Friday, January 14, 2011

Wild Rice Casserole (or how I saw an ad and it worked)


I saw this recipe on the back page of the Jan/Feb edition of VegNews magazine. It was in an advert for a wild rice blend. I'm not sure what it was about the ad....maybe the photo, or maybe the mood I was in, but it was one of those recipes that I had to make asap.

The casserole is a blend of wild rice, sweet brown rice, black rice, and a couple others baked with granny smith apples, butternut squash, some veggie broth, and seasoned with thyme and walnuts.

Any whole grain rice mix of your own... long grain brown rice and wild rice for example, would work fine.  But, I went out and bought the rice blend to make the recipe... what can I say? Their ad totally worked on me.  (The blend is pretty yummy though.)


I followed the recipe for the most part except that I added celery in with the onions while saute-ing, and used oregano instead of thyme in the saute. I added fresh thyme, walnuts and pecans after baking instead of before.


(Note that the recipe calls for the rice to be cooked beforehand.)  

Great texture, lovely sweetness from the baked apple and the squash, and with the thyme and celery, it tastes sort of like stuffing. Yum.  I ate it for lunch with some steamed greens and fresh apple (cuz they showed fresh apple in the ad...I'm a sucker.). For a hardy meal, I think beans would be a great addition, which I'll probably do with the leftovers...I'm thinking chickpeas.


Anyway, that's all. If it sounds good, definitely check it out.

Have a nice weekend.



27 comments:

  1. sweet brown rice, i havent heard of that type of rice before, sounds really good. why do i find it so hard to follow a recipe? add, adhd? a sweet mixture of both? thanks for taking a picture of the recipe.

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  2. Haha, that occasionally happens to me too - all of a sudden I'm in the checkout line with something I'd never expect to have in hand. Bizarre how those things work, and a little scary too.
    Luckily, I won't have to cave to ads OR the peer pressure of seeing those beautiful vegetables all laid out in yr last photo since I have almost all these things on hand already! I was hoping having wild rice around would pay off! Thank you!
    (PS - so is the VegNews issue out already? I'm supposed to have gotten my first issue in the mail and I'm getting antsy!)

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  3. Michelle

    There are few rices in the blend I bought I hadn't heard of either. I'm lazy about finding out more about them, but they taste good. :) Yeah, I know, following recipes is a challenge for me too, except in baking. I think improvising with recipes is a sign of creativity and excellence. :D

    FoodFeud

    I know right? It is definitely scary. Actually, I think I had wild rice on the brain from your soup recipe a few days back...so I was pre-progammed to make this...in a Good way!

    Yes, the Jan/Feb issue is out. It probably should have arrived by now...maybe give them a ring.

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  4. That sure is a pretty casserole, and sounds really interesting and delicious! My mom used to make wild rice casserole (and I loved it), but it was nothing like this one. I think your idea of chickpeas is brilliant! We buy Lundberg wild rice blend a lot (buy it in bulk from Amazon, that's how much we eat it!), but we just cook it up, put some tamari on it and serve it on the side. How wretchedly pedestrian of us! :-) I've never even paid attention to any recipes on the package!

    I still haven't had time to read my latest issue of VegNews, and I'm really eager to read Marla Rose's article! She doesn't post very often, but I'm pretty sure you follow her blog. I'm just too tired ("lazy") to look for it on that impressive list of blogs you've compiled over yonder ----->
    :-)

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  5. P.S. Every time (about once a year) that we go to the health food store up in Billings that sells it in bulk, BW insists that we buy sweet brown rice. There's something he's wanting to make with it, but I don't remember what (it might be a homebrew!), and since he never gets around to it, I end up feeding the rice to the mice! :-) Then he insists on buying more the next time we're in Billings. It's a vicious cycle, but Val and Tino seem to be just fine with it! :-)

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  6. It looks really great, and I love wild rice!!!

    ciao
    Alessandra

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  7. That looks so good! I'd love to see the pic in the add that caught your eye!

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  8. Some of the best recipes are the shy ones, that quickly peek at us, instead of being boastfully on the front cover. This looks warm and comforting.

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  9. That looks so good! Healthy, too. I'm going to go take a look at my copy right now!

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  10. Rose! You won the bandana giveaway! Can you email at vegandogslife at charter dot net when you get a chance? I just need an address to send it to. :)

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  11. Absolutely incredible! I'm super impressed!

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  12. I'm all about butternut squash these days. It would get to me too. I have had this rice blend and I really like it. I think I'll try it out this recipe too.
    Ahh, the power of marketing.

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  13. This sounds so yummy! It sounds like something I would really like! I like apples, wild rice and squash! What a great combo!

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  14. The power of advertising! The casserole looks great, and I'm going to find my copy of VN and make it, too. I used to buy a rice blend like that but haven't had any in a while so I'll probably just make something up. Thanks for sharing your great find!

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  15. Laurie

    Yeah, the wild rice is great stuff...we eat it from time to time, but I've realized we should eat it more often; it really is yummy and great texture. I think the blend is quite good as well, and served on the side with tamari sounds really good...I bet you can really enjoy the flavors of the rice that way...I'll have to try that, probably soon.

    Oh yes, I was surprised to see Marla in VegNews...I do follower her blog. But it makes sense, she's such a great writer. I haven't read her article yet either...like you, it took me a while to get around to looking through it. I only looked at for the first time two days ago, but I've had it for 2 weeks I think.

    Sweet brown rice...yeah, that sounds like it would make a nice brew! So cute that Val and Tino really get to reap the benefits. I'm sure they love it! <:3 <-- does that look like a mouse?

    Alessandra

    I'm with you wild rice is so good! Ciao! :)

    Melody

    Yeah, I was thinking of putting of pic of the magazine version in the post...but it would make my version pale. :D

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  16. BlessedMama

    You put that so well and poetically. Very good observation, and so true! :)

    Molly

    Thanks! I'll get in touch asap. Let us know if you make the recipe and what you think! :)

    Shen

    Aww Shen you're too kind! Thanks for always being there. :)

    Jennifer

    Ah yes, the power of marketing...and I've noticed the predominance of butternut squash recipes around too! Oh well...can't really complain. :) Totally let us know how you like it.


    Carissa

    I agree, great combo right? They just seem to go naturally together. I think you will like it. It's also good with a bit of hot sauce drizzled over.

    Andrea

    Oh yes, I'm sure you'll come up with an awesome blend. I hope you like the recipe...for me, it's definitely one I'll be making on a regular basis. Let us know what you think when you make it!

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  17. That looks like a tasty recipe - and very clever of you not to say the name of the rice you bought. I found it, though, in the recipe. I'm very susceptible to advertising, myself.

    Pecans, apple, and squash sound like a great combination. Thanks for sharing - have a great weekend too!

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  18. Jessica

    Yeah...I didn't want it sound like I had fallen for the ad so hard that I was promoting the rice...I mean there are worse things than promoting wild rice, but still. :) It is a great combo with the squash, apples, and nuts...and the rice blend is good, but would also be easy to mix at home if you had several different types of rice on hand.

    :)

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  19. YUMMY!!! This sounds amazing! I sure wish I had a big bowl of that right now!
    I like how you took a picture of the recipe. :o)

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  20. Hi Michelle,

    I was thinking of you when I made it, because I remembered that you made a rice stuffing to have for Thanksgiving...and this tasted alot like stuffing to me. :)

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  21. Way to recreate a recipe! I really like the idea of the squash and wild rice :) I looks great!

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  22. SaltandHumor

    The squash and rice are a good match for sure! :)

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  23. Rose -- first time on your wonderful blog. I am a vegetarian/vegan (eat yogurt) and have ate this way for 25 years. I am not a recipe type cook -- learned to cook simply and free style. I am going to try your rice and squash recipe next summer when I have a bountiful crop of butternut squash (at least I hope it is bountiful). It looks delicious! Your posts are presented so beautifully. -- barbara

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  24. Hi Barbara

    Thanks for stopping by, I know we pass in the night on Laurie's blog! I cook freestyle mostly too, but use recipes as guides or for new ideas! I'm sure your squash harvest will be bountiful!

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  25. Um...okay...I hate it when I do this: THINK that I commented, then come back to check days later and see that either 1)there was word verification I forgot to do or 2)the kids interrupted me before I hit "post comment" and there you go.

    I'm pretty sure I wrote something about how I had showed my husband the top picture and explained how you always have the most beautiful arrangements of food - with the apples next to the squash and rice and greens and just so much going on. Nothin' boring about Rose's meals.

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  26. Hey! This one inspired tonight's dinner : ) I made something way different due to limited ingredients (mainly lack of celery which seems critical in this dish)...I'll try to blog about it soon!

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  27. Stephanie

    Do blog it! I'd love to see what you came up with! :)

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