This is long over due...

Faith. Family. Friends. Food. I chose the name of this blog very carefully, listing what is most important to me, in order of priority. I've always intended to share more than recipes. Food is, after all, fourth on the list. However, in recent years a number of people have come forward as outspoken critics of me and every word out of my mouth was ammunition for them to try to shoot me down.

(I love definitions of words! Dictionary.com defines critic as "a person who judges, evaluates, or criticizes; a person who tends too readily to make captious, trivial, or harsh judgments; faultfinder." To further elaborate, captious means "apt to notice and make much of trivial faults or defects; faultfinding; difficult to please.")

As I was saying. The critics. I felt like my world was knocked off its axis with a baseball bat; like I was entirely wrong about everything I knew about who I was. I literally felt like I was going insane. And sadly, I did allow them to silence me for a period of time. I've been able to get my feet on solid ground once again and I can see that I wasn't, in fact, mistaken about the type of person I was.

This spring, someone I respect greatly told me that people will say what they'll say and people will think what they'll think. I can't stop them. Where does that leave me? It gives me freedom to do what I need to do and say what I need to say, regardless of what people will be saying about me. It also gives me freedom because I know who I am and when the critics speak, it tells me who they are, it does not tell me who I am.

I look at the name of my blog. Faith, Family, Friends, and Food. Very significant to me at the time I started this blog. Even more significant to me now. I've condensed what means most to me into four words. When I consider that someone earlier this week told me that I wasn't living my life with those as my priorities, I don't even need to be defensive or even question myself. I KNOW that I am doing my best to live my life with my priorities in that order.

My "Leanne's Not Willing To Make An Effort" Cold Rice Salad

I like to call recipes exactly what they are... so that's what's up with the name there.

Refer to "Brown Rice" recipe for instructions. When the rice is done, allow it to chill.

Then mix:
1/2 cup Miracle Whip
a generous Tbsp of Tupperware's Southwest Seasoning
2 tsp cilantro (I used frozen, so it'd be the same amount as fresh)

Add this to the Miracle Whip mixture:
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup of good quality frozen peas
1 cup of good quality frozen sweet corn
salt to taste

Allow flavors to blend for a few hours. Serve cold.

Notes:
I would have liked to add a few more things like black beans, lime juice, maybe avocado (but it probably would brown too easily). Even chopped tomatoes would be good.

I found this seasoning to be nice and spicy, with a little sweetness to it. I'd love to find a similar make-from-scratch recipe for this flavor of seasoning.

2nd day: good flavor, but could be a bit more flavorful for my preference. GREAT cold as a side to BBQ steak!

Brown Rice

I'm so sick of brown rice that has a wet, overcooked texture. We're having barbecued chicken for supper, so rice would be great, but that means I need to step up how I cook my rice. I think I found the answer. The recipe is from www.pinchmysalt.com, who adapted the recipe from www.saveur.com.

brown rice (whichever type you prefer)
water – use at least four cups of water for every one cup of rice
salt – to taste

Rinse rice in a strainer under cold running water for 30 seconds, swirling the rice around with your hand. Meanwhile, bring water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. When water boils, add the rice, stir it once. Turn heat to medium and boil, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. After 30 minutes, pour the rice into a strainer over the sink. Let the rice drain for 10 seconds, then return it to the pot, off the heat. Immediately cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and set it aside to allow the rice to steam for 10 minutes (if your pot lid isn’t extremely tight, place a piece of aluminum foil over pot then place the lid on top of foil for a tighter seal). After ten minutes, uncover rice, fluff with a fork, and season with salt to taste.

notes: *the original Saveur recipe instructs you to use 12 cups of water for one cup of rice. This seemed wasteful to me and after trying a few times, I decided that four cups of water for each cup of rice works perfectly fine. You can cook as much rice as you want, just try to stick to that general ratio.

Red Pepper and Basil Muffins

I've already said we're on a total muffin kick in our household. We've done the banana-chocolate-chip muffins a lot, then it was oatmeal with cinnamon and brown sugar, but I wanted to try a savory recipe today. I asked Chad what kind of muffins he'd like to try and he asked if there was such a thing as red pepper muffins. (Our kids can't get enough red peppers!) Well, that was an interesting concept and I found one at www.bettycrocker.com.

1	cup fat-free (skim) milk
1/3	cup olive or vegetable oil
2	egg whites or 1/4 cup fat-free cholesterol-free egg product
2	cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1	tablespoon sugar
3	teaspoons baking powder
1/2	teaspoon salt
1/8	teaspoon pepper
1/3	cup chopped red bell pepper
4	medium green onions, chopped (1/4 cup)
2	tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves or 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

Heat oven to 400ºF. Spray 12 regular-size muffin cups with cooking spray, or line with paper baking cups.

Beat milk, oil and egg whites in large bowl with fork. Stir in remaining ingredients just until flour is moistened. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.

Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from pan to wire rack. Serve warm.

Notes:
There are two notes on the website: Accompanying these muffins with tapenade—a Mediterranean olive spread—instead of butter makes these muffins even more of a treat!

Stirring muffin batter gently—just until dry ingredients are moistened—results in perfectly shaped muffins.

I wasn't about to separate an egg and wonder what to do with two yolks. I just used one whole egg.

I used 1% milk, not skim.

I peeled most of the skin off the red pepper. I find it gets kinda tough when cooked/baked.

It would be yummy with some ham finely chopped in it and/or with shredded cheese in it.

This would make a great sandwich-alternative for school!

Oatmeal Muffins

I'm on a total muffin kick right now. This one is from the white recipe book.

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 white sugar
3/4 brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking soda

1 cup oatmeal
1 cup hot water

3/4 cup butter or margarine
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs

Mix dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix oatmeal and hot water; let stand for 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients. Mix everything together and fill muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

Notes:
This gave me a dozen average sized muffins and a dozen tiny muffins (the bite sized ones).

3/4 cup of two kinds of sugar??? Yikes! I cut it down to 1/2 cup of each and they're still more than sweet enough! I'd even cut it down a bit more.

I didn't want to use up the last of my butter, so I split the 3/4 cup of butter: half was melted butter, half was oil. Worked out well.

Chocolate chips could be added to this recipe too.

This recipe can be changed to Chocolate Chocolate Chip Oatmeal muffins with these basic changes:
1) reduce flour to 1 1/4 cups
2) add 1/4 cup cocoa
3) omit brown sugar
4) use 3/4 cup white sugar
5) add 1/2 cup of chocolate chips
6) omit cinnamon

My oven bakes very hot so I baked it for closer to 20 minutes. Actually it was 18. So adjust your baking temperature and time according to what you know is best for yourself.

Dumplings

I made beef stew for supper and it looked like it might not quite be enough. It was too late to make potatoes or rice, and I've been thinking of making dumplings for a while. Here was my chance. I found this on allrecipes.com

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon margarine
1/2 cup milk

Stir together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in medium size bowl. Cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in milk to make a soft dough.

Drop by spoonfuls into boiling stew. Cover and simmer 15 minutes without lifting lid. Serve.

To make parsley dumplings, add 1 tablespoon parsley flakes to the dry ingredients.

Notes:

The reviews on the recipe suggest stirring the dough only until the dry ingredients are incorporated, much like if you make biscuits or muffins. Don't overmix.

I put in the butter softened, not melted. It worked well.

I turned the stew down to minimum to allow it to simmer, dropped in the dumplings, covered the pot, and allowed it to simmer for the entire 15 minutes. The dumplings were cooked through completely.

Makes me want to play around with the recipe... like making cheese dumplings in taco soup. Mmm.