Fried Rice

Fried rice is a comfort food to me. It's also a favorite go to meal when the cupboards are bare and I'm resisting the urge to go out to eat. Of course, it can be tailored to suite your taste and what you have on hand. It makes a quick lunch, or paired with egg drop soup and be served as a dinner meal.

Prep Time: 15 minutes (to cook rice)
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 8
Cost: Approx. $3.00 (or free if your using left overs)

Ingredients:
3 cups dry rice
6 cups water
Soy sauce
2 Tbsp butter
Left over meat (pork, chicken, beef, fish)
3-4 eggs
2 carrots chopped
1/2 cup of frozen peas
1 small onion finely chopped
salt
pepper

1. Gather your ingredients. Cook rice.

2. Cut meat into bite sized pieces and until no longer pink and set aside. I often just set aside a piece of meat from a previous meal for this very purpose.

3. Melt butter. Place onion and carrots on griddle and cover with a layer of rice. Generously cover in soy sauce. Salt and pepper to taste. Let cook for 3-4 minutes. Turn and add more soy sauce.

4. After turning rice make a hole in the middle in which to crack the eggs. Scramble slightly and let eggs cook until they begin to harden. Incorporate into rice buy tossing like your a chef at a Japanese restaurant. (That's my favorite part.)

5. Mix in meat and peas. Serve hot.

Now wasn't that easy?

Amish Cole Slaw

Believe it or not, we are still eating out of our freezer. It looks like about ten more dinners and I'll have to rethink our fall menu. Looking forward to trying some new soups/stews and stocking the freezer with some turkeys.

My family is not a fan of slaw with mayonnaise so I'm always on the lookout for an alternative way to use cabbage. Recently I ran across this recipe for slaw and found it to be just the right balance of sweet and sour. It's not something to make right before dinner. The flavors are best if the slaw is refrigerated for at least twelve hours. (We learned this the hard way.) I think next time I'll make a double batch and have it as a side several times during the week.

Amish Cole Slaw

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Serves: 8-10
Cost: Approx. $2.00

1 medium head cabbage shredded ($1.50)
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
1/2 cup vegetable oil

In a large bowl, toss together the cabbage, onion, and 1 cup sugar. In a small saucepan, combine the vinegar, salt, celery seed, 1 teaspoon white sugar, mustard and oil. Bring to a boil, and cook for 3 minutes. Cool completely, then pour over cabbage mixture, and toss to coat. Refrigerate at least 12 hours for best flavor.

Salmon Cakes and Honey Roasted Potatoes

It's often hard to find ways to fit healthy fish into the budget of a large family due to the price. Canned salmon coupled with potatoes is a perfect way to provide a healthy, satifying meal for under $10.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 8-10
Cost: Approx. $9.00

Salmon Cakes

3 cans salmon ($6.00)
1 cup chopped cilantro ($.50)
3 eggs
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tsp lemon juice

Remove bones and skin from salmon. Mix all ingredients together well. Form into patties and cook on nonstick griddle until golden brown and warmed through.

**These can be made ahead of time and frozen. Just reheat in the microwave and enjoy!**


Honey Roasted Potatoes

4-5 pounds potatoes cubed ($2.00)
1 onion finely diced ($.25)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup butter melted ($.25)
1 Tbsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp salt

Place potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet. Top with onions. Mix honey, butter, salt and sugar together well. Pour over potatoes. Bake at 400 degrees turning once for 20 minutes or until potatoes are soft.

Creamy Stewed Apples

Last weekend I picked up a small cookbook entitled, "Old-Fashioned Apple Recipes". Knowing that I had 30 pounds of apples at home waiting for me was quite the motivating factor. I just couldn't pass up a 5lb bag of gala apples for $1.89 each. Here's one simple way to cook apples that is beyond delicious.

Prep Time: less than 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15-20 minutes
Serves: 8
Cost: Approx. $1.00

4 apples cored and sliced
bacon grease or 2 Tbsp butter
2/3 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 Tbs flour
1/2 cup cream or milk
cinnamon

Cook apples in bacon grease or butter for about 2 minutes stirring constantly. Mix brown sugar, salt and flour into the cream/milk to form a smooth paste. Add to apples. Cook at medium heat until mixture thickens. Sprinkle with cinnamon before serving.

This would make a great side dish, but we enjoyed our served over cinnamon french toast. It made for a perfect accompaniment to spinach/bacon/cheese crustless quiche. Pretty good for a meal made from what was already on hand.

Potato Salad

This is a great side dish served warm or chilled. Easy to make and improvise with whatever you have in your pantry. I like it as an addition to a meal that need just that one more thing to make it stretch. Enjoy!

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Serves:10-12
Cost: approx. $1.50

4 large potatoes peeled and diced ($1.00)
1 stalk celery finely diced
1/4 onion finely diced
2 hard boiled eggs diced ($.25)
4 slices bacon finely chopped ($.25)
1/4 cup mayonnaise

Place potatoes in boiling water and cook until tender. Drain potatoes. Add celery, onions, eggs and bacon and mash coarsely. Add mayonnaise and combined well.

Possible additions: cheese, green onion, ham....

This recipe and many others are featured at The Grocery Cart Challenge's Recipe Swap.

Homemade Hashbrowns

I have to admit that I've never once attempted to make hashbrowns from scratch. Normally, I buy them frozen, but have never truly been satisfied with the result. They seem soggy to me. The hashbrown that are packaged fresh at the grocery are too expensive for my taste. I was fixing brunch on Sunday and needed another side dish I had a few potatoes on hand and got the recipe right out to the Betty Crocker cookbook. There simply wasn't enough there- everyone wanted more. I think next time I'll make a bigger batch, cut back on the butter and use the electric nonstick griddle. This might become a lunch time staple with a little ham and cheese added.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 20-30 minutes
Serves: 8-10
Cost: Approx. $1.50

8-10 medium potatoes (about 3 pounds) ($1.50)
4 tablespoons finely chopped onion
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 cup butter

Wash potatoes well and pare. Do not remove skins. Shred to measure 8 cups. Rinse well; drain and pat dry. Mix potatoes, onion, salt and pepper. Heat butter until melted. Pack potato mixture firmly a dn leave 1/2 space around the edge of pan.

Cook over med-low for 15 minutes or until bottom is brown. Flip potato mixture adding more butter to pan if needed. Cook about 12 minutes longer or until bottom is brown.