Stress=Try a New Recipe

We've spent the day packing up the house. Our big move days are Monday and Tuesday, although we'll try to get a few things over to the new house before then.

This is the time when I start getting a hankering for making new recipes. If there is too much on my plate, I'm going to cook. Here are the two recipes we tried today. They were tasty! I cut them out of a Southern Living magazine years ago (perhaps 2004?) and found them when I was packing the cookbooks and organizing my recipes. There is another recipe that accompanied the rice and kabobs. We didn't make it, but I added it below.

Orphan's Rice
* We couldn't find yellow rice in rural Iowa, so I substituted a 12 oz pkg. of Arborio rice and added a pinch of saffron.

1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup pecan halves
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/2 small onion, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 (10-ounce) package yellow rice
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
1/4 cup finely chopped ham
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley

Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add pecan halves, almonds, and pine nuts, and saute, stirring often, 3 minutes or until almonds are light golden brown.
Sauté onion and garlic in hot oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat 5 minutes or until tender. Add rice, and sauté, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Add broth, and cook rice 18 minutes. Remove from heat.

Stir in nuts, bacon, ham, and parsley. Cover and let stand 10 minutes.

Note: We like to use three different nuts for this recipe; however, feel free to use all the same variety.

Yield: Makes 6 to 8 servings


Steak (and chicken) and Vegetable Kabobs
We served this over a baby salad mix, as suggested. We used dried sliced ginger from Penzey's rather than fresh ginger. It's just too hard to get good fresh ginger here unless I've really planned ahead.

Ribeye, even on sale, was quite expensive, so I used about a 1.25 lbs of ribeye but also used two chicken breasts. I added the chicken to the marinade at the same time that the recipe says to add the vegetables.

Prep: 20 min.; Chill: 2 hrs., 20 min.; Grill: 12 min.
1/2 cup dry sherry
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons grated orange rind
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper (optional)
1 1/2 pounds rib-eye steak, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 small red onion, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
1 medium-size yellow bell pepper, cut into 1/2- to 3/4-inch pieces
2 small zucchini, cut into 8 slices
Mixed salad greens

Whisk together first 7 ingredients, and, if desired, crushed red pepper. Remove and reserve 3/4 cup marinade. Pour remaining marinade into a shallow dish or large zip-top plastic freezer bag; add steak. Cover or seal, and chill 2 hours. Add onion and next 2 ingredients; toss to coat, cover or seal, and chill 20 minutes.
Remove steak and vegetables from marinade, discarding marinade. Thread steak and vegetables, separately, onto 6 to 8 (12-inch) metal skewers.

Grill, covered with grill lid, over medium-high heat (350° to 400°) 10 to 12 minutes or until done. Serve over mixed salad greens with reserved 3/4 cup marinade.

Yield: Makes 4 servings


Apple-Gingerbread Cobbler
Prep: 15 min., Cook: 5 min., Bake: 35 min.
1 (14-ounce) package gingerbread mix, divided
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, divided
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 (21-ounce) cans apple pie filling
Vanilla ice cream

Stir together 2 cups gingerbread mix and 3/4 cup water until smooth; set mixture aside.
Stir together remaining gingerbread mix and brown sugar; cut in 1/4 cup butter until mixture is crumbly. Stir in chopped pecans; set pecan mixture aside.

Combine apple pie filling and remaining 1/4 cup butter in a large saucepan, and cook, stirring often, 5 minutes over medium heat or until thoroughly heated. Spoon hot apple pie filling mixture evenly into a lightly greased 11- x 7-inch baking dish. Spoon gingerbread mixture evenly over hot apple pie filling mixture; sprinkle evenly with pecan-and-brown sugar mixture.

Bake at 375° for 30 to 35 minutes or until set. Serve cobbler with vanilla ice cream.

Yield: Makes 8 servings