Some commenters to the last post on Baked Chicken with Wild Rice asked what wild rice is, so here is some information about this grain.
According to this source, wild rice (Zizania Palustis L)is of the grass family and is native to North America. It is known by many names: indian rice (by early English explorers), folle avoine (by the French), Canadian rice, squaw rice, water oats, blackbird oats, and marsh oats. Wild rice has high protein and carbohydrate content and would be perfect for someone in need of fiber or quality carbs in their diet. I like it because of the nutty flavor and the different texture from the usual white rice.
For additional information, click on the photo above or visit http://www.wildrice.org/.
If you would like to try another wild rice recipe tested In Our Kitchen, try our Wild Rice and Mushrooms recipe that we had as a side dish for Thanksgiving.
This is another simple, easy one pot meal that we tend to come up with during the week when we are all busy with work and other school day activities.
INGREDIENTS:
1 chicken, cut up
1 TBSP oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 cups of Wild Rice & Basmati Rice Mix
2 cups water or chicken broth
Salt & Pepper to taste
In a skillet, heat oil and saute' onions and garlic until fragrant. Add the rice mixture and stir in the oil for a minute or two. Season with salt & pepper. Pour the sauteed rice mixture into a baking dish and layer the chicken pieces on top of the rice. Season the chicken pieces additionally with salt & pepper. Add the chicken broth to the pot and cover with a lid if it has one or with aluminum foil. Bake in the oven for 1 and 1/2 hours at 350 degrees F. Check after an hour in the oven to make sure it hasn't dried out. If it seems a bit dry, add more liquid.
Here is a quick and easy weekday dinner, serve with vegetables of your choice.
Along with sweet basil, we also have a few very lush purple basil plants. So when I saw this recipe for Purple Basil Syrup on Calendula & Concrete, I knew I just had to try it. It is a perfect way of enjoying the pure flavor of purple basil.
Start out by getting about a cup worth of chopped purple basil (packed). Place basil in a saucepan along with 2 cups of water, 1 cup of sugar, and 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice. 
Bring this to a boil. I let this boil until the liquid was reduced to about half. If you have a candy thermometer, you can also monitor the temperature until it gets to the syrup stage which on mine is about 230 degrees F. Remove from the heat and pour it through a strainer.
At this point, you will have this beautiful burgundy syrup that is infused with the scent and flavor of purple basil. 
We followed Christa's lead and served this with crepes and mango slices. It was delicious!
We still have plenty of purple basil, so we'll be sure to make more of this syrup.
I have one child who is a pasta addict and hates fish. Can you guess who it is? Yes, the Clone. The girl can eat spaghetti everyday. So just for a change because even I get tired of cooking the tomato sauce variety sometimes, we decided to try this recipe (Zucchini Carbonara) from Good Cooking - the new basics by Jill Dupleix
INGREDIENTS:
16 oz (1 lb) penne pasta
Sea salt and coarsely ground black Pepper
1 bundle of broccoli (florets only, save stems for another recipe)
5 egg yolks
3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
Pan Fried (can also be grilled) chicken breasts, sliced
Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water until they are al dente, between 8 to 10 minutes. Add the broccoli florets in with the pasta for the last minute of cooking, just until the broccoli takes on a bright green color before removing the pasta and broccoli from the water.
While the pasta is boiling, mix in a large bowl the egg yolks, parmesan cheese, lemon zest, sea salt and pepper together (see first photo). When the pasta and broccoli are done, drain them from the boiling water and quickly add to the mixture in the bowl and mix. Add some of the cooking water if the mixture/sauce seems too thick. The heat from the pasta and cooking water cooks the eggs in the sauce. The sauce should be creamy and fragrant. Either stir in the chicken pieces or just lay them on top of the pasta. Sprinkle with additional parmesan cheese if desired.
Jade also made this dish on her own using zucchini:
This really is my kind of recipe, easy and quick. We found this recipe in Paul Newman's "The Hole in the Wall Gang Cookbook".
INGREDIENTS:
Crust
2 cups Flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 sticks cold, unsalted butter
Lemon Filling
4 Eggs, lightly beaten
5 TBSP Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon Orange extract
2 cups Sugar
1/3 cup Flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
Powdered Sugar for garnish
Whipped Cream (optional)
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and powdered sugar. Cut the cold butter into small pieces and mix into the flour and sugar mixture until the mixture is crumbly and starts to stick together. Pat this mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish as evenly as you can. If gets too sticky, you can use plastic wrap over your hands to smooth it out. Bake the crust in the oven for 30 minutes or until it is golden brown.
While the crust is baking, assemble the lemon filling. In a medium bowl, mix the eggs, lemon juice, orange extract and sugar. Stir in the flour and baking powder and mix well.
Pour the filling mixture over the baked crust and bake for another 30 minutes until the edges are set. The middle may be a little jiggly. That's ok, it will set as it cools. Remove the pan from the oven and generously sprinkle the top with powdered sugar. Let it cool for at least ten minutes before cutting. You may serve with whipped cream on top as suggested by the book, but it was great just by itself. The girls even took some for their lunch the next day.
This dish was cooked by Jade sometime ago. She got the recipe from a cookbook that she gave me for my birthday last year, One Pot - simple & delicious easy to make recipes
INGREDIENTS:
2 TBSP vegetable oil
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 potato, diced
1 sweet potato, diced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 or 2 green chiles, seeded and chopped
7 oz (1 can) canned chopped tomatoes
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
4 TBSP chopped fresh cilantro
2 cups chicken stock
Heat oil in a skillet and lightly brown the chicken. Add the onion, bell pepper, potato and sweet potato. Saute' for a minute or two until the vegetables begin to soften. Add the garlic and chilies and stir for a minute until fragrant. Add the tomatoes, oregano, salt & pepper, and half the cilantro. Stir. Pour in the stock and let it simmer over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are tender.
Sprinkle with the remaining cilantro just before serving.
This is what I had for brunch today. I would like to introduce, to Weekend Herb Blogging this week, Ampalaya (momordica charantia) or bitter melon. Like it's name says, it is bitter. Bitterness is a taste that is often underappreciated in most cuisines but as my grandmother used to say, with your palate as in life, you can't appreciate the sweetness until you've had a taste of bitterness. It is certainly an acquired taste. It is learned. I used to spit this stuff out as soon as I tasted it. She taught me to learn to like it by first giving a bit of the bitter stuff then telling me to chase it down with some water. Then she would say, "did you notice how the water tastes sweeter?" It did! Pretty soon I learned to like bitter melon and appreciate it's flavor. Now that I'm older, I also appreciate it's nutritional value and medicinal advantages. See the links at the end of this post for more information.
I found a pack of Ampalaya seed early in the spring and I immediately grabbed a pack. I followed the instruction on pre-soaking the seeds before planting them after all danger of frost had passed. I figured it would fare well in our growing region since we do have some hot summers which it supposedly prefers to grow in. I was a bit disappointed when only one plant came up; but I have become delighted with this one plant as it proved itself to be quite prolific. Have a look in our backyard for photos of it's first baby fruit. It's had many more since.
This is how it looked while it was sauteeing, before the eggs were added. Don't you love the colors?
INGREDIENTS:
1 med/lg bitter melon, sliced thin
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped fine
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 eggs, scrambled
Salt & Pepper, to taste
Oil
Heat about two tablespoons of oil and saute' the garlic and onions until fragrant. Add the tomatoes and bittermelon and continue to cook while constantly stirring until almost dry and the bitter melon is cooked. Season with salt and pepper and add the scrambled egg. Slowly stir until the egg is cooked through. Remove from heat and serve.
Still need convincing of the benefits of Ampalaya? Visit these links for additional information:
What is Ampalaya?
Links to more information on Ampalaya.com
Thanks to Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen for conceptualizing this event and also hosts it this week. Visit her site for the roundup of all participants this week.
Filipino Cookbooks
Every year, I look forward to the time when I can make a BLT (Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato)sandwich with tomatoes from our garden. Ever since the tomatoes from Our Backyard started ripening, BLTs have been a ritual lunch fare. However, while bloghopping I came across this idea from the indadvertent gardener of making BLGT (Bacon, Lettce, & Green Tomato) sandwiches. When she made her BLGT, she also made Lemon Basil Aioli which I also copied and it paired perfectly with the BLGT.
These sandwiches were made by frying green tomatoes which were first sliced, dipped into beaten eggs then dredged in a mixture of flour, cornmeal, and salt and pepper. I used toasted french baguettes slathered with basil mayonnaise then layered fried green tomatoes, lettuce and bacon. These sandwiches were to die for mainly because of the basil mayonnaise which we have used for other things since this time. Here is my version of the BASIL GARLIC AIOLI:2 egg yolks
2 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons Lemon juice
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tablespoons chopped basil leaves (fresh)
1 Tablespoon boiling water
In a blender or food processor combine the egg yolks, garlic, dijon mustard, lemon juice and basil leaves. Process until everything is chopped up and blended then add the hot water. This will help 'cook' the yolks. Add the basil leaves and process until combined, then slowly drizzle in the oils while the blender/processor is running. Pour in a slow steady stream (be patient) until all the oil is incorporated. By this time, the aioli should have the consistency of loose mayonnaise. This can be stored in the refrigerator for about a week, but if you are like me, you will find ways to use it in about 3 to 4 days.
Another variation on the BLGT sandwiches is the LPLGT sandwich or
LIVER PUDDING, LETTUCE, AND GREEN TOMATO SANDWICH
I discovered that I actually like this version better than the BLGT. The fried liver pudding just pairs perfectly with fried green tomatoes and enhanced by the basil aioli. I know many of you will probably have never heard of liver pudding. I didn't know what it was either until I moved to North Carolina. Liver pudding is liver mixed with cereals and spices and it is another Southern delicacy. The flavor is quite mild and does not have a strong liver flavor. The Clone who will not eat anything with liver has actually eaten liver pudding, without knowing what it was, and enjoyed it! Of course, we didn't tell her what she ate ;-)
Want to know what liver pudding is? The brand that we get here in North Carolina is called Neese's. They also make excellent country style sausage without the casing. To find out more about their products, visit their website: http://www.neesesausage.com/
Adobo. There's tons of recipes for adobo to be had on the internet. Some of them probably a lot better than my version, but since the purpose of this blog is to have a repository of our family recipes for my girls to refer back to someday, I will post our easy version for adobo.
We have chicken adobo at least twice a month, sometimes more often, depending on our mood. Lately though, we have been having a love affair with potatoes, especially the yucon golds. They just have so much flavor! I don't know.
My mom says that my lola (grandmother) puts potatoes in her adobo as an extender, to make the dish feed more people. She is right. It used to amaze me how my grandmother would feed eight to ten people with one chicken! Well, we add potatoes to ours because we love the flavor, and adobo tastes even better the next day after the flavors have had a chance to blend further. This is one of our favorites.
INGREDIENTS:
1 whole chicken, cut up
10-12 cloves of garlic or 1 head, chopped coarsely
1 large or 2 medium onions, sliced
3 bay leaves
1 tsp. whole peppercorns
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
4-5 yucon gold potatoes, quartered
Layer all the ingredients except potatoes in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes of cooking, add the potatoes and cook for another 20 minutes or until sauce has reduced but not quite dried out yet. My family likes to have some sauce to pour over the rice so we tend to make our adobo on the saucy side. Some people make adobo on the dry side, even frying up the pieces after cooking in the sauce.
Filipino Cookbooks
This was a perfect recipe, and it really was quick and easy. I like my brownies somewhere between fudgy and cakey and these fit the bill perfectly. I have had this hand written recipe for a while, and hadn't had a chance to try it until now. I just hate I didn't scribble down where I got the recipe from. Since it required chocolate squares, I am guessing it was probably from a package of chocolates. I didn't have enough nuts on hand, so I just sprinkled what I had which was about a cup, on top instead of incorporating it in the batter.
INGREDIENTS:
8 - 1-oz squares Unsweetened chocolate
1 cup butter
5 eggs
3 cups sugar
1 TBSP vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts
Pre-heat to 375 degrees F and butter a 9x13 pan. I used a glass dish. Melt the chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat and set aside. Mix eggs, sugar and vanilla with a mixer on high speen for 10 minutes. Slowly add in the chocolate, flour and salt until blended. Fold in the nuts, pour into the baking pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Do not overbake in order to get the slightly fudgy texture.
