If you’ve ever made brown rice before, then you know that you often end up with rice that looks like popcorn – that is, the rice expands and pops out of it’s shell leaving a sorta exploaded look to the rice.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. By baking brown rice in a pan in the oven you can make a brown rice with a texture similar to white rice.

Here’s how:
Bring to a boil 4 cups of water. You can do this on the stove or in a large Pyrex cup in the microwave (start at about 4 minutes in the microwave – depends on your oven, of course).

Heat the oven to 375° F.

Place 2 cups of rice in a baking pan. I use an aluminum throwaway pan lined with non-stick aluminum foil. Place the rice on the foil, and pour the boiling water over the top. Even out the rice.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for about 45 minutes. Then check to see if the rice is done — it will most likely take an hour. You’ll know when it’s done when all of the water is absorbed by the rice. Don’t bake too long or you’ll find the rice explodes and looks just like you boiled it in a pan.

When we cook our meals we try to avoid using salt or MSG in our recipes. When making side dishes from the packaged foods that come in boxes or cans, the seasonings are all mixed together and it’s almost impossible to cook without salt. By looking closely at the USDA Nutrition Facts label you’ll see these packaged foods are all laden with salt – many of which contain more than 25% of the recommended daily value of sodium in a single serving.

So this post starts a series of easy to make replacements for commonly purchased packaged foods.

Refried Beans are one of those foods that many of us love to eat with our Mexican and Latin American meals yet many of us have no idea what is in the recipe. For years we’ve purchased our refried beans in a can at the grocer and simply reheated them in the microwave or on the stove top. After making our recipe for Refried Beans we found our recipe to be superior, has no fat, and no salt added.

Refried Beans starts with Pinto Beans, a small red bean typical in Latin American cooking. We purchase ours at a Latin American Grocer, but if you can’t find a Latin American Grocer near you, buy the red beans in the Mexican or Latin American section at your grocer.

Refried Beans Recipe
Measure out 1 cup of Pinto Beans, pick over them and remove any foreign items like stones and odd plant material. Place the beans in a 2 quart sauce pan, and add about 1 1/2 quarts of water. Place on the stove, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and let cook for 3 hours. Check every so often and add water if the pot is drying out.

Just before the beans are done, dice 1/2 onion very fine (1/8″ or so), and saute the onions in 1/2 tbsp of canola oil along with 1 tsp chopped garlic. Cook until tender but not browned.

Drain the beans using a strainer, and place the pinto beans in a 2 quart mixing bowl. Sprinkle the cooked onion & garlic over the top of the cooked beans, and add:
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dark chili powder

Mash the pinto beans and seasonings using an electric hand mixer until the beans are at a consistency that you like. We like our Refried Beans to be coarse and have a little crunchiness to them. Some may want their Refried Beans mashed like the beans that comes out of the canned Refried Beans. Either way, you’ll find this a delicious recipe and a much better and healthier recipe than the canned variety of Refried Beans.

Where I grew up we had a couple chestnuts trees in our yard. You have to have at least 2 chestnut trees if you want to get chestnuts because the trees are self sterile. Our two trees were fantastic and and we always got lots of nuts from them. We ate the chestnuts in the typical methods of roasted and steamed, but my favorite way to eat chestnuts is in stuffing for turkey and chicken.

About Chestnuts
If you don’t have your own chestnut trees to gather the nuts from (before the squirrels do), then bare in mind that they are only briefly available in the grocery store from about Mid-October until just around Christmas. The chestnuts themselves are enclosed in a thin brown case with a furry inner lining. The nut of the chestnut is a soft, moist and woody tasting meat. They don’t keep well out of the shell, and should be kept in a moist part of your refrigerator until ready to use to keep them both from spoiling and drying out. If you gather fresh chestnuts, then you should wash the nuts, then treat them for worm eggs by placing them in a pot of water at 105° F for 10 minutes.

Homemade Chestnut Turkey Stuffing

Each year at Thanksgiving and Christmas we make our favorite Chestnut Stuffing for Turkey. We prefer to make this stuffing in a pan or casserole dish outside the bird but you could stuff the bird if you like.

Ingredients in Chestnut Turkey Stuffing

• 12 ounce bag unseasoned bread cubes for stuffing (one 1/2 24 ounce loaf of stale bread cut into cubes)
• 1 pound mild pork sausage
• 12 chestnuts
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1/3 cup celery pieces
• 1/3 cup diced onion
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 tsp Poultry Seasoning

To make Chestnut Turkey Stuffing

1. Make an x in the tops of the chestnuts, and bake in an oven at 350° F for 15 minutes. Then remove from oven, let cook, peel the chestnuts, and chop finely.
2. Melt butter in a 3 quart non-stick saucepan.
3. Add onion, celery, sausage and cook until sausage has cooked through ans is lightly browned, about 10 – 12 minutes.
4. Place bread cubes in a large bowl. Mix in the chopped chestnuts, onion, celery and sausage. Sprinkle with poultry seasoning and mix well.
5. Add milk, a little at a time, mixing with additions, until bread cubes are moist.
6. Put the stuffing in a non-stick pan or casserole.
7. Bake in a 350° F. oven covered for 1/2 hour. Remove cover and cook another 8 – 10 minutes until lightly browned on top.

Every time we go to the Popeye’s Chicken shop, we get their Cajun rice. We simply love it. So here’s our rendition of Popeye’s Cajun Rice. We make our Cajun Rice using Basmati rice which is different than the long grained rice used by the Popeye’s restaurant chain.

Popeye’s Cajun Rice

• 1 cup Basmati Rice (you may substitute long grain white rice instead).
• Chicken Broth
• 1/2 pound chicken livers
• 1/4 pound lean ground beef
• 1/3 cup finely diced onion
• 1/4 cup finely diced green onion (scallion)
• 1/3 cup finely diced celery
• 1/3 cup finely diced bell pepper
• 1/8 tsp ground white pepper
• 1/8 tsp Tabasco sauce
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp Gumbo File

1. Cook rice according to package directions except substitute chicken broth for the water called for in the recipe. 1 regular sized can of chicken broth contains about 2 cups of broth.
2. Brown the 1/4 pound of ground beef in a non-stick skillet. Break up fine while cooking.
3. As you’re cooking the ground beef, also cook 1/2 pound of chicken livers in a pot of water. Cook about 10 minutes after the water begins to boil. Strain, then chop fine.
4. Add the diced onions, green onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic, white pepper, Tabasco Sauce and Gumbo File. Saute until the onions, peppers, and celery are cooked, about 4 – 5 minutes.
5. Add the cooked rice and chopped chicken livers, and stir together. Heat for about 2 minutes, then serve.

This recipe for Garlic Tabasco Mashed Potatoes is a treat. That is, of course, if you like garlic like we do. This recipe isn’t too garlically in taste, and the Tabasco Sauce adds its own twist to the flavor of the mashed potatoes.

Garlic Tabasco Mashed Potatoes

• 4 to 5 medium new or red potatoes
• 1 tsp Nina chopped garlic
• 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh onion
• 1/2 to 1 tsp Tabasco Sauce
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 to 3 tbsp softened butter

1. Place milk and butter in a warm location to soften butter, and warm milk.
2. Peel and cut the potatoes into large chunks.
3. Place the potatoes into a 3 quart non stick saucepan and cover with water.
4. Add the finely chopped onion, and chopped garlic to the saucepan.
5. Cover the saucepan, heat to a boil, and cook for 20 minutes.
6. Drain potatoes, and place into a mixing bowl.
7. Add the Tabasco Sauce, 2 tbsp softened butter, and 1/4 cup milk. Beat the mashed potatoes with a hand mixer until smooth and creamy adding additional milk and butter as needed to make creamy.