Cathy Riggin's Spanish Rice

I took the holidays off. I didn't mean to but Lee worked a ton of overtime which really was a blessing, but also a cramp in my style :)
My brother asked for a recipe for Spanish Rice so I figured I would kill two birds with one stone. We got this recipe from Cathy years ago. Cathy was my Sunday School teacher many times growing up. I also babysat her 6 kids quite often. She died from cancer a while ago. I love to make this because while I make it I can think of how kind and good she always was to me. Don't you love recipes like that? It is that kind of Spanish rice that tastes like the kind you get in a restaurant. It really will become your favorite.

Restaurant Style Spanish Rice
2 Tbsp oil
1 cup rice
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup FINELY diced onion
2 c chicken broth
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 tsp salt
Heat oil, add rice and stir till kinda brown. Add garlic, onions and salt and cook until the rice is golden brown and the onions translucent. Stir in broth and sauce. Boil for 4 minutes. Turn to low, cover and cook for 15 minutes.

Gourmified!

photo from "Gourmified"

I have been friends with Lisa for YEARS. We share a lot of interests but probably our most common interest is cooking. We both started a recipe blog at the same time. Lisa shared this recipe with me years ago when she was featured on Good Things Utah. I never tried it. Tonight I thought I would give it a whirl. My family LOVED them. We tried to get my brother and his wife to come share with us...but we were too late. This is not the kind of recipe you can eat everyday but it is a great "company" or special occasion dish. I used fat free milk and it was great. I also used very lean ham. I also doubled the green chili like she suggested.
Go ahead on over to Lisa's site and check it out. To get this recipe click here. Thanks LISA!

BBQ pulled chicken and THE BEST sweet potato fries

My sister-in-law made this cooking light pulled chicken sandwich first. It is really good. I served it on the new wheat sandwich thins. If you do weight watchers the bun is only ONE point...gotta love it.
To make the BBQ pulled chicken (there are additional ingredients in caps in the directions):
mix:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp pepper

Rub on 1 lb boneless skinless CHICKEN breasts (I cut up the breasts I had because they were huge and I wanted more surface area for the rub).
Cook 2 minutes on each side with 2 tsp OLIVE OIL. Remove from pan.
Add 1 cup thin sliced ONION to the pan, cook until tender stirring constantly. Add 1 cup CHICKEN BROTH and put chicken back in. Let simmer for 30 minutes. Take chicken out and shred with 2 forks. Return to pan one more time and bring liquid to a boil. Let simmer 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Stir in 1 Tbsp BALSAMIC VINEGAR. Super quick, super yummy.

Now for those sweet potato fries. I need to tell you my 4 year old was a jerk the day I made this dinner. Sometimes we just have those days. He LOVED these sweet potato fries. After dinner he was back to his nice self. I asked him what changed...he said, "Mom if you make good dinner like that I will ALWAYS be nice." Now I am not promising it will work for your kids but...worth a try?

Sweet Potato Fries
Preheat oven to 425. Peel and cut up your sweet potato. Put in a gallon ziptop bag with a BIT of Olive oil (I went really easy on it, maybe a TBSP for the whole gallon bag). Add salt, garlic and cinnamon (YES, cinnamon). I used a bit more salt then garlic or cinnamon. Put on a baking sheet. Cook for about 15 minutes on one side then flip. Cook another 10 minutes or until tender. These are the best we have ever had!

One more thing. I needed to include this picture we took the other night of my 9 mos old daughter. We have been really blessed with kids that are not picky eaters. I would like to say it is because we NEVER cater to pickiness but I am smarter then that and I know some kids are just more picky then others. Savannah decided the other night it was time to try some steamed spinach off my plate. I thought this was pretty funny :)

Pineapple chili

My lil sister Meesha commented about a great pineapple chili she made. She is a dumper (she always just throws stuff in and doesn't measure so it took a while to get it out of her). I have made it 2 times and it is great. In the picture I served it on Paula Deens Cornbread Waffles . I thought the concept was kinda cool...like a Navajo Taco without the deep fry. I wasn't wild about the recipe though...too bread like, not enough cornbread like. I think next time I will just try throwing my own cornbread recipe on the waffle iron and see what happens. My little boy liked the cornbread waffles and chose to dip his in a bowl of soup instead (it was nice to not have them load up the cornbread with butter and honey).

Well, without further ado here is the best Chili recipe you will ever try :)

Meesha's Pineapple Chili (with a few minor adjustments)

3 cans of chili beans (these are just beans in a little bit of spicy red sauce, I tried using my own cooked beans and they needed LOTS more seasoning then but are do-able)

Large can of chopped tomatoes (I used peeled chopped and frozen ones from my freezer)

1 Can of chunk pineapple plus most of the juice (I chopped them in thirds so there was pineapple in more bites)

1 big onion chopped and sauteed

1 big green bell chopped and sauteed with the onion

1 lb of lean ground hamburger (browned)

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup ketchup

1 chili seasoning packet

*she also added a little BBQ sauce for a smokey taste, I did not.

Dump it all in a pot and let it simmer for 30 minutes. It is also GREAT leftovers, it tastes better the second day.