Chicken, Rice, and Black Bean Salad

My friend Kurt is coming over tonight to eat dinner and watch the hockey game with me (our last dinner and hockey game together before he moves to Scottsdale on Wednesday...Boo Hoo!!!), and since it's warm outside and I was looking for something easy to make, I decided to make Chicken, Rice, and Black Bean Salad from an old issue of Everyday Food magazine. It looked like a tastebud-friendly meal that both of us would enjoy, and since I had all of the ingredients on hand, it was a no-brainer to make it.

Since I actually (sort of) planned ahead for dinner tonight, last night I made Key Lime Pie with Coconut Graham Cracker Crust to have afterwards for dessert. (There are two reasons I chose to make a key lime pie. You'll have to wait for the next post.) I'll post a review of both recipes later tonight or tomorrow morning, but I just wanted to get a head start now and post the recipe for our main course (if that's what you want to call it).

Update (as promised): This salad is fantastic and very filling. Kurt's first words after his first bite was, "Damn, this is good." I guess that could sum up my reaction to it, too. I followed the recipe exactly as written. I did leave in the seeds from the jalapeno, and it added a nice kick. I also used a generous 1/2 teaspoon of cumin. I used a few pinches of sea salt and generously grinded fresh black pepper over the salad before tossing it one last time and serving. This recipe makes a LOT of food. (Kurt left tonight with a big plastic container of it, and I cannot wait to eat it again for lunch...and probably dinner...tomorrow.) This would be great to take along to a picnic or BBQ as a different kind of cold salad...you know, not the typical (boring) pasta salad and potato salad you see all the time.

Chicken, Rice, and Black Bean Salad

Source: Everyday Food magazine - June 2005, p. 105

1 cup brown (or white) rice
1 cooked chicken (about 2 ½ pounds), shredded (about 4 cups)
1 can (15.5 ounces) black beans, drained and rinsed
6 plum tomatoes, sliced*
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1 jalapeno chile, minced (seeds and ribs removed for less heat, if desired)
¼ cup white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Cook rice according to package instructions. Spread on a baking sheet; refrigerate until cool.

Place cooled rice in a large bowl; add chicken, beans, tomatoes, scallions, jalapeno, vinegar, oil, and cumin. Season with salt and pepper; toss to combine. Serve immediately, or refrigerate, covered, up to 1 day.

*How to slice plum tomatoes:
Quarter tomatoes lengthwise. Lay quarters skin side down, and slice out seeds. Slice flesh crosswise about ¼ inch thick.

In serving bowl (without flash):

 
















Scooped out into individual bowl (with flash):

 

Four (or five) ingredients to YUM!!!

My sad little jar of Nutella was begging for me to use him this weekend, and I graciously agreed to grant his holiday weekend wish.

I found this recipe on Recipe Goldmine and decided to tweak it a little. I halved the original recipe and tweaked the ingredient amounts (I added an additional tablespoon of both Nutella and Arborio rice and left out the dried cherries/dried cranberries).

SO simple. SO delicious. It will SO will be repeated again...soon!!!

Nutella Rice Pudding

Adapted from Recipe Goldmine

3 cups 2% milk, divided
1/2 cup plus 1 T. Nutella
1 cinnamon stick (or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon)
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon Arborio rice (do not substitute or pudding will not thicken)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Coat an 8x8-inch glass or metal (not aluminum) pan with vegetable oil spray.

Over medium heat, whisk together 2 cups milk and the Nutella in a heavy-bottom 2-quart saucepan. Add cinnamon stick and bring to a boil. Stir in Arborio rice and transfer to prepared pan. Bake 30 minutes, stirring every 8 to 10 minutes.

Add remaining 1 cup milk, combining well, and bake 15 to 20 minutes longer, stirring every 8 to 10 minutes, or until pudding has thickened and rice is soft. Remove cinnamon stick, if using, and cool 15 to 20 minutes.

Serve warm or cover and refrigerate. (I spooned the pudding into 4 individual ramekins and let them cool to room temperature before covering them with plastic wrap and putting them in the refrigerator overnight to thicken to the consistency I wanted to achieve.)

If desired, sprinkle with cinnamon-dusted whipped cream. (Desire it!!! It really adds a nice finishing touch to the pudding.)

Mindy’s notes: I used a cinnamon stick instead of 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon because I wanted a more subtle cinnamon flavor. Also, make sure you stir this every 8 to 10 minutes to prevent the rice from sticking together and to keep a skin from forming. If you plan to serve this warm, I would add an additional 1-2 tablespoons of Arborio rice so it is a little bit thicker. I refrigerated it overnight and the consistency the next day was perfect, but right out of the oven and after sitting, it was still a bit runny. Adding an additional tablespoon or two of the rice would firm the pudding up to a thicker consistency right out of the oven.

 

Easy vegetarian dinner from leftover ingredients

In an effort to use up leftover ingredients from recent recipes I've made, I decided to make these Black Bean Rice Burgers tonight for dinner. Actually, I have wanted to make these for a while now, but I never seemed to have all of the ingredients on hand. Tonight I just happened to have everything I needed in my fridge, in my pantry and sitting on my counter. I had leftover hamburger buns from the Cashew Chicken Salad Sandwiches and leftover sour cream and salsa from the Fiesta Chicken Pasta, so I decided to use them up in this recipe.

The original recipe had no chili powder or ground cumin in it, but I added 1/4 teaspoon of each since I wanted these burgers to have a nice smoky flavor. I also used a medium salsa to add more flavor and heat than a mild salsa would.

Make sure you coat your nonstick skillet generously with cooking spray to avoid sticking. Also, use a thin spatula and make sure you get it all the way under each of the whole burgers before flipping over gently. They're somewhat fragile and may lose their shape a little bit when you flip them, but they are really forgiving, so it's easy to reshape them by flattening them and patting around the outer perimeter with the spatula.

The sour cream/salsa mixture that accompanies these burgers is fantastic. Not only does it add flavor, but it also adds moisture, too. I think the burgers alone would be a bit blah and dry without it.

Serve with Veggie Crisps and purple and green grapes.


Black Bean Rice Burgers

Source: Adapted from Taste of Home

1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons plus 1/4 cup salsa, divided
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
4 lettuce leaves
4 hamburger buns, split

In a large bowl, mash beans with a fork. Add the rice, onion, egg, 2 tablespoons salsa, chili powder and cumin; mix well. Drop by 1/2 cupfuls into a large nonstick skillet coated with nonstick cooking spray. Flatten to 1/2-in. thickness. Cook over medium heat for 4-5 minutes on each side or until firm and browned.

In a small bowl, combine sour cream and remaining salsa. Place a lettuce leaf, burger and sour cream mixture on bun.

Yield: 4 servings