Apple Rice

This recipe can be used with any grain and any juice. When I am low on money, I tend to eat a lot of rice. I always seemed to have it on hand. It's cheap and easy to make and it goes with anything. I also like that I can cook a whole lot of it and then use it in a few dishes through the week.

Side dish, snack.. or sometimes this is dinner, but really what more could you want?

A while back I caught a recipe on the food network about using other liquids when making rice... and really, why do people seem to think you can only use water in rice? Sometimes I use veggie broth, but never thought about juice.  Brilliant idea!

This dish goes really well with all things bbq. I paired it with sauteed collard greens and BBQ tofu. I also paired the leftovers with a veggie burger. It is a really easy way to change up your day-to-day meals without having to go shopping for new ingredients.

Apple Rice

45 minutes, serves 3-4

• 1 cup of brown rice, rinsed
• 2 cups apple juice (or you can do half and half, liquid needs to be 2 cups total)
• 1 apple, cored, peeled and diced into 1" dice (I used gala apple, but any kind should be good)
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tsp butter
• 1 cinnamon stick

Rinse the rice and add it to a pot with the liquid, apple, salt, butter and cinnamon. Bring to a boil. Cover and bring it back down to a simmer and cook for 40 - 50 minutes or until liquid is all absorbed. Let it sit 5 minutes or so until ready to serve. Remove the cinnamon stick prior to serving. Garnish with fresh herbs if you have any on hand.

I always add the water last and try to toast the grain a bit before cooking.
Not necessary though

45 minutes later and I have dinner.
Paired here with salt and pepper tofu and collard greens

Some other good combinations here would be peach, pear, white grape, white cranberry, limeade or lemonade.. pretty much any juice. If you have some you can add in dried fruit like craisins.

You can also sub the rice for other grains. I made a pineapple quinoa before and it was good. Couscous and white rice would be great substitutions as well. I may try couscous next. You will have to cook the fruit separately for couscous though since it is basically instantly cooked.

Kale Obsession

Found this on my phone... I ate an entire bunch of kale.. Would have had more if I didn't fall into a food coma after!

Thai-Inspired Lentil Salad

There is an awesome Thai restaurant in Edmonton call Numchok Wilai and they have a mango salad there that is to die for. I am not sure if it is vegan or not... It may have fish sauce in the dressing... but until I know for sure, I get this salad when the craving hits. I know there are plenty of vegans out there that probably don't like my approach here. I do my best. I made a commitment to eat vegan and sometimes moments like these come up and I make a judgement call. A couple days ago, I made plans to go for some Thai food next week and ever since, I have been craving this salad in a bad way.

http://numchokwilai.ca/

So with a little guilt over the whole is it vegan issue on my favourite dish combined with an overwhelming craving to have this salad now, I decided to look in my own kitchen to see if I had ingredients to make my own version.

Something about Thai food that I really love. They have a way in many of their recipes to hit the perfect combination of sweet, spicy, sour and salty. What more could you want? It hits all cravings in one knock-out punch.

What I ended up making was an extremely loose play on what they actually serve in the restaurant... actually I don't think there are any ingredients that are the same.. but the flavour profile is similar enough that my craving went away. Plus I think my version has the benefit of being a little more filling as it is made with lentils as the base instead of shredded mango.

Not Thai Mango Salad
*Serves 3-4 takes 1 hour 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of green lentils, rinsed
• 2 cups of veggie broth or water
• 1 can of pineapple (I used cubed, crushed would be good, maybe better)
• 1 red hot chili
• 1/4 cup walnuts
• 1 Tbsp fresh mint (have an extra Tbsp for garnish)
• 1 Tbsp cilantro
• 1 lime, zest and juiced

First thing you want to do is cook your lentils. This can be done in advance and if so, this salad takes just a few minutes to prepare. Add the lentils and the stock to a pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 - 45 minutes or until the water is absorbed. Lentils seem to vary quite a bit. I heard that the older the lentils are, the longer they can take to cook. Start at 30 minutes and then tests. If they taste cooked and there is water in the pot, just drain it... No biggie.

While the lentils are cooking, seed and mince the red chili, mint and cilantro. Add the Chili, walnuts and one tablespoon of the fresh mint to a mortar and pestle and grind it up into a paste. If you don't have a mortar and pestle, you could do this in a food processor, but it is such a small amount I don't know how well it would work. If you have neither, just chop it all very fine. Zest your lime and add it to the mixture.

Before...

After... can't believe I only purchased this a few weeks ago...
awesome way to bring out flavour

Once the lentils are cooked, let them cool.. preferably to room temperature if you can. If not, It should effect the flavour to serve hot, but it is really best cold or at room temperature. Combine the can of pineapples (with the juice), the walnut chili paste, cilantro and lime juice and stir well. Top with the extra mint.

Nothing really Thai about this, but still... yummy.