Foodie Patoodie!: rice

Monday, June 6, 2011

Foodie Baby: Grilled BBQ Chicken with Rice

Today for lunch, the adults ate the most mouthwatering charcoal-grilled BBQ chicken with baked beans and grilled zucchini on the side. I know Piper loves smoky flavored things because of a baby food version of an adult dish that I appetizingly call "Cowboy Slop" (which I will be posting soon), so I figured this would be a hit as well. I used some Basmati rice that was leftover from a previous dinner to add a little manganese and iron. Piper ended up loving the taste, but had a little issue with the texture of the rice which doesn't puree quite as smoothly as the meat. It would be the only thing left on her tongue, and after a few inquisitive looks up at me as if I can swallow it for her, she figured it out. Enjoy, little foodie babies!

~Ingredients~

8 oz. chicken breast (one large one)
pepper
BBQ sauce of your choice
charcoal grill
1/2 cup of cooked rice
water

~Instructions~
1. Sprinkle the 8 oz chicken breast with fresh ground cracked pepper

2. Grill on first side for 5 minutes. Baste with BBQ sauce and flip so that breast is sauce-side down. Grill another 5 minutes.

3. Baste the other side again and grill for another 5 minutes.

4. Repeat and grill another 5 minutes.

5. The chicken is grilled for a total of 20 minutes at this point and should have a nice crispy-red BBQ sauce layer.
6. Remove from grill and cut into pieces. Place in a food processor.
7. Add 1/2 cup of cooked rice.
8. Add a little extra BBQ sauce (your discretion, depending on your baby's taste)

9. Add water until you have reached the desired consistency for your baby. The younger, the more smooth it should be. The older ones can handle their chunks pretty well. Maybe teeth has something to do with it?

10. It should make 4 jars of smoky delicious baby food.

11. Your child should look something like this after the first taste. ENJOY!

What's For Dinner? - Margarita Grilled Shrimp

Right out of the gate, I will tell you my experience making this dish and you can do with it what you will. For me, this was one of those foodie experiments that turned out to be a lot of fun to make (as the pictures indicate), and totally wasn't worth all of the work. At the end of the dish, I can say it truly was delicious, but I didn't taste a lick of the "margarita," just a lot of good grilled shrimp flavor. Hmmmm....

~Ingredients~

1 pound of raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 cloves of minced garlic
2 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lime juice
3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. tequila (and maybe a splash or two more)
3 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro
1/4 tsp. ground red pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
Desired amount of cooked rice

~Instructions~

Combine the garlic....