Forward! Rice

One of my favorite stores to browse is Penzey's spices. I like the fact that Penzey's sells most of their spices in little (< 1.0 oz) jars for you to sample. Inevitably I spend at least $25 on a mix of said jars every time I go there. I went there yesterday and got one of their new seasonings called Forward! I'm not that excited about it; the brand name has the exclamation point in it.

Of course once I got home, I had to try to figure out what to do with the spices I purchased, so I opened up Penzey's latest catalog (sign up for it if you don't get it; it's free and has lots of good recipes in each issue) and they had four recipes for Forward! Tonight I made the Forward! rice, which I modified slightly. I substituted blackberry jelly (I smashed it up in the pan) for the Raspberry Enlightenment and I diced the onion really small, so the 3-year old wouldn't notice it.

To kick up the heat, I added some habanero sauce to the rice. I paired the rice with a medley of grilled red bell peppers and grilled sweet onions, black beans, and grilled pollo asada (I got the pollo asada from Sprouts). The flavor pairings here are ridiculous. The rice itself has a couple layers of flavors, with the sweetness of the jelly and the heat from the habanero sauce, and the uniqueness of the Forward! Add to that the sweetness of the onions and the punch from the chicken and this was a great, flavorful, not to mention healthy, summer meal.

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