Food On Friday: Summer Rice Salad.


 






We are hitting the portion of the summer where it is becoming a chore to cook.  We eat dinner at home just about every night.  Therefore, I have to come up with something interesting and tasty for dinner just about every night, and it's hard right now because the weather is warmer and we are busier with things outside and I don't want to be inside making something warm. And so, by the time the dinner hour rolls around sometimes I am scrambling for something to cook.  Like last night.  I needed something to accompany our grilled chicken and grilled summer squash, and we'd already had potatoes twice this week so grilled potatoes was out.  That pretty much left rice, but plain old brown rice just didn't sound fantastic, so I decided to spice it up and make a rice salad.

Out of the freezer came a 2 cup container of brown rice.  (Fact: I cook a whole 5 cups dry/10 cups cooked bag of brown rice at once.  If I'm going to boil rice for 45 minutes, I'm making a lot. It then gets divided up into meal-sized portions and frozen.)  I defrosted it and warmed it up and then started adding.  First I tossed it with some olive oil and the juice from half a lemon and salt and pepper.  Then I added a half of an avocado, a fresh garden tomato, 4 ounces of cubed fresh mozzarella, a handful of cilantro, some diced red onion, and some crushed garlic.  Sounds like an odd mix, I'm sure, but it was delicious.  Because the rice was warm to start, it got kind of melty/saucy, but it still tasted really fresh, and by the time I was done it was pretty much cooled off to the point that it wasn't a hot side dish, therefore perfect for a summer meal.  I highly recommend it.

What have you been cooking lately?  Anyone else avoiding the kitchen?

Comments

  1. Oooh this looks so tasty and fresh! Pinning!!! :o)

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  2. that looks tasty!!

    I did try making vegetarian chili the other day. It wasn't too bad but It was a bit spicy. I kind of randomly put things together.

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  3. It looks delicious! For sure I'll try it, thanks for sharing!

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  4. That looks yummy! We've been trying out meal planning, just doing a week at a time. It makes grocery shopping a lot easier and faster. Lately we've been making a lot of stuff on the grill. :-)

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  5. This looks super refreshing and perfect for summer! Yum! I've been making a lot of salads lately and Tuesday night we went out to eat at the bar/bistro around the corner from our house. It was hot, Andrew had softball until 8:30, and I didn't feel like cooking...haha.

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  6. That looks so delicious! Do your kids eat all the veges in it or pick them out? I know it's a challenge with my son to get him to eat what we eat.

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  7. i love rice salad and honestly, i have not wanted to cook a darn thing this week.

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  8. That looks sooo good! Cooking in the summer is just something I don't feel like doing - especially with the heat. I end up with a few go to recipes that use the fresh herbs in my garden and minimal cooking intensity so I don't melt.

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