*Chicken Fried Rice

Week 2 of the challenge is Chinese. I want to do two different dishes this week. This will be my "American" Chinese food, and my next offering will be more of an authentic Chinese dish.

Here is my chicken fried rice...

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
a handful of carrots, diced
1/2 cup scallions, sliced
1 can stir fry corn (baby corn)
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen edamame
4 cloves of garlic, minced
about 1 tbsp of freshly grated ginger
2 eggs, beaten
4 cups cooked brown rice, cook this the day before, or at least about an hour before and stick it in the fridge asap. That's what I did.
sesame oil
soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Prep all the components before you start to cook so that they are all ready and waiting to be used.

Get the wok hot and add about 2 tbsp sesame oil. When the wok is hot, add the chicken. Cook until starting to brown and no longer pink, throughout.

Remove the chicken and set aside.

Add another tbsp sesame oil, then add the onions, garlic and ginger. Cook until onions are translucent.

Add the carrots, peas, edamame, corn and half of the scallions.

Add about 1/3 cup of soy sauce. Cook until the veggies are hot and tender.

Add the chicken back in with the veggies, then add the rice.

Stir the mixture every few minutes as it cooks. When it starts to brown, make a whole in the center of it all and add the eggs.

As the egg starts to set mix it in with the rest of the stuff, and cook until done.

Add the remaining scallions and serve. I also made some fried dumplings (store bought) and pan fried tofu to go with my fried rice.

*This can be done as a vegetarian dish if you just eliminate the chicken. You could also add cubed tofu for extra protein or just add more eggs.

Mini Brownie Bites with Bacon and Peanut Butter Chips

So, while I was looking at the website for 52 Weeks of Cooking, I found 52 Weeks of baking. I missed week 1, which was brownies, but week 2 (miniatures) is just starting, so I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and do miniature brownies. While I was thinking about this, I saw on Facebook that my friend Jackie Dee had made bacon brownies. Mmmm! I've made them before, and they are wonderful, so I figured I'd do that too. But then I was thinking, if I'm going to kind of cheat, and do two weeks in one, I need to really make it awesome, especially since I'm using a box of brownie mix that was in my cupboard. I made a quick trip to the store and wandered the baking ailse, and it hit me: Peanut butter chips! That would make it even more wonderful! So, I humbly present my doctored up box of brownie mix with bacon and peanut butter chips...

1 box of brownie mix (I used Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge), prepared as the box instructs
1 lb of bacon, cut into bits, and browned, then drained
1 10 oz bag of Reese's peanut butter chips

Cut your bacon into little pieces and fry until brown and crispy.

Drain the bacon on a plate lined with paper towels. While you're doing this, prepare the brownie mix according to the direction on the box.

Halfway through making these I decided to do the three ways. Plain from the box, with peanut butter chips, and with peanut butter chips and bacon. I think it will be neat to have all three for comparison.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray the mini muffin tin really well with cooking spray. Start spooning the mixture into the muffin tins. These are really tiny, so I used about a tablespoon for each. After making 8 regular brownies, I added about half the bag of peanut butter chips, then did 8 of these. Then I added the bacon and did 8 of those.

I baked them for about 22 minutes. I'm not really sure why, but they really didn't want to come out of the pan. I had to scrape them out with a knife. There are yummy, but not really pretty. Since I had such a hard time getting them out of the pan, I put the leftover batter into a small Pyrex dish and cooked that for about 25 minutes.

Mmmm!  Now I just wish I had some ice cream!

Scotch Eggs

There is a challenge I've decided to take on called "52 Weeks of Cooking". Each week there will be a different theme/ingredient/cooking method. I'd like to try to make something each week that I've never made before and add it to the blog. This week's ingredient is eggs. I've done scrambled, omelets, stratas, but I've never done scotch eggs, so that's what I decided on.

So here goes my version of scotch eggs...

8 eggs, hard boiled and peeled
1/2 cup of flour
2 lbs sausage (I used Jimmy Dean pork sausage with sage)
2 eggs beaten
4 pieces of bread, made into bread crumbs
vegetable oil for frying

I cut each package of sausage into four equal pieces.

I also find that it is easier to prepare anything when you have already prepped all the ingredients.

Either have a small bowl of water handy or just use the sink as I did. Wet the eggs, then rolls them in the flour to get a nice coating.

Next, flatten out 1/4 lb of sausage then wrap the sausage around the egg, making sure there are no open spots.

Now gently roll the egg in the beaten eggs, then roll it in bread crumbs.

Heat the oil until it's hot enough for a quick fry (I heated the oil at about med-high on my stove).  Slowly add the eggs, one at a time and turn as they brown on each side. 

When browned on all over, remove to a plate with a paper towel to drain the excess oil, then place on a pan in the oven on a low setting to keep warm while the rest cook.

I served these with hash browns, fresh fruit and a nice, spicy mustard.

Beef, Barley and Mushroom Soup, Take 2

One evening, a couple of months ago, I made a terrible beef stew. I mean REALLY terrible. We tried for two days to add stuff to it, to improve it, but finally we just threw it away. During this whole ordeal, my darling husband finally told me that although he generally loves my cooking, my soups and stews leave a bit to be desired. He said that they lack flavor. This is constructive criticism at it's best.
 
I went to one of my favorite on line communities, Reddit, to ask for help on improving this recipe, and I was given so many great ideas! Here is my new, and (hopefully) improved version of this soup...

 2 lbs of beef, cut into chunks
1 1/2 cups barley
3, 32 oz containers of beef stock
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 shallots, minced
8 cloves of garlic, minced
8 oz baby bella mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 lb button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 heaping tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 12 oz beer (Something dark or medium. I used Resurrection by "The Brewer's Art")
fresh ground pepper and coarse sea salt, to taste
olive oil
the juice from 1 freshly squeezed lemon

Start by putting the barley, Worcestershire, thyme and 2 of the containers of beef stock into a large pot and set it to start boiling. While the barley is getting started, add some olive oil to a large pan around medium-hot setting and when it gets hot, add the beef chunks.

Brown the meat on all sides, then using a slotted spoon, transfer the beef to the pot with the barley. Add the dried thyme and the bay leaf. Each time you stir the mixture, remove the bay leaf so that you don't lose it, then put it back on top of the soup while it simmers.While the meat is browning cut up the onion, shallots, and garlic.

Add the onion, shallots and garlic to the beef fat in the pan, and cook until softened. About five minutes. Then add this to the large pot.

If needed, add a little more olive oil to the pan, then add the baby bellas, and brown on both sides.

When they are nicely browned, add them to the large pot, then start adding the button mushrooms to the pan to brown, a little at a time.

Add the button mushroom s to the pot as they brown.

Add the last container of stock as needed. While the soup simmers it will slowly begin to lose liquid, some of which, needs to be replaced.

When everything is done in the pan, you should de-glaze the pan. I used a half of a  beer to do this, and added the left-over half beer to the pot of soup.

Add the de-glazed-beer mix to the pot and simmer for about twenty minutes, then serve hot with some bread.  Just before serving the soup, add the lemon juice. I was told that it would add a "brightness" to the soup, and it really did.

 At the end of the meal everyone was satisfied, but Hubby did suggest I leave out the beer next time. I guess I'll have to find something else to de-glaze with, but I think I'll manage.