I did not make anything too entirely noteworthy for dinner last night, just chicken chili. In fact, I cheated and used a McCormick seasoning mix, which are great for weeknight meals when you don't feel like standing on your feet making dinner for an hour after you've worked all day. McCormick, please contact me if you are interested in forming some sort of alliance... ;)
The packet instructs you to cube your chicken, but I just used ground chicken which worked beautifully. I also had a jalapeño in the fridge, so I diced that up and threw it in the pot with a little diced onion. I served it over rice with a little sour cream, shredded cheddar and slices of avocado to garnish. Yum! Chicken chili is a nice, lighter alternative to the regular beef chili that I make (which is a favorite of mine... maybe someday I'll even give you my recipe!).
Since I do not have much to write about concerning last night's dinner, I thought I would take this opportunity to talk about favorite kitchen gadgets. Speaking of serving chili over rice, one of my favorite gadgets is my rice cooker. I love being able to measure rice, water and salt, flip it on and walk away. I sometimes make large batches at a time to use throughout the week.
The best part about my rice cooker is that it also has a steamer basket that I can nest on top of the bowl, so while I am cooking rice, I can steam vegetables at the same time! I bought my cooker for $20.00 at Target a while back and it is sadly time to replace it. The non-stick surface has been scratched by too many metal spoons dishing out rice (oops!). So my search begins for an upgrade…
Another tool/gadget I could not live without are my tongs. I particularly love my Oxo Good Grips tongs which have nylon heads so they don’t scratch your pots & pans. In fact, I love just about everything that Oxo makes. I use tongs all the time when I am cooking on the stove top (which I do a lot). Sautéing a chicken breast, taking pasta out of cooking water, making a stir-fry…
5 comments:
Sara, your blog is great!
For some reason, I hate my $20 rice cooker from Target which I hear are the best kind! Maybe I need to take a rice-cookery class. One of my favorite gadgets is this the Vidalia Chop Wizard http://www.amazon.com/Vidalia-Chop-Wizard-VOWR-2/dp/B000I6JZWA. Yes, the one "as seen on TV."
Melissa, are you adding salt? My rice cooker doesn't work as well when I forget that step... They always say that step is optional, but it really does help. Try throwing in a tsp. of salt the next time you use your rice cooker.
I love the White Chicken Chili - I always have a couple packets in the cabinet. It's so yummy and easy.
Oh, and I LOVE my pot strainer http://www.millstreetmarketplace.com/trudeau-pot-drainer.html
I know it's a simple little gadget but it makes things easier and leaves me with one less thing to wash.
Sara,
Glad to hear city girls cook..lol
My favorite kitchen gadget is the food scraper. You can use it to scoop up your chopped veggies, pie dough, sliced meat, cookies- so many uses. A great time saver.
I also like my whisk/thongs. It closes to use as whisk then opens to use as a large pair of thongs.
Happy cooking ya'll.
Melissa, I love my $10 rice cooker. I can just put the rice in a leave, and know it will be done correctly without me watching the pot. Try greasing your bowl before you add the water & rice. And add the salt in the water before cooking. It gets into the rice while it cooks.
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