Diane's Orzo and Peas

Our menus have been a bit up in the air lately.  My tutoring schedule has changed daily based on weather conditions and snow, snow and more snow.  But, I always have a list of possibilities ready to prepare at a moments notice.  We have also been living on an austerity budget, so this weeks list includes many "cheap" meals. 

Ditilini Pasta

The dinner for today is already in the rice cooker.  It is a modified version of ditilini and peas.  Ditilini and peas is an Italian quick meal.  It features a buttery sauce of garlic and herbs poured over freshly made ditilini shaped pasta and peas. The peas should be small enough to hide inside the ditilini.  And it should be served covered in freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. 

Orzo Pasta

My mother used to make the dish with small shell pasta.  The peas could hide in there too!  Her plan was always to make it when we had leftover peas.  Now since I love peas, there were rarely any leftover, so I would put a cup, or so, aside ahead of the meal to ensure we would have this comfort food favorite the next day.

Today, I am making this dish with orzo pasta.  Orzo pasta looks like large rice.  It maintains its "al dente " texture even as it cools and is great for cold salads and warm recipes as well. 

Anyhow, here is my method:

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the bottom of a rice cooker turned on the white rice setting.

Add:
1 6 cloves of garlic, sliced 
1 jalapeno pepper (or 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes)
1 large onion, diced the size of orzo

Stir as the  aromatics soften and begin to smell luscious.  Add 1 package of onion soup mix.  You know the kind; it's used for dips.  Stir around and add 4 cups of water. 

Stir in 1 pound of orzo pasta.  Close the rice cooker and let cook.  After 10 minutes, open the cooker and stir to keep the pasta from becoming cemented to the bottom of the cooker.  I use the rice cooker paddle to stir pasta.  If your rice cooker tends to cook hotter than mine, you might have to add 1 cup more water.

When the rice cooker beeps and is done, add 2 cups frozen peas or a combination of frozen green veggies.  Broccoli, kale, or spinach all work well.  Also add 1 full stick of butter sliced into slabs that will melt fairly quickly. 

Stir all around and close the rice cooker.  Wait about 5-8 minutes to allow the veggies to defrost and the butter to melt.  Serve in bowls with lots of grated cheese.

Amish Chicken

Amish Chicken is a recipe that I found on Pinterest.  I fell for it because of what it looked like.  After all that is what Pinterest is for!
I made this recipe using exactly the ingredients that were written in the recipe. It was a bit bland for us. I added quite a bit of freshly cracked black pepper and it was AWESOME!! I will make it again using different spices/flavors. I like the technique of roasting/braising it in heavy cream, which is something I had never thought to try before.

 

In the mood for German food this week?

I happen to love sour kraut.  As a matter of fact, I have never met a sour cabbage dish that I didn't like.  But, I know that I am in the minority.  In my slow cooker today is a meal to make even the most devout sour kraut hater change their mind. 

First I cook up 1/4 pound of maple cured bacon.  I dice the bacon before I cook it to make it cook faster and I cook it to a few seconds shy of crispy.  Remove bacon from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.  In the bacon fat, saute a large onion that has been sliced very thin until it is translucent.  Mix the onion with 3 cups of drained sour kraut.  Add a tablespoon of spicy whole grain mustard and 3 granny smith apples that have been diced and add the bacon back into the mixture.  Pour into the bottom a slow cooker.  Lay 1 1/2 pounds of kielbasa on top of the mixture and cook on low for 6 hours.

Chicken and Dumplings

My husband and I have been sick and I haven't been cooking much.  I got a delivery of groceries today and felt like some comfort food.  I did some experimenting and came up with an easy and VERY flavorful chicken and dumplings in the rice cooker.

Ingredients:

1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large jalapeno, diced (or 2 medium sized)
1 onion, sliced thinly
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 stalks of celery, thinly sliced including the leaves
1 32 ounce carton chicken broth (I used 99% fat free and 50% less sodium)
1 16 ounce bag frozen gnocchi
8 ounces petite frozen peas
2 cups fresh baby carrots
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger


This can be cooked completely right in the rice cooker.  Or, you can cook it in a dutch oven type pot.

Brown the chicken in the oil.  Add the jalapeno, onion and celery and cook until the vegetables have softened.  Add all the remaining ingredients.  Bring to a slow boil then lower and simmer until chicken is cooked and carrots are tender.

Serve in bowls and make sure to use a spoon to get all the warm thickened broth.