Oven Baked Basmati Rice

The perfect way to cook rice, especially if you're already using the oven for the rest of the meal.

The rice cooks up perfectly every time, it crisps on the edges and is just phenomenal.  It's also very versatile, you can add veggies, or different flavored bouillon cubes to compliment your main dish.

Oven Baked Basmati Rice

Ingredients:
Olive oil
Basmati Rice
2 tablespoons Knorr Chicken Powder
Water



Preheat oven to 400F degrees.

In a baking dish, drizzle a little olive oil on the bottom.  The amount of rice and water is according to how much rice you want to make.  This is a great way to feed a crowd as you can use a bigger baking pan and a lot of rice.

For my family of four, the oven rice turns out very similar to my Portuguese Chicken and Rice, so I make 2 cups because my husband and kids love this rice and will often have second helpings and leftovers the next day.

So into the baking dish, add in your rice, sprinkle on the Knorr Chicken Powder, then pour in the water.  Remember the ratio is usually double the water to the rice, so in my case, 2 cups of rice and 4 cups of water.

Using a fork, stir well and then place the baking dish in the oven.

Bake for 20 minutes, uncovered.  Remove from the oven, stir, then pop back in the oven for another 10 minutes or until the liquid is all absorbed.  Fluff with a fork, and that's it.

Island Teriyaki Chicken

So tonight's dinner came about purely by accident.   When I got groceries two weeks ago, it was right before Memorial Day and they had a few sales going on, one of which was a huge bag of Chicken Leg Quarters for only $4.  It was a 10 lb bag, so even though it wasn't on my list, I grabbed it.

For dinner tonight, I knew I wanted to make the chicken but I wasn't wanting the usual roast chicken that I make, I wanted something different.

I've also been dealing with some major sinus issues and feeling a bit light headed and achy etc, so I wanted something simple that I could throw together using what I already had on hand.

Something else I had purchased on my last grocery trip, was Teriyaki sauce but from a different brand that I had never tried before.  It is now my absolute favorite and I don't think I'll buy any other kind.  It's the Soy Vay Island Teriyaki.  Truly delicious.

The chicken was extremely easy to prepared, the trick though is to bake it for a long time, about an hour and a half to 2 hours.

But enough talking, let me show you.

Island Teriyaki Chicken

Ingredients:
Chicken Leg Quarters (but you can use whatever chicken you have on hand)
Soy Vay Island Teriyaki Marinade and Sauce


Method:
Clean the chicken and place in a roasting pan.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Pour some of the teriyaki marinade on each piece of chicken and using a basting brush, slather all over making sure to cover well.

Cover with foil and bake in the preheated oven for about an hour.  My chicken leg quarters were huge so they took a while to bake, but if you're cooking smaller pieces just adjust the cooking time accordingly.

About an hour into the baking time, remove the foil, flip the chicken over and using the basting brush, baste the chicken with the juices in the bottom of the pan.

Continue cooking, basting every 20 minutes or so until the juices run clear.

Turn the heat up to 450, and finish off by allowing the skin to crisp and brown.  When done, you can baste with a little more of the juices, move to a serving dish and serve immediately.

{ Cast Iron Buttermilk Biscuits }

 
I woke up this morning craving biscuits and gravy for breakfast.

I have to tell you a funny story first.  I'm sure most of you know that before moving to the United States, I lived in South Africa.  We spoke English but with a British/Afrikaans kind of accent, but for the most part everything derived from England's English, so we used terms like Flat (apartment), biscuits (cookies), jelly (jelly-o), Jam (jelly), boot (trunk), chips (fries) and so on.

When I met my husband, who is American, I found some of the words a bit strange and had a hard time understanding what he was referring to.

The first time he mentioned a Sausage Biscuit for breakfast, I almost puked, because in my mind I picture a sausage flavored cookie LOL  And let's not even mention Biscuits and Gravy, that was even worst.

It took me moving to the States to finally realize that what was referred to as biscuits here, was what we referred to as scones in South Africa.

Long story short, I finally tried the biscuits and gravy and sausage biscuits and fell in love.

Fast forward to today, this morning actually, and I wanted some biscuits and gravy but I wanted a new recipe to try, more specifically one that I could use my cast iron skillet with.  I've been trying to use it more and get it nice and seasoned.

I happened upon this recipe on the Lodge Cast Iron website, gave it a try and it was delicious.  Hope you enjoy it as well :)

Brigg's Buttermilk Biscuits

Source: Lodge Cast Iron

2 cups self-rising flour, plus extra for dusting counter
½ cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, plus an additional 2 tablespoons melted butter
¾ cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons melted shortening


Preheat oven to 450°F. Place a 10.25-inch cast iron skillet into the oven to preheat.
Measure the self-rising flour into a large mixing bowl.

Using the coarse side of a hand grater, quickly grate 1 stick (½ cup) cold hard butter into the self-rising flour. Working quickly, use fingers to gently distribute the shredded butter into the self-rising flour.

Add the buttermilk, then stir until just combined.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface and, using floured fingers, quickly pat to approximately the size of an 8.5x11" sheet of paper, which will be about ½" to ¾" thick. Very lightly dust the surface of the dough with flour from your fingertips, then fold the sheet of dough into thirds, as when folding a business letter. Repeat the patting, dusting, and folding steps seven times, or fewer if you feel the dough begin to tighten–overworked dough makes for a tough biscuit! The final time, pat the dough to a rectangle slightly larger than the size of your skillet. Using a round biscuit cutter or a drinking glass, cut into about 7 round biscuits. Gather up the scraps to form the 8th biscuit by hand.

With a handle mitt, carefully remove the preheated skillet from the oven. Drop melted shortening into the preheated skillet, then return to oven for a couple of minutes, until it is melted. Place each biscuit into the skillet and, using a fork, immediately turn to coat both sides with shortening.

Place the hot skillet into the oven, and reduce the oven temperature to 425°F. Bake until tops of biscuits are golden brown, about 12-18 minutes.

Remove from oven. Brush tops with additional melted butter. Serve while hot!

{ Deep Dish Sausage Pizza }

Here's a great pizza recipe, easy to throw together and the results are magnificent.

I have a family of pizza eaters, teenagers and a husband who would probably be very happy with pizza every day.  I do enjoy it myself but I get a bit tired and bored of the same old pizza delivery or even the same homemade pizza.

Sometimes we need to kick it up a notch.

What I've done in this recipe is combine my own pizza dough with a Taste of Home recipe.  I don't like to brag, but I will say that this was one of the tastiest pizzas we've ever had, thick, soft crust and a delicious flavorful topping.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Deep Dish Sausage Pizza

Adapted from:  Taste of Home

Homemade Pizza dough

4 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
2 medium green peppers, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon each dried oregano, basil and marjoram
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 pound Jones Dairy Farm All Natural Pork Sausage Roll, cooked and drained
1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, well drained
2 ounces sliced pepperoni

Transfer to a well-greased 12-in. heavy ovenproof skillet or round baking pan, letting dough drape over edges. Sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella.
4. In a skillet, saute the green peppers, onion and seasonings in oil until tender; drain. Layer half of the mixture over crust. Layer with half of the Parmesan, sausage and tomatoes. Sprinkle with 2 cups mozzarella. Repeat layers. Fold crust over to form an edge.
5. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with pepperoni and remaining mozzarella. Bake 10-15 minutes longer or until crust is browned. Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing. Yield: 8 slices.

{ Dad's Cajun Dinner }

When I was meal planning for these two weeks, I grabbed one of my Gooseberry Patch Cookbooks.  I've been collecting them for quite a few years, but haven't used them in a while and I really wanted to not only make use of my books but also try new recipes that I knew the whole family would enjoy.

This was one of the recipes that caught my eye.  Dad's Cajun Dinner.

Smoked kielbasa sausage, cajun seasoning, yep, definitely something I would enjoy.

It was a hit, and therefore will be posted to the blog.  I know that some of you wonder if I ever make dishes that don't turn out, or are not liked by the family, and the answer is, oh yes, absolutely.

I don't share them on here because I use this space as my online recipe binder, and I am only interested in keeping recipes that are tried and true and got big thumbs up.  No use in keeping something I know I will never try again.

Right, let's get going, this is a super easy recipe, perfect for a week night.

Dad's Cajun Dinner

Source:  Gooseberry Patch One Pot Meals

1 onion, diced
1 t. garlic, minced
2 T. butter
2 green peppers, diced
5 stalks celery, diced
3 T. Cajun seasoning
14-oz.pkg. Kielbasa, sliced
15-oz. can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
14-1/2 oz. can diced tomatoes
12-oz. can tomato juice
hot pepper sauce to taste
3 c. prepared rice

Saute onion and garlic in butter until onion is crisp-tender.  Add peppers, celery and seasoning;  continue to saute until vegetables are tender.  Add Kielbasa;  saute and additional 3 to 4 minutes.  Add beans, tomatoes and tomato juice;  cook until heated through.  Sprinkle with hot sauce to taste.  Serve over prepared rice.  Makes 6 servings.