Chicken Fried Rice

Who doesn't love fried rice?!? This recipe has been perfected, thanks to my hubby! We cook the rice early in the day and chill it so it "fries" better.

3 cups uncooked rice ( cook in 1 1/2 cups water and then refrigerate)
1 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken ( great way to use leftover chicken or any meat)
1 cup diced sweet onion
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup diced raw carrots
3 eggs, scrambled
2 T chicken stock
1 T soy sauce
1 T dry sherry
spicy garlic
canola oil

Heat skillet on high and add canola. Saute onion,carrots, peas,and chicken, then egg. Mix chicken stock, soy sauce and sherry together in a bowl, then add to rice. Continue to toss rice until it is fried. Looks delish, right?!?

Sweet and Sour Pork Stir Fry

Got a craving for a tasty stir fry? This was put together by creating a recipe with ingredients we love!

2 lbs boneless pork (or pork chops) sliced in strips
Season with:
1/2 tsp spicy garlic
1 T soy sauce

Dice and set aside the following ingredients:
2 red peppers sliced
1 sweet onion sliced
1 large bunch broccoli, use tops only
20 oz can pineapple chunks
canola oil/few drops of sesame oil

Sweet and sour sauce:
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 T hoison sauce
1 1/2 T dry sherry
1 1/2 ketchup
1 1/2 T brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp corn starch

Using a hot skillet, cook meat with seasonings, then remove from pan. Next cook all ingredients listed with the veggies. Return meat to skillet and add the sweet and sour sauce. This was really authentic!

Chicken with Kielbasa

This recipe can be made in either a  crock pot or skillet. It is a very tasty combination of two meats and is perfect over rice. Very easy to make!

Ingredients:

2 TBS olive oil
1 pkg kielbasa (usually around 12 oz) sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
6 pieces boneless chicken (adjust to number of servings you want)
1 onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup diced carrots
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2- 1 cup frozen peas

NOTE: If you want to cook rice in the crock pot with meat, the ratio is 2 cups rice and 3 1/2 cup water. I prefer to do mine separately.

Saute onion, garlic, red pepper and carrots until tender. Then over medium heat, brown sausage on both sides.  Add chicken to skillet and brown. This will simmer nicely in a skillet. Add the peas 5 minutes before serving. ( or you can brown the meats and add everything to a crock pot if desired)

Pretty over rice!

Week 17~ Chicken Cordon Bleu

I had been making cordon bleu the same way for a long time. I found this recipe and loved it! The fresh mushrooms really make the sauce delicious. You could also make this ahead of time, and then bake it when you are ready. This is really good!!
The best advice I can give is make sure the chicken is thin so you can easily roll it and be sure to use toothpicks to hold them together.

4 boneless chicken breasts
8 slices deli ham
8 slices swiss cheese
1 cup flour
2 eggs/ 2 TBS water
1-2 TBS oil for sauteing

Cut the chicken breasts in half so you have 8 thin pieces. In the center of each breast, place 1 piece of ham and  one piece of swiss cheese. Roll up each chicken and secure with two toothpicks.
Beat the eggs/water in a bowl and spread the flour with a little black pepper on a plate. First coat the chicken lightly with flour, then dip in egg wash and then dredge in flour again.
Heat skillet on medium-high. Add oil and saute the chicken rolls until golden brown. Place these in a casserole.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For the sauce you will need:

2 TBS butter
10 ounces of fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup chopped onion
one-10 oz. can cream of mushroom soup
milk for thinning
3 TBS Sherry

Heat skillet again saute mushrooms and onion in the butter/ Stir in soup and heat until bubbly. Add milk to desired consistency. Stir in Sherry.

Pour sauce over chicken and bake for 30-35 minutes. Serve over rice or pasta.

Week 17~ Lemon Pork Chops

Here's an easy, versatile recipe that I actually took from a crockpot cookbook. Decided it could also be made on the stovetop. Brown pork chops and place all ingredients in the crock, or follow my stove top version below.

Ingredients:
1 TBS vegetable oil
4 boneless pork chops
1-  8 oz can tomato sauce
1 onion, quartered and sliced
1 green bell pepper, cut into strips
1 TBS lemon-pepper seasoning
1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
1 lemon, quartered


Heat oil in a skillet and saute the onion and pepper; remove from pan. Brown the pork chops on both sides. In a separate bowl, mix tomato sauce, lemon-pepper, worcestershire sauce and the juice from lemon quarters.

Return pepper and onion to skillet and top with sauce mixture. Simmer on low, approx 30 min. This was very good over rice!

Week 15~ Jalapeno Poppers

I have had somewhat of a lull in trying new recipes! Since my oldest son wanted to try another recipe from his Sriracha cookbook, we tried one over the weekend! It's a fun appetizer, I think even non- pepper lovers should try these! You can adjust the sriracha to how spicy you want them, since you are de-seeding the peppers.

Here's what you need:

Approx 2 dozen jalapeno peppers
16 oz cream cheese
2 TBS sriracha sauce
1 lb center cut bacon

First, clean the peppers and cut in half lengthwise.

Then mix the cream cheese with the sriracha sauce. Fill each pepper with cheese mix.

Wrap each pepper with half a piece of bacon. ( after having tried this, we all agreed they could have had more bacon, esp since these peppers were very large!) Secure with a toothpick.

We used a cooling rack between the peppers and cooking sheet to let the bacon drip through.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Let the torture begin! These smell amazing while baking.

Week 12~ Pork Chop Marinade

So I am sooooooooooo excited to start trying new BBQ recipes, salads......all the yummy things that the nicer weather will bring!! Bye bye crockpot. LOL

Try this! I marinated my pork chops overnight and they were amazing!!!

4-6 boneless pork chops

1/2 cup orange juice        1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 cup lime juice             1/2 tsp soy sauce
1 TBS sugar                    1 TBS wine vinegar
1 Tsp sea salt                  1 clove garlic
1/2 TBS pepper              2 TBS green onion
1/2 tsp cumin                  1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp thyme                  1 dried red chile, finely chopped
1/4 c olive oil

I placed the boneless pork and all the spices in a ziplock bag, and marinated all night.

Grilled this and it was so full of flavor!!