Welcome To My Blog!

For the past year, I've had the experience of being a part of the Niagara Falls Boys and Girls Club Cookbook Committee. Our committee is in the process of finishing our cookbook, A Stir In The Mist: Tastes and Traditions of Niagara Falls. It is a collection of recipes from the Niagara Falls community and local restaurants. All proceeds from the sale of this book will go directly to the Niagara Falls Boys and Girls Club. Just recently I have relocated to Ohio, but still wanted to be involved with the book. After watching the movie Julie and Julia, I was inspired to share the great recipes from our cookbook and the experience I had making each of them. I hope you will enjoy the journey I will take stirring my way through A Stir In The Mist!

Let the "stirring" begin!

Well I have started this venture through the cookbook. First things first, each recipe I do will only be a little story about the steps it took to get to the final product. There will be no ingredients given out and no steps to how I got every great tasting recipe to turn out so delicious. That is for you to find out when you purchase or when someone else purchases"A Stir in the Mist" for you!!

I will apologize now for any grammar or punctuation mistakes I may make. I know I am coming from a family of educators, therefore I should know better about these things, but I may make a few mistakes. Soo lets get started....

Friday, September 10, 2010

Confetti Rice

Sometimes when you are making a recipe, you just need something to put on the side. This Confetti Rice recipe is the way to go. It is easy, cheap and so quick to make. It goes well with chicken, beef or even pork. For vegetarians its great because it is all vegetables.
When boiling the water for the rice, the chicken broth is optional. You can use all water instead. The chicken broth will just add some more flavor to the recipe.
I went out of the cookbook for our dinner the other night, but just for the main dish. Due to us going out of town this weekend I wanted to use what I had in the fridge instead of going out for a whole new recipe. You do not have to use the recipes in the book for every little entree and side for everything. It is nice to use a recipe along with either a family favorite you may already have or even just something last minute you want to throw together.
There is a recipe in "A Stir in the Mist" for Pork Chops. I was missing two of the main ingredients to make the delicious dish so instead I went ahead with just an ordinary but tasty pork chop dinner.
As a side dish Confetti Rice was to the rescue.
You will notice when you purchase your cookbook that there are side bars that will allow you to get ideas on maybe what dish is good with what or even a tip on how to make baking or cooking the recipe easier. Confetti Rice can go with almost anything. The nice thing with a rice dish like this one, you can add an ingredient, like mushrooms are good. Or like I said earlier you can take out an ingredient. Instead of using some chicken broth and some water to cook rice in, you can just use water.

Once the rice and vegetable mix has soaked up all the liquid, I would just sample the rice to make sure it is nice and tender.
One trick I did learn about cooking rice is that instead of using the exact measurments of liquid to rice, just boil water and add rice the same way you would do for pasta. You will find that your rice will turn out nice and "fluffy"(if that is even a term to be used in the kitchen)
I suggest trying it, maybe not with this recipe. I promise you, you will most likely cook your rice the same as pasta from now on.
Well I hope you find an entree that this Confetti Rice dish will go along with well.
Enjoy!!