Right now I am extremely tired. And if you asked me to put together a new inventive recipe or complete dinner I would just laugh at you. As much as I love meal planning, picking the perfect protein and matching sides, or dreaming up an all new recipe idea, sometimes I get stuck. And if I am being honest, sometimes, yes sometimes, really not in the mood to cook anything.
Yes, even food bloggers get in a cooking rut.
A cooking rut in the food blogging world is so taboo. I mean really how can someone who loves to eat and cook be stuck in a rut. Oh, and if all the food bloggers who get in a rut (and they all do), were to share their confessions, some might be shocked about what they ate while getting through their dinner time blues.
Yes, I will admit that there have been weeks when we have eaten out every meal (how this food blog kept running during those times, I haven’t a clue!) or where we ate frozen pizza for dinner (gasp!!) and I have even used a boxed cake mix a time or to. But that is real life people!
You might ask what I do to get out of a rut. Well hours and hours are spent pouring over food magazines, cookbooks, blogs and Pinterest, looking for just the right recipe to get my cooking mojo back. And sometimes, it is finding just the right ingredient to get me inspired in the kitchen. Like when I discovered Wildtree Gourmet Foods. This line of all natural, organic, preservative and nut-free foods has all sorts of seasoning blends, sauces and infused grapeseed oils to help you take shortcuts in the kitchen. If you are in a cooking rut, you don’t want to spend any extra time in the kitchen and having products like these, that add pops of flavor with very little effort, are essential!
This Lemon Rosemary Rice was made on one of those days when I didn’t feel like cooking, yet eating out (again!) wasn’t an option. Rice is a common side dish in our house, yet plain rice is so boring (which leads to a cooking rut!)!! Switching from traditional long grain rice to Jasmine and adding some fresh lemon and rosemary really took blah rice and made it the star of dinner!!
Oh and one more thing before I leave you. While the recipe has it optional and the photos are lacking, do not skip the feta cheese! Please!!! We have made this rice several times (since taking the photos) and the creamy, tangy feta is what really makes this dish pop and what made this side dish go from a one hit wonder to tried and true!
Lemon Rosemary Rice
Perfectly cooked rice with fresh lemon, earthy rosemary and creamy feta.
Ingredients
- 3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 ½ cups Jasmine rice
- 1 ½ tablespoons Wildtree Roasted Garlic Grapeseed Oil
- 1 lemon, juiced and zested
- 1 tablespoon fresh minced rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1/2 teaspoon each salt and black pepper, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese (optional, but highly recommended)
Instructions
- In a large pot, combine chicken stock, rice, and Roasted Garlic Grapeseed Oil . Bring to a boil and boil for 1-2 minutes. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and keep covered for an additional 5 minutes.
- Fluff rice with fork and stir in in rosemary, lemon juice and zest, salt, black pepper and sugar. Serve immediately.
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Adapted from Wildtree
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[…] In an effort to change up dinner, at least a little, I’ll often experiment with side dishes. Yeah it will still be broccoli, but maybe I make a quick cheese sauce to go over it or transform the broccoli into a salad. Or instead of plain rice make Mexican Rice, or Cilantro Lime Rice or Lemon Rosemary Rice. […]