Island Fried Rice

 

 

Island Fried Rice

3 Cups cooked rice (1 cup uncooked)
6-8 ounces ham or Spam, cubed
2 tsp oil
2 eggs
2 Tbls water
2 Tbls oil
2 tsp minced garlic (2 cloves)
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1 small can pineapple tidbits, drained, reserve juice
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce & pineapple juice, mixed

Heat the 2 tsp oil in a large skillet or a wok. Sauteed the ham, then remove it from the skillet. Beat the eggs and water together with a fork, add to skillet and scramble, breaking into small pieces. Remove from skillet.

Heat the 2 Tbls oil, and saute the garlic and green onions. This is where you can add an other vegetables you might want. DON'T BURN THE GARLIC! It gets bitter and yucky! Add the pineapple, then the ham and eggs. Stir well.

Stir in the rice, mix well. You can cook until the rice begins to brown if you like it that way. Stir constantly!

Stir in the sauce. Cook and stir until the rice coated.

This is good topped with more sliced green onions. 

Optional: Add a cup of peas and carrots, from a bag of frozen that cooks in the microwave.

Makes four servings as a side dish, or two big servings for pigs.

 

You need a BIG skillet for this!  Five quart size.  Like a fryer.  Doesn't have to have a lid, though.

 

 

 

I've never been comfortable with recipes that you can change around, but this is something that always turns out, no matter what things I throw into it. Tonight I had no green onions, but I tossed in a cup of frozen peas and carrots (cooked in the microwave first). The only time it wasn't good was the time I burned the garlic. In the Islands they love Spam. The first time I made it I used leftover Christmas ham. 

 

 

 

Alabama BBQ Sauce

 

Alabama White BBQ Sauce

There are those who think BBQ Sauce is just glorified ketchup.  They're not completely wrong.

  Printable text file

1 cup mayonnaise (240 grams)
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 Tablespoon brown mustard
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon prepared horseradish
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Mix everything together. Store in airtight container (glass is best).  

Keeps 2 weeks in the fridge.

Add to meat AFTER cooking.

 

Makes about 20 Tablespoons at 50 calories each.  Use light mayo to reduce calories.

 

Excellent on grilled or broiled chicken. Grilled vegetables.  Also on pork chops, pork tenderloin, or anything else.

 

I've never been to Alabama, and now I don't have to...

I don't have a photo, it's sauce...

 

 

 

 

Fantasy Fudge

 

PRINTABLE RECIPE

FANTASY FUDGE

Ingredients

3 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup butter or margarine*

2/3 cup evaporated milk**

12 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips***

1 (7 ounce) jar of marshmallow cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chopped walnuts (OPTIONAL)

Directions

1. Butter a 9 x 13 inch cake pan. Or a big platter, or two pie tins.  

2. Mix sugar, butter, and evaporated milk in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Bring mixture to a full boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.  

3. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips until melted and thoroughly combined. Beat in marshmallow creme, walnuts, and vanilla extract. Transfer fudge to the prepared pan and let cool before cutting into squares.

 

NOTES

* The original recipe called for Parkay margarine, because it's from Kraft Foods.  Butter makes it a bit creamier,but margarine works fine, too, so use whatever you have. 

** You can use a 5 ounce can.  (NOT sweetened condensed milk)

*** Check your package of chocolate chips, some only have 10 ounces nowadays.  You can also use semi sweet baking chocolate, chopped up.

 

This is from Kraft Foods, I didn't make it up.  Ha, like I'm that creative...  

There are a lot of shortcut fudge recipes out there, but this is the best tasting and worth the effort.

It makes enough to fill a 9 x13 inch cake pan, or a large platter.  (I have made this in pie tins for gifting, one fits into a gallon ziplock bag.)

 

 

Harvard Beets

 

When I found this recipe it was called "Grandma's Harvard Beets", but my grandma never made it.  Neither did my mom.  I made something similar a long time ago (but not in a Galaxy far, far way) but lost the recipe.   

People who don't like beets will eat this.

Anyway... this is for canned beets.  You could use fresh, but you'd need to cook them first.  And I'm too lazy for that.  *shrug*  

 

1/3 cup sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/3 cup beet liquid (from the can) or water
1 can (15 oz) diced or shoestring beets
3 Tablespoons butter1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

 

Drain the beets, reserving 1/3 cup liquid.

Stir cornstarch and sugar together.

Heat the vinegar and beet liquid in a saucepan, stir in sugar mixture.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and cook and stir until thickened.  (just a few minutes don't walk away from it).

Add beets, simmer until hot and the sauce is as thick as you want.   Stir in the butter, salt, and pepper.

 I have used sliced beets for this, but it's awkward. LOL

Garlic Parmesan Orzo

Garlic Parmesan Orzo (Instant Pot)

This was so good...

1 ½ cups of water
¾ cup (143g) Orzo pasta
1 tsp minced garlic (1 clove)
1 Tablespoon butter
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Combine water, orzo, garlic, and butter in the Instant Pot.

Cook on HIGH PRESSURE for four minutes, followed by a QUICK RELEASE

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Stir in cheese.

This makes two side-dish servings but can be doubled, same cook time.

NOTES:
This needed a LOT of salt, it might be better to add some to the cooking water.  Maybe 1/2 teaspoon.

No reason this can't be made on the stove... cook and drain the orzo according to the package, stir in all the other ingredients and eat it!

My cheese advice applies: If you're going to be saving some to reheat later, do NOT stir in the cheese.  Add it to your bowl.  Cheese does not reheat well.

You could make this with small shells, or elbows.  Just adjust the cooking time.  Pasta always cooks for 1/2 the time called for on the package, and do a quick release.

Spaghetti for One or Two (Instant Pot)

If you like your spaghetti sauce thick and tomatoey, or your Italian Grandmother is looking over your shoulder, this recipe is not for you.

You could use more sauce, thicker sauce, or less water, to a point.



DOUBLE AMOUNTS FOR TWO


1/4 lb ground beef
1/2 cup spaghetti sauce
2  ounces (dry, uncooked weight) Spaghetti or other pasta
cheese
water
salt
pepper



Heat the instant pot on Saute until HOT.  Add the ground beef, cook and stir to break it up.

Add the sauce

Add the pasta.  If you are using spaghetti, or other long pasta, put half in one direction and half at a 90-degree angle.

Add enough water to cover the pasta.  There's no exact measurement, it all depends on the size and shape of the pasta, and the size of your pot.  This recipe probably won't work in a larger pot! Sprinkle some salt on top, 1/4 to 1/2 a teaspoon.

Cook on high pressure for half the cooking time called for on the pasta package.  Do a quick release, then stir.

If it's too thin, you can turn the pot to SAUTE again and cook it a little to thicken up, or use a slotted serving spoon.  Which is what I did since I'm not crazy about sauce anyway.

I was out of parmesan cheese, how sad is that.

This is one serving, made in an Instant Pot Mini.  You can double for two.  It's not a full meal, you need a vegetable side or a salad and you can't miss with garlic or cheese bread.

Leftover sauce? If it's in a jar (no judgment) you can stick it in the fridge for a week.  If you've made your own, you can freeze it!  I freeze it in custard cups, pop the blocks out and stick them in a ziplock.

You can use the frozen stuff in this recipe, it will just take longer to come to pressure.

Lazy Girl's Meatballs and Pasta

Frozen meatballs... sounds nasty, but... NO! They're good!  I like the small size, Swedish Meatball type.  Not from Ikea, but my neighborhood Kroger store.  They come in a resealable bag.  One serving is 6, but if you throw in a couple for the dog it won't change the cooking time.  If you use the larger meatballs, like the Italian style, it might need to cook longer and would probably mess up the pasta.


Similar to the IP spaghetti, but less work.  I'm a sucker for pasta and less work...

FOR ONE:  (Double for two, won't change the cook time)
6 Frozen Meatballs
1/2 can condensed cream of something soup (or 1/2 jar pasta sauce or beef gravy)
2 ounces pasta (dry, uncooked weight)**
1/2 cup water (about)*
1/2 tsp Better than Boullion (optional)

Put in the meatballs and pasta, cover with the soup.  Add the water.*

Seal the pot and cook at high pressure for half the time called for on the pasta package, around 6 minutes.  Do a quick release.  Pour it into a bowl.  You're done!


*You will get ticker or thinner sauce according to how much water you add, so I can't really give you a specific amount.  You need to make sure the pasta is completely covered. Also, there's a minimum amount required to get pressure, depending on the size of your pot. 


If you're using sauce or gravy, use the minimum amount needed to cover the noodles.  Condensed soup is better, as it needs to be diluted a little to make decent gravy.   I like cream of mushroom with a little beef flavor stirred in.  Campbell's Golden Mushroom is really, really good.

What about the other half of the can? Put it in a container in the fridge.  It'll keep for a week.  Or more.  Just don't use it if it's blue or resembles a science project...

** Don't use too delicate of a pasta or the cooking time will be too short.  Bow tie noodles, rigatoni, radiatore,  large shells, rotini... anything with a cook time of 10-12 minutes should work fine.

Keep in mind that I have a 3 qt. Mini IP.  A large pot might not cook this properly as those need a full cup of liquid to reach full pressure.  (instead of the half cup a mini pot needs)  I like to wave this tidbit in the face of those who say to get the big pot because "you can always cook smaller". Uh, no, that's not how pressure cookers work.