Dinner Tonight!?

We had an In-N-Out for dinner!!  Definitely one of my favorites!

Fried Rice.

When I make a salad for dinner, I usually make another meal for James and Matty.  They can handle a little salad with dinner, but not as an entire meal for their dinner.  One of those salad nights, I make fried rice for them.  It has a great nutritional value.

                 

Ingredients:

Canola or Vegetable oil for cooking

Any kinds of your favorite vegetables such as:

onions

carrots

green bell pepper

 

4 slices of thinly sliced ham

2 eggs, beaten

3 cups of cooked rice (better if cooked rather hard)

salt and pepper

soy sauce

1. Finely chop the vegetables and ham the same size.  

2. Heat the pan until hot and add 1/2 Tbsp of oil.  Cook soft scrambled eggs.  Set them aside on a plate.

3. Using the same pan, on high heat, heat 1 tbsp oil and fry vegetables.  Season with salt and pepper. Stir fry them for about 3 minutes and add ham.  Keep frying them until they are cooked through, about a few minutes longer.

4. Add 1 tbsp oil to the pan and when it's sizzled, add the rice to it.  Using a metal spatula or wooden spatula, fry the rice and vegetables, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan constantly, for about 7 minutes.  If the rice sticks to the bottom, don't worry.  That happens.  Try to scrape as much as possible.

5. Add the scrambled eggs to the rice and vegetables.  

6. Season with salt and pepper generously.  The key is to keep tasting as you season.

7. Add 1 tsp. of soy sauce.  Stir the rice and done!

Chinese Chicken Salad.

My search for good Chinese chicken salad started when I was around 20. Since then I had tried Chinese Chicken Salads in many restaurants and tried to duplicate the ones I liked. So far I have settled with this dressing package. I am happy with it and so are my friends who have had my salad.

Ingredients for roughly 4 servings

Salad Dressing

Sun-Bird brand Chinese Chicken Salad seasoning mix (found in Asian aisle)

Salad

Any kind of salad leaves (my favorite is Ready-Pac Parisian which will make 4 servings.)

2 chicken breasts, cooked in anyway you want (grilled, roasted, poached or pan fried) I use rotisseried chicken from the store.

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1 cup chopped cucumber

1 1/2 cups roughly chopped bean sprout

1 cups chopped cilantro

1 1/2 cups canned mandarine oranges

fried wantons

Fried Wantons

Cut wanton skins into 1/2 inch stripes.

Heat oil to deep fry the wanton skins (not too high about 325F )

Take them out onto a paper towel when they are golden brown. Season with a little salt when it's hot.

A Huge Break from Cooking.

While visiting my family in Japan, I didn't cook at all.  I didn't do the dishes, touch a microwave, oven, toaster.... I hardly went into my mom's kitchen!  Wow!  It was nice.

Swedish Almond Toasts .

I'm not sure if the recipe is originated in Sweden, but Rob's mom makes these, which gives me an impression that they are Swedish.  These are Rob's absolute favorite.  The texture and after-taste are so addictive that "I bet you can't just eat one."

                      

A:

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup half & half

1 tsp. almond extract

B:

4 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 cup chopped almonds

Preheat the oven to 350F.

1. Cream together the ingredient A.

2. Add the ingredients B into A.  Mix well.

3. Spread into two sprayed loaf pans.

4. Bake 40 to 50 minutes.  Cool and take them out and cool more.

After the loaves completely cool down, slice into 1/2-inch thick slices.

Dry in single layer on cookie sheets in 300F oven for about 1/2 hour, turning toast over a couple times.

 

Banana Bread.

This is Tyler Florence's recipe.  I fell asleep while baking the bread in the oven (don't recommend that.) and ended up over-baking it.  Still it's very good.  We all love this banana bread, especially my nephew adores it.

                                 

3-4 over-riped bananas

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) butter, melted, cooled

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup chopped pecans, optional

2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1. Mash the bananas.  With  an electric mixer, whip bananas and sugar for 3 minutes to make light and fluffy banana cream.

2. Add melted butter, eggs, and vanilla.  Beat well.

3. Mix in dry ingredients, just until incorporated.

4. Pour the batter into a sprayed loaf pan.

5. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes, until the center is cooked.

          

All American Meatloaf.

Yes, I make meatloaves though I'm Japanese.  I think it's one of the greatest comfort foods, especially when you eat it with mashed potatoes with a lot of butter.  Again, this is James' favorite food.

                             

Meatloaf:

2 lb. Ground beef or turkey (I used ground turkey here)

1/2 cup panko or crushed Ritz

1 pkg. Lipton Onion Soup 

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup ketchup

1 Tbs.  Worchestershire sauce

ground pepper

Topping Sauce:

1 cup ketchup

1/4 cup BBQ sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.  Spray the loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients for the meatloaf, using your hands until well mixed.

3.  Put the meat into the prepared loaf pan.  Bake for 30 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, in a small bowl mix all the sauce ingredients.

5.  After 30 minutes, carefully pour out grease from the pan, if necessary.  Pour the topping sauce over the meatloaf.  Put the loaf back in the oven for 30 minutes more.