My Fried Rice

This is one of my favorite go to in the freezer. It reheats well and goes with your favorite chicken, shrimp or pork dish. Great  as a side with bbq steaks. Mix and match from the freezer or refrigerator. Add more meat if you want or leave it out altogether. This is an easy comforting dish.This is the dish  when finished.

Rice: This is obvious, of course. You need to start with boiled or steamed white rice. Make the rice the day before to firm it up. Fresh rice will just give you a gummy mess.  If you can't do it the day before, at least let the rice cool in the refrigerator for a few hours.

Fried Rice
What You Need	Directions
2 cups enriched white rice 4 cups water 2/3 cup chopped green pepper 1/2 cup chopped onions 2/3 cup chopped  carrots 1/2 cup frozen green peas 3 or 4 strips of cooked bacon crumbled 1 cup of cubed ham or chicken or shrimp (your call, I usual put in a mixture)  2 T soy sauce 3 tablespoons vegetable (preferably peanut) oil 2 eggs sesame oil, to taste (optional)	In a saucepan, combine rice and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Heat a wok till the surface is almost smoking. Then add 2T  oil and spread it around till it coats the surface. Crack eggs into small bowl and stir till mixed. Add to wok and scramble. Set aside while you cook the rest of the ingredients. Add remaining oil, the garlic and optional chillies stir for a few seconds. (If you prefer you can par boil the peppers and carrots for a few minutes before adding to the wok.) Add the carrots and stir for a few minutes then green peppers, onion, peas and stir for a few minutes. Add the rice to the pan, making sure to break up any clumps of rice. Stir till the rice is coated. Add your meats and then the bacon, stirring constantly.  Shake in soy sauce, and toss rice to coat. Drizzle with sesame oil, salt and pepper to taste and toss again.  Add scrambled eggs and gently fold in to meat, vegetables and rice. Serve. Leftover rice is delicious.

Popular garnishes include green onions cut on the bias and sprigs of parsley.

Q&E Crepes Not Just For Dessert

Crepes are not just for desserts. They make very good quick and easy entrees for lunch, brunch and dinner. They make guests dropping by, easy peasy. Just grab a handful of crepes from the freezer and pair them with chicken, shrimp, ham, or mushroom. Your imagination is the limit. Whip up a batch of crepes when you have time. Freeze them with a piece of wax paper between each crepe. Store in a freezer plastic bag. They will be ready at a moments notice and provide a quick and elegant entrée or have a crepe brunch buffet with both savory and sweet crepes and let guest make their own.

Basic Crepe recipe:

Ingredients:
4 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
2 ¼ milk
¼ cup (½ stick) melted butter or margarine

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and eggs while gradually adding in the milk, stirring to combine. Add the salt and butter; beat until smooth.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each crepe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.  The first crepe never comes out, just toss it and move on.

Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side. Cool and wrap for freezer. When removing from freezer, wrap them in foil and warm in a 325-degree oven for 10-15 minutes until heated through.

Fillings
There’s nothing better than crepes filled with meats or vegetables and covered with  cheese sauce.

Chicken (frozen cooked from freezer, cream of mushroom soup, frozen peas.l Make cream of mushroom soup using half the milk, heat then add chicken and peas. Lay each crepe on the serving plate, put 1/4 cup chicken mixture, fold in half and sprinkle with cheese (optional). Serve. These can also be filled with shrimp, substituted for chicken.

Hard cooked eggs in cream sauce or cream soup.

Grilled veggies in a cheese sauce.

Spinach, Bacon and Mushroom Filling

Q&E Pantry Items

These items are great to stock up on and create magic with.  I want to share some of my slight of hand tricks. How many items are in your pantry?

Cream Soups		Noodles
Chicken & Beef Broth		Rice
Canned Meats Tuna Salmon		Canned Tomatoes & Tomato Paste
Beans, Baked and White		Canned  Vegetables
Bread  Crumbs, plain		Olives
Asst Instant Pudding		Various Pasta
Salad Dressing		Croutons
Hoisin Sauce		Mushrooms
Artichoke Hearts		Pesto
Roasted Peppers		Peanut Butter
Powder Sugar		Pie Filling
Ready Made Cookie Pie Crust		Chocolate Semi-sweet & itter-sweet
Sweetened Condensed Milk		Mixes ie: muffin, waffle
Chocolate Syrup

Cooked chicken from the freezer combined with canned cream soup of choice. Boil noodles, drain and serve over noodles.

Cookie Pie Crust filled with instant pudding and topped with whip topping from the freezer.

Cook pasta top with tomato sauce made from the canned tomatoes. Serve with meatballs or sausage from the freezer. Add a loaf of French bread from the freezer.

Antipasto serve black and green olives with artichoke hearts, mushrooms and roasted peppers drizzle lightly with olive oil. Add some provolone or cheddar cheese and serve with  bruschetta.

Take frozen chili and defrost, serve over rice.

Powder sugar sprinkle over many desserts make them look elegant.

Q&E Entrees

These are  suggested entrees to have on hand in the freezer. Add a salad and bread to some of these entrees and you will be one smart host/hostess.Your guests will never guess how you did it.  I will be adding additional frozen entrée recipes and suggested menus.

C=Cooked		R=Raw
Chili		Lasagna
Chicken Spaghetti		Meatballs cooked+
Sweet and Sour Chicken*		Beef Cubes for Kabobs
Pizza		Shrimp C&R
Taco Filling		Cube Steaks
Salmon Fillets		Bacon
BBQ Chicken+		Hamburger

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Ingredients
4 chicken breasts, cut in cubes
1 can pineapple chunks (save juice)
one garlic clove, minced
1/4 Cup soy sauce
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
l teaspoon ginger
1-2 carrots cut in small pieces
1 green pepper cut in pieces
Directions
Add all ingredients together in a ziplock bag. Freeze. In frying pan add chicken and vegetables  and allow to cook on low for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Cook frozen rice to go with the meal.

For dessert serve vanilla ice cream with chopped almonds and fortune cookies.  Fortune cookies can be stored in the pantry for just such an occasion.

+Flash freeze the meatballs and store in a zip lock bag when frozen.

+ Chicken cooked and shredded can be thawed and mixed with bbq sauce, serve over rice or on a bun.

Hamburger can make quick tostados, taco salad, nachos for unexpected company.

Crock Pot Q&E Entrees

Cook one of these recipes and add a green salad, a  starchy vegetable, hot rolls and a dessert. You have a quick and easy entrée. All can be made the day before.

Ingredients:
1 pound cubed beef stew meat
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed golden or cream of
mushroom soup
1/2 cup chopped onion
Dash of garlic powder
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup water
4 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)

Directions:
1. In a slow cooker, combine the meat, soup, onion, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce and water.
2. Cook on Low setting for 8 hours, or on High setting for about 5 hours. Stir in cream cheese just before serving.  Goes great with noodles.


Make this one when you have a game night or card party!  Ranch Chicken sandwiches


Ingredients:

6 chicken breasts , boneless, skinless
1 package dry ranch salad dressing mix
Bottle of your favorite buffalo wing sauce
8 buns, split lengthwise

Directions:

• Place the chicken breasts into crock pot. Sprinkle with ranch dressing mix and pour the wing sauce over the top.
• Cover, and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.
• Once the chicken has cooked, shred the meat finely with two forks.
• Serve on buns.     

 

Slow Cooker Corned Beef Sandwiches

Ingredients:

3 pound corned beef briskets
1 (12 fluid ounce) bottle beer
1 bay leaves
1/4 cup peppercorns
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 bulb peeled garlic cloves, separated

Directions

• Place meat in a slow cooker.
• Combine beer, brown sugar in a medium bowl.
• Pour over the meat.
• Cover and cook on high for 6 to 6 1/2 hours or on low for 10 to 12 hours. The meat should be very tender.
• Remove from crock pot.
• Thinly slice the meat across the grain and serve on crusty bread  with a good grainy brown mustard. Make sure you have a good dill pickle to accompany the sandwich.

Company Pot Roast *

Ingredients:
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream
of mushroom soup
1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix
1 med onion thinly sliced
11/4 cups water or 1/2 water and 3/4 white wine
5 1/2 pounds pot roast
1 cup sliced mushrooms (optional)

Directions:
1. In a slow cooker, mix cream of mushroom soup, dry onion soup mix, onions, mushrooms and water. Place pot roast in slow cooker and coat with soup mixture.
2. Cook on High setting for 3 to 4 hours, or on Low setting for 8 to 9 hours.
* Can be made the night before and reheated.

Crock Pot® is the registered trademark of Rival.

Crock Pot Appetizers 2

Oriental Chicken Drumettes or Wings

Ingredients
20 chicken drumettes or wings
1 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup hosin sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 cloves of garlic (mashed)
3 scallions cut on the bias

Directions

If using chicken wings cut into two sections at the joints. Brown wings slightly. Put the wings in the Crockpot. In a small bowl, put the hosin sauce, soy sauce, garlic, brown sugar and mix very well. Pour this mixture over the wings and stir well. Cook on low for 6 hours for a very unique taste. Afterwards, sprinkle scallions on wings and enjoy.



Crock Pot® is the registered trademark of Rival.

Orange Glazed Chicken

Ingredients

• 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  
• flour
  
• oil
  
• 2 garlic cloves chopped
  
• 1/2 t ginger powder(optional)
  
• 3 green onions cut on bias
  
• 2/3 dash crushed hot red chilies
  
• 3 T soy sauce 1/6 cup water
  
• 4 T orange juice concentrate
  
• 1/2 cup sugar or honey
  
• 1/2 cup rice vinegar
  
• 1 T cornstarch
  

Directions Chop the chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces. Coat with flour by putting chicken and flour in a plastic bag. Shake until chicken is coated with flour. Heat about 1/4 oil in a frying pan or wok, add an even layer of chicken in the pan. Fry and turn until browned. Repeat until all the chicken is browned.
Add oil to your hot pan to sauté 3 - 4 cloves minced garlic, and about 4 - 6 chopped green onions. Cook until soft but not brown.

***Orange Chicken Sauce*** 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 tablespoon water 3 1/3 tablespoons sugar 3 1/3 tablespoons white vinegar
Next, add soy sauce,  sugar, vinegar and  orange juice concentrate. Stir water into 1 tablespoon cornstarch until smooth. Add to chicken and heat until sauce is thickened. Stir in 1 tablespoon oil and sesame oil. Stir and heat until just bubbly. Add the chicken to your sauce and combine until coated.  Serve at once

Chicken Wings the Q&E Way

Got to have my wings for the Super Bowl, wouldn’t be the same without them.

Ingredients

Chicken drumettes (about 4 lbs.)
1/2 Cup pure maple syrup
1/2 Cup ketchup
1 tsp. hot pepper sauce (optional)

Directions

Put drumettes in pressure cooker and cook on high for 7 minutes, let cool. In medium bowl combine syrup, ketchup, and hot pepper sauce. Pour over cooked drummettes and toss to coat. Refrigerate until ready to put on the bar-b-que. Grill until heated through, brushing with leftover marinate as needed.  Don't forget the blue cheese dressing!  Serve with wet naps.

Informal Dinner for Six

Chicken Parmesan Dinner

Menu

Chicken Parmesan

Pasta

Tossed Salad
Garlic Bread
Dessert - Vanilla ice cream balls rolled in coconut with shortbread cookies

Grocery List

2 0r 3 chicken breasts - see below
bread crumbs
paresan cheese
1/2 pound sliced fresh mozzarella cheese
large jar of tomato sauce

1 lb of spaghetti or shape of your choice.
bag of salad greens
salad dressing
garlic bread

Prep: 15 min; Tota; Cook Time: 20 min
Serves 4 - 6
2  (3 if six guests) large whole boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 - 1 1/2 pounds total)
2 cups dry Italian bread crumbs
1/3 up parmesan cheese grated
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 pound fresh mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Large jar of your favorite tomato sauce

Day before party - To make the cutlets: thin, with the flat side of a cleaver or a heavy skillent pound the breasts until they are approximately 1/4" thick. Cut each breast in half.

Put  the bread crumbs with 1/3 cup parmesan cheese on a flat plate.

Coat cutlets with bread crumbs (press down firmly while coating with bread crumbs).

On medium-high heat, heat  the olive oil. Sautee the breaded cutlets until they are deep golden brown on both sides. Remove to paper towel to drain.

At this point when cutlets have cooled, place in refrigerator in a covered single layer until next day.

Day of Party -  take the cutlets out  of the refrigerator about an hour before warming them. Preheat oven to 350°.  In an oven proof dish lightly cover the bottom of the dish with tomato sauce, place cutlets in a single layer and top with tomato sauce and sliced mozzarella cheese. Bake for fifteen minutes or till heated through and cheese is melted.  Prepare garlic bread according to package directions and keep warm.

Serve with pasta, tossed salad and garlic bread.
 

1lb (1 box) of cooked pasta will feed 4 people as a main course.

Cooking pasta basics