Florida Orange Rice

If you haven't noticed by now, I adore carbs. Bread, pasta, rice, yum yum yum. I know for a fact that I would rather die than ever go on any low-carb diet. Pasta is my all time favorite go-to carb and even though I like rice, I usually shy away from it. More times than not my rice is crunchy, and it's not supposed to do that. Even with the cutie little rice maker my mom got me for Christmas (based on the fact that when she asked my husband what I wanted, he said, "Well, she can't cook rice right." Which is true!) it doesn't always turn out perfectly. SO imagine my delight when I found a rice recipe that is delicious and consistently gives me soft and almost creamy rice! There's a little more prep than your average Uncle Ben's, but it's worth it. This rice is perfect for summertime, served with fresh fish (Crispy Tilapia Fillets, perhaps?) and your favorite veggie. Enjoy!

Florida Orange Rice

I decided to add the Lemon Pepper at the end so alas, Miss Pepper is absent from the class photo this year

Here's what you'll need:

2 Tblsp Butter (a little less would be fine)
2 Tblsp Onion, finely chopped
2 cups Water
1/2 cup Orange Juice (fresh or bottled)
1 tsp Salt (I would start with a little less and add more at the end)
1/2 tsp Grated Orange Zest
1/8 tsp Thyme (dried is fine)
1/8 tsp Lemon Pepper (or Florida Seasoned Pepper add a bit more after tasting if you like)
1 cup Long Grain Rice


1. Chop the onion up pretty fine. Melt the butter over medium-ish heat in a large saucepan and toss in the onion. Stir it occasionally for about 3 minutes until it gets soft and almost golden.  Don't let the butter get too hot, it can burn pretty fast. Sometimes I have to pick up the pot and just hold it in the air for 30 seconds to cool it down.

I love having everything ready to go! It makes a little more mess, but less stress. I combined the zest, salt, thyme, and lemon pepper in one.

2. Stir in the water, the orange juice, the zest (a crucial ingredient, you can get a zester for pretty cheap or look in your drawer-you probably have had one for a decade and used it once-so use it again!), thyme, lemon pepper, and salt. Let it come to a boil, then add the rice and let it boil again. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or all the liquid is absorbed!

A yummy snack but of course it's meant to be served with a light meat such as fish or chicken.

Rice 101

So clearly I am not the rice cooking guru based upon my confessions earlier, but I do have a couple helpful tips I have picked up along the way after ruining many batches of rice:

**Do not take the lid off the saucepan, no matter how bad you want to. Sooo tempting. Don't do it. To check for absorption, shake the pan a little and see if there's still too much liquid.
**Make sure your heat is truly on low, like 1 or 2; otherwise the liquid gets absorbed too fast and the rice is still crunchy.
**Fluff it with a fork when you think it's done. Sort of hard to do when you're using teflon, but just be gentle and sort of toss the rice with the fork.
** To reheat, sprinkle in a little water and cover your rice with a moist paper towel.


I got this recipe from this gorgeous cookbook that I actually keep on my counter in the unusable corner because it is so pretty. Who in their right mind would ever actually do this beach front dinner...but a girl can dream! Most of the recipes are too complicated for me but it's a fun read and there are lots of beautifully inspiring pictures and recipes.