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.

Lemon and Thyme Chicken Stir Fry

The Date: 1 March 2012

The Occasion: I love stir fry, especially with chicken and veggies, and I hadn’t made one in a while. This was a recipe I tried first about a year ago and I wanted to make it again.

The Recipe: From Betty Crocker’s 2010 Annual Recipes Cookbook

How it went: A few things about cooking tonight were not ideal. My lemon pepper had gotten moist or something. The texture was all wrong. But I used it anyway and it tasted fine. I also forgot to get crunchy noodles as topping for the stir fry but I used sunflower seeds instead which added the texture I was looking for. 

The recipe calls for angel hair pasta, which I’ve used before, but tonight I did it with white rice. Either one is good. I omit the cherry tomatoes but add water chestnuts. You can add snap peas, zucchini, cauliflower, or any other veggies you’d like.

What You Need:

2-3 chicken breasts

1 onion

1 medium crown broccoli

1 green bell pepper

1/2 red bell pepper

1 C baby carrots, quartered

1 can water chestnuts

1 C chicken broth

1 tsp dried thyme leaves

1 tsp grated lemon peel or lemon juice

4 tsp corn starch

1 & 1/2 tsp lemon pepper

3-4 C cooked angel hair pasta or rice

Your turn:
Cook rice or pasta as directed.

Cut broccoli, peppers, and carrots. Set aside in large bowl. Add water chestnuts.

Cut chicken into 1-inch cubes. Slice onion into wedges. Cook together in olive or vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until chicken is cooked through. Sprinkle with some salt.

Add vegetables and cover. Cook about 10 minutes over low-medium heat until vegetables are crisp-tender.

Whisk together

· 1 C chicken broth

· 1 tsp dried thyme leaves

· 1 tsp grated lemon peel or lemon juice

· 4 tsp corn starch

· 1 & 1/2 tsp lemon pepper

Add to chicken mixture, when the vegetables are cooked, and stir. Let simmer, covered, several more minutes, until sauce thickens and everything is coated.

Serve over rice or pasta with crunchy noodles, peanuts, or sunflower seeds 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! 

Sweet and Spicy Stir Fry

The Date: 19 October 2011

The Occasion: I saw a friend eating some mini Asian taco things at lunch a few weeks ago, and I decided I would try an Asian dinner of my own in the near future. I even wrote in my planner "look up Asian food." Now, I guess this meal is stretching it as far as authentic Asian goes, but it fit my flavor category for "Asian," and that was enough for a Wednesday night.

The Recipe: I looked at a lot of stir fry recipes, and settled on this one. It was great as-is; I've only made a few changes in my version, below.

How it Went:
I swapped a few ingredients for similar things that I had on hand. I pretty much stuck to the recipe, though, and was pleased with the result!

Your Turn:
In a large wok or skillet, heat 1 T olive oil. Add

• 2 chopped chicken breasts
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 garlic clove, finely minced 
• a dash of ground ginger

Stir fry until chicken is no longer pink.

Transfer chicken mixture to a bowl.

Add another splash of olive oil to the wok, then add

instagr.am veggies

• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 and 1/2 fresh petite green beans (I substituted a few chopped stalks of celery, some chopped scallions, and some thinly sliced carrots)

Stir fry about 3 minutes. Then add 2 T water, cover, and cook another 2 minutes.

Now we'll mix up the sauce. Mix

• 1/2 C chicken broth
• 1 T cornstarch
• 1 T sugar
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1 T white vinegar or rice vinegar
• 1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper

Whisk well. Add sauce and chicken mixture, stir and let cook a few more minutes while you set the table.

Stir in

• 1 C canned or fresh chopped pineapple
• 1/3 C dry roasted peanuts

Serve with white rice or noodles.

You'll taste that quarter-teaspoon of Cayenne!