Living La Vida Holoka


12 Recipes You Can Make with a Bag of Rice

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If you’re looking for an easy way to use up that bag of rice in your pantry, look no further than these 12 delicious and nourishing rice recipes!

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Is there anything that a bag of rice can’t do? This pantry staple has made its way into so many of my recipes!  One bag of rice can be transformed into a ton of flavorful dishes from sides to entrees!  This budget-friendly ingredient has become a favorite of mine to cook with.  Especially these days when we’re being more resourceful and using what we have in our kitchen. 

Going to the grocery store on a weekly basis has become a thing of the past in our house.  Instead, I’ve been shopping just about every three weeks to keep our kitchen stocked and getting Hungryroot deliveries in-between to sustain us.  Most of these deliveries include – you guessed it – rice! 

12 Recipes You Can Make with a Bag of Rice

 
It’s been important to keep our pantry filled with staples like pasta and brown rice.  They’re a simple base for so many dishes, but there’s also something very comforting about those ingredients.  Not only does rice give you that satisfying, comforting feeling, but using a blend like brown rice also nourishes you.  And I think that’s pretty important right now.

My favorite thing to make with rice is a make nice, filling rice bowl.  Add a layer of rice on the bottom and toss in a protein and some fresh ingredients from there!  Boom!  So good and so easy!  If you need a few new ideas to use that bag of rice in your pantry, check out these 12 delicious recipes!   

  1. Pork Chile Verde Burrito Bowls
  2. Easy Chicken Burrito Bowl
  3. Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli Rice Bowl
  4. Sausage, Wild Rice, and Mushroom Stuffed Acorn Squash
  5. Mongolian Beef Brown Rice Bowl
  6. Jalapeno Lime Shrimp and Rice
  7. Spanish Chicken and Yellow Rice
  8. Vegetable Stir Fry with Chickpeas
  9. Turkey Taco Stuffed Peppers
  10. Steak Un-Kebabs
  11. Unstuffed Peppers
  12. Low Carb Cauliflower Hawaiian Fried Rice

Okay.  So that last one isn’t actually rice, but you could definitely use a rice blend instead of cauliflower rice and still have a killer meal! What’s your favorite recipe to make with rice?

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Did you make any of these recipes? Share your pics on Instagram using the hashtag #livinglavidaeats. Don’t forget to tag me @lavidaholoka!

Black Bean Taco Salad

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This colorful Black Bean Taco Salad is a flavorful fiesta for your mouth made with lettuce, black beans, veggies, cheddar cheese, tortilla strips, and a healthy taco seasoned dressing!

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Happy Cinco de Mayo!  Working from home on a daily basis, the days usually escape me anyway.  But with everything that’s going on now, I seriously have no idea what day it is or what time it is anymore.  So when I finally decided to break out my paper content planner again, I realized “Oh shoot!  Cinco de Mayo is coming up!” 

And here we are and I haven’t scheduled a damn thing related to this day.  Unless you count the Easy Buffalo Jackfruit Taquitos, which I didn’t plan for Cinco de Mayo.  I just really wanted taquitos.

Lucky for us, I remembered this salad when I was going through my brainstorming notebook where I jot down ideas for future posts.  The recipe is simple, you probably already have the ingredients on hand, and it’s healthy.  So if you’re anything like me and totally forgot that today was Cinco de Mayo, you could easily whip this up for dinner tonight and no one would know that you just added it to the menu!    

Black Bean Taco Salad

 
Since Cinco de Mayo has landed on Taco Tuesday this year, we’ve gotta do it up properly and make something taco inspired.  I mean, go ahead and live it up big with a proper taco!  But since I had all of these fresh ingredients on hand (hallelujah for fresh produce!), I’m paying homage to the taco – that spicy little handheld gem of a meal – in salad form.

Get your base of fresh and crunchy leafy greens.  Then, add some black beans for protein (you could toss in some chicken or steak, if you so desire).  After that, add some sliced peppers, green onion, olives, tomatoes, corn, and shredded cheddar cheese.  Toss it all together with a creamy salad dressing made with taco seasoning, plain Greek yogurt (or you could use sour cream), and salsa.  Top it off with some tortilla strips for a light and flavorful, plant based salad!


I made my own crispy tortilla strips in the air fryer.  It’s super easy to do!  Use a pizza cutter or kitchen scissors to cut corn tortillas into strips.  Then, spritz them with a little cooking spray.  Pop them in the air fryer for about 4-5 minutes, or until they’re crispy, and you’ve got some tasty tortilla strips to top salads and soups with! 

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Black Bean Taco Salad

Black Bean Taco Salad

Ingredients

    For the salad:
  • 4 cups lettuce
  • 1 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
  • 1/2 cup sliced mini bell peppers
  • 1/2 cup sweet corn kernels
  • 1/2 cup black olives
  • 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1/4 cup tortilla strips
  • 2 green onions, sliced
    • For the dressing:
  • 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 1 tbsp. taco seasoning
  • 2 tbsp. salsa

Instructions

    For the salad:
  1. Place the lettuce in a salad bowl.
  2. Top with black beans, tomatoes, peppers, corn, olives, cheddar cheese, tortilla strips, and green onions.
    3. For the dressing:
  3. Add the Greek yogurt, taco seasoning, and salsa to a mason jar. Stir it up or add the lid and give it a good shake.
  4. Spoon over the taco salad.
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If you love a creamy salad dressing, you’ll love this creamy, taco seasoned dressing! It’s full of flavor and clings to every lettuce leaf!  Throw everything in a mason jar and give it a good shake.  Then, when you’re finished dressing your salad, you can toss the lid back on and store it in the fridge!


Now, all you need is an icy margarita and you’ve got a Cinco de Mayo party for your mouth! 

Did you make this Black Bean Taco Salad recipe? Share your pics on Instagram using the hashtag #livinglavidaeats. Don’t forget to tag me @lavidaholoka!

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Easy Buffalo Jackfruit Taquitos

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These vegan Buffalo Jackfruit Taquitos are an easy, meatless snack or appetizer with just enough spice and a whole lot of crunch in every delicious bite!

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One of the things I’ve truly missed during this period of quarantine is the ability to jump in the car at any moment and go to the store for ingredients.  If I had a recipe idea pop into my head, I would run to the store not too far from our house and load up on fresh produce and spices.  It might sound weird, but one thing I really miss getting is a big ol’ slice of fresh jackfruit.  And for cheap!  Sometimes it would be sweet and ripened and sometimes you would find one just unripened enough to turn into a savory dish!

If I wasn’t able to find a slice of unripened jackfruit, I would grab cans at Trader Joe’s or on Amazon.  So when all of this craziness started, I stocked up on the basics and, of course, a lot of pantry items.  A lot of people I know started craving junk food.  Me?  I started craving jackfruit!  I know!  I’m weird!  Since I wasn’t going back to the store anytime soon, I ordered a few cans off of Amazon. 


The first thing I made was jackfruit tacos.  So good and so easy!  A few weeks later, I decided to try making buffalo jackfruit taquitos.  I had ordered corn tortillas in my Hungryroot delivery specifically to make these and had a bottle of Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Sauce in the fridge and a brand new one waiting to be cracked open!  If you can’t tell, we really like our buffalo sauce in this house!

Easy Buffalo Jackfruit Taquitos

 
Taquitos are really easy to make and especially these!  I drained and rinsed my can of jackfruit and added it to a skillet with olive oil.  Cover it up and let it cook until the jackfruit softens.  Once it softens up, you should be able to easily break it apart.  Then, I added a little more olive oil to the pan, along with onion and garlic.  After a couple minutes, I added in the buffalo sauce.

Corn tortillas can be a little firm, so I softened them up in the microwave for about 30 seconds.  Working one-by-one, I sprayed each side of the tortilla with cooking spray.  Then, I scooped some of the jackfruit mixture onto one half of the tortilla and rolled it up.  I used a toothpick to secure it at the seam and placed it seam-side-down on a baking sheet. I had just enough of the mixture to make eight delicious taquitos!

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Easy Buffalo Jackfruit Taquitos

Yield: 8

Easy Buffalo Jackfruit Taquitos

Ingredients

  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • 20 oz. can young jackfruit in brine, drained and rinsed
  • 1 clove garlic, chopped
  • 1/4 cup onion, chopped
  • 1/2 cup buffalo sauce
  • 8 yellow corn tortillas
  • Cooking spray

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet. Add the jackfruit and cover for about 10-15 minutes, or until it easily breaks apart.
  3. When the jackfruit has softened, add the garlic and onion. Cook until the onion softens and the garlic becomes fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.
  4. Pour in the buffalo sauce and stir just until combined. Remove the skillet from heat.
  5. Place the tortillas on a microwave safe plate and heat for 30 seconds.
  6. Working one-by-one, spray each side of a tortilla with cooking spray. Then, spoon a little of the buffalo jackfruit onto one half.
  7. Carefully roll up the tortilla and secure with a toothpick, if desired.
  8. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy.
  9. Serve with your choice of dipping sauces, like vegan cheese sauce, guacamole, and salsa.
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A note to my vegan friends: Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Sauce is actually vegan despite “butter flavoring” being one of its ingredients!  So this is a completely vegan dish!  I even served the taquitos with cashew cheddar sauce from my Hungryroot box and some quick, homemade guacamole!

There’s just enough spice to these taquitos, but you can adjust the amount of buffalo sauce to your preference.  These taquitos have plenty of crunch, too, making them a fun-to-eat snack, light lunch, or appetizer (if you’re like us and like to have appetizer nights sometimes). 


Did you make this Easy Buffalo Jackfruit Taquitos recipe? Share it on social media using the hashtag #livinglavidaeats. Don’t forget to tag me @lavidaholoka!

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15 Baking Essentials for People Who Suck at Baking

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Love to bake but feel like you’re not the best baker? Maybe you just need the right tools! Check out these 15 baking essentials to help you become a better baker!

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I consider myself more of a home chef than a baker.  My mom is an awesome baker, but I never really inherited that skill.  Then came this crazy period of quarantine where I stocked up on an extra bag of flour, an extra bag of sugar, and was amazed when I could get my hands on some yeast.  Since this all started, I’ve been baking up a storm!  I did read somewhere that baking helps anxiety and stress.  So maybe that’s why I’ve challenged myself to use this time to become a better baker.  I have to say, it’s actually been working out (*knock on wood*). 

Okay, not everything I’ve baked has been from scratch.  But the majority of what I’ve made has – like Double Chocolate Chip Cookies, Gooey Chocolate Pecan Pie (mostly from scratch except for the pie crust), and even everything seasoned rolls, which I’m super proud of!  Eventually, I want to try making my own pizza dough, sandwich bread, and maybe even one of those pretty braided loaves of Italian bread.  

If you’re feeling like your baking could use a boost, check out these 15 baking essentials!  And remember – baking is totally different than cooking.  Baking recipes need to be followed step-by-step with exact measurements and can take a little patience.  It’s not like we’re rushing to go anywhere these days, so now’s the time to work on your baking skills!

Baking Essentials for People Who Suck at Baking

 

  1. Cookie sheets
  2. Oven mitts
  3. Round cake pans
  4. Loaf pan
  5. Muffin pan
  6. Baking utensil set
  7. Icing spatula
  8. Measuring cup
  9. Measuring spoons
  10. Mixing bowls
  11. Hand mixer
  12. Metal cookie cutters
  13. Wire cooling rack
  14. Silicone baking mats
  15. Rolling pin

These are just a few basic essentials to get you started on your baking journey.  But if you’re feeling really ambitious, you could get yourself a fancy Kitchenaid stand mixer.  I got mine a few years ago during a Black Friday sale.  Even if you’re not a great baker, it’s a nice tool to have in the kitchen!  

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