I have been away from this blog for a few weeks, and I missed it pretty much every day. I know I need to be more consistent and I like writing here, so I’m back.
The first week I missed was election week and we started potty training, which required me to pay extra close attention to the littlest member of the family. I have also been spending more time on job searching. I’m also trying to declutter and sell things on Mercari and Poshmark. It’s both a slow and busy season around here, if that’s possible.
For once, I decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving. The mantle is covered in decorations, the door has a wreath on it, and there is a light up dinosaur on the floor next to the fireplace. (Yes, you read that right.) I just won’t put our stockings up until the week of Christmas and, although I was considering it early, Paul said we should wait on setting up our artificial Christmas tree until the day after Thanksgiving.
Today I’m coming to you with a recipe that would work perfectly as a side dish for Thanksgiving, with Thanksgiving leftovers, or just any time. It has the flavors of fall.
Cranberry wild rice pilaf
Yield: 4 servings
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup wild rice blend
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, minced, or 1 tsp dried rosemary
1/4 cup dried cranberries
Bring water to boil in a medium saucepan. Add rice blend, butter, rosemary and dried cranberries. Cover the pan, reduce heat, and simmer for 50 minutes, or until most of the water is absorbed.
Remove pan from heat, cover, and let sit for 5 minutes before fluffing with a fork.
Note: You can do your own variation on this recipe by substituting according to your tastes and what you have on hand. Feel free to use stock instead of water or add a splash of orange juice to the water. You can use olive oil or another neutral oil instead of butter if you prefer. Instead of rosemary, you could use basil, oregano, or thyme. Diced apple and raisins should make a good addition as well, and I have seen recipes for pilaf with it but haven’t tried that.
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