Chicken Fried Rice

Okay, it's still not fun to get up in the morning and cook dinner. Today's was a little bit better, but only because I intended on making it yesterday, and then realized that we didn't have most of the ingredients I needed. So I just made the rice yesterday AM, they say it's better to use left over white rice to make fried rice anyway, and then got up and stir fried this AM.

Here's the recipe and instructions:

Chicken Fried Rice
*PS: You could easily make this vegetarian by substituting fried Tofu for chicken, or replace the chicken with whatever kind of protein you prefer: Beef, pork, shrimp, etc. Make it vegan by subbing tofu for protein, and omitting eggs and Oyster Sauce)

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts (or whatever protein you prefer)
1 tsp + 2 tsps. Sesame Oil, divided
1/2 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
4-6 cups white rice, cooked and cooled (overnight for best results)
1 - package stir-fry veggies
2 tbsp + 1/3 c. Soy Sauce, divided
2 tbsp Oyster Sauce (omit for vegetarian)
2 eggs


Cook your protein thoroughly and set aside. Here's how I did mine:
Defrosted chicken breasts and cut into strips. Sauteed chicken in about a teaspoon of sesame oil in a large skillet, over med-high heat for about 10-15 minutes, until thoroughly cooked and all water had evaporated.
While the chicken was cooking, I scrambled the eggs in a small skillet until cooked and set aside.

Heat remaining 2 tsps Sesame Oil in wok over med-high heat. Once heated, cook onion and garlic in the oil until onions are soft, about 5-6 minutes. Add chicken (or other protein), 2 tbsp soy sauce and cook another 5-6 minutes. Add packaged stirfry veggies (or veggies of your choosing), and cook 5-6 more minutes, or until veggies are heated thoroughly. Add in cooked rice and remaining 1/3 cup soy sauce. Cook and stir until heated and mixed through. Finally, add in egg and oyster sauce and stir well. Rice is done when it's thoroughly piping hot.

Should serve about 4 as a main dish, more as a side. Great with dumplings or spring rolls :)


We'll see how it does in leftover form here in a few minutes. What I tasted this AM packing it up was GOOOOD :)

Stir Fry Beef and Snap Peas

I got this recipe from Dinner Tonight, a Martha Stewart email blast that send easy dinner recipes daily. Hubs loves beef, or as he calls it "donkey", so I thought I'd give this a shot.

I haven't actually eaten my dinner portion yet, so it's hard to give feedback on the finished portion, but I had a small tasted while I was boxing it up this morning and it seemed bland. It made a great "gravy" once the beef was added back in, but it really didn't have that much flavor, so I'm expecting the final product to be kinda bland and boring.

Here's the link to the original recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/316050/beef-stir-fry-with-snap-peas?czone=food%2Fdinner-tonight-center%2Fdinner-tonight-main-courses

I'm going to do some research later to see how to spruce up the sauce some... I'm thinking maybe soy sauce and some Chinese 5 Spice... But we'll see :)

Housewife for a Day

So, our reality shifted a little today... it was weird/nice/weird, but we made out okay... Mike had an impromptu job come up and spent the day in town working. I, however, am on vacation this week, so I was at home all day, only not working like Mike usually does. I had the Casey Anthony trial to keep me occupied, did some laundry, scooped out cat boxes, took out trash and recycling and took bins to the curb. And I cooked dinner. It was a super easy meal, but also delicious!

We had frozen chicken breasts already, and I was craving some veggies, so I decided on some kind of baked chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn-on-the-cob. Easy-peasy. But here's the baked chicken I made:

Juicy, Crunchy Baked Chicken

Frozen Chicken Breasts (as many as you want) = thawed and patted dry (I neglected to pat them dry and I think the mayo/breadcrumbs would've stuck better had I done this)
Mayo, real or reduced fat/calorie
Breadcrumbs, Italian (or plain ones with some Italian herbs mixed in)

You can tell it's easy because it really only has 3 ingredients! Don't let it fool you!

Also, quit looking at me like that, re: Mayo. I love Mayonnaise. I don't care if you think it's gross. You really can't taste it that much here anyway, and I heard it's the super secret recipe for keeping the chicken moist. (What, you hate that word too?! Pshaw)

Coat each piece of chicken with Mayo, about 2 tsp. per breast, depending on the size.

Dredge in Breadcrumbs

Bake at 425, on a broiler pan with a rack (I bet this would do great in the toaster oven, but I used a small cookie sheet with a cookie cooling rack and it worked great). Cook until internal temperature is 170 (20-35 minutes, depending on the thickness). The outside will be crispy and good, and if you can keep from cutting the breast to check done-ness, none of the delicious juices inside will leak out.

Enjoy!