How Sweet Eat's Favorite Baked Cheesy Rice

 This recipe is so easy a tired mom can do it after working all day! Hooray.

We all need easy side dishes for the weekdays. Or weekends. Or any days, because life is well...as complicated as can be nearly all the time, right?

So, measure some rice, rinse it, dump it in a baking dish. Pour on some chicken broth, season with salt and pepper, top with some cheese and butter and foil and throw in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and put it back in the oven for 20-25 minutes and you have a side dish the whole family will love!

I can see this as a repeat recipe in my house. In fact, I am adding jasmine rice to my grocery order as we speak.

I also see many different possibilities for switching up the flavors: different cheeses, different spices, adding veggies, and so on. Don't be afraid to add what you like because you're the one eating it and you know what you like!

I loved how this rice turned out with the different cheesy textures. The cheese around the edge of the baking pan gets all crispy and provides some texture to the dish, while the cheese in the middle is more melty and ooey gooey.

I sincerely recommend this dish if you are trying to find a kid-friendly side dish, or if you're looking for something tasty and quick, or maybe even something for meal prep. This is a new fave for us!

Our Favorite Baked Cheesy Rice

Adapted from How Sweet Eats

by Jessica Merchant

Serves 4-6

1-1/2 cups dry jasmine rice, rinsed

24 ounces chicken stock

salt and pepper

6 ounces sharp white cheddar cheese, freshly grated

4 tablespoons butter, thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 425F. Butter a 9x9 baking dish. 

Rinse the rice in a strainer until the water runs clear. Place the rice in the baking dish. Pour in the stock. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Sprinkle the cheese in and give it a quick stir.

Add the butter slices all over the top of the rice. Cover the dish tightly with foil.

Bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the foil. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes more, until the rice is fluffy and the top is slightly golden. Serve! 

Potluck Week @ IHCC

 

Potato Chip Chicken {Family-Friendly and Gluten-Free}

My son and I have been binge watching the latest season of Locke & Key on Netflix. We have literally been waiting years to catch season 2, thanks to the pandemic. Let me just say, if you have older teens, this does not disappoint. 

I wanted to make something quick, but also something we could watch while binging episodes. Half-Baked Harvest's Potato Chip Chicken fits the bill. It couldn't be any easier, it's kid-friendly, it's delicious, and it's perfect for dipping and dunking while you watch TV.

All you need to do is dip chicken tenders in melted butter, then coat them in a finely crushed combo of cornflakes and potato chips and bake! I love the idea of using various kinds of chips: tortilla chips, BBQ chips, sour cream n' onion chips...you name it! 

We loved these potato chip chicken tenders served with some steamed broccoli and some super cheesy and comforting au gratin potatoes. The potato chips give the chicken a light and flaky crispety-crunchety delicious flavor. They are SO GOOD! This is one of those meals that will go on repeat! 

Potato Chip Chicken

Adapted from Half-Baked Harvest Cookbook

by Tieghan Gerard

Serves 6

1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, melted

2 cups finely crushed potato chips

1 cup finely crushed cornflakes

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken tenders

1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 375F. Put the melted butter in a shallow medium bowl. Put the potato chip and cornflake crumbs in a separate shallow medium bowl and stir to combine.

Working with one piece at a time, dip the chicken in the butter, allowing the excess to drip off, then dredge through the potato chip-cornflake crumbs, pressing gently to adhere. Place the coated chicken on a baking sheet as you work. Season with seasoned salt and pepper.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the crumbs are golden and the chicken is cooked through. Serve warm. 

Pasta with a Creamy Smoked Bacon and Pea Sauce {Recipe Redux}

This recipe, Baby Farfalle with a Creamy Smoked Bacon and Pea Sauce, is a dish I made back in 2011 and it is AN ALL-TIME FAVE! My daughter, who was only 10 at the time, fell in love with this recipe and requests it often.

Over the years, I've made a few changes to this recipe and thought I would document them below for safekeeping. I will confess that my changes DO NOT make this recipe any healthier. In fact, my changes are to add more cream and cheese, but the result is nonetheless an improvement on the original, making the final product a creamy cheesy delight.

This dish is part of my regular rotation for three very simple reasons: it's delicious, it's done in the time it takes to boil pasta, and it's made with pantry ingredients. Everyone should always have the ingredients on hand to make this dish. Pasta, bacon, cream, frozen peas (or even any other green veggie, such as spinach and/or kale) Parmesan and/or Mascarpone.

This dish is highly adaptable. Don't have bacon? Use pancetta or bits of leftover ham. Don't have frozen peas? Use kale or spinach. Don't have the Mascarpone? Use cream cheese. I find that I always have a version of the ingredients on hand to make this dish work.

 
 Now, it's my opinion that the bacon or pancetta is essential here, but I suppose you could go ahead and make a veggie version. If that's the case I'd add a few more green veggies to amp things up a bit.

I'm now on my 11th year of food blogging and this is one of my family's all-time favorite dishes from my blog. I think that probably says it all.

Pasta with a Creamy Smoked Bacon and Pea Sauce

Adapted from Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

by Jamie Oliver

Serves 4-6

8 -10 slices bacon or equivalent in pancetta

salt and black pepper, to taste

1 pound baby farfalle or small pasta

olive oil

pat of butter

2 cups frozen peas

1/4 - 1/2 cup heavy cream

4 ounces (1/2 cup) Mascarpone

4-6 ounces Parmesan cheese

Optional: herbs for garnish: mint, basil, sage, or parsley work well here

Notes: The ingredients in bold are the ones I've changed over the years. Originally the recipe called for 10 slices of bacon. I usually use around 8 slices but have been known to add more or less. The original recipe called for only 2 tablespoons of cream and it simply just wasn't enough to form a sauce so I find that I add anywhere from 1/4 -1/2, depending on the consistency. And finally, the original recipe didn't call for Mascarpone, but one time I had it on hand and wanted to use it up so I tossed it into the sauce and we found that it made the sauce even creamier and silkier.

Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil. Add the mini pasta and cook according to the package instructions. Slice the bacon. Get a large frying pan over medium heat and a good lug of olive oil and the butter (I've found this necessary as bacon is usually nowhere near as fatty as it used to be). Add the bacon to the pan, sprinkling with a little pepper and fry until golden crisp.

 Meanwhile finely chop any herb garnishes. As soon as the bacon is golden, add your frozen peas (and or any other veg) and give the pan a good shake. After a minute or so, add about 1/4 cup heavy cream and the Mascarpone to the bacon and peas. Before draining your pasta, save some of the pasta cooking water, about 1 cup to be sure. 

Now drain your pasta in a colander. Add the pasta to the frying pan. Incorporate the pasta with the sauce, watching as it comes together to see if it needs more cream. Now toss in the Parmesan cheese and stir to incorporate. Be sure to do all this over low heat. It's really important that the sauce is creamy, silky, and delicious but if it's too thick for you, add a splash of the reserved cooking water to thin it out a bit. Place into a large pasta platter and garnish with more cheese and/or herbs, if using. Serve immediately. This is lovely with a simple green salad.

Ravioli with Creamy Tomato Sauce and Cheese and Rosemary Breadsticks

Let's talk tomato sauce.  Sometimes tomato sauce can be somewhat acidic. When my daughter was little she didn't care for that sharp flavor so I would tone down the tomato sauce by adding a little cream.  As a bonus, the cream caused the tomato sauce to turn pink, and since pink was her favorite color it was an all around success.  The addition of cream was such a hit that I rarely make any tomato sauce without adding a splash, or two.  

This recipe for Ravioli with Creamy Tomato Sauce caught my attention because it calls for ricotta cheese to be melted into the tomato sauce.  I was interested in trying this new version of creamy tomato sauce and I must say we did enjoy it.  After all, it's certainly hard to argue with idea of adding any kind of cheese to tomato sauce.  This ravioli was a fast and easy family dinner that was loved by all.  We also loved dunking the cheesy breadsticks into the leftover sauce.  Delicious!

Ravioli with Creamy Tomato Sauce

Recipe found on Food Network

by Giada De Laurentiis

Serves 4-6

 

1/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 pounds spinach ravioli 

 1 cup purchased marinara sauce
1/2 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil leaves

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add about 1/4 cup olive oil to the water to help prevent pasta from sticking. Add the ravioli and cook until al dente, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Drain the ravioli, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water. Toss the ravioli with the remaining oil to coat.

Meanwhile, bring the marinara sauce to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisking often. Whisk in the ricotta and enough reserved cooking water to thin the sauce to desired consistency. For a thicker sauce, use less pasta water; for a thinner sauce, add more water. Return the sauce to a simmer. Season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper.
 

Gently toss the ravioli with the creamy tomato sauce, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and basil, and serve immediately.

 

Cheese and Rosemary Breadsticks

Recipe found on Food Network

by Giada De Laurentiis

Serves 4-6

1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/3 cup grated Gruyere
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 (11-ounce) container refrigerated breadstick dough (recommended: Pillsbury)
Finely ground sea salt, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 heavy large baking sheets with silicone baking sheets or parchment paper. In a food processor, chop the Parmesan, Gruyere and rosemary together until coarsely chopped. Set the cheese mixture aside. Separate the dough strips. Using a pizza cutter or a large sharp knife, cut each dough strip in half lengthwise to form thin strips. Working with dough strip at a time, coat each strip with the cheese mixture, pressing very gently. Twist each cheese covered dough strip and place onto prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle with the salt, if you wish.

Bake until the breadsticks are golden brown, about 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer the warm breadsticks to a basket and serve.

Theme: January Potluck!

A Presidential Visit & Lunch in My Hometown: Elyria, Ohio

Today the President of the United States paid a visit to my hometown Elyria, Ohio. This is big news if you're from a small town, just shy of 60,000 people. In it's heyday, Elyria was a booming and thriving city supported by auto and steel factories. When I was young, it seemed that everyone's Dad worked at Ford, GM or the steel plant. It was just a given. By the time I reached adulthood things had started to change. They were little changes at first, but things quickly got worse. Before you knew it, steel companies closed down, the Big 3 started having layoffs, automotive plants started closing, and businesses and people starting leaving town. Now the unemployment rate is at 10.9%, which is worse than last year.

I've been in Kentucky for about seven years now, but I love to go back home and visit my Dad and my best friends. It makes my heart so happy to cross over into that city line. The people are friendly and genuine and everybody pretty much knows everybody. But, after the excitement wears off, I start to look around and take notice. I take notice of the homes that are vacant, the factories that are boarded up and the businesses that are closed down. I look around and see how much the city has changed, and not for the best. I think about the people I know who are fighting to stay in their homes and having trouble finding jobs and it makes me sick to my stomach. I hate that this is happening in my hometown. I hate that it is happening all over America.

I am glad that Barack Obama chose Elyria as one of the cities on his "White House to Main Street" tour. It seems his visit has lifted the spirits of the city, helping everyone to think positively.

One thing everyone is talking about, is where President Obama had lunch. It seems he dined at Smitty's Place, which is a bar and grill just outside of the downtown area. It's just a neighborhood place where friends meet to indulge in the famous "Smitty burger". Some may even consider it to be a "dive" or a "hole in the wall". Just this past summer, our fifteen year high school reunion was held at Smitty's. Some of us would have preferred somewhere a little nicer, but we sucked it up and enjoyed our reunion outside on the patio at Smitty's. Not one of us would've thought that the President would ever dine at Smitty's, but today he did.
His 24-car motorcade pulled up outside of Smitty's this afternoon and the President dined on his very own Smitty burger, a thin hamburger patty with shredded lettuce, sliced pickles and a dressing somewhat like tartar sauce (delicious). The President's lunch set him back about $4.35. It seems he even bought lunch for some of the regulars.

My phone was ringing off the hook as my girlfriends called to tell me about this. We all laughed and chuckled, remembering just months ago when we stood in the very same spot doing shots with our graduating class.

Here is a picture of me (on the far right) with some friends inside Smitty's this summer.

Here's to my hometown and yours! Let's hope for a brighter tomorrow!

I'm so Happy!!

This is a picture of my youngest child, Jackson. He is two years old and is an extremly happy little guy. In fact, he walks around most of the time saying "I'm so happy". I have this pic set as my wallpaper on my laptop. It reminds me to remember how happy I am throughout the day.

Jackson is allergic to a ton of foods. The most mentionable ones are wheat, eggs, beef, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, red dye, and a host of others. There are not very many treats that he can have so I was very pleased to see a real apple juice slush on the Sonic menu. Well, I don't have to tell you how much he enjoyed his first slush!! I mean could his smile be any bigger? This morning I was looking at this picture and I was wondering.....I bet he smiles even bigger for Mickey Mouse!! I can't wait to see that smile!!

Ice Ice Baby......and then snow, lots of snow

Well, you couldn't go anywhere in Kentucky today, even if you wanted to. Almost everything is closed. Schools, Business, doctor's offices, salons.....even Bob Evans opened up late today. I even saw that one of the malls would be closed. Many cities in Kentucky have been declared a state of emergency. There are over 100,000 people without power, including my mother and father-in-law. The roads are so bad that they can't even make it over to our house. Lot so people are stuck inside their house with no electricity or heat and no way to get out. Last time this happened there were people w/out power for 8 days. We live in a new subdivision and our powerlines are underground so we should be okay.

The trees in my backyard are covered with ice, not snow. We have been listening to the sounds of limbs and trees falling since last night. Now it is snowing......realling snowing. It is coming down like a blizzard. The news says there is only 1/4 mile visilibity. I don't even think there is that. I can't even see the field in my backyard. This kind of weather hardly ever happens here and we just aren't equipped to deal with it. I am hoping that my husband can make it home tomorrow. He has been working in Atlanta for the past two weeks.

Well, the kids are out of school and have been all week. It doesn't look like tomorrow looks good either. I think today we will stay in and make Tyler's Perfect Roast Chicken and maybe even his Brussel Sprouts Salad. Of course, this all depends on how the kids fare after being locked inside for four days......

Good luck to everyone who is dealing with this storm. It is a very bad and widespread storm.....I hope everyone stays safe and warm.