Beans and Rice!!

Ok - I know this sounds funny, but I love beans and rice, but I have never been able to come up with a recipe that I like - I've made it different every time and frankly, it's not been very tasty. Cole likes it, but that's about it. We had dinner with some friends the other night and made fake Cafe Rio food and I think they've found the true rice and beans recipes! SO GOOD!!!

Credit for the rice goes to Brytton and Madeline Long! Great recipe inventors and great friends! Brytton goes to Western with Tyler and is a year ahead in school. We met them and their cute little girl at our Institute class at the school. (I stole this recipe from Madeline's cooking blog - I hope that it's ok to share Madeline... :))

Preparations:

In a blender, blend:
One 4 oz can of Green Chilies
A Handful of Cilantro

Mix with:
2 cups of rice
4 cups of water
1 Tablespoon of Lime Juice
2 Tablespoons of Butter
1 teaspoon of California Garlic Powder
4 Tablespoons of Chicken Soup Base

Cook as you would normally cook rice in a rice cooker or in a covered pot until water is gone.

SOOOOOO TASTY!

Drum roll for beans! This recipe is from Loni Platt, another good friend here in CA. Her husband is also a student at Western - they're a year ahead of us and are moving to Oregon in June with the Longs. We're really sad to see everybody go. Loni served as a missionary in Brazil and is a fantastic cook! (I stole this one off Madeline's cooking blog too, so I hope it's ok.)

Beans in a pressure cooker - so fast!!!

For 1-2 cups of Black Beans:

Sort Beans. Looks for unattractive beans and even rocks. :)

Clean beans in a strainer and cool water.Put in Pressure Cooker.

Cover with 2 knuckles above of water. Yes, your knuckles. When in doubt, it is better to have more water than less (they will burn).

Put the lid on, lock, turn heat on high until weighted top starts to "spin and dance", then turn down to med-high. Cook for approximately 25-30 minutes. Turn off heat.
Don't forget to let the pressure realize by itself. When the pressure lock drops, take off the lid and check the beans. If they are still hard, put them in for an additional 10-15 min. You also may need to add more water.

Loni's Brazilian Beans Recipe:
1/2 beef bouillon cube (Loni uses the Knorr Brand)
1-2 cloves of chopped garlic (optional but, very good)
1 bunch of chopped green onions
1 bunch of chopped cilantro

Directions:
Pour a little vegetable oil (Not Olive) in a skillet over med-high heat. Saute ingredients until they smell good (1-2 min). Ladle 2 or so cups of broth from the beans into the skillet. Let them simmer together for an additional 1-2 minutes. Add salt.

Return broth to the beans that are on med heat. Taste and add salt as needed. For thicker beans, crush beans against side of pan and allow them to simmer for 10 minutes.

These are SOOOO good too! - probably the best beans I've ever had!

Ode to Costco Vegetable Chicken Salad

Most people probably dont' need a recipe for chicken salad, but this was an idea born out of what we had in our fridge that we really have enjoyed since it's been getting warmer here in CA. (Plus it's easy to make and not super expensive :) )

Serves about 6

Ingredients:

1 can cooked chicken (sometimes I cook my own, but Costco's canned chicken makes it easy and doesn't heat up your kitchen...)
1 red pepper
5 stalks of celery
1 cup of artichoke hearts (once again, Costco!!!)
1/2 red onion
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1/2 cup mayonaise
black pepper

Directions:

Chop everything to a small size, mix and serve with Costco's cook it yourself tortillas, multi grain bread, whole wheat crackers, pita bread, English muffins, croissants, or whatever else sounds good. Sometimes we add tomato, cucumber or avacado slices or lettuce to our sandwiches.

I save some of the chopped veggies out for Cole (he loves to eat raw veggies - especailly onions) and he likes chunks of chicken, but is not a big fan of mayo.

If you like a more meaty chicken salad, it's really easy to add more meat. We're really trying to eat more vegetables, so this works out great for us right now.

You can make it ahead of time and keep it in the fridge or even make entire wraps ahead of time for lunches. (Just a note: if you plan on keeping whole wraps in the fridge for very long use less mayo and lemon juice or keep tortillas and salad separateley. Pre-made wraps get soggy after a day or so.)