cooking beets

Perfect Stovetop Brown Rice ♥ New Recipe for Cooking Brown Rice

Today's recipe: A new technique for cooking brown rice, yielding moist and flavorful grains of rice. No more gummy brown rice!

Who's noticed? If you follow the directions on a bag or box of brown rice, it turns out tough and gummy and unappetizing. It's no wonder that people turn to rice cookers for help -- or worse, douse brown rice with butter; or worse still, stick with the far less healthful white rice whose nutrients have been stripped away.

For winter, there's the oh-so-popular Oven-Baked Brown Rice that's just oh-so-perfect, yielding almost-nutty bites of moist, flavorful rice. Frankly, it's my favorite way to cook brown rice. But here it is, summer, and turning on the oven for an hour while the air conditioning runs seems to defeat the purpose. So I was intrigued to see Saveuer's new technique for cooking rice on the stovetop. It's dead simple and takes only an hour to get to the table, 15 minutes faster than the Oven-Baked Brown Rice.

Another good thing about this technique for cooking brown rice? It stays moist! So I don't hesitate to make a batch in the morning, then reheat for supper.

Three tricks for cooking brown rice:

Rinsing the rice, removing a dusty layer of starch.

Lots of water, keeping the rice grains fat and moist.

Finishing off heat, removing excess moisture.

PERFECT STOVETOP BROWN RICE

Hands-on time: 5 minutes
Time to table: 45 minutes (see ALANNA's TIPS)
Makes 3 cups cooked rice

12 cups water
1 cup brown rice, rinsed under cold water for 30 seconds
Kosher salt to taste

Bring the water to boil in a large covered pot (see TIPS). Add the rice, stir once to distribute, then cook uncovered for 30 minutes, adjusting the heat to maintain a fast simmer. Pour the rice through a strainer, then return to the hot pot and add salt to taste. Off heat, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Serve and savor!

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
(How many calories in brown rice? How many Weight Watchers points in brown rice?) Per Half Cup: 114 Calories; 1g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 1mg Sodium; 24g Carb; 1g Fiber; 0g Sugar; 2g Protein; Weight Watchers 2 points

TODAY'S INSPIRATION
Adapted from Saveur, currently my favorite food magazine because it features 'whole' food and authentic recipes from around the world.

ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES

It seems to take forever to bring a pot of water to boil on my stove. It helps to cover the pot. But often I put the pot on the stove with say, 4 cups of water and set it on HIGH. Then I add the remaining 8 cups of water from one of my favorite kitchen gadgets, an electric kettle. This same trick works for pasta water, too.

This recipe works for plain brown rice, any one you'll find. I'm a particular fan of the rice from Lundberg which I find at Whole Foods. The rice that's pictured is a blend of sweet brown rice, short grain brown rice, long grain brown rice, whole grain Wehani rice, whole grain Japonica rice. If you like the idea of blends, check out Oven-Baked Brown Rice where I substitute wild rice (and since then, other rices and grains) for some of the brown rice. I love the color variation.

A Veggie Venture - Printer Friendly Recipe Graphic

MORE RICE RECIPES
~ Tomato & Rice Salad ~
~ Eight-Ball Stuffed Zucchini ~
~ Julia Child's Yellow Squash Soup ~
(thickened with cooked rice)

~ more recipes with rice ~
~ more Weight Watchers recipes ~

Looking for healthy ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous Alphabet of Vegetables. Healthy eaters will love the low carb recipes and the Weight Watchers recipes.
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Blueberry Pie

This pie rocks! It was the best blueberry pie I've ever had! I'm super proud to have made it!

That's pretty impressive since I almost never have the opportunity to make a pie. It's been years since I've made a pie, and I've never made a blueberry one. So I'm patting myself on the back and saying "good girl, Meryl."

Why, do you ask, do I never get to make pies? To begin, it's just Joe and I (and the dogs), and we struggle with weight issues. So the last thing we need around here is an entire pie sitting on the counter top. And during all the holidays when people make pies, all the pies are spoken for by other members of the family. The one or two times that I tried to add to the repertoire of pies, my pies were practically untouched, so I gave up. Perhaps I lost my pie-baking confidence as well. So, I just don't make them.

I bought this Longaberger pie plate from my friend Karen about 4 years ago, and up until last Sunday, I hadn't used it yet:

But last Sunday we were invited to a friend's for brunch. She was going to make a peach pie for dessert, and that was very nice of her! But knowing that Joe wouldn't have touched it with a 10-foot pole, I offered to make a blueberry pie (blueberry is Joe's favorite pie).

She accepted, and I thought to myself that I had gotten into a conundrum. I would have to live up to Joe's idea of a blueberry pie, and that idea was his mom's blueberry pie. Oy vey! That's a lot to live up to.

I found a well-liked recipe for a pie on Epicurious.com. Well, the filling was well-liked and the crust was not. Many of the reviewers only suggested to double the cornstarch, so I did. I accidentally omitted the butter when I made my pie, but it wasn't missed.

The crust I used came from my friend Karen. I've posted her recipe as well.

If you are looking for a great blueberry pie, look no further! This is the one.

Blueberry Pie
Filling inspired by a Gourmet Magazine recipe

6 cups blueberries, picked over
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons half-and-half or milk (optional - to top the crust)
turbinado sugar or large-grain cane sugar (to top the crust)

Karen's No-Fail Flaky Pie Crust

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

In a large bowl toss together the blueberries, the cornstarch, sugar, lemon juice, nutmeg, and the salt. It might be easiest to use your hands so you don't crush all the blueberries. Mound the filling in the shell.

If you use the butter, place little pieces of it around on the top.

Place the top crust over it and crimp the edges.

Be sure to use a knife and make air vents in the top crust. I made a smiley face with some outer slashes like short rays of sunshine. Next time I do it, I will remove slivers in the smiley face.

Bake the pie in the bottom third of the oven at 425 for the first 20 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 375 (leaving the pie where it is) and bake for another 25-35 minutes. I baked mine 30 minutes and wish I had taken it out a few minutes sooner. But it was acceptable nonetheless.

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Karen's No-Fail Flaky Pie Crust

I'm not accustomed to making pies, so when I needed to make one and I found myself visiting my friend Karen, I asked her if she had a no-fail, flaky pie crust recipe. I had a feeling she did, and I was right!

I thank you Karen for this wonderful crust recipe. It was perfect! So easy and simple, that even a pie buffoon like myself could use it and impress her friends.

Karen doesn't even roll out this pie crust. She puts it in the pie pan and spreads it out to fit it with her hands. But in the few times I've made crusts in my life, I've had problems, so I put the chilled dough between sheets of wax paper and rolled them out. It worked like a charm. I only wish I had a little more on the bottom crust. It didn't look too thick, but maybe I could have rolled it out a bit more to have more to play with on the outer edge.

Karen's No-Fail, Flaky Pie Crust
makes a double crust for a 9" pie

2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt (I used more like 2/3)
1 egg
1 tablespoon vinegar
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup shortening

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Cut in the shortening. I used this tool pictured.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg, vinegar, and water.

Mix in the dry ingredients.

Use your hands to form it all into a ball.

Split the ball in two. One ball should be larger for the bottom crust.

Wrap them in plastic wrap and chill for at least two hours.

When it is time to make the pie, roll out the dough balls between sheets of wax paper.

I learned a little trick to get the dough from the counter to the pie pan when I was watching Sara Moulton the Food Network a long time ago. Fold the dough over in half once, and then again in the other direction. Then place it in the pie pan and unfold. It's much easier than trying to lift the thin sheet of dough.

Karen freezes hers sometimes so she has it ready-made for later.

I used this crust to make my Blueberry Pie.

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Costa Rican Beet Salad

I love beets. I cannot say the same for my husband, but I can say the same for my friends, Phyllis, Jennifer, and Scott. So I took advantage of spending time with them on Sunday to make some beets.

This Costa Rican Beet Salad is the best I can do to re-live a fond food memory. I studied at the University of Costa Rica in San José for a semester and they served a beet salad that I loved on campus there. That beet salad was near and dear to my heart.

I'm sad that I forgot to save a sprig of the beautiful cilantro for the picture and I had to use a sprig of flat leaf parsley. It was better than nothing. But know, that the cilantro was a wonderful flavor in this dish.

Also, there really are few ingredients. That’s great, because I was originally going to make a salad that had many ingredients and would have cost a bundle. Like many of you, I recently lost my job, so I have to be careful about how much I’m spending.

This salad may have served four, but not if those four wanted large portions. I had more beets because I was originally going to make two different beet salads, but decided to double this one when I realized how little salad I had when I was done.

This recipe will be in the regular recipe rotation around here. It was scrumptious and easy. And who doesn’t like an easy recipe!

Oh, in the picture, I was sad to have to use a sprig of parsley for decoration on the beet salad. I had forgotten to save a sprig of cilantro. Cilantro was an important flavor in the salad. I was gentle with the cilantro - Phyllis liked that it was on the subtle side. But the salad wouldn't be the same without it.

Costa Rican Beet Salad
Inspired by a recipe posted on Recipezaar.com by Cheerleader

4 medium fresh beets
1/4 sweet yellow onion, minced (I used vadalia)
1/3 large yellow pepper, finely diced
2-3 Tablespoons chopped cilantro
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
salt to taste (if you must – truth is, I didn’t)

Prepare the beets and remove the skins.

Dice the beets into small squares

Add minced onion, cilantro, and sweet pepper. This is what I had before I added the mayonnaise:

Add mayonnaise and gently mix thoroughly.

Add the salt if you use it.

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Preparing and Cooking Beets - The Boiling Method

Beets are easy to work with and there are several ways to prepare them. In the cold weather it's nice to put them in foil packs with the skins on, baked them, and then removed the skins when done. In the summer, I choose the boiling method.

When choosing your beets at the grocery store, try to get a bunch that has beets of approximately the same size. By doing this, you will have beets that finish cooking at the same time. If they aren’t the same size, be aware that the smaller ones will finish cooking sooner. You will need to remove them earlier so you don’t have beet mush!

Preparing the Beets

Cut off the greens at the base of the beets.

Cut off the tail of the beet.

Leave the skin on the beets! This is very important!

Boil the water first and then place the beets in it. I started out with a 30 minute time limit with the pot covered. Check the beets by piercing them (or attempting to pierce them) with a fork or knife. When the fork or knife easily pierces the beet and goes toward the middle, coming out with no effort, the beets are done! Beets shouldn't be cooked al dente.

When I checked at the 30 minute mark, I knew that at least another 30 minutes would be necessary. I had chosen large beets at the store.

Thirty minutes later, I set the timer for 10 more minutes. At that point, my two smaller beets were done. I removed them and ran cold water over them while I removed the skins. By the time I was done with that, a few more of the beets were done, and so on and so on.

Important Note About Skin Removal

If you want to place the beets in a bowl of cold water before handling them, do it with the skins on!

Case in point – I removed the skins of the first two small beets and then cut them in half and put them in cold water. I forgot to do it with the next beets, and I’m so glad! Look at the difference in the color of the beets I cut in half and then placed in cold water without skin compared to the beets that I place in cold water with the skin on and in tact before removing the skin:

Removing the skin is easy when the beets are cooked. I took the picture below without the water running just so you could see that all it takes is a little pressure with your thumb and pulling away. The skin will go with it. Easy-peasy! Even easier under running water.

Now you are ready for any beet recipe, such as Costa Rican Beet Salad, or to just eat them as they are.

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Cool-as-a-Cucumber Avocado Soup ♥ A Low(er)-Calorie Recipe

Today's vegetable recipe: a quick blender soup recipe, just four ingredients and served cold. Low carb. Vegan. Lower calorie than a typical avocado soup.

Sigh. Do your eyes go dreamy too at the thought of avocados? There's simply no matching their silkiness, their smoothness. Pillow makers? How about avocado, not the color, but the cool slipperiness.

Blending cool cucumber with smooth avocado, it was a recent inspiration. The cucumber adds liquid but flavor too, unlike plain water (as most avocado soup recipes specify) or broth (which strikes me as too heavy for summer). Better still, the cucumber adds volume but few calories, keeping the avocado soup in reasonable territory, diet-wise but still tasting like an indulgence.

This soup is served cold, its own cool pillow against summer's heat. I like to serve it in small bowls with small spoons, all to encourage savoring every single silky spoonful. So much for that idea -- when I made this last, my favorite taste tester, who always leaves a bite or two behind on the plate, slurped up every last drop.

AVOCADO SOUP RECIPE

Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Time to table: 10 minutes
Makes 2 cups

2 avocados, pitted (save a bit aside to chop for garnish, if you like)
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 - 2 green onions, white and light-green parts only
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon agave or honey

Mix all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Spoon into serving bowls, top with a little chopped avocado.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Half Cup: 138Cal; 9g Tot Fat; 1g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 7mg Sodium; 12g Carb; 5g Fiber; 5g Sugar; 2g Protein; Weight Watchers 3 points

KITCHEN NOTES

I worried that the pretty light green color would darken but it didn't, at least not when covered for about 4 hours before serving.

MORE SILKY-SMOOTH AVOCADO RECIPES
~ Avocado Dip ~
~ Homemade Cobb Salad ~
~ Homemade Guacamole with Tomatillos ~
~ more avocado recipes ~
from A Veggie Venture

~ Fruity Gazpacho ~
~ Tropical Salad Supper ~
~ more avocado recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade, my food column

~ more Weight Watchers recipes ~
~ more low-carb recipes ~

PRINT JUST A RECIPE! Now you can print a recipe without wasting ink and paper on the header and sidebar. Here's how.

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Tomato Platter with Olives & Feta ♥ An Easy, Impressive Summer Recipe

Today's vegetable 'recipe' - wait no, let's call it vegetable 'serving inspiration': A platter of perfect summer tomatoes, topped with olives and crumbled feta. Perfect for one or two or a crowd.

My friend Mary brought a big plate of tomatoes to supper on Friday. I loved her tomato serving idea so much, I re-created it on Saturday! So this isn't so much a 'recipe' as a serving suggestion, for it really did work beautifully and flew together in minutes.

Mary made a homemade vinaigrette (carrying it in a handy-dandy salad dressing mixer) to drizzle over the tomatoes just before serving but I went a step simpler still by purchasing an olive-feta mix from the olive bar at the grocery store (where it's quick to pick up just a few olives for a salad or whatever), already moistened with a little olive oil and it was quite delicious already.

Since ours was a small group on Friday, Mary also built 'stacks' of cucumber and thick beefsteak tomato, effectively creating a 'serving' that could be easily moved to an individual plate. Since Saturday's supper was a casual large-group buffet, I just did one layer of cucumber and topped it with another layer of tomatoes. Some people took both, some just stuck to tomatoes.

So this is really flexible (and surprisingly delicious!), make it fit your table!

TOMATO PLATTER with OLIVES & FETA

Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Time to table: 10 minutes
Serves as many as needed

Cucumbers, peeled and sliced
Tomatoes, sliced
Fresh feta, crumbled
Olives, pitted
Fresh basil, chopped fine
Vinaigrette (looking for ideas? my challenge to Never Buy Salad Dressing Again has a couple of dozen ideas from my favorite food bloggers)

On a platter, arrange a layer of cucumbers, then a layer of tomatoes, stacking them if individual servings are desired. Arrange the feta and olives over top, then drizzle with a vinaigrette. Sprinkle the top with the basil.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Serving (a complete estimate since will vary so much, assumes a slice of cucumber, a slice of tomato, 1/4 ounce feta, 1/2 tablespoon standard oil & vinegar vinaigrette): 57Cal; 5g Tot Fat; 2g Sat Fat; 6mg Cholesterol; 80mg Sodium; 2g Carb; 0g Fiber; 1g Sugar; 1g Protein; Weight Watchers 2 points

KITCHEN NOTES

To get perfect tomato rounds, the end pieces need to be used for something else.

Look for blocks of feta and crumble it yourself, rather than individual containers of crumbles which tend to be dry and tasteless.

My friend Mary is an artist and arranged her tomatoes on a lovely glass leaf-shaped platter that belonged to her husband's mother. When I was arranging my own platter, a more typical round shape, I realized how 'artful' it was for Mary to use a platter that didn't repeat the same round shape of the cucumbers and tomatoes. Little stuff some times matters, at least a little!

UPDATE Turns out, this is my favorite 'bring a dish to share' for the summer. When the tomatoes are larger than the cucumbers, I put the tomatoes on the bottom, the cucumbers on top. I often skip the olives, instead scatter just fresh feta and fresh herbs on the top, then take along a vinaigrette (just sherry vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper and a little sugar) to pour over top just before serving time. It's always a hit, people really 'get' that these are stacks and move both to their plates.

MY FAVORITE WAYS with SUMMER TOMATOES
~ Panzanella ~
the Italian bread and tomato salad
~ fresh tomato sauce ~
~ no-cook taboulleh ~

~ more tomato recipes ~
~ more Weight Watchers recipes ~
~ more low-carb recipes ~

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PERFECT STOVETOP BROWN RICE

AVOCADO SOUP RECIPE

TOMATO PLATTER with OLIVES & FETA