Tag

potatoes

American Fried Rice

americanfriedrice.jpg

It is dinnertime & I don’t have anything planned. Let’s play a little game. What is in my fridge? We have thawed out ground turkey, leftover rice, 2 aging potatoes & a half of an onion that is getting ready to be trashed. Mmm mmm, sounds great doesn’t it? Nobody likes wasting food. My husband & I positively hate it. Some of our favorite meal creations come from simply cleaning out our fridge. The hubby asked me last week if I could make a batch of fried rice, so this seemed as good of a time as any since it requires day old rice & as luck would have it… This would not be our traditional fried rice though. This is our fried rice American style.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound of ground turkey or any ground meat

2 cups of day old cooked rice

2 cups of cooked diced potatoes (2 small potatoes)

1/2 cup of chopped onion

Half a can of corn

3 eggs

2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce (as always I recommend Green Mountain or Maggi)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp garlic salt

Pepper to taste

Directions:

Brown your ground meat until no longer pink, drain & place aside. Peel & cube the potatoes, throw in the microwave for about 3-4 minutes until cooked in the center and set aside. In a large skillet set to 350 or high heat, add the oil & onion. Cook the onion until tender & toss in rice & potatoes. Add 1 1/2 tbsp of soy sauce over the top & stir until rice & potatoes are browned. Pour in half the can of corn & stir for a couple of more minutes. Add the ground meat, the seasonings & the last tbsp of soy sauce. Stir for a few minutes more & then transfer to a serving dish. Keep the skillet on. In a small bowl beat the eggs. Add to the hot skillet & toss around quickly until the egg is just barely firm & cooked . Remove from heat & throw in the the rice mixture.

IMG_5442 IMG_5443 IMG_5444 IMG_5445 IMG_5446 IMG_5448

Stay tuned for more fun with leftovers.

Thank you as always for stopping by. If you like us here, please follow us on Facebook.

Mashed Potato Puffs

LoadedMashedPotatoPuffs.jpg

A couple of weeks ago there was a sale on 10 pound bags of potatoes at the grocery store. I typically only buy half of that, but since the 10 pounder was cheaper than the 5, it was a no-brainer.

10 pounds of potatoes is a lot, even for a potato lover like me.  There are only so many days a person can eat mashed potatoes in a row. As you know, I love making recipes out of leftovers & anything that I am trying to get rid of in my fridge. Here is a delicious way to get rid of leftover mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:

1 cup of left over mashed potatoes

1 tube of crescent rolls or crescent sheet

5-6 bacon strips cooked to desired crispiness

1/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cheddar cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375. Put 1 cup of mashed potatoes in a medium sized mixing bowl. Add the sour cream. If the potatoes are lumpy, mash or whip them until they are smooth. Crumble or chop your cooked bacon & add to the potato mixture. Stir in the cheese. Unroll the crescent dough. If using crescent rolls, press seam together to form a sheet & then roll out with a rolling pin. With a knife, slice crescent into 1 1/2 inch squares. (If the dough is too soft to work with refrigerate for 10-15 minutes to firm up.) Scoop a heaping spoonful of mixture & place in crescent square. Pull each corner into the center. Roll the bottom & sides with your palm to seal the seams. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

IMG_5010 IMG_5011 IMG_5012 IMG_5014 IMG_5015 IMG_5017 IMG_5018IMG_5029

Mashedpotatopuffs.jpg
These were a huge hit. I have admit that I was pretty proud of these. My husband even asked me to make more.

Dressing Up Your Meals For the Holidays

xmasfood.jpg

I love decorating for the holidays. Nothing fills me up with Yuletide cheer more than surrounding myself with all things Christmas. It is not just the Christmas tree & mantle that gets adorned in our house, our meals get a makeover for the season as well.

Don’t let the cookies have all the fun. Here are some fun & easy ways to dress up everyday meals for the holidays.

Gingerbread Man Shaped French Toast

One of the quickest & easiest methods for adding a festive touch to ordinary foods are with cookie cutters. French toast can easily be transformed into the shape of a gingerbread man with one press of the cutter. Mai loved this. She thought they were cookies & gobbled her toast right up.

0191

Snowman Mashed Potatoes

This was achieved with 3 russet potatoes. Peel, wash & cube potatoes. Add to a large pot of boiling water & cook until tender. Drain potatoes & add 1/2 cup of milk, I use 2 chicken bouillon cubes in lieu of the butter, mash ingredients together. Add 2 eggs & 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup of bread crumbs, 1/2 tsp of garlic salt & a 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese & mix well. Let cool slightly & roll out 3 balls of varying sizes. Roll formed balls into parmesan cheese & form your snowman shape & place on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 400 for about 15-20 minutes. Add carrots & peas as a garnish.

MashedPotatosnowman.jpg

Candy Cane Spaghetti Bake with Meatballs

Cook spaghetti & add your favorite sauce. Use two tubes of seamless sheets of bread dough or crescent dough. Roll out both tubes blending together the sheets vertically. Cut out a candy cane shape about 3 inches wide. Using a fork, scoop out spaghetti & place on the dough. Spoon out extra sauce over the spaghetti to add the red to your candy cane. Roll out the excess dough & cut into strips and lay across the top of the pasta in a diagonal pattern to form candy cane stripes. Using a knife push the dough into the side of the cane & smooth out the sides of the dough. Bake according to dough directions.

CandyCaneSpaghetti.jpg

Rudolph PB & J sandwich

This is a 2 minute meal that the kiddos will love. Use one piece of bread, cut out an oval shape for the head & spread with peanut butter. Add a rounded teaspoon of jelly to the add the nose. Use the rounded top of the bread as ears & spread with jelly. For the eyes use two chunks of banana & 2 raisins. Pretzel stick will finish off the reindeer as antlers.

IMG_20131216_232445_8861

Santa Pancakes

One pancake, topped with banana, icing & 2 M&M minis for eyes. Form a nose out of banana & the mouth and hat from strawberries. Top with whipped cream for the beard & fur trim for the hat.

IMG_20131217_074454_52823

Happy holidays! Enjoy.

IMG_20131215_090944_387

Share some of your fun Christmas creations. We would love to see them.

Related Topics:

http://foodandeverythingelse.me/2013/12/16/candy-cane-cocktail/ http://basilandbaizel.wordpress.com/2013/12/16/crazy-christmas-cookie-sunday/ http://hooplapalooza.blogspot.com/2013/12/candy-cane-and-pinwheel-cookies.html http://www.adashofsanity.com/2013/12/snow-flake-peppermint-bark/