Fried Rice and Sweet-and-Sour Sauce

This is my follow-up to the crab rangoons. I was originally going to do 3 posts in total, but since the sweet and sour sauce is so easy, and I only got "one" photo, I'm going to do the fried rice with it as well.

So to start. Easy.

Sweet and Sour sauce

I didn't realize I was getting the steam in the pictures. I also usually do a double recipe of this because I love it. I like my sweet and sour a little thicker. I've never tried adding the peppers or pineapples that the recipe suggests. I'm sure it would be great.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup white or rice vinegar (Note: rice vinegar gives better results)
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ketchup
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 4 teaspoons water

Preparation:

Mix the vinegar, brown sugar, ketchup, and soy sauce together and bring to a boil in a small pot. Mix together the cornstarch and water, add to the other ingredients and stir to thicken.

(If desired, you can add 1 green pepper, cut into chunks, and pineapple chunks as desired after adding the cornstarch. For a thicker sauce, increase the cornstarch to 4 teaspoons while keeping the water constant.)

Now for the rice:

I got this recipe from Six Sisters' Stuff

 

Chinese Fried Rice

 

3 cups cooked white rice (I used Minute Rice)
3 Tbl. sesame oil
1 cup frozen peas and carrots (thawed)
1 small onion, chopped
2 tsp. minced garlic
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 cup soy sauce

 

You can also add a protein to this if you desire. I've used ham in it and you just add the precooked protein when you add the peas and carrots.

 

 

Unfotunately I only got one picture of this as well, but it's a really yummy looking picture.

 

On medium high heat, heat the oil in a large skillet or wok. Add the peas/carrots mix, onion and garlic. Stir fry until tender. Lower the heat to medium low and push the mixture off to one side, then pour your eggs on the other side of skillet and stir fry until scrambled. Now add the rice and soy sauce and blend all together well. Stir fry until thoroughly heated.

Optional: You could add diced ham and green onions to this depending on your preference.

 

Voila! The finished product. Love this dinner even though it is a little time consuming. You might find that if you try it though, it might not take as much time, but with a sleeping husband, a needy baby and a learning toddler, I have a few distractions.

 

Crab Rangoons

So hooray for my first "real" post. I've made one other post on the blog but this is the start of my attempt at actually blogging. It will mostly be about food, but it will include some other things occasionally. I will try to include tips and pictures as well.

So here goes; My first post is a great one, and I'm actually going to post it in three separate posts, because it involves three separate recipes...I actually got this particular recipe from mybakingaddiction.com

Crab Rangoon  

                                                                                        preheat oven to 350 degrees

1 can (6 oz.) white crabmeat, drained and chopped
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons light mayonaise
½ teaspoon Sriracha
2 teaspoons finely slice chives, plus more for garnish
fresh ground pepper to taste
12 won ton wrappers





To start off, I normally double this recipe, and after making it a few times, I've learned that the food processor is the quickest way to mix it, but a spoon and your arm work just as well. I also use imitation crab, but real crab is probably better.

Once everything is mixed, you want to get your wonton wrappers and a small container of water ready (I normally use a medicine cup). The water helps the wonton wrappers stick to themselves.

 

At this point I would normally fill each one using a measuring spoon and putting about 1 TBSP on each wonton wrapper. However, tonight I tried something different. I put the filling in a ziplock bag and cut a hole in the corner and used it like I as decorating a cake. It was much quicker. I actually did about 20 at a time but I would not suggest that many because the wrappers start to dry out, which makes it hard to fold up. If that happens, just rub the whole wrapper with water and it will fix the problem. Otherwise, you just need to use water in the corners and pinch them together to close them up. It will look something like this.

The next part is the easy part. I usually put mine on a greased cookie sheet and bake them at 350 for 15-20 minutes. They just need to get golden brown. My oven decided today that it didn't want to work right so I ended up frying them in vegetable oil. either one works and they both taste great.

So this is a fairly simple process and it gets quicker with practice. My next two posts will be the rice and the sweet and sour sauce. Yes this entire meal was homemade! My husband tells me I belong in the kitchen so why not make it worthwhile!

Anyway, I will post the directions underneath all in one place. These are the directions directly from the website I mentioned at the beginning so they differ slightly from mine.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a mini muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, combine crab meat, cream cheese, mayonaise, Sriracha, chives, and pepper. Mix until well combined.
3. Place 1 won ton wrapper in each 12 mini muffin cups. The edges of the won ton wrappers will extend beyond the mini muffin tin cups and may need to be folded slightly. Fill the center of each won ton cup with crab mixture.
4. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until edges of cups are golden brown and filling is heated through. Garnish with reserved chives. You can also fry them in hot oil until they are golden brown.

Stuffed Zucchini

I made this and loved it. I just used the microwave method in the first step and it turns out great.



2 lg. zucchini
1/2 lb. ground beef
1/2 lb. Italian sausage
1 sm. onion, chopped
1 tbsp. oil
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 c. bread crumbs
1 can tomato sauce
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic

Parboil zucchini or microwave about 10 minutes. Scoop out center. Brown meat and onion in oil. Stir in zucchini pulp and all ingredients, except grated cheese. Simmer 10 minutes. Fill zucchini shells with mixture. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until brown.