Traditional Mexican Rice

This is also known as Spanish Rice to a lot of people. I'm not sure about the origins of it, but I know I'm Mexican and this is my rice. No matter what, you're going to die over how flavorful this rice is. I'm not a huge fan of white rice (I know some people swear by it) so I end up making this kind of rice the most. It's perfect for enchiladas, taquitos, or in this case, my grandma's tamales! Speaking of, my grandma and mom would be so proud! I was taught by the best and now I make it for Mike whenever I can. When I was growing up my grandma would make this rice for all of our family parties and holidays. Now, I pass my traditions onto you.

As a side note, this recipe is near and dear to me, not only because it's been passed on, but because this is one of the first things I learned how to make on my own. I loved how things weren't really measured to make it taste good (unlike baking where you measure everything). I could add a couple dashes of this and that and things would turn out, not only un-ruined, but extremely delicious. I hope you enjoy it too!

What You'll Need:

1/2 of an onion

1 tomato

1 cup of white rice

2 cups of water

Tomato Bouillon (Caldo de Tomate)

Garlic powder

Black pepper

Vegetable oil

This whole process is really easy and feeds 3 people (or 2 if you want more to yourself). Start by browning your rice in a large saucepan over medium heat. Just drizzle your pan with vegetable oil and add your cup of rice.

While the rice is browning, dice your onion and tomato and set aside.

This is going to be soo good

Make sure you keep an eye on your rice because you don't want it to burn. Now, it's mandatory you take in the smell of your rice cooking - it smells so good right? (Focus Monica) Okay, your rice will be done when it's a nice golden color. When this happens, it's time to add the tomato and onion.

Let the onions and tomato get soft, it should take a few minutes. You'll notice that the rice will get a little orange tint from the tomato. When it's ready add your water. This part is really really important - this is where you add all the flavor.

These are all the ingredients you'll need to flavor the rice - three things. Can you believe it? You can't beat the simplicity.

 Add about a tablespoon of tomato bouillon. If you add too much you're rice will end up really salty. Mix it around and taste it. Make sure you add as much as you feel comfortable with (like I said, I usually one tablespoon - or a big spoonful). I go by the taste and color of the water to tell when it's done (just like grandma). Whatever your water tastes like, your rice will taste like when it's done.

Now add some pepper and garlic powder. I don't have measurements for this, so if I HAD to say how much I would say about 9 shakes of pepper and 3 of garlic powder. Now, stir and taste. See how you like it. I don't add a lot of salt to the things I cook but if you're like Michael and you can't get enough it, go ahead and add some.

When everything is mixed, cover your rice.

I also don't have a time for how long you should cook this. If your rice is on medium heat then it should take about 15 minutes. Keep your eye on it though. If the water looks like it's almost gone taste the rice and if it's still crunchy then add about a 3/4-1 cup more water. Depending on how much longer your rice needs to cook, put the lid back on.
As you can see below, when the water was almost gone for mine, the rice still wasn't as soft as I like it so I added about 1/2 a cup and put the lid  back on. About 7 minutes later (I know this is random time to get specific) I took the lid off and let the rice cook.

1 more cup of water added.

After about six more minutes with the lid on and then a few with it off, and stirring constantly, my rice was done. One thing about the stirring, make sure it's more of a folding because you don't want to mush up your rice by over-stirring. It'll still taste good, but it'll be mush and that's not good eats.

I also heated up some leftover tamales in the oven at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes flipping them every 8 minutes (hopefully I can get a post up when we make them over Christmas).

When everything was done we were able to eat. I think there were long moments of silence from us while we ate. It was so worth it!...

Homemade Watermelon Jello

One of the best parts of every month is getting my new issue of Sunset Magazine. In my August issue, they talked about melons and how to pick and serve them. I never thought about all of the things you could do with ALL of the different types. One of the recipes they had was watermelon jello. I honestly never thought about making my own jello when I can just buy a box of it, but I had a watermelon in my fridge and I really wanted to be able to say "Yeah I made my own jello - no big deal." As it turns out, it's really easy to make. This is my version of it...

What You'll Need:

2 C of Watermelon juice

1/2 C of Sugar

2 1/2 packets of Gelatine

1 C Cold water

Cool-whip for garnish

Sunset's recipe was for double this amount but it was only the two of us so I didn't need to make as much as their recipe called for. You can either use store bought watermelon juice or you can make your own - I made my own, it sounded like way more fun. I had a whole watermelon but if you're cutting the recipe in half, you only need half the watermelon. The first step is to start by cutting off both ends of the watermelon so you have two flat surfaces and no rolling watermelon. Carefully use a knife to to cut off the rind. Only take the rind off one half if you don't plan on using it right away. I was using the other half for another recipe so I peeled the whole watermelon at once.

My two halves, completely peeled.

Take one of your halves and cut that into pieces so you can puree it. The smaller you cut the pieces the easier it'll be to puree. Half way through pureeing it, use a spatula to push down the watermelon to help it along.

Once the watermelon is pureed strain it. You'll end up with a whole lot of watermelon mush and pure watermelon juice. You should have around two cups.

Pure watermelon juice...

A little helpful hint if you have more than 2 cups of watermelon juice is to pour them into ice trays and freeze the extra. You can use those to add to other juice or clear soda to make it sweeter and more flavorful and without watering down your drink the way ice will. If you don't have enough juice fill the rest up with store-bought watermelon juice or water. You won't taste the difference.

Not it's time to get the gelatine ready. Start by putting your 1 cup of cold water in a microwave safe bowl and adding your gelatine to that. Try your best to get as close to half a packet as possible. I found out a little more or less won't make a difference.

2 1/2 packets of gelatine in cold water

Let the gelatine stand for a couple of minutes. After a few it will have dissolved a little. Put the gelatine in the microwave for 1 minute. Then wisk your sugar into the gelatine. Pour your gelatine into your watermelon juice and wisk it. I mixed the gelatine-sugar mix and my watermelon juice in my big measuring cup so it would be easier to pour into my individual glasses.

Pour your jello into individual glasses to let set. I went super fancy with my serving dishes - mainly because I had nothing else cute to serve them in. It ended up working well with the over-sized wine glasses.

Let the jello sit in the fridge for about 2 hours. I made these in the afternoon so they were ready after dinner. When they are ready add as much cool-whip as you'd like and serve cold. We really liked how much they tasted like watermelon. I would say that because this dessert really brings out the natural sweetness of watermelon, you could cut these servings into quarters and actually serve 4 people. I think it would be the right amount per person. Sunset also says to serve with melon balls and mint which I think sounds delicious. I think it would help enhance the taste and texture of the jello. Overall, this is a really refreshing dessert and tastes exactly like watermelon!

Real Strawberry Lemonade

This is something I'm absolutely ecstatic about! This was completely conceptualized by me and the boyfriend. Here's how it started...

I have a subscription to Sunset Magazine (a magazine for living on the west coast) and my first issue was the August issue. They had a great spread about melons and different things to make with all of the different varieties (that's another post). There was a recipe for Summer Fizzies (yes I tried this too- recipe coming later) which are basically pureed melon, frozen into ice cubes and served with club soda. Even though these were super good and refreshing, they weren't sweet enough for me. I tried cantaloupe, watermelon and even mango. If you've ever tried it you know club soda doesn't have a lot of taste either, so we tried putting the ice in 7 Up soda. Mike and I were trying to think of other flavors and he suggested strawberry because they're sweet and have a recognizable taste. I happened to wonder out loud if instead of 7 Up, lemonade would be better? We were in total agreement that it would.

A couple days later I bought lemons and strawberries. Yes I bought lemons. You didn't really think I was going to use just-add-water lemonade did you? If I was going to do this, I was going to do it right - and Mike was in full support.

What You'll Need:

8 lemons

1 C Sugar

1 C Water

2 cartons of Strawberries
6 C Water

Start by getting your sous chef to juice all of the lemons. I don't know a whole lot about juicing because I never make fresh juice, but the manual juicer Mike's mom got us really helped. With all of the lemons, we got a little over a cup of juice.

While Mike was handling the manual labor, I made the simple syrup. I really recommend making a simple syrup for your lemonade instead of just adding sugar because it won't sink to the bottom the way granulated sugar will (I found this out when I was six), and you'll end up with a consistent sweetness. A simple syrup is really easy to make too, I promise. Over medium heat, add your one cup of water and your one cup of sugar. Stir frequently until the sugar dissolves.

When it's done take it off the heat and start your strawberries for the puree. Make sure they are washed. If you can, use a spray instead of the stream on your sink faucet. You don't want them sitting in any extra water. If not, no big deal.

Cut the tops of your strawberries off and any nasty parts. I know they're getting pureed but that's not good eats. You should also cut them into quarters, they puree quicker if the pieces are smaller. 

Add 2 tablespoons of sugar. This is optional though, there is already going to be a lot of sugar in this drink so you don't need to add more. Now, puree. Halfway through I always get a long spoon and stir what I'm pureeing to help it along. At this point add a 1/3 - 1/2 cup of water. Continue pureeing.

When it's done you'll have wonderfully pureed strawberries. With this the possibilities are endless! But for now, we put them in ice cube trays to freeze. Don't bother straining them. Mike had a problem with the seeds being there. I reminded him that he eats strawberries WITH the seeds all the time, and we moved on. Trust me, you won't even notice them. Mike agrees. 

You should have about two to three cups of puree, depending on your strawberries and the amount of water you added. So you'll need two ice trays. Fill them up like you would with water and put them in the freezer. We went out after we put ours in the freezer so they were able to freeze for a few hours.

Now it's time to show the lemonade some love. Pour your pure lemon juice into a 2 quart pitcher and all of your simple syrup. Like I said, if you feel like this is too much sugar only add some at first. You can add more after you add some water depending on how sweet you want it (you can always add, you can never subtract). We used half of the syrup at first.

Add a cup of water at a time and taste so you can monitor the lemon-sugar ratio to what you want. We ended up using 6 cups of water and all of the simple syrup. If you don't like pulp, use a little strainer to take it out, it floats to the top so it'll be easy. Cover and put in the fridge to get cold.

So worth the wait...

While we waited we found things to do then decided to go out and pass time...

A few hours later....

Get out a glass and and put several strawberry ice cubes in it. Fill the rest of the glass with lemonade.

After a little while of letting your cold drink sit the strawberry starts to dissolve into the lemonade. What you get is a magical mix of lemon and strawberry. The best part is that you get a whole pitcher and you know exactly what's in it. You can make as much of this as you want and it's a really refreshing way to spend your summer.