Chinese Chicken Fried Rice

I actually have been cooking quite a bit (for me!) over the past month, just not new stuff. I ran across this recipe under the "Dinner In An Instant" tab on Allrecipes.com. I made a few adjustments and here is the recipe I came up with for supper tonight.



Chinese Chicken Fried Rice


Table of Contents:

- 1 Tbsp. EVOO
- 1 onion, diced
- 6 oz. cooked chicken chunks (from the freezer from bulk cooking day!)
- 2 cups cold rice (I used instant brown rice)
- red pepper, diced
- frozen peas, thawed
- 2 Tbsp. soy sauce (I used reduced sodium)
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbsp. water
- salt, pepper to taste
- cashews or peanuts

How To:
In large skillet saute onion in EVOO over medium heat until golden brown; add chicken and stir until warmed. Add rice, diced pepper, soy sauce, and peas - stir fry together for about 5 minutes. Beat egg with water; push rice mixture to sides of skillet and pour egg in middle. When egg starts to set, stir into rice mixture and continue stir frying until egg is done. Season to taste. Stir in nuts, if desired.

The Outcome:
From start to finish, this took about 20 minutes to prepare. I did not have any leftover cold rice, so I just cooked a batch and then rinsed with cold water. The original recipe and several of the recipe comments stressed rice must be cold. My guess is it would be a sticky mess if used hot.

Every time I make something new, I am already thinking ahead to what I would do differently next time. This recipe was no exception. It was very good, but next time I think I would add a little chicken broth for richer flavor and also add some water chestnuts because I like the crunch of them. Also, I used some honey roasted peanuts, because that is what I had. Next time I would use cashews, or maybe just save the fat grams and not use nuts at all.


Overall, a pretty tasty dish in very little time!

Cookin' Up a Storm

This is unbelievable! Not only have I cooked 4 times this week, I have made 4 new recipes. I don't know what has happened to me. Mark is just filling up his plate and not asking any questions.

I stumbled upon this crockpot recipe online late last night while I was looking for something else. I had all of the ingredients and it looked so easy, I decided to give it a try today. Here is Recipe #10. Oh, My!!!

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SWEET & SPICY CHICKEN

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Table of Contents:

How To:

Spray crockpot with cooking spray. Now, pay close attention to these complicated instructions: Place chicken breasts in crockpot - you don't even have to thaw them. Cover with 1 cup of the salsa. Top with 1 cup of brown sugar (I don't think I used that much - just threw some in.) That's it - turn the crockpot on low and get on with your day.

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The Outcome:

Did I already say "Oh, My"?!?!? This was so incredibly easy AND soooooo YUM!! I put it together about 10AM. At about 4:30PM it was fall apart when you touch it with a fork done. I shredded it right in the crock pot, stirred it up with the juices, then just let it sit in the pot while I went out and mowed the lawn. I served it on tortillas with refried beans, sour cream, and shredded Mexican blend cheese. I think it would also be really good served over rice or pasta.

You gotta make this. I may have to make this every week!

Recipe #2

Today was new recipe day!!! I love to make soup and have never cooked with tortellini, so this looked interesting. I found the recipe on allrecipes.com.

TORTELLINI SOUP

The Ingredients:
7-8 cups chicken broth
1 can (14.5 oz) stewed tomatoes (I used diced tomatoes with onion and garlic)
1 pkg (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ tsp. salt; ¼ tsp. pepper (does anybody really measure salt and pepper?)
1 pkg (9 oz) refrigerated cheese tortellini
2 ½ cups cubed cooked chicken (I used a pre-cooked 6 oz. pkg)

The Directions:
In dutch oven or soup kettle combine broth, tomatoes, spinach, Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper.

I did this and mixed it all together with a whisk. Having never cooked spinach before, I did not realize that this is what would happen:

What a mess -it took forever to clean all that spinach off the whisk! Is it any wonder that this is the expression I frequently wear when I cook:

Anyway, moving on. After getting out a big spoon for stirring from this point forward, simmer for 10 minutes to blend flavors; add tortellini and chicken. Cook for 5 minutes or until tortellini is heated through. (If using frozen, follow pkg. instructions for cooking the tortellini.)

The Result:

I was a little nervous about this one with the cooked spinach. I've never been a big fan of the looks or texture of the stuff, but decided to go ahead and use it. The soup was excellent. We both liked it a lot, which is a good thing because we have a lot of leftovers. However, when I make this the next time, I think I will choose a different green vegetable!

The Resolution

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the LORD . . ." Colossians 3:23

Here it is mid-February, and I have finally decided that I need to have a resolution. Maybe since I'm not declaring it at the "normal" time we generally think of resolutions (and I've stated it in writing) I will actually carry it out this year!

I've decided we are in a rut as far as what we eat. Anyone who knows me well is aware that I'm not known for my cooking. Lucky for me, Mark's mom did not like to cook either so he ate a lot of TV dinners growing up. As a result he isn't very picky about what I feed him and he thinks any home cooked meal is fantastic. But the downside of that is he tends not to be very helpful when I ask for dinner ideas. He usually will say something like, "Anything you make is great." So I have fallen into the routine of making the same stuff over and over, or we eat out, or we just pour a bowl of Cheerios!

The fact is that cooking is not my favorite activity. I would rather vacuum than cook and I usually only vacuum if I can't sweet-talk Mark into doing it for me! But anyway, back to the resolution. I have decided that I am going to make a minimum of 2 new recipes a month for the rest of this year - that's 22 new recipes! I'm not crazy, like the "Julie & Julia" thing; I just want something new for dinner once in awhile.

Criteria for the recipe:

· I have to be able to pronounce it (and the ingredients).
· The ingredients need to be items that real people might actually find in their pantry.
· If the ingredient list includes items such as “2 sticks butter” or "1 cup heavy cream” (except possibly for baked goods that won’t be staying in our house) it’s not going to happen.
· If the instructions start out with “8-10 hours prior to serving . . .” and it’s not going in a crock pot – forget it!
· The less dicing, slicing, and chopping called for, the better.


So . . . . . here we go - Recipe #1:
SWEET & SOUR CHICKEN

The Ingredients:
2 cup instant white rice, uncooked
1 can (20 oz) pineapple chunks
2 Tbsps. EVOO
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into chunks
1 medium onion, cut into chunks
½ cup mushrooms, sliced (I used canned)
1 can sliced water chestnuts
Chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces (I used a 6 oz. pre-cooked pkg.)
1 cup sweet & sour sauce
2 Tbsps. less sodium soy sauce

(Don’t forget to recycle the cans!)

The Directions:
Prepare rice according to package directions.
Drain pineapple; reserve 2Tbsps. juice.
Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Saute onion until golden, add peppers and mushrooms. Cook until tender crisp. Add chicken, sweet & sour sauce, soy sauce, pineapple chunks and reserved juice. Heat through and let simmer approx 5 minutes to blend flavors. Serve over cooked rice.

The Results:
This was really good and I would definitely make this again. Including chopping veggies, it took only about 20 minutes to prepare – my kind of recipe!!!