Velveeta Trilogy- Part II

My second foray into the world of "Velveeta: Recipes for People who Eat Food" come from the chapter entitled "Mexican Madness". The chapter info:
"Your self control slowly diminishes, your eyes widen and your taste buds begin to pulsate... you have been diagnosed with Mexican Madness. This condition may sound a little scary and intimidating, but once you expose yourself and others to these recipes you will discover that being absolutely mad is a blessing and should be cherished and spread to others." Uhhh... what?

One plus side to the Velveeta recipes is that they've been turning out well. They're easy and so far, have been consistently good. Certainly not five star gourmet cuisine, but it is nice to have a recipe that you know you'd have to do something really awful to screw up.

This go-'round I made Tex Mex Chicken and Rice. It says it serves four, but you wind up with a huge quantity of the rice. I made five chicken breasts, and we still had extra rice. I would go so far as to say you could get six to seven servings of rice, so buy extra chicken. I also seasoned my chicken, because the recipe left them plain (no salt, even). My changes are marked with an asterisk.

Tex Mex Chicken and Rice

From Velveeta: Recipes for People Who Eat Food

Original serves 4; Modified serves 6

4 small boneless, skinless chicken breasts (*I'd recommend at least 6)

*kosher salt, black pepper, garlic powder, to taste

1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1 can chicken broth

1 cup salsa

2 cups instant rice (*I used instant brown, which increased my cooking time)

8oz Velveeta, cut into cubes

Spray a large skillet with non-stick cooking spray. *Season chicken breasts on both sides with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Add chicken to skillet, cover. Cook on med-high heat for about 4min on each side or until cooked through. Set cooked chicken aside on a clean plate.

Add broth, beans and salsa to skillet. Bring to a boil.

Stir in rice and Velveeta chunks. Lay chicken on top, cover. Cook on low heat for 5 minutes, or until rice absorbs liquid. (*Mine took closer to 15min.)

I topped mine with a little bit of shredded Velveeta (you have no idea how hard it is to shred Velveeta!) and some extra salsa. Because you don't stir the rice while cooking, you get little melty pockets of cheese, which is pretty yummy. Kyle was enthusiastic about it. I liked the rice, but thought the chicken was a little boring. I wound up cutting mine up and mixing it into the rice. Next time I might marinate the chicken in something simple, like salsa. All in all, it was good and very easy, plus it uses stuff that's easy to keep in the pantry or freezer, which would make it great for a mid-week meal when you're too tired for anything that requires extensive prep work.

Thai Inspired Peanut Noodles

Summer break starts next week at school, so Kyle and I are going to be taking a trip to visit my family in Kansas. This means that food-wise, we're in pre-vacation mode, meaning no new groceries- everything has to come out of the fridge or the pantry. Even if we weren't going on a vacation, it'd be a good idea, as I have a tendency to be a little... ahem... over-enthusiastic at the grocery store. It's a very zen experience for me- the soft music, the smell of bread wafting from the bakery, row after row of glorious edibles... Some people go to yoga, I go to Publix. Couple that with my mother's waste-not-want-not influence on my formative years, and the end result is a full pantry in which I rarely make a dent.

This meal is one that uses several of my pantry staples- pasta, peanut butter and tofu. It has a nice, spicy Thai-inspired flavor, thanks to the cilantro, pepper flakes and peanuts. We had plenty for our dinner, plus some leftovers. Kyle liked it so much, he took the leftovers to lunch at work-- not so notable, except that there was also leftover mexican in the fridge. I can rarely compete with chimichangas.

The noodles are super filling, cheap and pretty quick to throw together once your tofu is drained and pressed. If you didn't want to use tofu, it would be equally yummy with shrimp. Of course, if you don't have fresh herbs, you can use dried. I just happened to have fresh leftover that needed to get used.

We enjoyed our noodles with a bottle of HRM Rex Goliath Pinot Grigio (2006). I usually get wine at a local wine shop, but I saw the bottle at the grocery store, and the label was so weird... it called to me. It was nicely priced (less than $10), and quite good. I thought it was crisp, with a bright tart apple flavor. (The website says "Bright, juicy flavors of citrus and apples that lead to a sweet mineral core"- So I was close on my tasting notes!) I also bought the merlot, but haven't tried it yet.

Thai Inspired Peanut Noodles

Serves 2-3

1 block extra-firm tofu, drained and pressed

Canola oil

3-4 cloves garlic, sliced thin

1/2 medium onion, cut in thin half-rings

6oz spaghetti or angel hair pasta, cooked according to directions (I used whole wheat)

1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger

Red pepper flakes (to taste)

1/3c creamy peanut butter

2T soy sauce

1T honey

1/3c peanuts

1/4c fresh chopped cilantro

1/4c chopped green onion

Salt (to taste)

Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a skillet on medium heat. Sautee onions and garlic until the onions just start to caramelize. Cut the tofu into strips and sprinkle lightly with salt. Add the tofu to the pan, and allow to cook undisturbed until it becomes golden on one side, then stir to allow other sides to cook.

While tofu cooks, heat the peanut butter in a microwave safe dish. Once the peanut butter is slightly melted, whisk in soy sauce, honey, a pinch or two pepper flakes (depending on how spicy you like your noodles) and ginger.

When the tofu is golden and hot, add the peanuts and toss with the pasta, sauce and cilantro and green onions. Garnish with extra cilantro, if like me, you can't get enough of the stuff!