce pot. Set over medium heat and cover. Bring to a boil, then stir and lower the heat. Cover and allow the rice to cook until the liquid is absorbed about 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, add the butter to a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bell peppers and onions. Sauté for 2-3 minutes, to soften.  Add the peas, corn and garlic. Season with salt and pepper.   Stir and cook for another 2 minutes until heated through.  Add the cooked rice to the skillet and toss well to combine.  Sprinkle with the cilantro and toss.  Serve warm as a side dish.

You may also like:

Asian Style Fried Rice and Beans

Chicken and Mango Rice Salad

Easy Mexican Rice

Fried Rice

Seven-Grain Salad with Roasted Pepper, Feta, and a Mustard Dressing

Garlic Chicken Stir Fry

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Whenever I need a quick dinner I turn to stir frys. As you may know, this seems to be quite often as I have a lot of stir frys on the blog! A lot of which you all seems to love such as Spicy Beef, Snow Peas, Mushroom, and Carrot Stir Fry, Chicken, Green Bean & Mushroom Stir Fry, and Caribbean Pork Stir Fry.

We recently moved to a new home and in the midst of unpacking we needed to stop and have dinner. The nerve, having to eat during the middle of unpacking! LOL!  So I turned to the refrigerator and found some chicken breasts just begging to be turned into a fabulous meal.

Using vegetables that I already had, mushrooms and broccoli, made the ingredient list. Now for a sauce. A simple use of garlic sounded really good and easy to pull together with pantry items, so Garlic Chicken Stir Fry was born!

GARLIC CHICKEN STIR FRY

This dish is perfect for a weeknight meal when you want to make something quick.  20 minutes is all you need to have a great meal on the table that is 1000x better than take out!  If you make stir frys then you will most likely have all the ingredients on hand.  I love being able to pull together stir frys in a snap, changing up the vegetables and sauce.  Have a stocked pantry makes this really east to accomplish.

Juicy tender chicken breast chunks are browned and coupled with crisp vegetables, and cashews.  All of this is then bathed in a warm garlic sauce that flavors all the ingredients and brings this all together.

Enjoy!

Note: Shared on The Country Cook's Weekend Potluck

Garlic Chicken Stir Fry

serves 4

1 lb chicken breasts cut into bite size chunks
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 Tbls canola oil
8 oz baby bella mushrooms, sliced
small head of broccoli, stemmed and cut into florets
1/3 cup whole cashews
4 cloves of garlic, minced

¾ cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons cornstarch

hot cooked rice

On a plate toss the chicken with the cornstarch.

In a small bowl, add the chicken broth, soy sauce, sesame oil, and cornstarch.  Stir until well combined.  Set aside.

Heat the canola oil in a large skillet.  Add the chicken and cook on medium-high until browned on all sides, about 2-3 minutes on each side.  Remove chicken from the pan to a plate, and turn the heat up to high.

Add in the mushrooms and cook until they start to brown.  Add the broccoli and allow to cook 2-3 minutes more. Add the cashews and stir and cook until lightly toasted.  Add the garlic and cook/stir for 30 seconds.

Return the chicken and any juices back to the skillet.  Add the sauce and toss to coat.  Serve with hot cooked rice.

Strawberry Cinnamon Smoothie

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Happy Labor's Day!  I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday. Here's a quick and easy recipe I wanted to share with you today.  


You may not know that I love a good farmer's market and now I'm fortunate that we have one that sets up every Wednesday in our work complex.  It's heaven to be able to go to the farmer's market during the week!  There is one particular stand that sells the best organic fruit and vegetables.  I was in heaven looking at all the food, and walked away with much more items that I should have.

One treat was their strawberries!  Plump, juicy, deep red strawberries that promised to be sweet and luscious!  I couldn't wait to get these home and make a smoothie with them.  Smoothies fall in the "fast and fresh" category and are simple, quick and absolutely delishhh!

So a strawberry smoothie is very tasty but also quite ordinary.  So let's amp this baby up a bit and make a Strawberry Cinnamon Smoothie!  Have you every had cinnamon and strawberry?  Well, you are about to venture on a wonderful sweet and earthy journey with your taste buds.  This combination hits you with the sweet flavor of the berries and then on the way down you get that kick of heat and spice from the cinnamon.  HEAVEN!

What a great combination for a smoothie plus the health benefits that you get from both strawberries and cinnamon.  It's a win win in our house!  Let it be one in yours too by trying this right away.  There are still plenty of strawberries around so get them while they are still ripe and try this drink today!

Enjoy!





Strawberry Cinnamon Smoothie

serves 2

1 6 oz lite vanilla yogurt
1/2 pint of strawberries, hulled
1/2 frozen banana
1/4 cup lowfat milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup ice

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend on high until all incorporated and ice has crushed.

Pour into two glasses and serve immediately.