Stir-fried Rice

Missy, here. I hope you all had a beautiful Easter!!

I'm going to share a quick, simple, throw-in-everything-but-the-kitchen-sink type recipe. Or maybe I should call it a clean-out-the-panty recipe. Or even a wing-it recipe!

I was in a pinch one night (what's new??) and decided to throw together stir-fried rice. I thought back to how my grad school roommate had taught me to make it, but I didn't  have one of the main ingredients I needed. She always used Chinese sausage, and I haven't looked for it anywhere locally (now the search is on my to-do list). I also couldn't even remember what all she had me put in the fried rice, so I decided to wing it.

As I went digging in the fridge, I remembered I had a package of summer sausage! And it was a pretty close likeness to the Chinese sausage. So, here's my kitchen sink fried rice...

Cook rice as directed.
Chop sausage into small cubes.
Chop onions and garlic and cook in small amount of oil until onions are translucent (don't burn the garlic!).
Add the sausage to the pan to heat and render some of the fat.
Add in shredded carrots (not shown in ingredient photo) and any other veggies you may like (I wanted frozen peas but didn't have any).

I also tossed in some pre-cooked chicken.
Stir in the cooked rice.
Add sauces as desired. I used a good bit of soy sauce, a dash of sesame oil, and a dash of rice wine vinegar. Heat and serve!

Okay, so this is the leftovers! I forgot to photograph it before the family dug in. :) But I can tell you they really enjoyed it!

Simply Saturday Fish Fry!

Duh.

I forgot it was Saturday.

Because I had off yesterday.

And we did our Good Friday fish fry dinner.

Prepared by moi.

BUT...

I wasn't thinking about today being Saturday. I was thinking about Easter.

Planning.

Cleaning (oh my stars.... lament... lament...)

Painting. Maybe.

And getting music ready for tonight's vigil Mass...

For Holy Saturday.

OH MY STARS!!!! IT'S SATURDAY AND I'M MANNING THE CAFE!!!

So I'm going to show you fish fry, Rochester style, delicious!

Here is fresh haddock:

Now haddock is a North Atlantic white fish. It's not available everywhere.

More's the pity.

And we always, always, always always breaded the haddock using flour, then beaten egg, thinned with 1/3 as much water, and then dredged in fresh bread crumbs.

(I use my Cuisinart to make bread crumbs whenever I've got bread on the verge of being wasted. Old rolls... Heels.... crusts.... bagels (not sweet or seasoned).

And then I pop it into a gallon freezer bag and I always have fresh bread crumbs on hand.

Julia Child taught me about using fresh bread crumbs years ago.

Possibly decades.

Make that absolutely decades.

How did I get so old, so quickly????

Anyway, we tried beer batter last night:

INGREDIENTS:

2 Cups flour

12 ounces beer

2 tsp. salt

Mix together. Dip fish into batter. Drop into deep fat fryer. Cook until dark gold.

OH. MY. STARS.

This was restaurant quality deliciousness. 

My one regret???

WHY DIDN'T I REALIZE HOW EASY BEER BATTER WAS BEFORE?

Duh.

I did discover two things. That if you drop the fish (using tongs) into the oil with a basket in place, the batter cooks into the grooves of the basket.

So I removed the baskets from the fish fryer.

I use the big Presto fryer for the fish.

And a smaller one for the french fries. But not much smaller.

And I kept the basket in the one for the French Fry fryer.

And the coleslaw?

Freshly made. Very old world Brit Fish-n-chips.

I think they may possibly have Western NY fish fries in heaven.

I am not absolutely certain of that last fact.

Bless you all and may God our father in heaven and on Earth grant you peace and health this blessed Easter Resurrection Sunday....

A holy day indeed!

Favorite Friday!

Missy, here. And it's Favorite Friday! Today, I'm laying myself bare and admitting my newest favorite...

 FOOD ADDICTION

(imagine that spoken with reverb)

So, after years of ignoring it, I find myself with terrible cravings for frozen yogurt! And I blame it on all the fun places you can find now where you can pile the flavors in your bowl, then pay by weight.

And I tell you, my bowl ends up very expensive! LOL

I've discovered Polarberry (this one still has the yogurt behind the counter, it's not a weigh and pay place. I believe it's only a local, family owned shop) and FroYoLo. But closest to my house is Menchies (the one I'd heard the most about before I tried it).

My favorite flavors so far: 

at FroYoLo--red velvet cake

at Polarberry-- peanut butter

at Menchies-- dulce de leche and maple nut.

I included links so you can see if there's one near you. They have some that are low carb/sugar and non-dairy. Lots of options. But I suggest you try your best not to get addicted like I am! :)

Have y'all had any recently? What's your newest guilty food addiction?

Lamb, Anyone????

So I'm in the dentist's office the other day, having my teeth cleaned.

Anita, my hygienist and also a mom to one of Lawyer-boy's classmates is telling

me about her Italian Easter dinner.

A nice tenderloin...  Manicotti (homemade, of course)

And lamb. Done with herbs and marinated in dry red wine.

I haven't ever cooked lamb. My grandpa would buy us a leg of lamb for Easter

when I was really small and I remember liking it.

But Dave wasn't a fan.

Only now, there's a crowd at holidays, so there are plenty of people to eat it, right?

Only how do you roast it? What seasonings work best?  Rosemary? Lemon? Onion?

And would you marinade or not?

And what cut? Leg? Boneless leg?

Lamb just sounds so old-world Christian, doesn't it?

Or Greek. Like My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

But anyway, if you know anything about roasting lamb or which cut is the nicest for a crowd, educate me.

Pretty please????

Coffee Chat!

Missy, here. Time for a coffee/tea/chocolate break! Today, instead of pulling up a chair, why don't we go out for a walk? For those of you still in the cold, you can come out and enjoy some of our gorgeous spring (summer-like!) weather in Georgia.

In fact, I'll share a couple of photos my daughter took the other day in our yard. Pretend we're walking through my neighborhood admiring the azaleas...chatting...

What's your favorite TV show right now? If you don't like to watch TV, then what's your favorite pastime?

No Time to Cook

The Texan here, and for the past two weeks, I've either had no time to cook, or been unable to cook. Travel first, then bogged down with awards business. Boy, did  I pick a wrong time to travel. Not really, just my time perception was a bit skewed.

Whatever the case, like Missy, I'm not doing much (make that any) cooking lately. So I'm going to back-track a bit and give y'all my recipe for the yummiest beans you've ever had.

Growing up in Michigan, the only beans I had were the green, baked, or kidney (in chili) varieties. Then I moved to Texas. Wow! These folks know all about beans. And my favorite is the pinto. Okay, I'll do the black-eyed pea at New Year's....

A couple of weeks ago I showed you the how-to of Texas brisket. Today I'll show you how to make the best low/no fat beans you've ever had. Our vegetarian friends can even like this one.

I used to think you had to soak your beans overnight. Then I learned the quick-soak method, and I've never turned back.

Dump one pound of beans into a dutch oven. Add water to cover, plus one inch. Bring to a boil and cook five minutes. Remove from heat and drain.

Put beans back into dutch oven (I rinse my dutch oven first), add one onion, chopped, two cloves of garlic, minced (that's a teaspoon+ of the jarred, minced garlic), 3-4 cans of chicken (or vegetable) broth, 1 can of Del-Monte diced tomatoes with green pepper and onion, 2 teaspoons of salt (you can add more later, if you wish), 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper, and a dash or two of cayenne pepper.

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer four to six hours, until beans are tender.

Talk about easy. And they smell so good a cookin'.

Once upon a time, beans were a staple because they were so cheap. They're still cheap, but so good for you--protein, fiber, low-fat.... And without the fat of a ham hock, what's not to like.

Happy Tuesday, y'all. And happy eating.

Making Easy Food More Fun

Missy, here. Because of tennis season (and being gone until 8 or 9 at night), it feels like ages since I've cooked! So I don't have any recipe to share today. In fact, I've been eating more Lean Cuisine meals lately than anything else. So I thought I'd share a new discovery with you.

You may have seen them advertised. The new frozen steam-in-the-bag meals from Lean Cuisine Market Collection. I tried a couple of them, and they were both really good! The best one I tried was the Chicken Pot Stickers. To make it feel more meal-like, I poured it into a nice bowl and added a side of fresh fruit.

And to make it more fun, I always eat Asian food with chopsticks! I love using them at restaurants, so when I happened on a nice set at Macys a few years ago, I bought them.

They're beautiful with the stoneware leaves to rest the chopsticks on.

So, what about you? How do you make your meals more fun? And what type meals do you make in a pinch if you're busier than usual?