Fried Rice with Beef Stir-Fry

Fried rice is something I have always been scared to make at home. I guess I’m a casserole and slow-cooker person so cooking things over high heat on the stove kind of stresses me out. But! I finally decided to give it a try and I’m so glad I did! It was amazing! Adding the sesame oil and oyster sauce made it taste JUST like we had ordered at a restaurant! The beef recipe I used for this meal is something I found off of Allrecipes.com and tweaked a little to fit our tastes. Everything turned out so delicious! It was very hard to be the bigger person and let my husband eat the small amount of leftovers for lunch the next day… lol!

Fried Rice

4 c. cooked white rice, COLD

2 Tbs. vegetable oil

2 cans mixed peas and carrots

2 eggs (my husband suggests 3 or 4)

1 onion, chopped

Soy sauce, to taste

Sesame oil, to taste

Oyster sauce, to taste

1. Cook up the rice a day before hand and place in the refrigerator. This may seem weird, but if you use rice you made the day of, then it will all clump together and won’t be separated like fried rice is supposed to be.

2. Beat eggs and pour into a small saucepan. Don’t stir; just cook them like a crepe. When the eggs are cooked all the way through, remove from heat and roll into a cigar-shape. Cut the egg into slices and set aside.

3. Heat oil in wok on high heat. Toss in onions, peas, and carrots and cook until tender. Toss in cooked rice and egg.

4. Here is where you go off of what you want your rice to taste like. I threw in a couple of tablespoons of sesame oil (be careful—a little goes a long way!) and about a 1/4^th of a bottle of oyster sauce (this is what gives the rice a restaurant-taste). Then I just added soy sauce until it was salty enough for us!

Beef Stir-Fry

1 lb. beef round steak, thinly sliced

1 Tbs. sesame oil

9 Tbs. soy sauce

6 Tbs. rice wine

3. Tbs. brown sugar

1 ½ tsp. cornstarch

1 Tbs. minced garlic

1 Tbs. minced ginger

Veggies of your choice! (which I totally forgot to pick up at the Commissary...)

1. Make sure your steak is sliced very thin so it will come out extra tender! Combine soy sauce, rice wine, brown sugar, and cornstarch in a small bowl.

2. Heat wok to medium-high heat and stir fry garlic and ginger in the sesame oil for 30 seconds. Add beef and cook for 2 minutes, or until evenly browned. Add the vegetables you prefer (I like to microwave mine so get them extra soft) and stir fry for an additional 3 minutes. Add the soy sauce mixture and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer until sauce thickens. Enjoy!

King Ranch Chicken Casserole

Hello, everyone! I am so behind on my posts I’m getting a little overwhelmed. SO! I’m going to have to shove three new recipes into one posting J I started off this week making a recipe my grandmother gave me in a recipe book for my bridal shower. It is definitely comfort food and sooo delicious! Casseroles are my guilty cooking pleasure… I would cook casseroles every single day (which is one of the main reasons for my blog)! This one is called King Ranch Chicken Casserole and it is amazing served over rice!

King Ranch Chicken Casserole

2 Tbs. butter

1 medium onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

4 c. cooked chicken, chopped

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 (10 oz) can Rotel tomatoes

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 package of tortillas (some people use tortilla chips)

2 c. cheddar cheese, grated

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Melt butter in a stock pot. Add onions and peppers and sauté until tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in chopped chicken, chicken soup, mushroom soup, Rotel tomatoes, chili powder, and cumin. Continue stirring for about 3 minutes until everything is heated through.

2. Slice tortillas into 1” to 2” strips and line the bottom of a 13x9 casserole dish. Layer half of the chicken mixture and half of the cheese. Repeat layers, ending with cheese.

3. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes or until heated through. Don’t pull the casserole too soon or the tortillas won’t be soft. If you’re in a hurry, you can dip them in water for a few seconds to soften before lining the casserole dish J

Best Teriyaki Sauce, Ever.

Hello all! So I was definitely feeling lazy today when it came to dinner… but I did discover something amazing today—the answer to life: A CROCKPOT. J My friends and I went out for sushi and trip to the mall today and I knew I wouldn’t be getting home until dinner time. It is impossible to bring myself to cook after 5:30. We are super early eaters! So I decided to throw something in the crock pot and hope for the best.  The only problem with tonight’s dinner was that there wasn’t enough =P Here is what I did!

I seared a pork tenderloin over the stove top and chunked it into a crock pot on low. Then I threw in my FAVORITE teriyaki sauce recipe ever! I searched and searched for months for the perfect teriyaki sauce recipe. Not the thin watery stuff but the thick, restaurant-style glaze. Mmmm. Okay, after I got back from my 7 hour shopping trip is Saarbrücken, I came back the tenderloin was a perfect 145 degrees. I poured the sauce it was sitting in into a small sauce pan and added the corn starch and water and cooked until it was nice and thick. I cooked up some steamed rice and stir fried some fresh bell peppers in some teriyaki sauce and OH MAN! The pork was so tender it just fell apart in your mouth. It was amazing… I had to add a little more soy sauce to the teriyaki sauce because cooking it in the crockpot watered it down a little bit. But once I tweaked it to taste like it normally does, it was to die for! Okay, so here is the recipe! J

Restaurant-Style Teriyaki Glaze

¼ c. soy sauce

1 c. water

½ tsp. ground ginger

¼ tsp. garlic powder

5 Tbs. brown sugar

1 Tbs. honey

2 Tbs. cornstarch

¼ c. cold water

This recipe is super simple. Just combine the first set of ingredients in a small saucepan and heat through (boil if you are making this after cooking it with meat in a crockpot). After the mixture is all mixed together and hot, mix the cornstarch and water in a cup and dissolve. Pour cornstarch mixture into the saucepan and heat until desired thickness. You can add water if it gets too thick J I promise, once you try this recipe you’ll never buy the store-bought stuff again! And the best thing about this recipe is that everything is already in the pantry J Guten Appetit!

Baked French Onion Soup

Tonight I found a copycat recipe for Applebee’s French onion soup (which is my favorite dish there)! I also got super excited because I finally found a recipe that was perfect for my cute little miniature pots I bought from France. Oh my gosh, it was to die for! It was the perfect recipe for such a cold, snowy day :) I changed it up a bit to fit my ingredients. I’ve got to send out a warning, though… put the onions in the refrigerator and peel them under cold water before you take them on. My husband walked in the door while I was chopping them and was like, “What’s the matter, sweetie?!” Lol. It was awful. My eyes are still puffy from all the crying =P I can definitely tell this one is a keeper by the “mmm’s” and “oh man’s” that followed every bite my husband made J Enjoy!

Baked French Onion Soup

4 Tbs. butter
6 medium white onions, sliced
8 c. beef broth (Swanson is best—so good!)
1 c. water
2 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
A thick loaf of bread
Tons of mozzarella cheese, shredded or sliced  

1. Melt butter in stock pot and sauté the onions for about 20 minutes until they begin to get soft and translucent. Don’t brown them!

 2. Add the beef broth, water, salt, garlic powder, and black pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 45 minutes (we took ours off a little sooner because we were starving!)
3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and slice the bread into thick slices. Place on the oven rack to get toasty brown and crispy on both sides, about 15 minutes. Remove bread and set aside.
4. When the soup is finished simmering (or you start drooling all over the kitchen), spoon soup into an oven-safe bowl. Turn your oven on broil. Top with a slice of bread and the amount of cheese that makes you happy. For us, that is way too much ;)
5. Pop your soup bowls in the oven until the top gets nice and brown. Take them out and enjoy!!

Stromboli Sunday

Hello again! I have been super excited to try out a new recipe I found (well, I kind of put 3 different recipes together)! It was so depressing when I looked in my pantry and discovered I didn’t have enough flour to make the whole recipe… and of course today is Sunday so everything here in Germany is CLOSED! So, I had to do a little less than ¾ of the whole bread recipe… ugh. Thank goodness for calculators! Also, my very hungry husband talked me into using WAY too much meat and cheese so my bread broke and didn't look as pretty as it normally does :( But it was DELICIOUS! Anyways, so here it is:

Cheesy Sausage Stromboli!

For the bread:

5 c. all-purpose flour

2 Tbs. sugar

2 Tbs. salt

2 (1/4 oz) packages of active dry yeast

1 ½ c. warm water

1 ½ c. warm milk

2 Tbs. butter, melted

1 egg

Parmesan cheese

For the filling:

2 lb. ground sausage (I used turkey sausage)

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. parsley flakes

½ of a large onion

1 can pizza sauce

Tons of mozzarella cheese

Okay, so you mix all of your bread ingredients together using an electric beater on low. I don’t have a 220V electric beater yet so I had to just use a good ol’ wooden spoon. Then you turn the dough over onto a floured surface and knead for 6-8 minutes until smooth. Place in a greased bowl and cover for 1 hour in a warm place until the dough has risen to double its original size.

Meanwhile, cook the sausage and onion, drain, and add the seasonings.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. After the dough has risen, roll it out onto a greased cookie sheet so it forms a big rectangle. Spread the pizza sauce, meat mixture, and mozzarella cheese straight down the middle, leaving about 3 inches of dough on each side. Slice the dough on the side into 2 inch thick strips (don’t make them too thin or they won’t hold in the oven). Now, take a strip of dough on either side of the meat and pull them towards the middle while turning your hands in towards you so the dough twists. Press firmly in the middle. Do this all the way up to the other end. Beat the remaining egg and brush over bread. Sprinkle parmesan cheese and let sit for 45 more minutes until the dough has doubled again in size (I acutally forgot to do this part and they still turned out amazing... lol). Pop in the oven for 20-25 minutes until toasty brown J

These things are also super fun to make with Pillbury Cresent Rolls! It definitely cuts back on time. I love to fill these with spinach and cheese! YUM! Here is a picture of some with the instant dough :) They aren't as fluffy but are still good!

Terrifically Spicy Thursday

 

Hello, everyone! After going back and forth about a blog I finally decided to start one :) I’m not writer and definitely not a photographer so bare with me—I just wanted a nice way to share yummy (and perhaps not so yummy) recipes with my family and friends. I’ve decided to give myself a cooking challenge to get out of the “cooking rut” I’ve been in the past couple of months. I am going to make at least three new recipes every week and post about it on my new blog. I think being able to look back on past experiences will be a nice way to improve my culinary skills!

By the way, I think my name is totally cute—Cooking with Ginger… get it? “Ginger”? Lol.

Okay, so for dinner tonight we had:

Chipotle crusted pork tenderloin

Sweet and spicy sweet potatoes

Asparagus and onion casserole



I had to arrange the slices around my huge
bite mark on one of them LOL

   

Chipotle Crusted Pork Tenderloin

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 Tbs. chipotle chile pepper

1 1/2 tsp. salt

4 Tbs. brown sugar

2 (3/4 pound) pork tenderloins

Okay, first off—this dish was HOT! Definitely hotter than I expected. Jonathan, my insane husband who drenches everything in cayenne pepper, even admitted it was “pretty hot”. I will definitely be cutting back on the chili pepper next time! So basically I prepared all of the spices and coated the tenderloin and let it sit in the refrigerator for about 5 hours (which was when I mustered up the energy to cook dinner…lol). A note on the chipotle chili pepper: the original recipe called for 3 tablespoons of chipotle chili powder, which apparently I didn’t grab at the Commissary on Tuesday… I read that chipotle chili pepper is hotter so I can’t believe that after I cut back 2 tablespoons it still had my eyes watering! Okay, so back to the recipe. I seared the pork tenderloin on the stove top so it would have a nice, brown coating after cooking in the oven, which was preheating to 375 degrees. I didn’t feel like deglazing my pan and making a sauce so I just popped it in the oven for about 40 minutes and then let it sit for about 10 minutes to finish cooking through. It was a tasty recipe, just a little too hot for me. Next time I will definitely cook it in the crock pot so I don’t have to worry about it being under-done :)

 

Sweet and Spicy Sweet Potatoes

2 large sweet potatoes

3 Tbs. olive oil

2 Tbs. brown sugar (or more ;))

½ tsp. paprika

½ tsp. pepper

½ tsp. garlic powder

½ tsp. chili powder

½ tsp. cayenne pepper

Lots of cinnamon! 

I think I could each these things ALL day long. I was looking for a way to get my husband to eat the sweet potatoes I had just snuck into the grocery cart when I stumbled upon this recipe. It has been a week and I have already made it three times! The original recipe sounded awful… it called for poultry seasoning and something else that I thought sounded disgusting—so I changed it :) Who puts poultry seasoning on their sweet potatoes?!

So anyways, preheat your oven to 400 degrees, peel and chop those potatoes up into cubes (I like to chop mine small so they cook faster) and place them in a 13x9 baking dish. I like to use my crumb-catching pan in the oven lined with tinfoil so I can make TONS of these at one time! Next, mix all of the seasonings together in a small bowl. Every time I have made these I try to remember how much cinnamon I put in them to make them the perfect sweet potatoes that they are… alas, I can never remember to measure! Of course, coming from someone who would live off of Hot Tamales, Red Hots, and cinnamon candy canes (if it weren’t for the darn dentist), no one would like the amount I put anyways =P  Okay, so coat the potatoes in the olive oil and seasoning mixture and pop them in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. Pull ‘em out, stir them around so all sides can get nice and toasty, and put them back in for another 15-20 minutes. I like mine extra mushy so I leave them in for a little longer :)

Asparagus Onion Casserole

1 lb. fresh asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 onion, sliced

1 Tbs. olive oil

4 Tbs. butter, divided

2 Tbs. all-purpose flour

1 c. milk

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese

Cheddar cheese

Salt and pepper

1 c. bread crumbs

To be honest, this recipe was about a 7 on a scale from 1 to 10. I absolutely love asparagus by itself just grilled or sautéed on the stove, but Jonathan hates it. So this recipe was an attempt to get him to eat his veggies (haha). I’m a firm believer of cooking vegetables as is and not adding all of this froo-froo stuff to them. The cream sauce made me feel guilty for eating vegetables! Lol. Oh well, Jonathan ate two heaping spoonfuls so I’m hoping to make him an asparagus lover one day ;)

Okay, so this was a super easy recipe to make. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (I had to use my little toaster oven since these darn German ovens are so tiny!) Just sauté the asparagus and onions in the olive oil until almost tender (about 8 minutes) and dump them into a baking dish. For the cream sauce (which I because I didn’t have a lot of asparagus), melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a small sauce pan, stir in the flour until smooth, and gradually add the milk.  Boil for 2 minutes until thick (don’t forget to stir the whole time). Next, reduce the heat and slowly add the cream cheese chunks, salt, and pepper. Pour over the asparagus and top with cheese. Meanwhile, melt the remaining butter and add bread crumbs. Sprinkle them over the casserole and pop in the oven for 30 minutes until everything is nice and delicious! :)