Cheap Eats: Rice-Stuffed (Edible) Leaves

We all know that rice is a cheap food. The trick is to vary how it's served to both satisfy the palate and bring in additional nutrients. 

I like to use edible leaves as wrappers for a rice and herb mixture. The edible leaves are free to us, as are the herbs and seasonings. My only cost is the rice, salt, pepper, a bit of olive oil, and fuel for the stove. I use homemade chicken bone stock for the cooking liquid. But you could use water or chicken bouillon. In any case, this is a super economical and flavorful way to serve rice. If you have a small amount of cooked meat to use up, stuffed leaves are also a great way to stretch that small amount for more servings.

No grape leaves? Do you throw away the outer, not as crisp leaves from a head of cabbage? They are perfect candidates for stuffing.

Here I'm using some grape leaves that I froze at the end of last summer. I blanched them before freezing, so that step is taken care of for this meal. Other possibilities for leaves include fig leaves, large nasturtium leaves, sorrel, Swiss chard, and cabbage (especially the outer, sometimes wilted cabbage leaves). Squash blossoms from summer or winter squash plants or pumpkins are also candidates for stuffing. The leaves all require blanching before stuffing, so they roll up more easily. But the squash/pumpkin blossoms are flexible enough when fresh-picked. To blanch leaves, I wash, then microwave them briefly (10 seconds for the most tender leaves up to a minute for individual cabbage leaves) to soften.

If you can roll up a burrito, you can roll filled leaves. I first lay out all of the leaves on the kitchen counter. This ensures I have enough filling for each leaf. I then put a spoonful of the seasoned rice onto each leaf.

Beginning at the lower edge of a leaf, I fold up the bottom, fold in the sides, then roll up.

When all leaves are rolled, I place 2 or 3 large leaves on the bottom of a Dutch oven. 

These bottom leaves prevent sticking of the filled leaves.

Next, I place all the rolls onto the liner leaves.

I lay 2 or 3 large leaves on top of the rolls to help hold the rolls together. Some cooks place a small plate on top of these leaves, but I haven't found that to be necessary.

I pour the liquid gently over all, bring to a gentle simmer, cover and simmer on LOW for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes (time will depend on your stove and the pot used). 

After 1 hour, if it looks like the rice isn't fully cooked, I add a couple of tablespoons of water and steam for 10-15 more minutes. This usually does the trick. To see if the rice is thoroughly cooked, I check an opening or tear on one of the leaves and pick out a single grain of rice with the tip of a knife and sample.

Leaving the lid on, I allow the cooked rolls to stand for one hour off the heat. This standing time helps the rolls solidify.

Stuffed leaves can be made ahead and reheated in the microwave. Leftovers are always gobbled up in my house.

Here's the seasoned rice recipe I use for stuffed grape leaves. The seasonings can be changed up according to taste and availability. For example, dried oregano can be subbed for the allspice and dill weed if stuffing cabbage or Swiss chard leaves.  A little cooked ground beef or Italian sausage can be added to this filling, then the cooked rice rolls can be topped with some marinara sauce. Sage (1 teaspoon rubbed or minced fresh) along with some broken up cooked breakfast sausage has nice flavor for squash blossoms.

For about 20 small grape leaves (serves 4):

filling (mix together ion a bowl)

1/2 cup uncooked white rice
1/2 teaspoon salt

dash black pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1 tablespoon minced dill weed

1 tablespoon minced parsley

1/4 cup minced onions, chives, shallots, or about 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1 tablespoon olive oil

cooking liquid

1  1/4 cups chicken stock, water, or bouillon

Extra minced vegetables can be added to the rice filling, up to about 1/4 cup, minced. Up to 1/2 cup of finely chopped cooked meat can also be added.

Do you make stuffed leaves or blossoms? What do you like to use for a filling?

Road Trip

I was on the road all last week. I tried to keep up with my blog, but after a couple of days I just didn't have time. My family of 6 drove to Arizona to see my stepmom (my kids' grandma). Four of us took 3 days to drive there then 3 days back, while my son and daughter-in-law made the drive down in 2 days then 2 days back. Neither my husband nor I can see well enough for night driving on highways without streetlights, hence the 3 days each way. It was a good trip.

We did what we could to keep our costs down. For example, we chose to drive instead of fly. I booked places to stay that had free breakfasts plus a microwave and fridge in the room. In addition, we packed food for the rest of our meals on all traveling days. I brought bread, tortillas, crackers, pretzels, peanut butter, cheese, nuts, raisins, prunes, dried apples, dried cherries, canned vegetables, homemade refried beans, frozen hotdogs and buns, carrot sticks, sliced cabbage and slaw dressing, cookies, muffins, applesauce, juice, and instant coffee. There was a lot of repetition in our meals -- peanut butter sandwiches on either bread or crackers just about every day for lunch. Our dinners were only slightly more varied. one night we microwaved hotdogs to have with applesauce, Cole slaw, and canned green beans. Another night I made bean and cheese burritos in the microwave, served with carrot sticks, canned green beans, and dried fruit. And on yet another night, we used the last of the tortillas and some cheese to make quesadillas to serve with canned carrots, applesauce, and nuts. The final night we set out all of the remaining foods for us all to help ourselves to a snacky dinner. Whatever works, right? This trip was planned at the last minute, so I didn't have time to put together a more complex road trip menu. 

Every morning, before hitting the road, I made a large thermos of coffee and a smaller thermos of decaf. In addition, I handed out a 64-oz repurposed plastic juice bottle (the kind apple juice is packaged in) to each of the 4 of us filled with water. These became our personal water supply bottles for the drives. We each filled our own in the mornings before driving. 

As a result of packing so much food and drinks, we didn't need to buy any meals on the drive down or the drive back. We did buy a few candy items to share here and there when stopping for gas, spending about $15 total on candy. These small purchases perked us up when we needed it. By not spending much on food for the drives, we were able to splurge on a couple of meals with my stepmom. I guess that's how our frugality tends to work. We are careful in some areas so we can splurge in others.

We got home Sunday afternoon. I immediately started in on the laundry then grabbed a couple of items from the freezer to throw together a simple dinner -- a bean and canned tomato soup topped with cheese and homemade bread with butter. We were all so tried that this easy meal was all we really wanted before hitting the sack.

Being away from the vegetable garden for a week took its toll on some of my plants. I lost a couple, but am hopeful that the rest will recover. This morning I had to make up for lost gardening time. I leveled and raked the new pumpkin, corn, bean, and pepper patch. It's now ready and waiting for our weather to warm.  I pulled out the tail end of last fall's kale, plucking off the edible leaves to use in Monday's dinner, readying a spot for new seeds -- more kale, lettuce, and beets. My garden did have a happy surprise for me -- the carrot seeds sprouted while I was away.

Like I said, it was a good trip. But I'm happy to be home, sleeping in my own bed, and getting back to the work I have here on the old homestead.