Spanish Rice (or is it Mexican Rice? I have no idea.)

Yesterday I made my version of Spanish rice. I took a recipe from thepioneerwoman.com and made it my own. Why? Well, first of all, I like to, and second, I didn't have all of the stuff that I needed to make the real recipe, but what I ended up with was excellent. So, here it is:

Spanish Rice

1/2 cups white rice
3 cups chicken broth
1 or 2 tomatoes, diced
1 onion diced (I used onion flakes, because I didn't have an onion)
diced garlic (I used dried)
1/2 package taco seasoning mix (I was too lazy to get out all of the other spices and make my own)
canned veggies (normally I would just use black beans and leave it at that, but I didn't have any, so I used kidney beans and corn. I drained the corn and drained and rinsed the kidney beans.)

1. Use the chicken broth to cook the rice in. (I'm not going to go into much more detail, just cook the rice)
2. In a pan cook the tomato, onion, and garlic (If you are super lazy, buy the canned tomatoes with garlic and onion. They will work just fine.)
3. Add the taco seasonings to the tomatoes and let the mixture cook down.
4. Mix veggies into tomato mixture to heat up.
5. Mix rice and veggie mixture together (I usually mix it all up in a big bowl)
6. enjoy!

I'm sure this recipe is not very clear, but if you can figure it out, it is super good. It is one way I can get Jason to eat beans. He doesn't seem to mind if they are mixed in things. You can find the original recipe that I adapted here. If I haven't posted it before, the Mexican lasagna in this recipe is also awesome. You definitely have to half the recipe, because it makes a ton.

Strawberry Ice Cream

So today was Memorial Day and we had a picnic with our Journey group from church. I made ice cream. I love homemade ice cream. It is like the best stuff ever. Since I was at my parents this morning without my usual ice cream recipe, my mom found one for me in her Southern Living cookbook. If it is by Southern Living, you can be sure it will be good. This ice cream started with making a custard. I was a little wary of this, because it contained eggs, but it all turned out okay. One recommendation that I have though is that while making the custard, after putting in the sugar mixture, stir constantly. I burned mine some by not doing this. Here is the recipe:

Strawberry Ice Cream

2 c sugar divided

1/4 c all purpose flour

dash of salt

3 c milk

4 lrg eggs, lightly beaten

3 c pureed fresh strawberries

3 c whipping cream

1 TBS vanilla extract

2 tsp almond extract

- combine 1 1/2 c sugar, flour, and salt; set aside

- heat milk in top of double boiler until hot; add a small amount of milk to sugar mixture, stirring to make a smoth paste. Stir sugar mixture into remaining milk; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until slightly thinckened. Cover and cook 10 minutes, stirring often.

- stir about 1/4 of hot mixture into beaten eggs; add remainging hot mixture. Cook one minute stirring constantly, Cool.

- combine strawberries, remaining 1/2 c sugar, whipping cream, and flavorings; stir into custard

- pour into freezer container of a 1 gallon ice cream freezer. Freeze according to manufacturers instructions. Mixture does not need ripening.
Yield 3 quarts.


Enjoy some this summer!

I am going to hide under a rock for the next year or so.

That is all.

Kraft Budget Wise dinner

I finally got around to going grocery shopping and getting the stuff I needed for the 1 bag 5 dinners thing at Kraft. You can find it here. I did one of the chicken and beef bags. Since I am home alone tonight, I got to choose what I wanted to make and of course I did not start with Monday's meal. I didn't even do Thursday's because today is Thursday. I made Tuesday's meal of chicken fajitas. Before I talk about that though, I wanted to mention the grocery trip. I had a very short list, and if I hadn't had to buy anything else, my groceries probably would have fit into one bag. I was really proud of myself for this trip, because I had about $50 to spend and I spent $50.02. I saved over $12 with coupons and my Kroger Plus card. All in all it was a good trip.

Now to the chicken fajitas. The recipe called for stir fry veggies. I grabbed a bag from the produce section and I really think that what I had would be better for Asian stir-fry, but I don't like peppers and onions, so it worked for me. As I was cooking, I thought it smelled and looked more like an Aisan meal than a Mexican meal. I still liked it though. I put cheese and sour cream on my tortillas with the chicken and veggies. All in all, it was a decent meal for me. I have no idea what Jason will think about it.

Now I am off to either clean the kitchen or work on my portfolio. Neither one of these options sounds really good to me right now.

One Semester Left!

I finally finished my spring semester at Berry. I thought it would never end. It was definitely one of the most difficult semesters of my life, personally and scholastically. I took two classes this semester. One of them was difficult in that I had to find time to test a single student multiple times. The other one was difficult in that the professor was unclear in grading and assignments. She also didn't really teach all semester. We have had presentations every week since February. Needless to say, I consider the class a waste of time and money, especially frustrating since I have been paying for my classes.

Anyway, it is all over. I will have my master's finished in July. I am so excited to be finished. I am ready to move on. This summer will be tough, but I think it will be worth it in the end.

Today we are going to ride the motorcycle to visit Jason's mom for mother's day. Jason hasn't really been able to ride for a week or so because of the non-stop rain we have been getting. He has been working on his bike though. He likes a project. :)

Sunday we are going to my parents'. The guys are all making dinner. It should be pretty good. I am looking forward to seeing my family. I haven't seen them since before Easter. They just live too far away.

Now I am off to eat some leftovers for lunch. Yum!

A Slight Complaint

So, lately I have been getting doctor and hospital bills for all of the lovely stuff that has gone on in the last month or so. It seems like every day that I get a bill I also get a catalog, magazine, or some other baby related mail. It is like some cruel joke someone is playing on me. I have no idea how I got signed up to receive all this stuff, but my goodness does it mess with my head. I have been doing so well in the moving on department that it is not really nice for companies to send me cute baby stuff, especially when I have to get bills that remind me on the same day. My plan is to just keep giving this stuff away. It has good coupons on it and all. I can't use them, because I do not need to set up a baby registry or buy strollers or clothes or furniture. I wish I could just call one number, tell them what happened, and move on! I will never forget my first little one, but the constant reminders of how far along I should be and what I should be doing are not good.

That is all. Sorry for sharing the frustration.

A Pretty Good New Find

I found something yesterday that I think we will be trying in the next few weeks. Kraft has posted 1 Bag, 5 Dinners recipes and shopping lists. You can find them here. I have a hard time planning ahead, especially with both of us in school two nights a week. The other nights, I just don't really feel like making anything amazing and the one night that Jason is in class when I am not, I don't want to go to all the trouble of cooking for myself. Maybe I'm just lazy, I don't know. Anyway, I can follow these basic recipes and buy basic ingredients and have five meals. I did notice that they did not include sides, the shopping list was for only main dishes, so if you are anything like me and do not have a lot of extra stuff just sitting around, you will want to include on your list sides to go along with the main dishes. I will probably have to edit some of the recipes/menus, because there are just something we don't like. I will try to remember to report back and tell you how that goes.