Brown Rice and Broccoli Casserole

It's been a while since I last posted any tasty meal, so here is one we had tonight - brown rice and broccoli casserole.  It took sometime due to the baking process, but otherwise it's a fairly simple dish to make.

As usual, remembered to take a picture when the dish was half way gone.

1&1/2 cup of cooked quick cooking brown rice *
4 dried Shitake mushrooms, diced
1 cup cooked broccoli, chopped *
2 stalks of celery, diced
1/2 large onion, diced
Canola oil
1 14oz can cream of mushroom soup *
2/3 cup water
2 jumbo Smart Dog veggie links, diced*
1&1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

* I used the Success Boil-in-Bag brown rice.  According to the package, one bag is supposed to yield 2 cups of cooked rice, but my estimate is probably 1&1/2 cup or so.  It just didn't look like there were 2 cups of it.  For the broccoli, I used the steam in a bag frozen kind.  It saves some time and makes the whole process just a bit easier.  For the soup, I used Amy's organic semi-condensed cream of mushroom soup.  Well, as for the veggie links, since I'm a fan of substituting ingredients, you get the idea, swap them out with other vegetarian or non-vegetarian protein as you wish.  You may want to cook the raw meat before baking, otherwise you should prolong the cooking time in the oven.

Soak the dried Shitake mushrooms with boiling water in a small sauce pan with lid.  That way the tops of the mushrooms also get moistened and soften, since mushrooms tend to float on the water for their light weight.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 F, cook the rice according to the package direction (I used the same baking dish to make the rice so I have one less dish to wash.), chop up the celery and onion.  Heat some canola oil up in a small skillet, saute the onion and celery until they are softened.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Take the mushrooms out of the water.  Gently squeeze the water out of the mushrooms but BE CAREFUL!  The water in the mushroom is very HOT, so squeeze them gently under running tap water to avoid burning yourself.  Chop the stems off the mushrooms and dice up the caps.  Add the mushrooms into the onion and celery mixture, let them cook for a couple minutes, then turn the heat off.

Drain the water off the rice bag and pour it into a 2 quart baking dish.  Add in the broccoli, the onion mixture and the mushroom soup.  Use the empty can to get about 2/3 cup of water and pour into the dish.  Add the chopped veggie links.  If they are frozen, thaw them out for easier chopping.  Mix everything well.

Shred the cheese on top of the dish and spread them around evenly.  You can mix some cheese in with everything else; I didn't want too much cheese flavor myself, although my hubby probably disagrees on this one.

Cover the dish and stick it in the oven for about 25 minutes.  Then take the cover off to bake an additional 5 or 10 minutes.  Dinner is served.  The mushroom soup really renders the savoriness to the dish, the Shitake mushrooms add unique flavor, and the celery adds a little crunchiness to a rather soft dish.  Everyone enjoyed the meal, so I declare it's a success!  Bon appétit, everybody.

Quinoa Burger Patties

It was a Sunday afternoon. I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner. My family was not much of help, one said "French Toast" as usual, another said "Soup" (didn't sound too good on a warm day)... So once again, I turned to the good old internet for answer. I had quinoa in mind and was wondering what else I could do with it beside the usual cooking method. Inspired by the quinoa burger patties recipe on epicurious.com, I decided to make my own version. It's a simple one. Here is how I did it.

The first batch of the patties.

Makes about 8 patties

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
2 to 3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
1 to 2 skinny stalks green onion, chopped
1 egg + 1 tablespoon egg white or water
1 cup bread crumbs (about a slice of bread)
roughly 1/2 cup shredded cheese*
2 tablespoons Tamari sauce*
2 teaspoons Italian salad dressing*
Black pepper to taste

* I used Organic Valley Mild Cheddar cheese. This cheese is pretty mild, so it doesn't overpower the flavors of the other ingredients, but you can use a stronger kind if you prefer some cheesy taste. On the dressing, I used Newman's Own Lite Italian Dressing. The tamari sauce was the low sodium kind. You may substitute it with soy sauce.

Cook quinoa with liquid ratio of 2:1 (2 liquid and 1 quinoa that is). I used 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of vegetable broth as my liquid combo. Bring the quinoa to a rapid boil then turn down the heat and simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed. When done, the grain appears soft and translucent and the germ ring will be visible along the outside edge of the grain. Sorry I didn't measure how much 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa made after it was cooked.

Put the cooked quinoa into a mixing bowl to cool a bit. Meanwhile, chop up the cilantro and green onion; tear up some bread. Mix them in the quinoa, then add the cheese and the egg. I added extra egg white to make the mixture give more moisture and adhesiveness for the patties. You can add water instead if you don't have egg white readily on hand to use. Or you can just dump another whole egg in it. I happened to have a small carton of egg white in the fridge. Personally I don't like to crack an extra egg just to use the white or yolk. You'll need some extra moisture for the cooking process, otherwise the patties will be too dry. You can adjust the amount of bread crumbs and egg white or water whichever you choose as you go along.

Add the remaining ingredients and mix them well. Form patties about 2 to 2 1/2 inches diameter and 1/2 inch thick. The mixture make about 8 patties. Heat up the skillet with some olive oil and put the patties in over medium-low heat, cook about 6 minutes or until the bottom sides are sturdy enough to be flipped over. By the time the patties are flippable, the bottoms are probably browned adequately. Then cook the other side until golden brown as well.

When I cook any kind of patties, balls or whatnot that contain raw eggs or meat in the mixture, I'm always afraid that they aren't cooked all the way through enough, so I tend to cook them with the lid on at a low cooking temperature for a little while and check to make sure it's not burned or overcooked. Sometimes I also add a tiny bit of water. That way the bottoms won't get burned easily and the whole thing get cooked through.

The flavor of the patties turned out to be surprisingly delicious. It was savory but light. Hubby usually is not a big fan of quinoa but he loved the patties. The kids liked them too. We had avocado slices and zucchini fries with it in a bun. Quite a burger, wouldn't you say? Yum yum!

The latest quinoa burger meal, with corn.

On a side note, you could make the patties in different shapes with cookie cutters; just to make it more interesting to eat for kids.