Fried Rice

This was so easy to make and what a delicious side dish.  I wish the picture would have come out better but trust me, it looked beautiful and colorful and tasted great!  You need leftover white, steamed rice for this.

I made plain white, steamed rice by boiling 4 cups of water with a teaspoon of soysauce.  When the water was boiling, I added a pinch of salt and 2 cups long grain rice, stirring in the beginning and letting the water come back to a boil.   Once boiling, I covered the sauce pan and lowered the flame to low till water was absorbed about 5-10 minutes. 

When the rice was done, I let it cool and I stuck it in the refrigerator.  When I was ready to make the fried rice, I put some sesame oil and canola oil in a skillet - enough to coat the bottom of the pan.  I let it get really hot then added the cold white rice, breaking up any clumps with my fingers.  I tossed it around in the oil (be careful as rice will start to pop and jump out of the pan) until it was warm and well coated, then I made a well in the center of the rice and cracked an egg into the pan and stirred that until it was scrambled then mixed it into the rice.  I added frozen peas and carrots along with chopped green onion, and chopped ham ( I used  the sandwich type and you could also use, pork or chicken) and about 2 teaspoons of soy sauce.  I cooked it until everything was mixed and hot.

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Nothing beats homemade cinnamon rolls.  This recipe is so easy and with the bread maker there's virtually no mess.  Just put your ingredients into the machine and let it do the work.   This recipe is from my Toastmaster Bread Machine Recipe book.

Cinnamon Rolls

1 egg (room temperature) + enough water to equal 1 cup

1/4 cup oil

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp. salt

3-1/2 cups Bread Flour

1-1/2 tsp. Active Dry Yeast

Filling

1/3 cup softened butter or margerine

1/3 cup sugar

2 TBL Cinnamon

Glaze

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1-2 TBL water or milk

1/4 tsp. vanilla

Place egg + water to equal 1 cup, oil, sugar, salt and bread flour in the machine and set to dough setting.

When done, take dough and place on lightly floured surface, roll dough in a 12x18 inch rectangle.  Spread with softened butter and sprinkle with combined sugar and cinnamon mixture.  Roll up tightly, jellyroll style, starting with the longest side and cut into one inch slices.

Place in a lightly greased pan and let stand in a warm place for 1 hour.  Bake at 350º for 25-30 minutes or until done.

Mix glaze ingredients until smooth and drizzle over top.  ( I like my glaze on the thicker side so I add more powdered sugar until I get the consistensy I like)

Albondiga Soup (Meatball Soup)

This is such a delicious soup and perfect on a cold day!

ALBONDIGA SOUP

I don't really measure but I'll do my best.

Slice carrot (I used 4) into rounds
2 potatoes (with skins) chopped into bite size pieces
3 Mexican Zuchinni or Squash cut into quarter pieces
1/2 medium onion - 1/2 chopped and 1/2 sliced into thin strips
1 bunch of cilantro chopped fine
Salt
Pepper
2 lbs. ground beef
1/2 cup uncooked rice
2 cans Vegetable or chicken stock
1 small can tomato paste

First I put about 1 TBS. oil in a large stockpot and cook the chopped onion until it's soft and translucent about 5 minutes. Take out of oil and mix with ground beef, 1/2 chopped cilantro, uncooked rice, salt and pepper (again, I don't measure so I'd guess about 1 tsp. salt and maybe 1/2 tsp. pepper.) Mix it all together and form meatballs.

Then I like to drain the excess oil from the pot and add the carrots, potato, sliced onion, tomato paste and stock plus 4 cans water into the pot. Bring to a boil then add the zuchinni and uncooked meatballs into the pot and cook for about 30-45 minutes until the balls are cooked. There should be enough liquid to cover the meatballs.  When done serve into bowls and garnish with remaining cilantro.

Make sure you buy the less fat ground beef so there's not alot of grease cooked into the soup. The recipe above made about 10-12 servings.   Really easy and it only took about an hour start to finish.