Garlic-Lime Chicken and Cilantro Rice made by a FANTASTIC husband!

First off, I'm the luckiest girl EVER! Alex made me dinner tonight! The icing on the cake is that he took pictures of the food he made! When I got home he let me take over camera duties. :) Can you tell where I took over?

This is the MOST flavorful meal I have had in a very long time. Serious. The rice was amazing! TRULY amazing! Blending the cilantro and Serrano into the chicken stock is the best idea that ever happened. I am going to do my rice this way all the time! I am looking forward to leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

Garlic-Lime Chicken with Olives:

Courtesy of Robin Miller

Cooking spray

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast halves (Alex used chicken tenders because they cook fast and they aren't big chunks of meat - because I hate big chunks of meat)

1 cup diced onion

2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon molasses

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 cup pitted and sliced Greek olives, such as kalamata

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Coat a large roasting pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine chicken, onion, garlic, lime juice, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, cumin, oregano, salt, and black pepper. Toss to coat. Transfer chicken to prepared pan and pour over any remaining marinade. Arrange olives over and around chicken in pan.Roast 30 to 35 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.

Cilantro Rice:

Courtesy Aida Mollenkamp

3 1/2 cups packed cilantro leaves (about 3 ounces)

3 medium garlic cloves

1 medium Serrano chile, halved lengthwise and seeded (who really takes the seeds out?)

3 1/3 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 cup minced yellow onion

2 cups long-grain white rice (Alex used regular minute rice)

1 tablespoon kosher salt

Combine cilantro, garlic, chile, and 2 cups broth in a blender and process until smooth;

set aside.

Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. When it shimmers, add onion and cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Add rice and salt stir to coat in oil and cook until rice becomes opaque, about 2 minutes. Carefully pour the cilantro mixture and the remaining 1 1/3 cups broth into the rice and stir to combine. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat to low so rice is at a simmer.Cover and cook until rice is tender, about 15 minutes. Turn off heat and let rice rest covered for 5 minutes. Fluff with fork and serve.

The chicken was good and flavorful, but I would cut back on the cumin next time. Cumin can overpower a recipe fast. The chicken went really well with the rice...I think ANYTHING would go well with this rice. I seriously can't say enough about this stuff. The funny thing about this rice is that it is an Aida Mollenkamp recipe...I can't stand that chick...who would have known she would know something about KILLER food!

Red Beans and Rice - Pressure Cooker Style!

If any of you know my husband...and I mean REALLY know my husband, you know he LOVES Red Beans and Rice. He makes it at least once a month. Every time he makes it there is some type of variation from seasonings to the type of sausage. Last night as I was cooking up the Martha Stewart Mac and Cheese he was chopping up peppers and veggies for the Red Beans and Rice. I always get a little nervous when he starts up with the Red Beans and Rice because when it rocks, IT ROCKS!!!! But when it doesn't...it doesn't; in a big, bad way.

Alex is all about beans from the bag, not the can, the bag. That means soaking overnight and cooking all day in a crock pot. Sometimes some of the beans are soft and fabulous while others are NOT al dente and other times they are ALL not al dente...those are the bad nights. Today was a busy day for Alex and I and we forgot to soak the beans. CRAP!

Thank goodness for pressure cookers. I have to admit, I have ONLY EVER used my pressure cooker for potatoes. When I bought the thing it came with three cook books and I was surprised to find you can cook meat, beans AND CHEESECAKE, of all things, in a pressure cooker. SERIOUSLY!!!!! Off to the pressure cooker cookbook we went.

We didn't use the recipe for the Red Beans and Rice in the pressure cooker cookbook, we just stole their idea for cooking the beans. Here is the game plan we used:

Alex's Red Beans and Rice...well, Red Beans...not Rice (More on that later):

1 16 oz package of dried red beans

2 stalks celery

2 carrots

1 roasted green pepper - this is from our grilling escaped earlier in the week

1 red jalapeno pepper - it is red and looks like a jalapeno...so that is what I'm calling it.

2 green jalapeno peppers

1 onion

various Cajun spices...pick your favorite + bay leaf & fresh parsley

1/2 bottle of beer

Sausage of your choice

Alex chopped up all the veggies the night before and marinated them in 1/2 bottle of beer (I'm not sure what you would use in place of the 1/2 bottle of beer if you aren't a drinker...so maybe you should just crack down, buy a bottle of beer and use the other half of the bottle for killing snails in your yard.)

Cooking the beans: I am fortunate enough to have a Kuhn Rikon Duromatic Pressure Cooker (Alex bought if for my birthday our first year dating) that comes with a cookbook/user guide called, Quick Cuisine - Delicious recipes for your Duromatic Pressure Cooker. This is what it told me about pressure cooking beans: It suggests you soak your beans overnight...why would I do that when I have a pressure cooker?

Quick Soak: for each cup of sorted, rinsed beans, place 4 cups water and 1 teaspoon salt into the pressure cooker. The book also suggests added some oil to the water to keep the foaming down. Add the beans and bring to a boil. Lock the lid in place and bring pressure to the second red ring over high heat. Reduce heat to maintain pressure at the second red ring and cook 2 minutes. Release pressure and remove the lid. Drain beans and cook as directed in the recipe.

To the 'Cajun Red Beans & Rice' recipe in the book:In a 4-quart or larger pressure cooker, add soaked, drained beans, 4 cups water (because we are using the whole bag of beans), and cut up veggies marinating in beer.

Allow ingredients to come to a boil, stirring often. Close lid and bring pressure to second red ring over high heat. Adjust heat to stabilize pressure at second red ring. Cook for 10 minutes.In the mean time, Alex cut up and browned some fabulous Cajun sausage we found at Costco.

Remove pressure cooker from heat (after the 10 minutes) and use natural release method. We just push down on our button at the top with the two red lines and this releases the pressure.

Add sausage to bean mixture. Close lid and bring pressure to second red ring over high heat. Adjust heat to stabilize pressure at second red ring. Cook for 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and use natural release method.

The other conundrum I run into with Alex's Red Beans and Rice is the rice. He uses regular, plain, old minute rice. Hmmmm...boring. Not bad, just boring. Tonight, I took matters into my own hands.

A couple of months ago I took a business trip down to New Orleans...yes, life is tough when you have to do business in New Orleans. I scored a cute little Cajun book called "Talk About Good!" at a book store called, A Tisket, A Tasket in the French Quarter. How can you go wrong with a name like that?

Rice Casserole II:

1 stick of butter or margarine

1 cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic

1 tsp summer savory - I didn't have this and it still ROCKED!

3 beef (I used chicken) bouillon cubes

3 cups boiling water

4 oz. can chopped mushrooms - Alex hates mushrooms and I am adverse to canned mushrooms so I left these out.

1 small can Parmesan cheese - I don't do canned Parmesan cheese so I grated one cup

2 cups minutes rice (raw)Melt butter, add onion, garlic, rice and savory - saute. Melt bouillon cubes in the boiling water, add to rice, cheese and mushrooms. Put in baking dish, cover and bake 30 minutes at 350 F.

I am not kidding you when I say, 'THIS IS THE BEST DAMN RED BEANS AND RICE I HAVE HAD IN THE 3 YEARS I HAVE BEEN WITH ALEX!!!!'

Lesson learned from today's post? GO BUY A PRESSURE COOKER!!!!