rice with plums & feta

in an effort to use some items that definitely needed to be used - over ripe plums & leftover brown rice - i put on my thinking cap and developed this simple recipe.  the dish's mild, fresh flavor with the pungent punch of feta made for a delicious side dish to our pesto chicken last night.

here's what you'll need:

1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 plums (or 4 small sugar plums), sliced
2 cups cooked brown rice (i used "minute rice")
1-2 oz crumbled feta
1/4 cup prunes, chopped
salt & pepper
olive oil

1. in a pan, saute onions in a bit of olive oil until caramelized.
2. add plums and saute a minute longer.  season with salt & pepper.
3. add in rice & prunes and toss (rice will become a lovely blush color).
4. toss in feta and mix rice until feta begins to melt.  season with more salt & pepper.

the subtle flavors of the rice and sweet plums & prunes are beautifully balanced by the feta.  as i mentioned, we enjoyed our rice with chicken, but it would work well with fish or shrimp as well.

no plums?  why not try another stone fruit, like peaches or cherries?  no prunes?  how about raisins or dried cranberries?  no feta?  try another pungent cheese like parmesan or bleu.  get creative and keep it simple.  cooking is supposed to be fun!.

portabella caps & potato packets

first off, i apologize for my absence these past few days.  a tree came down on our property and took out cable and internet.  comcast was just restored this morning : )


ok, post time.



gorgeous day = time to fire up the grill.  in my opinion, fresh grilled veggies are the perfect way to celebrate a summer evening, so the other night i decided to grill up some portabella caps, potato packets & peaches.  (just realized now the lovely alliteration that was our dinner : ) 

our simple grilled meal was summertime on a plate, and we thoroughly enjoyed every last bite.

here’s what went down:

portabellas


marinate 2 portabella caps (washed & dried) in ¼ cup italian dressing
grill on high, 4-5 minutes on each side, until caps are tender and delectable grill marks appear

potato packets


cut 1 potato, 1 zucchini and 2 large carrots into ½ inch cubes
toss veggies with 2 tbsp mustard (any kind), 1 tbsp mayo, 1 tsp chopped garlic, 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, salt & pepper
divide veggies into 2-3 foil packets coated with olive oil and seal packets well so veggies don’t fall out while grilling
grill for 30-40 min until veggies are tender and lightly browned

peaches


2 peaches, halved
brush the cut surface with a bit of olive oil
grill for 3-4 min face down until grill marks caramelize


in addition to our veggie feast, i sautéed up some chicken sausage seasoned with feta and spinach.  the sweet peaches with the savory sausage were fabulous!




simple summertime goodness!  yum!.