Restaurant Style Mexican Rice

 Restaurant Style Mexican Rice

6 T butter or vegetable oil 8 oz tomato sauce

2 cups rice 28 oz chicken broth

1 tsp salt (or part salt and part garlic salt)

Brown rice in butter until golden. Add salt, tomato sauce, and chicken broth and turn heat to medium high. Bring to a boil then reduce to low and cover. Simmer 20-25 minutes. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork. Serves 8.

Chicken and Rice

3 cups diced rotisserie chicken or any other cooked chicken

1 can cream of chicken soup (or any other cream soup)
2 cups cooked rice
½ cup sliced almonds or slivered almonds
½ cup mayonnaise or Greek yogurt
1 cup broccoli (if frozen, thaw and drain) *

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine all ingredients and pour into a greased baking dish.

Top with choice of:

    crushed ritz crackers mixed with a bit of butter

    breadcrumbs and cheddar cheese mix

    crushed cornflakes mixed with a bit of butter

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until casserole is heated through.

* or any other vegetable desired (original recipe calls for ¾ cup chopped celery)

Adapted from this recipe.

Shrimp & Grits

Peel, devein, and pat shrimp (small to medium size) dry; set aside.
Cut bacon into pieces. 

Cut medium onion into thin slices.

Cook bacon in skillet until bacon is crispy. Remove and set aside to drain. 

Cook onion in  skillet until caramelized.

(I turned skillet off and stopped at this point until we were ready to eat)

Add shrimp and cook until done. 

Add juice of one lemon; parsley is optional.

Serve over cheese grits and top with bacon. 

For the two of us (and enough for my lunch the next day), I used a pound of shrimp, 8 slices of bacon, and one small onion.

Stir Fry

pound of chicken, beef or pork
broccoli
green & red bell pepper
onion
fresh mushrooms
shredded cabbage
water chestnuts
Kikkoman Original Teriyaki

Stir fry meat until done; remove and set aside. Stir fry dense vegetables until tender; add other vegetables and stir fry until done. Add meat and Teriyaki; serve over rice.

Wild Rice Salad

Serves 4-6 as a side dish

Ingredients
1 cup wild rice
½ cup dried cranberries
⅓ cup chopped toasted pecans
⅓ cup chopped toasted unsalted cashews
¼ cup finely chopped green onions

2 tablespoons finely chopped celery

Dressing
2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar or red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp ground pepper

Directions
Combine 4 cups of water and 1 teaspoon of salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the rice. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until the rice is tender, about 45 minutes. Drain well and cool.

Drain the rice (if there is water left in the pot) and transfer the rice to a large bowl. While the rice is cooling, mix in the dried cranberries, pecans, cashews, green onion, celery and red onion.

Mix the vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, mustard and sugar in a blender. While the blender is running, gradually pour in the olive oil. Pour the dressing over the rice mixture and toss.

The salad can be made up to 3 days ahead of time and just chilled in fridge.

Mrs. General's Brown Rice

Original recipe below but somehow it never feeds the number of people at my table so I always double it. 

1 stick butter

2 cups rice

1 can beef consommé

1 can French onion soup (or another can of consommé)

2 soup cans water

optional: large can of sliced mushrooms, drained

In skillet, stir rice and butter until rice browns. 

Remove from heat and add consommé and soup; transfer to 9x13 casserole dish.

Stir in 2 cans of water. 

Stir in mushrooms if desired.

Cover and cook at 350 for 55-60 minutes (takes longer when the recipe is doubled). 

Sa's version:

½ stick margarine
1 cup rice
small onion, finely chopped (optional)
1 can beef consommé
1 can water

Melt margarine in skillet. Add rice and brown, stirring frequently. Just before rice browns, add onion and finishing browning. Remove from heat; add consommé and one can of water. Transfer to casserole dish. Cover and cook at 350 for about 45 minutes until moisture is absorbed.

Chanon Collins adopted this recipe as one of her standards, but did give credit where credit is due. Her name for it: Mrs. General’s Brown Rice!

Easy Mexican Rice

1 T butter
1 T oil
1 cup rice
2 cups water
1 T tomato bouillon

Heat butter and oil. Add rice and toast lightly. Add water and tomato bouillon. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and cook for 20 minutes (do not peek). Remove from heat and let rest 5 minutes.

Helen Humphries’ Shrimp Casserole

2 cups cooked rice
1 ½ pound fresh shrimp, cooked and cleaned
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can chopped water chestnuts
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup chopped celery
1 T. parsley
2 tsp. chopped onion
1 14-oz. jar pimientos
1/3 cup mayonnaise 
1/3 cup milk
½ T. Tabasco

Mix all ingredients and transfer to large casserole dish. Top with buttered breadcrumbs and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.