Asian Style "Fried Rice"

I have a great "fried rice" recipe, that isn't really fried, but so tasty!! Very simple as you will find.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups chicken broth (Kitchen Basics is my preferred)

2 eggs (beaten)

1 cup Mahatma Brown Rice

1/2 cup frozen peas and carrots

1/2 sliced green onions/scallions

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 Tbsp. sesame oil

1 tsp. minced garlic

Ground Pepper

Directions

First, in a small-medium sized pot, begin boiling chicken broth. Once at a boil, add rice, put on lid, and sit about 45 mins, until liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally. Once you have fluffy cooked rice, turn off pot and remove from heat.

Heat a medium-large skillet on med-high heat, add in oil. Once skillet heated through, add in green onions and garlic, do not let the garlic burn, turn down heat if needed.

Once scallions and garlic sauteed, add in carrots and peas, soy sauce and pepper, stir all ingredients together to be immersed with soy sauce, onions and garlic. Next add beaten eggs, as if you are making an omelette, covering all ingredients with egg. Let sit 1 minute to firm a little, then begin stirring as if to make scrambled eggs, making sure all egg is cooked, and ingredients incorporated with the egg.

Adding the rice, if 1 cup of rice is too much for the skillet, start adding a little at a time to the skillet, making sure egg and veggies are throughout the rice. Once you have your desired amount, add a bit more soy sauce if preferred, and there you have it, your healthier version of "fried rice", and it tastes great! My husband loves this, and always goes for seconds.

Bon appetit!

Quiche

I spent a few good years perfecting my quiche making skills, and finally have it down pat. My first quiche ever, was horrible! But, after gaining different perspectives of where I went wrong, what I needed to tweek, here we have my recipe:

Ingredients:

1 store bought pie crust (if you make your own crust, have at it, I won't attempt this until the fall/winter)

5 large eggs

2 cups ham, cubed to 1/2 inch thickness

2 cups shredded emmental cheese (I find this is nuttier and more appealing then the bricks of swiss at the store, but you can use whatever you desire)

1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped

2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

1 Tbsp. Olive Oil

1 Tbsp. Herbes de Provence (rosemary, sage, thyme)

Salt and Pepper

(For alternate variation, read below)

Instructions:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. Take pie crust out of refrigerator, and let sit, this will soften the crust and make it easier to put into pie dish. Heat Olive Oil in medium sized non-stick skillet on medium-high heat. Once heated, add in onions and ham, sauteing until onions translucent, and ham browned a bit. Lower heat if needed. Add in dijon mustard, and seasonings, making sure all ham and onions evenly coated with spices and mustard-this will smell divine! You're all set with the filling ingredients!

Whisk together the eggs, making sure to add S&P! You want the whisked eggs to be a bit bubbly because you've really whisked them up, adding air into it, this will help to make a light fluffy egg quiche, rather than a tough rubbery quiche.

Unroll pie crust, should be pliable now, and place into lightly sprayed glass pie dish-you want to prevent crust from sticking to dish. Use your finger tips to press crust to form against the dish. The crust that hangs over the ledge of the dish, simply tuck it under, and you can use a fork to press the top of the crust (crimping it), this makes for a pretty design as well. (I will post pictures of this process at a later date, incase I've lost you!) Pour in the ham and onion dijon mixture, evenly spreading out over the pie crust, evenly sprinkle half of the cheese, covering the ham and onion mixture, then add the eggs.

Place pie dish on oven rack, bake 30 minutes, at which point pull quiche out, and add remaining cheese over what should be a solidified quiche now, place dish back in oven for 10 more minutes. Use a knife to make sure egg is fully cooked. Remove dish from oven, let sit 10 minutes before serving, will be piping hot!

Serve this along side spinach salad with the dijon vinaigrette, and a glass of ice cold chardonnay, its formidable!

Alternate Variation:

Instead of ham use cooked and chopped bacon, and add in some fresh baby spinach, for a different flavor! You'll want to saute down the spinach with the onion and bacon.

Bon appetit!

"Must Have" ingredients on hand

As a couple, we do not shop all the time, we do not have a schedule, it just gradually builds. But here is what you will find in our cupboard:

Spices (i.e. Martha Stewart turn-table spice rack)

Ground sea salt (self grinder)

Ground pepper (self grinder)

Hot sauce

Whole Wheat dry pasta

Maille Dijon Mustard (In the little city of Dijon lies a little store by the name of Maille, and they are the number 1 seller of Dijon mustard-Grey Poupon..put this out of your head, I hate it)

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Pompeii Red Wine Vinegar

Rice wine vinegar

Light Soy Sauce

Sesame Oil

Arborio Rice (risotto making rice)

Dried Cous Cous

Fresh garlic

Fresh onions (not kept in the fridge)

Frozen peas and carrots

Frozen broccoli

Eggs

Milk

Sugar

Flour

Having these items available, makes shopping down the road less mind boggling, because when you just need to add a meat, a starch like potato, it cuts your bill down! And a stocked wine bar, because you never know when you need to add it, and serve it up! I hope this is helpful!

Bon appetit!

Kristen's Angel Hair Pasta

OK, this is the oldest recipe I've had, and its a winner amongst many, in their opinions, not mine! So I'll begin...

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Angel Hair Pasta (Barilla is of choice, whole wheat or flour is yours)

1 large can of petite diced tomatoes (I prefer Hunts), drained of all liquid

1 Cup red wine (the wine you are serving is fine)(Optional, but you're missing out!)

2 bushels of green onions, chopped

5 cloves garlic, pressed/chopped/minced

3 Tbsp. Olive Oil

Italian Seasons (If you don't have this in a jar: dried-oregano, basil, red pepper flakes)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

This is so simple. In a med-large skillet, add Olive Oil on Medium heat. When skillet is thoroughly heated (hand test: if you hold your hand over the skillet, and whole hand feels a warm sensation, its ready!), add in green onions and garlic-DO NOT let garlic brown, that is a no-no! Once green onions and garlic are sauteed and well coated after stirring, add in tomatoes, wine and seasons. Here is when the "Jeopardy" song runs in your head, this can take a while to reduce. Continue to stir occasionally, if need to lower heat, then do so.

Meanwhile....

Boil water in a sauce pan, I add a sprinkling of salt and a bit of Olive Oil to help in heating and raising temperature of water to a boil. Why Olive Oil in the water, you ask? It will nicely coat the pasta, you'll see! If you don't want that, don't bother.

Plating:

You'll have a nice tomato-ey mixture going with the green onions and garlic, it'll be a slight pasty consistency, with a bit of juice, but not a lot. This isn't a sauce, rather a tomato-ey mixture, kind of like if you added not really juicy salsa to something, like a cooked pico de gallo, not runny, unless that is what you are into.

So, your pasta is done and drained, you want to fold in the skillet ingredients into the pasta, and continue folding, so that pretty much every strand of pasta has the tomato mixture through out. With the olive oil having been in the pot of the boiling pasta, it actually attaches to past, even after the water is drained, and gives a consistency that is wonderful. Once its all mixed together, its so lovely and light! Add a sprinkling of grated Parmesan if desired, it never hurts!

Add-Ins:

Grilled Italian Sausage

When I'm in the kitchen, my husband is tending to the grill, grilling the sausages to perfection, then slicing the sausage, so that those whom desire meat in their dish, its a nice addition to add to their plate. The flavors mix well, trust me, but I prefer this pasta dish to last on its own sans meat. This is a great base for any twists!

Bon appetit!