Sweet & Savory Rice

This sweet and savory rice dish is perfect for serving as a side dish at Thanksgiving, even if you are serving stuffing. It's a delicious gluten free, vegetarian alternative. Serves 8-10

 Ingredients

2 Cups Brown Rice, long grain
3 Tablespoons, Vegetarian "Better Than Bouillon"
4-1/2 cups Water to cook rice
1 cup Onion, chopped
1/2 cup Green Onion, chopped
1 cup Butter, or substitute
1/2-1 cup White Wine
1 cup Dark Raisins
1 cup Golden Raisins
6 tablespoons, Slivered Almonds or Pine Nuts, toasted
1 teaspoon Salt
1/8-1/4 teaspoon  Cayenne Pepper

Directions

Let the raisins soak in the wine, while you are preparing the rice and other ingredients for cooking.

Steam the brown rice in the vegetable bouillon until done. I use a rice steamer, but stove-top method is fine too.

 

In a deep skillet, saute both onions in the butter until soft. Stir in the wine-soaked raisins with all the liquid, toasted almonds, salt, cayenne pepper and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat. Add the parsley.

 When the rice and raisin mixture is ready, combine and serve warm, or cool to room temperature, refrigerate and reheat to serve as desired. This is a moist rice, so if you want it dryer, use less water to cook the rice of add less wine to the mixture.

Enjoy! And Happy Thanksgiving!

Orange Millet Pilaf

My friend, Larry Fried, the owner of Natural Choice Directory, has shared his recipe for Orange Millet Pilaf. He's made it for years and is one of his favorite dishes to take to a potluck. I made it the other night for my family, including my five and three year old grandchildren. They gobbled it up, saying "I love it, Nana!" I bet you will too.

For those of you making the transition to more of a plant-based diet, I encourage you to read Larry's article "For My Heart: A Personal Perspective on Eating a Plant-Based Diet."

 

Ingredients: 

1 cup Millet (rinse)
4 medium Oranges
1/2 cup Cashews
1/2 Raisins
zest of 1 Orange (above)
1 tablespoon of Agave Nectar or to taste
Water (see below)

Directions:

• Juice 3 oranges
• Add water to the juice for a total 2 1/4 cups total liquid
• Put millet in saucepan with liquid
• Cover pan
• Bring to boil, then turn down to simmer, and cook until liquid is gone (about 20-25 minutes). DO NOT STIR
• Turn off, let sit for about 5 minutes, then fluff lightly with a fork

While the millet is cooking, combine:

• The zest of final Orange
• The juice of that Orange
• Cashews
• Raisins
• Agave

After fluffing millet, add the above mixture, stir in with the fork, and serve.

Pilaf can be eaten hot (best) or cold.

[Note: Before I cooked the millet, I dry-toasted the grain for 4 minutes or until slightly golden, on medium heat, for a nuttier flavor. Be very careful not to burn.]

For information about millet and it's many benefits. click here.

Curried-Tempeh Salad

Wow. This is way better than chicken salad! Thank you for sharing you recipe with us, Ef!

The main entree of our tailgate lunch, in the parking lot at the Portland International Raceway between our kid's cyclocross races, was our daughter's gluten-free, faux chicken curry salad, made with tempeh, served with her gluten-free sandwich bread made with buckwheat. If I am successful with her bread recipe, I will share it on this blog too.

Ingredients:

2 packages (8-ounce each) of Tempeh, diced into 1/4" cubes

1 Apple, cored and diced (peeling optional)

3 Celery stalks, chopped

1/4 cup chopped Nuts (walnuts or pecans)

2 tablespoons Raisins

2 teaspoons Curry Powder

1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt

1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper (optional)

1/4 teaspoon ground Cayenne Pepper

1 cup Mayonnaise (eggless, if vegan)

Directions:

1. Steam the tempeh for 10 minutes. If you don't have a steamer, add 2 to 3 inches of water to a saucepan and place tempeh in a steamer basket. Let cool.
2. Once cooled, in a large bowl, combine the tempeh with the apple, celery, nuts, raisins, seasonings and mayonnaise. Add more or less pepper and mayonnaise to your taste and level of moistness you prefer.
3. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serves 8

Here's a recap by my daughter of her conversation her four year old daughter, my granddaughter, on their drive home from their cyclocross race: 

"Leify (22-month old brother), please stop making all that noise! It's not polite to make all that noise when I'm trying to have a conversation with Mama." She told me in intricate detail of her plans for opening a restaurant called "A Big Kitchen For All of Us" - it will host two large kitchens, a party room, offer world foods, the parking lot will be on the left - and I will be supplying lights for the lot, restaurant decorations, roses for the tables and a calendar for the kitchen so that she knows what day it is. And her menu sounds amazing! She's so creative she won't even have to go to cooking school! Thankfully we've been invited to dine at her restaurant every night! I can't wait for her to wow me every night, cause she certainly does evety day!!!

Some of the delectables Seph plans to serve are Crispy Crunchy Carrots and Purple Marshmallow Stew.

Moroccan Sweet Potato & Raisin Salad

I love this salad - a flavorful, ethnic side dish to complement your Thanksgiving Dinner!

 

Ingredients:

1 lb. Sweet Potatoes
5 oz. Raisins soaked in water
1 Tbsp. of Honey
Pinch each of Saffron, Turmeric Powder,
1/4 tsp. each of Salt and Pepper
1/2 tsp. of Cinnamon
Note: Adjust seasonings to taste as you are cooking.
Water, about a pint
2-3 Tbps. of Olive Oil

Directions:

1. Peel the Sweet Potatoes, and cut into 1" cubes.
2. Cook on medium heat; put the Olive Oil in the pan.
3. Add the Sweet Potatoes and along with all the Spices.
4. Cover with Water, and cover the pan; cook for 20 minutes - making sure there is always enough water in the pan.
5. Drain the Raisins from their Water and add to the Sweet Potatoes.
6. Add the Honey and stir, adding a little bit more of Water.
7. Taste the Sauce in the pan and see if it need any adjustment to the flavor.
8. Cover the pan, and let it cook for 10 minutes more to carmelized the sauce.
9. To make sure the Sweet Potatoes are ready, poke them with a fork - they should be soft.
10. This Moroccan salad can be served either hot or cold.

Note: I learned to make this dish from Alia.