Baked Brown Rice

February 26, 2014 Sonte Leave a comment

We don’t eat a lot of rice around here and it used to be that we always had Jasmine or Basmati rice but have recently switched to brown rice. Admittedly I used to be one of the worst rice cookers in the world; it was either burned onto the bottom of the pot…the cure for which is to pop popcorn in said pot and it miraculously comes clean…or it was undercooked and swimming in icky water. And yes, I had read the instructions on the packages of purchased rice but it refused to cook up nicely for me!

Then one day I just decided that I simply HAD to learn how to cook the stuff. I did a search on cooking rice, read cookbooks and then headed to the kitchen armed with my newfound knowledge. Determined to cook a perfect pot of rice, I measured the rice, measured the water and dumped out a 1/4cup, put the pot on high heat, brought it a boil, added a teaspoon or so of butter, some salt and pepper, put a lid on it…slightly ajar, reduced heat to a simmer, waited for the boil to settle to a simmer, put lid on tightly and walked away for 17 minutes. Voila, a perfect pot of rice!

What has this got to do with Baked Brown Rice? Well, once I started cooking brown rice I ran into all my old problems! Bah! Brown Rice! Why does it have to be better for you than white rice? Sigh. One weekend I had all the grandsons and two extra dogs underfoot and I needed to put a meal together that would cook itself, so to speak. Absolutely no time to babysit a cantankerous pot of rice! I happened to be making baked chicken and then it struck me, my grandmother used to bake rice all the time! I googled baking brown rice which lead me to How to Make Perfect Baked Brown Rice at In the Kitchen with KP; easy to follow directions and an hour later I was serving up Perfect Oven Baked Brown Rice!

(Picture to follow…I was so busy with grandsons and dogs that I didn’t have the time or inclination to take any photos!)

1 1/2 cups Short Grain Brown Rice
2 1/2 cups Water
1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
2 teaspoons Garlic Powder
1 Mc Cormick’s Vegetable Stock Cube

Lightly butter an 8 inch Square baking dish or the equivalent ( 1.4 – 1.9l )
Preheat oven to 375F. – if baking dish is pyrex, lower temperature to 350F.

Boil water in kettle, measure into large measuring cup; add vegetable stock cube and extra virgin olive oil, stirring well to dissolved vegetable stock cube.
Add salt and garlic powder; stir.
Pour seasoned water into prepared baking dish.
Add rice, stir to combine.
Cover tightly with foil.
Bake on the middle rack of oven for 60 minutes.
Remove from oven, uncover and fluff rice with fork; serve immediately.

Serves: 4 – 6

Cakes, Desserts, Vegetarian

Egg Free Carrot Cake

February 24, 2014 Sonte Leave a comment

I had the grandsons over for the weekend and well, there is a sign in my kitchen that says ” A Grandmother Never Runs Out of Hugs or Cookies” and I had made a deal with the boys that if Granny’s TARDIS cookie jar was ever empty, I owed them $5! On the morning of their arrival I whipped up a batch of Welsh Cakes which quickly filled the TARDIS but they just as quickly demolished them!
Now normally I don’t have a problem keeping cookies in the TARDIS but seems Mother Hubbard’s cupboards were pretty low on this particular weekend …therefore no eggs to bake with. ( I subbed in Egg Replacer in the Welsh Cakes)

I did have a bunch of carrots that needed using up so I googled Egg Free Carrot Cake which resulted in this Ingredients Only list over at TheAnswerIsCake. When I tried to follow the link to the full recipe I came upon a broken link…hate broken links! S’all good, I know how to bake a cake…

Everyone loved the Carrot Cake! I don’t think anyone even noticed the lack of eggs and no one complained that it was not sporting the regular Cream Cheese Frosting they all expect on Carrot Cake; I didn’t think an Egg Free Carrot Cake should be “contaminated” with a dairy product topping so I just gave it a light dusting of icing sugar. Yum!

https://www.facebook.com/aysontespli.ca — Egg Free Carrot Cake

1/2 cup Margarine
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
3/4 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 cup Grated Carrots
1 1/4 cups Flour
1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 cup Almond or Soy Milk
1 cup chopped Nuts, Pecans or Walnuts
2/3 cup Coconut

Preheat oven to 350F.
Lightly spray a 9Inch Square baking dish with vegetable oil spray; coat lightly with flour, tapping out excess flour.

In a small mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; set aside.
In mixing bowl cream together margarine, brown sugar, sugar and vanilla; beat for a minute.
Stir in grated carrots.
Stir in half the dry ingredients followed by the almond milk.
Add remaining dry ingredients, stir, increase speed to beat for another minute.
Fold in chopped nuts and coconut.
Turn batter out into prepared pan and bake in 350F. oven for 25 – 30 minutes or until pick inserted comes out clean.
Place on wire rack and cool for 10 minutes before turning out of pan to cool completely on wire rack.

Dust lightly with icing sugar and serve.

Yield: 16 Servings

Atkins Diet Meals, Poultry

Low Carb Chicken

February 24, 2014 Sonte Leave a comment

I make these using either chicken drumsticks or chicken wing drumettes. They are super easy to make and are always well received.

1/2 cup Olive Oil
1/2 cup Soy Sauce
1/2 cup SPLENDA Granular or Sugar Substitute of your choice
2 Tablespoon Ginger, grated
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon Hot Chili Flakes
3 lbs Chicken Drumettes or Drumsticks

In large Ziploc Freezer Bag or Tupperware Season-Serve combine olive oil, soy sauce, SPLENDA, ginger, garlic and hot chili flakes.
Add chicken and marinate chicken overnight or for at least 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 350F.
Line 2 baking trays with foil and lightly spray with vegetable oil.

Place marinated chicken prepared baking trays.
Brush with marinade; return marinade to refrigerator.
Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes.
Baste chicken again with remaining marinade.
Bake for another 20 minutes.
Place under Broiler for a few minutes, if necessary; watch carefully!

Serve with Steamed Vegetables and a Garden Salad if watching Carb intake.
If not watching carbs, serve with Steamed Brown Rice.

Yield: 10 Servings

1 Serving = 407.1 Calories, 25.3 g Protein, 32.6 g Fat, 1.9 g Carbs

Low Carb Baking

Protein Energy Bites

February 24, 2014 Sonte Leave a comment

You can never have too many recipes for Protein Bites! What you have in your pantry at any given moment will determine which Protein Bite recipe you will make, right?
The other night, my husband asked if I had any chocolate in the house and rather than handing him a little bowl of chocolate chips, I whipped up a batch of these. Infinitely better for you than that little bowl of choc chips!

http://aysontespli.ca — Protein Energy Bites

1 cup Rolled Oats
1/2 cup Peanut Butter
2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil
1/2 cup Chocolate Chips – mini ones are best but use what you have
1/4 cup Honey
1/4 cup Chia Seeds
1/4 cup Dates, chopped
1/4 cup dried Cranberries
1/4 cup Pecans, chopped
2 Tablespoons Protein Powder
Pinch of Cinnamon

Sesame Seeds or Fine Desiccated Coconut

In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except sesame seeds until everything is evenly distributed.
Roll into about 24 balls – I use a #2 Pampered Chef scoop for uniform size
Roll some or all in sesame seeds or coconut.
Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to set.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Variation:

www.aysontespli.ca — Protein Energy Bites rolled into a log for slicing instead of rolling into balls.

Roll the mixture into a log.
Wrap in parchment paper and refrigerate overnight or for at least 4 hours. ( I slide my wrapped dough into an empty paper towel roll that I slit open for ease of transferring to refrigerator and it helps the dough retain its cylindrical shape)
Slice into 1/4inch slices
Store in airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

Protein Energy "Cookies" - not so messy on the hands! — Protein Energy “Cookies” – not so messy on the hands!

Yield: 3 Dozen

Coffee Cakes, Quick Breads

Cinnamon Roll Bread

February 23, 2014 Sonte Leave a comment

All too often I find myself craving Cinnamon Rolls. I have a few problems with that: all the kids are grown and gone so I would have to eat the entire batch on my own, they are sinfully good therefore I would find it impossible to eat just one in a single sitting, and finally, the cream cheese frosting is far too good to be true.

I am always looking for ways to incorporate that yummy Cinnamon Roll taste in a smaller, simpler recipe. I was delighted when this Cinnamon Roll Bread recipe from CenterCutCook came through my Facebook Feed over at Ay Sontespli’s Kitchen! If you love Cinnamon Rolls as much as I do I hope you will be as pleased with this quick bread recipe as I was!

cinnamon roll bread — Cinnamon Roll Bread

2 cups Flour
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 cup Sugar
1 Egg, room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup Milk ( I often use Almond Milk)
2 teaspoons Vanilla
1/3 cup Greek Yogurt or Sour Cream

Swirl Ingredients
1/3 cup Sugar
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
2 Tablespoons Water

Glaze Ingredients
1/2 cup Icing Sugar
1 Tablespoon Milk

Preheat oven to 350F.
Lightly spray a 9X5 inch Loaf Pan with vegetable oil spray.

In a small bowl combine Swirl Ingredients together: sugar, cinnamon and water; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar; make a well in the centre.
In a small mixing bowl or a large pyrex measuring cup combine egg, milk, vanilla and yogurt or sour cream.
Add dry ingredients all at once into the well in the centre of the dry ingredients.
Stir just to combine.
Spoon half of the bread batter into the prepared loaf pan.
Spoon half of the swirl mixture over the batter.
Carefully spoon remaining bread batter over both, spreading it evenly over the swirl mixture.
Top with remaining swirl mixture, then use a knife to make swirl designs to incorporate the cinnamon swirl into the bread batter.
Bake in preheated oven for 45 – 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.
Remove bread from oven and place on wire rack to cool.
Run small metal spatula around the edges of the cinnamon bread to loosen from pan; turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.
While bread is cooling, make the Glaze:
Combine icing sugar with scant Tablespoon of milk, adding a little more to achieve desired consistency.
When bread has cooled completely, drizzle glaze over the bread, allow to harden slightly before slicing to serve.
Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Yield: 8 to 10 Slices.

Aysontespli's Kitchen

Baked Brown Rice

Egg Free Carrot Cake

Low Carb Chicken

Protein Energy Bites

Cinnamon Roll Bread

Welcome to my Kitchen where the most important ingredient is Love.