Spur of the Moment Mexican Rice

I don't usually have frozen hamburger patties in my fridge, but when I got back from my trip, I grabbed a box of them from +Sam's Club .  I wasn't sure how I would be feeling and if I wasn't able to cook, then at least hamburger patties would be easy.  I figured I could just add them to meals or cook them like that for a simple meal.   If anyone else was interested in cooking they would be able to throw them in an iron skillet, add some cheese, onion or a vegetable and have something good to eat rather quickly.

I had tried many times to make Mexican rice from ancient days ago to even a few years back.  I tried everything.  Someone told me just to add extra oil when cooking the rice and then add orange food coloring!  I wanted to make an authentic Mexican Restaurant style rice. Finally, a Puerto Rican woman revealed the secret and said to me rather matter-of-factly, "Use a little annatto."  Annatto? I had never even heard of it. So my search for annatto began.  Turns out, I found it very easily at the Supermarket across the street.  It's bright red and looks like beautiful little clay pieces.  They are very uniform in size and they taste very earthy, how I would think clay might taste. Sometimes I pop a few into my mouth and eat them just like that.

I did finally learn how to make a good Mexican rice, but now when I make it I add stuff to it.  I mean plain Mexican rice IS great just like that, but when I make it as a meal, I add meat, veggies and lots of spices.  This time I left the cumin whole for some added texture.  I left the bay leaves whole as well and removed them when it was done cooking.

Delicious Mexican Rice

Ingredients:

• 5 Frozen Hamburger Patties
• 1 Quart Mason Jar White Rice
• 1 1/2 Quarts Water
• 5 Bay Leaves
• 4 Dried Whole Red Chilis
• 1 Onion
• 1 Tbs. Spicy Steak Seasoning
• 1 Tbs. Granulated Garlic
• 1 Tbs. Powdered Annatto
• 1 Tbs. Whole Cumin
• 1 Tbs. Chili Powder
• 1/2 Tbs. White Pepper
• 1/2 Tbs. Salt
• Carrots and 1 Jalapeño from a can of whole Jalapeños

Brown hamburger patties and cut them up into bite size pieces as they thaw.  I used my iron dutch oven which is very nice and heavy and makes rice very well. Cook meat thoroughly until nicely browned.  Add rice and water.  Chop up the onion rather coarsely and add to the pot.  Turn the heat very high to get it simmering nicely.  

Breaking Up the Hamburger Patties

Add all the spices, carrots and jalapeños.  Stir gently so as not to breakup the bay leaves and peppers.  Immediately when it begins to simmer turn the temperature down to warm and place the heavy lid on top.  Set a timer for 20 minutes.  DO NOT lift lid or stir.  After it has been cooking for 20 minutes, remove lid and gently fluff rice.  Remove the bay leaves and serve.  Delicious!

Leftovers and Such and Lentil Soup

So, today as I was cleaning up the clutter from being away for 4 weeks, I noticed the  bag of  "Just Add Water"  +Marie Callender's cornbread mix I had left behind in hopes that the left behind people would just add water and eat it with some of the cans of chili I had also left behind.  I also noticed the can of jalapeños, black olives, some expensive goat cheese and some poppy seeds that had been left behind as well.  Well, the poppy seeds had been there for quite some time.  I figured I could make a yummy cornbread to go with the lentil soup I had made the other day.

I saw that someone had bought a big pack of eggs, and since they had just been sitting there since I had gotten back home, I thought that even though the +Marie Callender's  cornbread mix said to "just add water", I could use up the eggs too and give my cornbread an extra boost of protein.

• I broke all the eggs into a large bowl and whipped them up until frothy.
• I opened the can of jalapeños and olives.
• I poured the juice from the jalapeños into the egg mix and stirred it up some more.
• I cut up an onion, the goat cheese, olives and jalapeños into small slices.  The jalapeños come with carrots and onion so I chopped those up as well.
• I added the cornbread mix and poppy seeds to the egg mixture  and stirred very gently until it was just moistened.
• I thought I would have to add water, but it turned out just right with the liquid from the jalapeño can and the egg.
• I buttered a long glass pan, with too much butter (just right really) and turned the oven on to 325 degrees.
• I poured in the batter and topped it with the onion, cheese, black olives, carrots and jalapeños.
• I placed it in the oven and baked it until the sides were golden brown and it separated from the edge of the pan (about half an hour).

The goodies had sunk down into the bread slightly and were tempting me to pull them out and taste them.  Instead, I cut a square out of it and tasted it.  Yummmmy.  This would be perfect with some of the lentil soup I had made the other day.  I heated up some soup and broke pieces of the cornbread over the top.  It made a delicious and filling breakfast/lunch.  I ate it with a tall glass of iced tea (my new fave +Red Rose Tea) with a couple scoops of +100% Organic Stevia from +Trader Joe's .

Lentil Soup Recipe (One of many)

• 5 Frozen Hamburger Patties
• 1 Onion chopped
• 1 Bulb of Garlic cleaned and chopped fine
• 1 tsp each:
• Salt
• Pepper
• Cumin
• Paprika
• Chili Powder
• Garlic Powder
• 1 Bag Lentils cleaned and rinsed well
• 4 or 5 dried whole red chili peppers
• 8-10 Grape Tomatoes
• A few quarts of water

On this particular occasion I decided to brown some frozen hamburger patties in my big stock pot, chopped an onion on top, added a bulb of garlic (chopped very small).  I let it brown very well, chopping up the patties into bite sized pieces as they thawed.  I added about a teaspoon of each:  salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, chili powder, and garlic powder.  I stirred it around then added the rinsed lentils with enough water to cover everything completely and then added a few cupfuls more since I wanted this to be more of soupy type of soup.  Lentils cook very quickly, I let it simmer for less than an hour.  Towards the end of the cooking time I added a few long whole dried red chili's and a large handful of grape tomatoes.  Voilà, it was done.

It tasted so good.  I had missed my home cooking.  Don't get me wrong, I needed that 4 weeks off more than even I had realized, but eating some good home cooked meals, especially lentil soup brought me back home again in a nice, gentle way. Brought back down to earth and the to the reality of my life in a good way!