Fried rice

My uncle is Japanese Hawaiian and he taught my Mom how to make this fried rice. I love this stuff. I used to eat it by the barrel full. I pretty much use any excuse to make it.

I swear I would marry this fried rice if it were legal and I wasn't already married...

Ok that may be a little weird, but you'll see when you try it.

If you have a rice cooker then this is the easy part. 2 cups of rice into the cooker. If you don't have a rice cooker you can make it in the microwave if you have an 8 cup microwave safe bowl. Use the same measurements, cover with plastic wrap and nuke it for 20 minutes. You can also make it on the stove top I hear, but I honestly don't know how...

4 cups water. It's pretty much a 2 to 1 ratio. 2 cups of water for every 1 cup of rice.

Chop the bacon into 1/2 inch strips

Chop the green onions. I like the pieces fairly small, but this is really a taste thing, chop this stuff however you like.

Grate 1 carrot. You don't need to peel it first, but please wash it.

Dice 1 small red bell pepper, or half of a large one.

all the veggies ready to go. Those are frozen peas.

They kinda form a face...

Get your wok nice and hot, pour the sesame oil into the hot pan (missed picture number 1!)

Add the bacon. mmmm bacon...

Add the minced garlic

(missed pic number 2!)

The bacon adds a nice smokiness to the dish, but it doesn't make it taste all bacony.

The bacon should be done, but not crisp. See how the edges are a little browned? This is perfect.

Take the bacon out of the pan and set it aside.

(missed pic number 3!)

Now add the peas to the hot oil.

Carrots into the pool.

Peppers and onion are next.

Saute the veggies until they are crisp tender.

Now throw the bacon back in.

If you want eggs as well, scramble an egg in a separate pan, and add the egg when you add the bacon back in.

Loosen the rice from the rice cooker and toss that into the pan.

Pour the soy sauce over the rice.

Taste this now, if it needs a bit more seasoning add about 1/4 tsp sea salt.

Mix thoroughly. Not every bit of rice needs to have soy sauce on it.

Serve along with your favorite stir fry, Filipino BBQ, or all on its own.

Excuse me, I have to go eat all the rice now...

Ingredient list:

2 cups uncooked rice
4 cups water
1 bunch green onion chopped
1 small red bell pepper diced
1 carrot grated
1/4 pound bacon
1 garlic clove minced
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce (if regular soy sauce use 1/3 a cup)
1 scrambled egg

In a rice cooker add 2 cups rice and 4 cups water. Cook until done.
In a large pan or wok put the sesame oil, bacon and garlic. Cook until edges of bacon are browned. Bacon should be done, but not crisp. Once the bacon is done, remove it from the pan. Place all the veggies into the pan and saute until crisp tender. In another pan scramble an egg. Return the bacon and egg to the veggies. Add the cooked rice to the sauteed veggies. Pour soy sauce over rice. Mix over medium low heat until incorporated. Serve with your favorite Asian fare.

Makes 8 servings

Sausage gravy

My family loves biscuits and gravy. My husband begs for it. My sister Jennifer requests it for her birthday breakfast every year, and now that we live so far apart, she has been bugging me to blog it so she can make it herself. I usually make Bisquick biscuits because they are light and kinda easy. The Pioneer woman has a biscuit recipe in her cookbook that I used for the biscuits this morning. I was feeling all domestic, but normally I would just use Bisquick. You can even use frozen biscuits if you are looking for a great short cut. Pillsbury makes a really good frozen biscuit that I have used when I didn't feel like making the mess that making biscuits from scratch causes. I should have taken a picture, it looked like a flour bomb went off!

Sausage

I used the store brand country sausage this time. I really just use whatever sausage I'm in the mood for. sometimes hot, sometimes extra sage. Use whatever you enjoy.

(I would advise against maple sausage for biscuits and gravy though)

My secret ingredient, olive oil. You will need it for the roux, and you want all that sausage flavor in it, so add it to the meat in the beginning.

Brown the meat. *drools a little*

Pull the sausage out and set it aside. Don't let your significant other steal it!

Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of flour into the hot oil.

The roux should look like this, if its lumpier or drier add a bit more oil. If its wetter, add more flour.

We want the roux to get a little brown. If it gets too brown it will not thicken up as nicely.

Pour in the 3 cups of milk, whisking the whole time.

Now is the time to add the sea salt. If you are using table salt, use about half of what I call for.

Coarse ground pepper, you can add more or less depending on your taste.

Whisk the gravy over medium heat until it comes to a boil and thickens up.

It is thick enough when the gravy coats the back of a spoon.

Throw the meat back in. Taste the gravy now, if it is too salty for you, add some milk and bring it back to a boil to thicken up. If it isn't seasoned enough, now is the time to add more.

Thick yummy sausage gravy....

Of course I added butter to my biscuits, this is so not health food!

Ingredient list:

Biscuits - there are some great biscuit recipes out there. I like Bisquick.

3 cups whole milk

1 lb sausage

1/2 tbs sea salt (if using table salt use 1/2 tsp)

1tsp coarse pepper

3 tbs olive oil

3 tbs flour

Directions:

Place sausage and olive oil in a hot deep pan. Brown meat. With a slotted spoon pull the meat out of the pan. Sprinkle flour over oil. With a wire whisk stir until slightly browned. Pour in 3 cups milk while stirring. add salt and pepper. stir constantly over medium high heat until thick. Gravy should coat the back of a spoon. Return meat to pan. Stir until hot. Serve over biscuits.

Best Ever Tacos

I guess I am on a grandparent kick, 'cause these taco's are my other Grandma's recipe. She was a cook at a Mexican restaurant in San Diego when my mom was a teenager, and learned to make these there. She then taught her girls, and my Mom taught me. These tacos are so good that when the neighbors smell them cooking, they wander over in the hopes of a dinner invite. I have had up to 8 people "stop by" on a taco night. Folks that don't like tacos, like these. I even had a friend tell me they were like restaurant tacos! Well she actually said "these are like eating out tacos!" but my husband said that sounded dirty and I shouldn't post that. (See how well I listen!)

Best ever tacos are a little time consuming, but totally worth it.

Put about a pound of hamburger into a hot pan.

You can use any meat you like actually, I often use left over chicken, roast beef, or turkey. Turkey tacos after thanksgiving are a household favorite. Everything stays the same regardless of the meat you use, but if its already cooked skip the browning.

Add the sea salt, pepper and redneck pepper. If you don't have redneck pepper you can use the same amount of Cayenne pepper, or just skip it completely if you don't want any heat to the tacos. We like a little heat. I actually use closer to a half a tsp of redneck pepper in ours. If you haven't heard of Redneck pepper, it is this fabulous mix of hot dried ground chili peppers and black pepper. It's pretty hot, and we love the stuff. I get it at Big Lots, but I am sure you can find it other places as well.

Brown the meat. Once its all brown, drain the fat. We will just pretend there is a nice picture of me draining the meat with a sieve. :)

It's time for the tomato sauce.

Now add the chili powder. Look how steamy that is!

Garlic granules (Not garlic salt, that will make this way too salty).

This is when you add the onion powder as well, but again I forgot a picture :)

Cumin.

 Please don't leave the cumin out, it makes such a big difference in the taste of the tacos.

I like to add half a can of diced tomatoes. This was not in my grandma's recipe, and I can practically hear my mom shaking her head as she reads this, but I like the added moisture, and the little bits of tomato when you bite into the taco is darned tasty.

Let this simmer, stirring occasionally for about a half hour.  This is a good time to taste it, and if you want to add anything, now is the time. I will sometimes add parsley at this point, but that is not in the original recipe either. I'm a rebel, always changing things...

Grab your favorite frying pan and add canola oil halfway up the side of the pan. I prefer canola because I can tell myself at least its a good for you fat :).

It's time to prep the tortillas. About 1 tablespoon of cheese goes on the raw corn tortilla. Use whatever cheese you like. I used colby jack, but cheddar would be great as well. I also like white corn tortillas,  you can use yellow corn tortillas if you prefer. Tacos are very flexible.

I put the cheese in first because it seems to escape from the shell in the hot oil a lot more if the cheese is on top of the meat.

2 tablespoons of the meat mixture goes on top of the cheese.

I prep 2 new tortillas as soon as I set the last ones into the frying pan. That way the oil doesn't overheat between tacos.

When the oil is hot, carefully place the taco into the oil. you can tell the oil is hot enough by dropping a piece of the grated cheese into it, if it bubbles up and floats immediately, the oil is hot enough. I don't really know what temp this is, I kinda just go by the cheese test. Medium high or so on your burner, though all stoves are different.

Carefully fold the taco in half and make sure it is flat in the frying pan.

About 1 minute later, flip the tacos over. Cook for another minute.

The tacos should be lightly browned on each side.

After each batch of tacos it is a good idea to scoop the floaters out. This is cheese and meat that has escaped the taco shell. I always have a heat proof bowl sitting nearby to dump the crunchy bits into.

Here is Duck, stealing cheese. Bad, bad husband!

I use pre-grated cheese for tacos. I wouldn't use the pre-grated stuff for something like mac and cheese, but in this instance, the shortcut is not noticeable.

Drain some of the oil by tipping the taco over the pan. Do this with both sides of the taco. Be careful not to splatter yourself, that oil is super hot! It's also a good idea to wear a shirt your don't care about, or an apron, because the cheese will pop occasionally, and will ruin a good shirt.

Set on a tray covered with paper towels, to catch some of the excess oil. Try to resist eating the tacos right now, they are pretty hot.

(See my notepad? writing a recipe for something you usually do by taste takes a lot of notes!)

The taco stuffing line up.

The glass of wine is important lol, I love a good White Zin.

Stuff each taco with pretty much whatever you like. We added iceberg lettuce, white onions and tomatoes. I also love guacamole and sour cream on these if I have some handy. Oh, and salsa is always good too. The Pioneer woman, who is my hero, has a wonderful salsa recipe.

here is a link:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/01/restaurant-style-salsa/

Here they are all pretty with some salsa on top. This is not pioneer woman's salsa, it's jar salsa. I was feeling too lazy to make salsa. I am ashamed and chagrined, but these are good anyway!

We even love these the next day. Just don't add lettuce and tomatoes to the leftovers, and store them in a Ziploc bag.

These are the dishes the hubby gets to do as punishment for being a cheese thief! Also because he loves me and wants me to make tacos over and over again :).

Ingredient list:

1 to 2 pounds hamburger (or other meat, even mushrooms would likely work)

2 tbs chili powder

1/2 tbs onion powder

1 tbs garlic granules

1/2 tbs cumin

1 tsp sea salt

1tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne or redneck pepper (use more or less depending on how hot you like things)

1 15 oz can tomato sauce

1/2 can diced tomatoes

shredded cheese

tortillas

oil for frying

taco stuffing's

pretty much use what you like here, but here are some ideas.

iceberg lettuce

tomatoes

onions

avocado

sour cream

salsa

instructions

Put 1 to 2 pounds hamburger into a hot pan. Add the sea salt, pepper and redneck pepper. If you don't have redneck pepper you can use the same amount of Cayenne pepper, or just skip it completely if you don't want any heat to the tacos. Brown the meat. Once its all brown, drain the fat.

It's time to stir in the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Now add the chili powder, garlic granules, onion powder, and Cumin. Let this simmer, stirring occasionally for about a half hour. This is a good time to taste it, and if you want to add anything, now is the time.

Grab your favorite frying pan and add canola oil halfway up the side of the pan.

It's time to prep the tortillas. About 1 tablespoon of cheese goes on the raw corn tortilla. Use whatever cheese you like. I used colby jack.

2 tablespoons of the meat mixture goes on top of the cheese.

When the oil is hot, carefully place the taco into the oil. you can tell the oil is hot enough by dropping a piece of the grated cheese into it, if it bubbles up and floats immediately, the oil is hot enough. I don't really know what temp this is, I kinda just go by the cheese test. Medium high or so on your burner, though all stoves are different.

Carefully hold both sides of the tortilla and gently place into the hot oil. Once the oil has softened the tortilla (2-3 seconds) fold it all the way over. Make sure it is flat in the frying pan.

About 1 minute later, flip the tacos over. Cook for another minute.

The tacos should be lightly browned on each side.

Drain some of the oil by tipping the taco over the pan. Do this with both sides of the taco.

Set on a tray covered with paper towels, to catch some of the excess oil.

Stuff each taco with pretty much whatever you like.