Herbed Rice

Rice is one of my favorite side dishes. More often than not, I choose to make rice as opposed to pasta or potatoes. I grew up on basmati rice and don't particularly like your standard, Uncle Ben's type of rice. I also keep a stash of jasmine rice since I find it to be a great rice option as well. This recipe is a really easy way to add a twist to plain rice. I love that flavor that the herbs give the rice and it takes vary little effort to get this effect.

My mom has been making rice like this for years. In her house we call it green rice since it's flecked with green herbs. We often eat this with Indian Cilantro Chicken or Spicy Indian Chicken. You could also serves it with almost any other fish or meat dish.

 

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Spicy Honey-Brushed Chicken

I hope everyone is preparing for a fun 4th of July tomorrow. If you still need some food inspiration, here's a really easy main course idea. Where I am, it's raining, so I love that this is not an actual grill recipe. But if you're lucky enough to be enjoying real summer weather, you could grill the marinated meat as well. This recipe requires mostly simple pantry ingredients and can be made with chicken thighs or breast.

I made this with chicken breast as that is what I had on hand and was amazed that the meat didn't dry out under the broiler. In fact, it was some of the juiciest chicken I've had in a while, so I'm now a big fan of this cooking method. If you have leftovers the next day, this makes an amazing, delicious, mouth-watering chicken quesadilla.

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Fruit Tart

I've attempted several fruit tarts in the past and never really found a great recipe. Generally speaking, the crusts have all been fine, but I've never found a cream filling that I loved. I've tried (and failed) making pastry cream from scratch. I've made cream cheese fillings, but the flavor was never quite right. With this tart, I combined 2 fruit tart recipes and ended up with an amazing result.

The cream filling for this tart is the cheaters way of making a delicious and really easy fruit tart. It tastes amazing and the texture is great, but it only takes minutes to whip it up. I made this version of a fruit tart as a birthday cake and it was a huge success. Not only do fruit tarts look stunning, but people tend to love them. If you need to make this recipe ahead of time, prepare all the elements individually and only cut fruits and assemble when you need it.

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Murgh Masala (Spicy Indian Chicken)

This is another great Indian recipe that I got from my mom. I'm still convinced Ismail Merchant's cookbook has some of the best Indian recipes and this one passes the test. It's a pretty easy dish to make and doesn't require any special kitchen equipment. The ingredients, as with most Indian dishes, are an investment the first time around. Once you have the spices stocked in your pantry, you'll probably be more likely to try similar recipes.

If you enjoy Indian food as much as I do, this recipe is a keeper. If you like really spicy food, you can add another chile. If you prefer you food milder, this recipe will still be delicious, just use a milder chile or half a jalapeno. If you find your end result to be too hot, you can always mix in a little more plain yogurt. In the original recipe, a whole chicken is used (skinned and cut into pieces), but I find it much easier and just as great with chicken thighs. This dish is great the next day if you have any leftovers.

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Black Bean Burritos with Pickled Onions

My sister was on the hunt for vegetarian recipes and luckily stumbled across this one. It's a bit messy to prepare, but this is a delicious, hearty alternative to meat burritos. I loved the pickled onions and never realized how easily they could be made. With the toppings you can really pick and choose which Tex-Mex toppings you like the most. My sister and I both love guacamole, so much so that we can polish off a bowl of guacamole in minutes. We grew up with guacamole as kids. It was a favorite then and it's still a favorite now. That being said, a giant bowl of guacamole is what we considered a side when we made this. Along with sour cream, lime, and some extra cilantro.

You could probably make the pickled onions and bean mixture ahead of time, just make sure to warm them up a little before preparing the burritos. The burritos go from perfectly golden brown to borderline charred quickly, so keep a colse eye on them during the frying process.

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