French Onion Almond Rice

This French Onion Almond rice is a delicious and flavor filled side dish.  To make it even better it is as easy to make as dumping the ingredients into a pan and putting it in the oven!  This is a family favorite that we have enjoyed for years.  It looks so nice you can serve it for company.  Try it you'll like it!

French Onion Almond Rice

2 cups long grain white rice
2 1/4 cups water
2 cans french onion soup
1 cube margarine
1 small package slivered almonds (about 2/3 cup)

Put all ingredients into a 13 x 9 pan. Cover pan tightly with foil.  Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.

Recipe source: My sister Peggy!
 This recipe was shared with the following sites!
Somebody's Dinner
A Dish of Daily Life
The Country Cook
The Sits Girls

Did you try this?  Please let me know!

Family Time! Part 2- What do your Kids Really Want for Dinner?

Part 2---

In part 1, we talked about the really important reasons why you would want to make family sit down dinners at home part of your life.  It really does give your kids more than just a healthy meal.  It can be life changing for all of you.  But how, you ask, can I possibly do that when we have so much going on and so many other "things" to do?  I hope this part 2 article will help you get some ideas to lesson the stress and give you some doable ways to begin. 

If you are anything like me and my family it seems like life gets busier with each passing year.  So to help you with that, I put together a couple of top ten lists of things to do that will help simplify cooking for a family.  Also, to help you see the effects that eating together can have.  List #1 was in the 1st part of  "What do your kids really want for dinner?". 

List #2 - 

       Plan what you make and make what you love!

      
          1. Right now, go get a pen and paper and write down as many 
              meals as you can that you like to make for your family.

          2. Each time you try something new ask your family to rate it.
              I tell mine that because this is a trial recipe, they can be
              completely honest.  I really want to know what they think. 
              (I brace myself for honest reactions!!)  Ask them to rate it on
              scale of 1-3.  1=dislike, 2=ok, will eat again, 3=great! loved it!

          3. Write their preferences on the recipe so you can remember who
              loves it and who just likes it etc.  Now add it to your list from #1!

          4. Rotate making each one's favorite meals.  Or if you make one 
              person's fav. main dish, make another person's fav. side dish.
              That way everyone is happy!
   
          5. I LOVE lists!  At the beginning of each month I try to sit down 
             for just one hour (as opposed to worrying about each and every
             day for the next 30 days! and write each day of the month down
             the side of a notebook page.  I include the date and day of week. 
             (That makes it easier to see special occasions or prior
             commitments and plan around them.)  

          6. Variety is the spice of life!
              It is surprising how many meals you forget to put in your
              rotation through the years.  I still have favorites from my
              college days that we still enjoy and are very easy and frugal.
  
              Use your list from #1 above to help you fill in a dinner
              meal for each day.  This way you get a lot of variety 
              because you aren't just getting to the end of the day and thinking
              "What's in the fridge we could have for dinner?"  

              Does this sound like too much work?  It becomes fast and easy 
              when you do it with a list of meals you have made but also;

                  1. You don't have to stress every night (or all day long) over
                      what to have for dinner.  It is all thought out! NO Stress!

                  2. If you aren't in the mood for the meal plan for the night
                      no problem!  Switch!  Because you have planned to have
                      all the ingredients for so many meals at the first of the 
                      month, you can easily look at your list and just Switch!

                  3. Shopping is much more effective and easy because you
                      have a plan and a list!  You save money because you 
                      don't have to make a store run and end up picking up
                      extra impulse buys.  As you fill in your dinner schedule, 
                      make a line down the page for another column to list
                      any ingredients you don't have on hand.

            7. Make Doable Meals!  Be kind to yourself.  As you schedule 
                your month, fill in busy days with meals that are simple to 
                prepare.  Have a freezer meal that just needs to thaw in the
                microwave or pull out some salmon, thaw it, sprinkle with
                seasoning and bake for 10 min. with a green salad, dinner is
                ready!  Don't over schedule yourself!

            8.  Get a good freezer and use it!!  I know a few women (working
                and not), who spend a couple of complete Saturdays a month
                making freezer meals so they don't have to cook when they
                get home each evening.
  
                That is great for those that it works for and I applaud them,
                but it doesn't work for me.  I can't remember a time
                even now that my children are gone that I felt ambitious
                enough or had a whole days time to devote to making
                meals.  

                Much easier for me was to double or even triple meals
                as I make them.  I was already getting all the ingredients
                out, mixing and cooking them so it just didn't take much
                longer to make an extra recipe and freeze it.  Even now that                         it is just my husband and I most of the time, I haven't lost
                the desire to cook nice meals because I know that my efforts 
                tonight mean that I get a night or two off in the future and it
                it so great to have 2 or 3 nights off a week that way!

            9. Get the kids to pick meals they can learn to make and be in
                charge of!   Here is a link to a great recipe that even young
                children can help with.  Bubble Up Pizza by The Country Cook.
                Another fun recipe kids really love is found on my site, 
                Ragu Enchiladas, and they could help with these also.
               
     This is where I hope you won't judge me but I only have 9 in my top ten list..but I hope these ideas are as valuable to you as they have been to me!
The important message here is that eating together as a family is invaluable.  It sets the stage for more open communication and creates the feeling that being together is important and that we like each other!  

     If all these ideas don't work for you please feel free to pick the ones that do and then improvise your own!  You will soon learn that what your kids really want for dinner is...
                                           YOU!


I would love to hear any ideas you have that would help others with busy lives find ways to have sit down meals together!  I love your comments!





This has been shared on these wonderful sites!  
Mandy'a Recipe Box
Buns in my Oven
Anyonita's Nibbles
What's cooking Love?
The Country Cook

Strawberry Mango Salsa

This salsa is so pretty to look at!!  It is a fun combination of flavors too!  The really nice thing about it is that it can be made in the summertime but also when strawberries first come into the stores in very early spring.  Ours come in sometimes as early as February from the west coast.  You don't have to wait for summer tomatoes for this one!  It is sweet and fruity and the cilantro adds a touch of spice to the mix.  If you don't like cilantro (is that really possible??) you can substitute basil for it.  This recipe was adapted from How Sweet Eats.

Strawberry Mango Salsa

3/4 cup diced mango 
3/4 cup strawberries, chopped small (1/2 inch)
1/4 cup finely diced red onion
2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Pick a Mango that gives a little when you push in on it with your finger.  There should be no brownish spots on it.  I like the ones that are a blended red and yellow color.  Don't peel the Mango just set it on a cutting board with the large rounded end down.  Starting at the top cut the side off as close to the seed as you can, curving your knife around the seed.  Cut all 4 sides the same way.  Discard the seed and dice the meat by cutting a diced pattern in it without cutting through the skin like this:

 Then push the skin from the back until the meat is rounded out.  Like this:

Then you can cut it off and it is all ready to go in your salsa!

Dice your onions finely, 

Cut cilantro like it shows here in this recipe for chicken salad. 

Then add all the remaining ingredients.  Let this sit for a couple of hours before eating it for the flavors to blend. 

This is best eaten the same day.  Enjoy!

This  recipe was shared on these wonderful sites!
Mandy's Recipe Box
Anyonita's Nibbles
Buns in My Oven
Smart School House
The Country Cook

Zucchini -15 Minute Montreal Style

Why is it that when I bring up the word Zucchini at any given gathering that people get a nervous look on their face and quickly turn the subject around to other things?   The first answer is probably "What a dumb thing to bring up at a social gathering and the second answer is that they probably have soooo much zucchini in their gardens that they are already stressed about how in the world they are going to ever consume the vast amounts of summer squash that are coming their way!  So I am here to rescue you!  This is a very quick, very easy way to use up ALOT of zucchini fast!   

     Here is what you do.  Take a medium to large zucchini (If you have yellow and green use both, it looks really pretty)

Savory Style Green Beans

 I love going to a restaurant and finding that the vegetable being served with the entree is not just something out of a can but is fresh and has a slightly sweet and buttery taste to it.  When I was asked to come up with a side dish for Christmas Eve this one fit perfectly!  Not only was it delicious but the colors were perfect too!  Also, I couldn't believe that fresh green beans were readily available this time of year at several of the supermarkets that I shop at.  This doesn't have to be a Christmas dish because the colors look appealing at all times of the year and the flavor is wonderful.
Savory Green Beans

2 lbs.   fresh green beans trimmed

2 cups water

1 teas. Salt

1/3cup butter

1 ½Tblspn. Sugar

1 teas.  Dried Basil

½ teas. Garlic pdr.

¼ teas. Salt

¼ teas. Pepper

2 cups  halved cherry or grape tomatoes

Boil beans 15 min. Melt butter over med hear; stir in sugar and next 4 ing.  Add tomatoes and cook, stirring gently until heated.  Pour tomatoes mixture over beans. Serve.                                                  8 servings.