Chicken Fried Rice

The Occasion: Nothing special, but we love Chinese take-out and this looked like a fun alternative to try.

The Recipe: From Cook This; Not That cookbook

How it Went: We both thought this was great. It felt like a much more wholesome version of Chinese take out. And it felt safer, somehow, than the stuff from the white origami box. 

What You Need:

1 T vegetable oil

4 scallions

Dash grated ginger

1 garlic clove, minced

1 zucchini

1 C baby carrots

1 crown broccoli

1 & 1/2 breasts chicken, cooked

4 C cooked rice (brown or white)

2 T soy sauce

2 eggs

Your Turn:
[Cook the rice and chicken ahead of time.]

Chop the 4 scallions and separate the greens from the whites.

Chop

· 1 zucchini (into disks, then quartered)

· About 1 C baby carrots (quartered lengthwise)

· 1 crown broccoli (into small florets)

In a large skillet, heat 1 T vegetable (or peanut or olive) oil over medium-high heat.

Once it’s hot, add the scallion whites, dash ginger and minced garlic clove.

Cook 30 seconds or so. Then add the zucchini, carrots, and broccoli. Cook 4-5 minutes, stirring. Add chicken and stir to blend evenly and warm.

Stir in 4 C rice and 2 T soy sauce. Cook about 5 minutes. Allow the rice to become crispy on the bottom.

Create an empty space in the middle of the pan.

Gently beat 2 eggs, then pour into the space in the skillet. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to scramble the eggs in the middle of the pan. Once they’re cooked, stir them together with the rest of the ingredients.

 

Serve, garnished with scallion greens.

Mexican Rice

The Recipe: Paula Deen recipe from foodnetwork.com.

What You Need:

2 T butter

1&1/2 C rice

1/2 C chopped onion

1/2 C chopped green bell pepper

2 C water

1 can Mexican diced tomatoes (with green chiles)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese

Your Turn:
In a large saucepan, melt 2 T butter over medium heat.

Add

· 1 & 1/2 C rice

· 1/2 C chopped onion

· 1/2 C chopped green pepper

Cook until rice is browned and vegetables are tender.

Stir in

· 2 C water

· 1 can tomatoes with green chiles

· 1 tsp salt

· 1 tsp chili powder (Don't skimp on this. I did that the first time, and it did not have enough flavor.)

Bring to a boil. Then, reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, until rice is tender, about 15-17 minutes.

Stir in 1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese. (Feel free to add a little more. Original recipe called for 1 C, but I thought that was too much)

Serve hot with quesadillas or tortilla soup.

Ugly Chicken Casserole

The Date: 9 April 2012

The Occasion: Monday night comfort food dinner.

The Recipe: A hodgepodge inspired by various chicken casserole recipes.

How it Went:

This was actually wonderful. This time I layered it into the casserole dish, and I think next time I’d mix it all together and put it in the dish all together. (I'll try to make it again and take a decent picture.)

What You Need:

4 red potatoes, peeled

12-15 baby carrots

1 medium broccoli crown

1 C dry rice

2 cooked chicken breasts

2 T butter

3 T flour

1/2 C chicken broth

1/2 C milk

Thyme

Garlic powder

Coriander

Salt & Pepper

3/4 C sour cream

1/4 C mayonnaise

1/2 onion

Your turn:

Bring 2 C water and 1 C rice to a boil. Reduce heat and cover. Simmer until water is absorbed, about 18 minutes.

Chop 4 potatoes, 12-15 baby carrots, and 1 broccoli crown into 1/2-inch pieces. Cook them in an inch of boiling water until tender.

To make cream base, melt 2 T butter in a sauce pan. Add 3 T flour and stir until bubbly. Add 1/2 C chicken broth, 1/2 C milk, 1/2 tsp thyme, a dash garlic powder, and a dash coriander and stir until thickened.

In a medium bowl, combine

· Cooked chicken

· Steamed vegetables

· Cooked rice

In a large bowl, mix

· Cream mixture

· 3/4 C sour cream

· 1/4 C mayonnaise

· 1 tsp salt

· 1/4 tsp black pepper

· 1/2 onion very finely diced

Combine two mixtures and spoon into casserole dish. Bake at 350 about 40 minutes, until bubbly and slightly browned on top.

Hawaiin Stir Fry

The Date: 6 February 2012

The Occasion: Weeknight dinner

The Recipe: From Taste of Home’s 2011 Annual Recipes Cookbook. It was in the “Cooking for One or Two” section. Perfect of us, you would think. But I doubled it, and therefore defeated the whole purpose of the recipe. But it lasts longer this way.

How it went: This is a pretty good meal. A little strange, maybe, but it’s tastier than you might think. 

I added some Orange Ginger Sugar
from this set of gourmet sugars
Mom got me for Christmas.
Quite yummy!!

What You Need:
1 lb ground beef or turkey

1 onion

2 or 3 stalks celery

1/2 green pepper

Garlic

Butter or oil

1 can (12 oz) pineapple chunks

1/2 C brown sugar

2 T flour

2 T vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

Cooked white rice

Your turn:
In a skillet, cook the ground meat until no longer pink.

Drain grease and set aside.

In the same skillet, sauté

· 1 onion, diced

· 2-3 stalks of celery, chopped

· 1/2 of a green pepper, chopped

· The pineapple from a 12 oz can (save the juice—you’ll need it later!)

· Some fresh minced or dried minced garlic, to your liking

in butter or oil until veggies are crisp-tender, about 5 minutes.

To the pineapple juice you’ve saved, add

· Enough water to measure 1 C

· 1/2 C brown sugar

· 2 T white flour

· 2 T white wine or rice vinegar (I tried it with apple cider vinegar, but it made the whole thing too cidery)

· 1/2 tsp salt

Whisk until smooth. 

Add to veggies in skillet and bring to a boil. Cook and stir over medium heat about 2 minutes. Add meat back to the skillet and stir to heat everything through.

Serve with white rice, and (optional) cilantro! 

Crunchy Chicken Casserole

The Date: 16 January 2012, with half eaten as leftovers tonight

The Occasion: This is a favorite recipe. Husband had asked for more casseroles, instead of the soups I'd become accustomed to making twice or more a week. So I whipped out this favorite.

The Recipe: From Husband's mom, photocopied from Reminisce magazine, I think.

How it Went:
I liked how I did the chicken this time. I've done it a few ways (most often, chopped it small, then sauteed it on the stove), but this was by far the most successful and tasty. It was also the easiest. In the morning, I put about 2 lb of chicken breasts in the crock pot with 2 cups of chicken broth and some herbs. It cooked all day, and by the time I got home, I just had to poke at it with a fork and it fell apart in perfect shreds. Mmmm. I was also then able to use that broth in the recipe and it was much more flavorful than it would have been otherwise, right out of a can or something. And I had extra chicken and broth which I saved for another meal.

I do this dish a bit differently from the recipe in a few respects. First, I don't use a can of cream of chicken soup. I make my own. Those instructions are included below. Second, I don't saute the celery first, as suggested. This is unnecessary. Also, I find this to be a perfect dish for which to use celery that is a bit past its prime. When I've bought it for salad or stir fry or something and then not used it all. This is perfect because it will be baked anyway, and its crunch factor is just slightly lowered. I also use half an onion instead of the recipe-suggested 2 tablespoons. Two tablespoons? You wouldn't even taste that!

What You Need:
chicken
rice
celery
onion
butter
flour
milk
chicken broth
mayonnaise
water chestnuts
almonds
corn flakes

Your Turn:
You need to start with 2 C of cooked chicken.
Get it cooked however you prefer, but I suggest crock-potting it all day and using it in that shredded form. It's better for the casserole than cubes of chicken cooked in a skillet. 

Cook 2 C water with 1 C rice to get 3 C cooked rice.

Time to chop your crunchy things!

Chop up

• 1/2 medium yellow onion
• about 3 stalks of celery
• 1 (8 oz) can of sliced water chestnuts

Blend these in a large bowl. Add about a 1/4 tsp each of salt and pepper.

Now, in a medium saucepan, melt 3 T butter. Add 3 T flour, one at a time, until mixture is smooth and bubbly. Remove from heat and slowly add 1/2 C milk and 1/2 C chicken broth, stirring constantly, until smooth. Return to heat and bring to a gentle boil. Stir constantly until it thickens. Add a few pinches each of salt and pepper. (My version was extra flavorful since I used the broth that had been cooking with the chicken and herbs all day.)

Add this, along with the rice and chicken and 3/4 C mayonnaise, to the mixing bowl.

Toss in 1/2 C sliced almonds.

Stir to mix well. 

Spoon into a casserole dish. 

For the topping, melt 2 T butter in a small bowl. Add 1/2 C crushed cornflakes and stir well. Sprinkle over the top of the casserole. If you forgot to buy cornflakes, like I did, just add extra almonds on top.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Enjoy with a salad or fresh fruit!

Wild Rice Soup

The Date: 12 January 2012

The Occasion: I've had this page marked with a post-it in the cookbook for months now, but never got around to making it. This week, I put it on the menu.

One of us liked it. Guess who.

The Recipe: From this Betty Crocker book.

How it Went:
This was an easy soup to make! I really liked it. Husband said he wouldn't mind not eating it again... but yet he did have three bowls-ful. I guess that means it wasn't too bad. It probably won't be a regular menu item, but I'm glad I gave it a try. I enjoyed it.

What You Need:
celery
carrots
onion
bell pepper
flour
black pepper
cooked wild rice (more on this later)
water
chicken broth
milk or half&half

Your Turn:
Gather your vegetables: 2 stalks celery, 2 carrots, 1 onion, and 1 red or green bell pepper.

Slice the celery.
Shred the carrots with a vegetable peeler.
Chop the onion and pepper.

Saute these in butter or olive oil with some basil, thyme, and other soup herbs for a few minutes until tender.

Stir in 3 T flour, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp black pepper.

Stir in 1-2 C water, depending on how dense you want the soup, 1 can chicken broth, and 1&1/4 C cooked wild rice.

The recipe calls for "1 pouch (from 10 oz package) frozen cooked wild rice (1&1/4 C)." I didn't look for frozen cooked wild rice, frankly, but I found this at ALDI and it seemed like it would work perfectly. I know Uncle Ben's makes a similar microwavable pouch of rice, and I think this would be the easiest method of getting your cooked rice. I suppose you could also cook some, if you keep that kind of thing around anyway, but this was a perfect solution for me. Cook this while you're slicing up your vegetables. Then add it with the water and broth.

Heat to boiling, then reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

This is a good time to make some parmesan toast or maybe your lunches for tomorrow.

After 15 minutes, stir in 1 C milk or half&half and a shake of dried parsley (or some chopped fresh parsley).

Serve with rolls or toast.