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.

Broccoli Ham Ring

I made a spiral ham on Monday night for dinner and we had ham leftovers last night.  Tonight, I wanted to so something a little different with the ham so I decided to made this Broccoli Ham Ring.  I took the recipe from one of my Pampered Chef cookbooks.  So easy and very delish!  Kids especially love to help.  My son actually did this one with my help.

Broccoli Ham Ring
4 oz. ham, chopped (1 cup)
1/4 pound broccoli, chopped (1 cup)  I used frozen chopped broccoli.  I just made sure I drained it well.
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley,snipped
1-1/2 cups (6 oz.) shredded Swiss or Cheddar Cheese
2 TBS Dijon mustard
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 pkgs., (8 oz. each) refrigerated crescent rolls

Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Chop ham, broccoli and onion and place in a bowl.  Add parsley, shredded cheese, lemon juice and mustard to ham mixture.  Mix well.  To assemble ring, unroll crescent dough, separate into 16 triangles.  Arrange triangles in a circle on a pizza stone with wide ends of triangles overlapping in the center of the ring and points toward the outside.  (There should be a 5-inch diameter opening in the center of the stone.)  Scoop ham mixture evenly onto widest part of each triangle.  Bring points of triangles up over filling and tuck under wide ends of dough at center of ring.  (Filling will not be completely covered.)  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until deep golden brown.  Cut into 8 servings. 

Thai Salad

This is one of my family's favorites and a great dish to take to potlucks.  It's served cold and I promise it will be gone fast!

1 PKG. Linguini

2TBS. Canola or Vegetable Oil

2 TBS Sesame Oil

1 Tsp. Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (optional)

3 TBS Honey

3 TBS Soy Sauce

Pinch of Salt

3/4 cup Green Onion

1/2 cup Cilantro

Crushed Peanuts

Toasted Sesame Seeds

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the dry linguini.  Cook as directed on pkg about 7-10 minutes.  

In a metal saucepan, heat vegetable oil, sesame oil and pepper flakes over medium heat for about 1 minute.  You really need to watch so the flakes don't burn.  Add the honey and wisk really good to incorporate into the oil.  Carefully add the soy sauce and continue mixing until oil is fully incorporated.  (sometimes I use an imersion blender for this.  Just turn off the heat first)

Once linguini is cooked, drain well, and mix well with sauce.  Let sit in the refrigerator. 

Chop green onion and cilantro and add to salad. 

Add toasted sesame seeds and crushed peanuts just before serving

I like my salad a little on the sweet side so I usually add a little more honey.  You can adjust to your taste.

Tori's Hearty Chicken Soup

I'm not much of a soup person but decided to make this one cold rainy day.  I boiled a chicken in water and added salt, pepper and onion.  When the chicken was done, I strained the broth to get rid of the foam and bits of chicken.  Once cooled, I shredded the chicken lightly and cut up some carrots, celery and onion.  I added these to the stock in a large pot along with some frozen corn.  I seasoned the stock with salt, pepper, garlic salt and onion powder.  I added the chicken back into the pot and when it was just about done, I washed and added fresh spinach just because I like spinach.  I served this with warm bread and butter.  Delish!