Big Blue Pot ~ Feeling Lazy

Ahhhh, we made it through the Christmas celebrations and my husband's birthday (which he notes is the reason for the season) unscathed.  After polishing off Patrick's birthday cake (Barefoot Contessa's Mocha Icebox cake)  on Sunday night, I felt the warm and heavy weight of fatigue start to settle in.  I didn't think I would ever want to cook again or eat for that matter...let it be noted that I would make an exception for the cake as it was damn good...but I digress.

Thinking ahead to my work week and meal making for my family left me a bit uninspired.  I decided to go with my lazy outlook and plan some meals that were easy.  Let me introduce to you Baked Vegetable Rice.  Wait, wait, before I introduce you to the main dish, let me first pay homage to the Big Blue Pot.  Doesn't she look lovely out there in the snow on our back deck?  I placed her so because I have discovered that I really have a crappy camera when it comes to indoor picture taking.  Anyway, here she sits all big and blue.  I used to dread the sight of the Big Blue Pot growing up.  Whenever my mom would pull it out from the cabinets, I would respond by rolling my eyes and quickly trying to steal a snack so I wouldn't be hungry come dinner time.  My mom would use the offending pot for coq au vin and beef bourguignon and other such dishes repugnant to a teenager.   I think my sister also shared my dread of the Big Blue Pot which makes the fact that she gave me one for Christmas a few years ago all the more curious.  Did she do this because she loves me and knew I would appreciate it with my more adult palette or was it some sort of evil joke akin to her "fun" games of holding me down and spitting on my face and other various forms of torture from growing up?  Oh, but I am getting off track again.  Let me get back to the Big Blue Pot.  I now love her and use her great ceramic cooking talents quite often.   I knew she would be just perfect for the veggie rice.


Baked Vegetable Rice ~ from Mothering magazine, November-December 2010

2 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 stalks celery, diced

2-3 carrots, diced 

1/2 cup brown rice

3/4 cup uncooked lentils (I used French green)

1 tsp cumin

1 2/3 cup veggie broth

1 cup tomatoes, crushed with juice (I only had fire-roasted diced tomatoes and I preferred the kick)

S&P to taste

2 cups baby spinach (chop up if using any other green)

1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 325F

In Big Blue Pot, or some variation thereof, heat up the oil over medium heat.  Saute the onion, garlic, celery and carrots until tender - about 8-10 minutes.  Add the rice, lentils and cumin and stir for 1 minute.  Add broth, tomatoes, salt and pepper; stir to combine.  Put the lid on Big Blue Pot (a step I didn't do the first time I tried this) and Bake for 1 1/2 hours.  

Mix in greens and cheese and bake for an additional 15-30 minutes.

The recipe says it serves 6-8. I think it serves 4 adults and 2 kids with no leftovers.  Next time, I will double the recipe.  I really wanted some more.  Plus, leftovers are the perfect lazy day meal.  

I ran the veggie rice and some lazy carrot salad over to Jenny and her family before we sat down to dinner.  Because the Big Blue Pot and rice don't lend themselves to interesting photographs (and my camera stinks), I attempted to take a picture outside to capture the pretty wintry weather we have had lately.  I lost my creative energy on the way out the door and decided to go with placing the delivery basket in front of snow and pretty sky and call it a day.  Perfect lazy ending to a perfectly lazy meal.