Category: Recipes

Low Carb Rice Recipe

Social Media is not doing much for my figure.  I’m far from obese, but I’m currently unhappy with my weight, as I’m about a stone over my target weight.  Don’t hate me, I don’t eat chocolate, crisps or cakes and for the most part we eat fairly well as a family but my biggest downfall is wine!

I don’t have the patience for things like Weight Watchers or Slimming World where you lose a pound a week, so every once in a while, to shed a few pounds, I embark on my own version of a low-carb diet.  The biggest challenge I have is thinking of things to cook as our normal menu is heavily based on potatoes and rice.

I have mastered faux mash, which is basically steamed cauliflower mashed with butter salt and pepper but tonight I used Linda’s Faux Rice Recipe, which is incredibly easy and with a pleasing result!  It didn’t taste like rice but it was surprisingly nice!

So, I was able to enjoy my slow cooker lamb curry as usual tonight!  I also plan to chuck a bit of exercise into the mix as well.

 

What is Jambalaya?

This is my take on Jambalaya, a creole dish of rice, chicken, prawns and sausages with a few herbs and veg thrown in as well.  I really like this recipe as it only requires on pot, I use a dutch oven.   Another added bonus my 3 year old gobbles it up!

Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 TBSP Vegetable Oil

2 onions, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

2 sticks of celery

1 tsp of lazy garlic

2 tsp paprika

300g of skinless boneless chicken but into bite-size pieces

100g of Kabanos sausages, chopped

400g tin of chopped tomatoes

450g of Basmati rice

1 litre of chicken stock

1 tsp of oregano

2 bay leaves

200g King Prawns

2 spring onions

Method:

Heat the oil in the Dutch oven then add the onions, green pepper, celery and garlic.  Sauté for about 10 minutes until soft.

Add the paprika and cook for a further minute.  Add the chicken and sausage and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Add the rice and stir well.  Throw in the tinned tomatoes, chicken stock, oregano and bay leaves.  Cover and simmer for another 10 minutes.  You will need to stir it occasionally, don’t panic if it sticks to the bottom.  You may also find that you may need to add a bit more liquid.

Add the prawns and cook for approx 6-8 minutes.  The majority of the liquid should be absorbed.

Just before serving stir in the spring onions.

If you like this recipe you may want to check out more of my recipes here.

 

Rice with Cream of Mushroom Soup (Bachelor’s or Campbell’s)

When I was a kid my mum used to always cook mushroom soup rice.  However, she did it on the stove (cooker).  Don’t laugh but for the life of me I couldn’t find a recipe so I winged it and it was exactly what I remember.

Ingredients:

  • 330 ml of water
  • 1 tin (295g) of Cream of Mushroom Soup (Condensed)
  • ¼ tsp of paprika
  • ¼ tsp of pepper
  • 200 ml of long grain rice (I used Basmati)

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees (we have fan assisted)
  2. Mix the mushroom soup, water, paprika and pepper in a jug.  Mix well.
  3. Put the rice in an oven-proof dish.  Pour over the rice and stir.
  4. Cover with foil and cook for 40-45 minutes.

Voila!  Probably not the healthiest but makes rice a bit more interesting.

 

 

 

 

Slow Cooker Pork Chops in Mushroom Gravy

I normally don’t post my recipes until I’ve tried them but this one smells so good I’m confident it’s going to be delicious!  I’ll let you know otherwise.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

  • 2 TBSP of Oil
  • 4 medium pork chops
  • Salt and Pepper
  • 1 tin of Baxter’s Cream of Mushroom Soup (295g)
  • ½ tin of Baxter’s French Onion Soup (415g)
  • 1 TBSP of butter
  • 200 grams of button mushrooms sliced

Directions

  1. Heat the oil in a frying pan, season the pork chops with salt and pepper and brown on both sides (approx 3 minutes per side).  Transfer to the slow cooker.
  2. Melt the butter in a sauce pan and sauté the mushrooms for a few minutes until they begin to soften.  They still have hours in the slow cooker so you don’t need to cook them fully.  Place on top of the chops in the slow cooker.
  3. Mix the Mushroom and French Onion soup in a jug.  Pour over the mushrooms and pork chops.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

I tend to serve mine with rice and green beans.

Enjoy!

You can find a full list of my slow cooker recipes here.

Slow Cooker Shiitake Mushroom Risotto

I love Risotto but I hate making it.  I have the attention span of a goldfish and can’t bear to stand in front of the cooker ladling and stirring, ladling and stirring for 30 minutes.  So, I was over the moon when I learned that you could do it in the slow cooker, no stirring required!  Here is the recipe and I’m sure you can adjust it to whatever recipe you normally use.  I think the trick is the amount of liquid to rice ratio.

Ingredients

  • 4 TBSP of olive oil, divided
  • 250 ml of finely chopped onions
  • 65ml of white wine
  • 315g of Arborio Rice
  • 1 litre of chicken stock
  • 1 TBSP of butter
  • 120 grams of shiitake mushrooms
  • Salt and pepper
  • 3 tablespoons of single cream
  • 30 g of freshly grated parmesan

Method

  1. Heat 3 TBSP of the oil in a frying pan.  Sauté the onions until they are soft (approx 3 minutes).  Add the white wine and stir continuously for 1 minute.  Add the rice and stir and cook until it starts to become transparent, about 3 minutes.  Put into the slow cooker and add the chicken stock.  Cook for 2 hours on high.  No need to stir.
  2. 30 minutes before it is finishes, melt the butter and remaining TBSP of oil in a frying pan, add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and sauté until they’re soft (Approx 5 minutes).  Stir into the Risotto in the slow cooker.
  3. 5 minutes before it is finishes stir in the parmesan cheese.

Now, how easy is that?  If you do ever try any of these recipe, please fell free to blog about them and link back here!  I’d love to see you’re variations.