Recipe - Chicken Fried Rice

Living in the USA there are a few things that I miss from home such as Salad Cream, Bisto, Custard Powder, Chocolate, Cheese and Onion Walkers, Fish and Chips and a good Chicken Fried Rice.  That list looks sinful, but that's because I can get all the same healthy food in the USA as at home and trust me I'm eating more than my share of fruit and vegetables and healthy foods every day.  I didn't think that I could make Chicken Fried Rice at home until I found a simple recipe on pinterest that Ben confessed was better than his Mom's!  I've made this a couple of times now and when I made it last night for dinner I remembered to take a picture so everyone can share in the yumminess.  Try it... so easy and so yummy!

Chicken Fried Rice

Picture: Mine

 

 

 

 

Serves: 3

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

 

Ingredients:

1 cup of uncooked rice - then cooked your preferred way

1 chicken breast - cooked and shredded or chopped

1 1/2 cups of frozen peas and carrots

2 eggs

1/2 onion - chopped

2 garlic cloves - finely chopped

4 tsps of sesame oil

1/4 cup of soy sauce

 

Method:

• Cook rice your normal way and set to the side
• Warm up large skillet/frying pan and add the sesame oil
• Add in onions and garlic and cook for a couple of minutes
• Add in frozen peas and carrots and cook until soft (and warm!)
• Add in eggs and mix in with the vegetables
• Add in rice, chicken and soy sauce and mix through really well.
• Keep stiring through until hot
• Enjoy!

I've found out that every person cooks rice differently and that's why I have said cook it your normal way. I didn't even know that you should probably rinse your rice before you cook it until Ben told me once we were married.  It makes such a difference!  Although thanks to Fito Menk, I will now be making my rice the Gok Wan way!!

 

This is a seriously easy and quick dinner that fills you up, and it is delicious.  Speaking of delicious and also surprising...  I will blog soon about an amazing and simple BUTTERNUT SQUASH LASAGNE. Oh my gosh it was sooooo good! Thanks to Jade for the inspiration.

 

Blogging will resume again next week - the next few days are pretty full for Ben and I. Lots of fun going on and lots of pictures to be taken too. Can't wait!!

 







Recipe: Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

I LOVE PINTEREST... and Ben loves that I love Pinterest because he gets to reap the culinary yumminess from my love of all things pinned.  Over the next while I am going to post a few recipes which I have loved and which are now definitely on our meal menu.  Cinnamon Roll Pancakes are one of those delicious recipes I'm glad someone invented.  It's like inbuilt cinnamon roll syrup in your pancake without the mess.... soooooo goooooood!

I hope you love it as much as I do.

CINNAMON ROLL PANCAKES

 

Source: http://mybakerlady.com/2012/05/21/cinnamon-roll-pancakes/

Pictures: Mine!

 

 

 

 



Makes: 8 Pancakes

Pancake Mix:
The beauty of this recipe is that you can use your favourite pancake batter recipe, or just whip up a batch of bisquick.  It's upto you because it's the cinnamon roll butter mix that makes the difference!

Cinnamon Roll Butter:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup of brown sugar (packed down!)
1-2 tablespoons (3-6 teaspoons!) of cream - although I only had milk and it worked too!
Pinch of baking soda
2 teaspoons of cinnamon

Directions:

• In a pot over a medium heat melt the butter until bubbly
• Add in the brown sugar and whisk while bringing it up to the boil. **Be careful, it gets super hot and a hot sugar burn is worse than a hot oil burn!**
• Let it boil for 30 seconds to 1 minute and take off the heat.
• Whisk in the cream/milk
• Add in the baking soda and the cinnamon and whisk. **It may look like it's a weird consistency, like separated syrup, but it's ok, don't panic!**
• Leave to the side to let it cool down a little and then put it into a ziplock bag or something similar, and work it into a corner of the bag so it looks like a piping bag.
• Take as much air out of it and seal the bag.
• Put it in the freezer for 5 minutes so it goes cold and solidifies a little but is still soft and syrup like. **I found I had to do this because it was still far too hot to handle**
• While it's in the freezer, make your pancake batter.
• Take the cinnamon roll butter out of the freezer and make a little snip in the corner of the bag where the butter is - like a piping bag!  **Just a little snip though, too big and the syrup will pour everywhere - hold the bag upright while you are snipping!**
• Put your pancake batter on the griddle/pan and then make a swirl from the outside of the pancake it.
• Flip the pancake as normal and then serve and enjoy.

You could make a cream cheese drizzle icing for the full effect, but we were being semi-good and had fruit.  I promise you don't need any extra syrup for these either.  I made these also for my nephews and neices I was looking after one day and put their initials in the pancakes instead of swirls and it worked just as well - they had 3 each!!



I'm ALIVE!

For the last month or so I've had every intention of blogging again and then something gets in the way... BUT I've decided to be proactive and just do it.

Ben and I have had a pretty fun and busy summer and now its finally starting to cool down, weather wise.  It's been the first time I have had a summer where the weather has been 35c+ the whole summer and only 2 or 3 days of rain, and when I say days of rain I mean 10 or 15 minutes. =)  Really!

It's been a summer of:

1. CLIMBING THE BYU MOUNTAIN - It's STEEP AND HIGH!
2. SWIMMING AT THE REC CENTRE
3. A TRIP TO THE ZOO
4. IMMIGRATION MEDICALS AND BIOGRAPHIC FUN - It's all being processed!
5. AMAZING WEEKEND JUST LAUGHING AND NOT DOING MUCH BUT LOVING EACH OTHERS COMPANY - I love it!
6. HANGING OUT WITH FAMILY
7. VISITING A NICKEL CADE FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER - Who knew how long $2 would last.
8. PAINTING POTTERY/CERAMICS - We have a new pet call Bernie and he is a Dragon.  I made something more girly!
9. GOING TO ROOFTOP CONCERTS - so much fun.
10. EXPRIENCING AN OUTDOOR MOVING FOR THE FIRST TIME - And we saw UFO's for the first time ever.
11. HAVING A FRIEND FROM SCOTLAND COME AND STAY, AND THEN STAY SOME MORE  - It was alot of fun... miss you Ruth!
12. TEMPLE VISITS - love!
13. BYU CREAMERY VISITS - Oh how I love your pineapple and raspberry ice cream
14. LONG WALKS TOGETHER
15. HARRY POTTER READING - I finally started to read the books after all the years Fito Menk told me too
16. SKYPE CHATS WITH HOME - I miss you all!
17. COOKING NEW RECIPES - Eggplant Parmesan, Chicken and Brocolli Casserole, Cinnamon Roll Pancakes...yummmmmmm
18. LOOSING WEIGHT - Me and Ben are on a mission and so far we are doing good.
19. GILGAL GARDENS AND THE JOSEPH SMITH SPHINX - No kidding!
20. THE BEST DINNER I HAVE EVER HAD - Thank you Chef's Table.

That was just a little part of our summer. It's been fun and we have definitely settled into married life and are having a great time together.  I'm glad I had to wait!

We are both looking forward to Autumn/Fall for cooler temperatures and being able to be outside more and be more active.  The leaves on the trees up in the mountains are definitely changing and looking more beautiful every day.  Hopefully Autumn will be as good to us as the Summer has been.  =)

I'll try and keep this updated with more recipes on the way and lots more pictures, but for now here is Ben and I at Gilgal Gardens. Told you it ws true and the best part is that it's hidden right next door to the TWINKIE factory. It's brilliant!

COMING UP - A trip to Lagoon and the Utah State Fair... all in one weekend! Excited!