Harvest Rice Bowl with Squash and Brussels Sprouts

Harvest Rice Bowl with Squash and Brussels Sprouts

This is my FAVORITE fall dish! It has all of the best parts of fall - delicious squash, caramelized brussels sprouts, apples, cranberries! As listed below, it makes a giant amount. Feel free to cut everything in half if you don't want as much food. Also feel free to switch out any of the ingredients. Want to use chopped figs or raisins instead of the craisins? Want to use pear instead of apple? Go for it!

Harvest Rice Bowl with Squash and Brussels Sprouts

Yield: 10-12 side servings

Adapted slightly from Iowa Girl Eats

Ingredients:

1 medium butternut or acorn squash (or 2 big sweet potatoes)

2 tbsp olive oil, divided

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp chili powder

¼ tsp garlic powder

2 lbs brussels sprouts

salt and pepper

1 1/3 cups brown rice

3-4 oz sharp cheddar cheese (white or yellow)

½ cup slivered almonds or pine nuts

½ cup dried cranberries

1 large (or 2 small) apple

Dressing:

¼ cup olive oil

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp honey

1 clove garlic, minced (or ½ tsp crushed garlic)

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F. Peel and dice the squash into ~1/2 inch cubes. Toss with 1 tbsp olive oil, cinnamon, chili powder, garlic powder, and lots of salt and pepper. Spread out onto a foil-lined baking sheet and roast for 25-30 minutes, stirring a few times throughout, until soft and caramelized.

Trim brussels sprouts, and then shred (cut each one in half, and then slice the halves). Toss with 1 tbsp olive oil and salt and pepper. Spread out onto a foil-lined baking sheet and roast for 15-20 minutes, stirring halfway through, until tender and slightly charred.

Meanwhile, cook brown rice according to package instructions. If you have it, replace some of the water with vegetable stock. (We cook brown rice in our Instant Pot and it turns out perfectly every time - for this recipe you would want 1 2/3 cups of low-sodium vegetable broth or water)

Dice the cheese. Core and dice the apple (you can leave the peel on). Toast the nuts until golden brown and fragrant (5-7 minutes at 350 F usually works well).

Mix up the dressing – it works well to add everything to a mason jar and then shake up really well. Just make sure the lid is screwed on tight. 

Using a GIANT bowl, add rice, squash, brussels, cheese, apple, nuts, and cranberries. Toss well. Drizzle over some of the dressing and toss until everything is coated. You probably won’t need all of the dressing, so don’t pour it all on at once. Store leftover dressing in the fridge – it is good on salad.

Serve warm or at room temperature. 

If you are bringing this somewhere, the rice, cranberries, brussels sprouts and butternut squash can all be made and mixed up in advance. I would then re-heat that portion, and then mix in the cheese, nuts, apple and dressing right before leaving. 

Perfect Brown Rice (Instant Pot)

I am not being paid to say this, but I love my Instant Pot. It is big and it takes up a lot of space, but it cooks so many things perfectly for me. One of them is brown rice. I used to cook rice on the stove, and I would always end up over-cooking or under-cooking it, and it never seemed to take the same amount of time every time. Now I know that I can throw the ingredients in the pot, turn it on, and come back to perfectly cooked rice. I'm not going to pretend to tell you that the Instant Pot takes less time. By the time it reaches pressure, cooks, and then the pressure drops, it takes just as long as doing it on the stove. Every minute is hands-off, so you can just start it and walk away.

Note: I am listing amounts of rice below, but you can cook as little (or as much) as you want. Just make sure to use 1 1/4 cups of liquid for every 1 cup of rice.
This is mostly unseasoned brown rice, so it is very versatile for any meal. Feel free to add salt to taste if you are eating it on its own.

Ingredients:
1 cup brown rice
1 1/4 cups vegetable stock (or water)

Directions:
Add the rice and vegetable stock (or water) to the inner pot of your Instant Pot.

Put on the lid, and make sure the valve is set to 'sealing.' Press manual and then press + until the display reads 23. After that you don't need to press any buttons - it should beep when starting within a minute.

After it has finished cooking, the machine will beep several times. Let it cool for at least 10 minutes before doing a quick release on the lid. The machine will automatically switch over to 'keep warm' mode. If you press the keep warm/cancel button at the bottom right, it will turn everything off and will generally come down from pressure more quickly. When releasing pressure, use a towel to protect your hand and quickly flip the valve from 'sealing' to venting.' A lot of steam will come out as soon as you switch it, so get your hand out of the way to avoid burns! Otherwise, you can wait until pressure releases naturally.

Use a spatula or a rice paddle (shown below) to scoop out all of the rice and put in a container to cool. Use immediately, or let cool and store in the fridge and use within 1 week. It will become fluffy again once reheated.

Instant Pot Steel Cut Oats with Fruit Compote

I love breakfast. On the weekend, I’ll sleep in and then enjoy pancakes, poached eggs over homemade bread, or omelets stuffed with veggies and cheese. But during the week I need something that can be prepped in advance, and something that will keep me full until lunch.

Lately I’ve been loving steel cut oats. They feel more substantial than regular rolled oats, have a nice chew and a nutty flavor, and have some added nutritional benefits. I cook up a big batch on the weekends and portion it into containers so I can have an easy breakfast every day of the week. I top the oats with some homemade fruit compote, fresh berries, and stir in some greek yogurt.

You can make steel cut oats on the stove or in an Instant Pot. Since we got our Instant Pot as a wedding gift, we have been using it for everything! It makes perfect steel cut oats and brown rice. We have even made homemade greek yogurt using the yogurt setting! However, if you don’t have an Instant Pot, no problem! I made steel cut oats on the stove for years. I am including modified ingredients and instructions for the stove-top version at the bottom.

I am also including a very simple recipe for fruit compote. You can put ANY kind of fruit you like! The best part is that you can use fresh or frozen fruit – it will just take a little longer to cook if it is frozen. I usually use ½ cup of chopped strawberries and ½ cup of frozen mixed berries. The strawberries are typically from what is about to go bad from our fresh berries. The cartons never last the whole week! If I don’t need to make compote right away, I’ll just wash and chop the strawberries and throw them in the freezer in ½ cup portions. I like getting frozen berries in bulk. We get a 3 lb bag at Sam’s Club. The latest kind they had was under $8 and included raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. My favorite version included strawberries and sweet cherries as well, but it isn’t currently in stock. 

Steel Cut Oats Ingredients (Instant Pot version)

1.5 tablespoons butter (unsalted or salted is fine)
1.5 cups steel cut oats (not quick cook)
Zest of one orange
Pinch of salt (omit if using salted butter)
4 cups water
1 ¼ cup milk (I always use unsweetened almond milk)
Juice of ½ orange (about ¼ cup of juice)

 Steel Cut Oats Instructions (Instant Pot version)

Plug in your Instant Pot. Press Saute and make sure it lights up below “Normal.” Press the plus or minus keys if you need to change the setting.

Add the butter to the pot and let it melt.

Add the oats and orange zest and stir well. Sauté for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until slightly golden and the oats smell toasty.

Press Keep Warm/Cancel to stop sautéing.

Pour in the water and milk and stir well.

Put the lid on your pot, make sure to lock it properly, and set the lid to “Sealing.”

Press Manual and then hit the plus or minus buttons until the display reads “3.”

It will take ~5-10 minutes to come up to pressure, depending on how cold your ingredients are. Then it will count down the 3 minutes to cook. The machine will beep once the 3 minutes are up. Do not open the lid right away! You need to let the pressure come back down first. I always wait 10-20 minutes to let it mostly naturally release. Then, protecting my hand with an oven mitt or towel, I quickly flip the valve from “sealing” to “venting” and move my hand out of the way. Unless the pressure has already naturally released, quite a bit of steam will come out of the valve.

Once you have the lid off, use oven mitts to pull out the inner pot. Give everything a good stir (it will look too liquidy at first, but it all mixes in). Add in the orange juice and stir again.

Let cool and portion into containers, or serve immediately with greek yogurt, fruit compote, and fresh berries.

To reheat:

Spoon some compote on top of the oats. Microwave for 1 minute 15 seconds (adjust as necessary depending on the power of your microwave). Stir in cut up fresh berries* and greek yogurt or milk to achieve desired consistency.

* I like putting the berries on top before microwaving so they get cooked down a little. 

Fruit Compote Ingredients:

1 heaping cup of chopped fruit (fresh or frozen)
¼ cup fresh orange juice (from ~1/2 orange)
2 tablespoons white sugar
1.5 teaspoons cornstarch

Fruit Compote Instructions:

Add all ingredients to a small pot, stir well. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it starts to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring frequently, until berries pop and juices have thickened. 

Steel Cut Oats Ingredients (Stove-top version)

Adapted slightly from Cookie and Kate

4 ½ cups water
1 ½ cups milk (I always use unsweetened almond milk)
1.5 tablespoons butter (unsalted or salted is fine)
1.5 cups steel cut oats (not quick cook)
Zest of one orange
Pinch of salt (omit if using salted butter)
Juice of ½ orange (about ¼ cup of juice)

Steel Cut Oats Instructions (Stove-top version)

Heat milk and water in a large pot over medium heat.

Melt butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add oats and orange zest and cook 2-3 minutes or until golden and they smell nutty, stirring occasionally.

Stir the oats into the milk and water (carefully, to avoid splashes). Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer gently for 20 minutes. The mixture should have thickened slightly.

Stir in salt and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until very thick. Stir in the orange juice.

Let cool and portion into containers, or serve immediately with greek yogurt, fruit compote, and fresh berries.