Stir Fry

Please pardon me, I don't actually have a recipe for this. I just keep tasting and dumping until it tastes right. So your tastebuds are gonna hafta be your judges here! :) But I've made it for mom & dad for years and they love it and so do my kids. Reece doesn't count 'cause he doesn't like anything that remotely smacks of anything Chinese. :D I don't make normal stir fry. It's some conglomeration of stuff I like and stuff. At least I don't think it's normal.

Here's the veggies, sans carrots. I picked them all out so Rachel could eat the same stuff as us. :)

Stir fry your meat until it starts turning brown. I just buy roasts when they're on sale and then cut them up into chunks for stir fry of stew. Much cheaper than buying the actual stir fry meat.

My array of rather unconventional stir fry ingredients.

When the meat is browned, dump in all the sauce stuff and cook for about 10 minutes.

And for some reason there's no picture of the veggies with the meat. ??? Anyway, add the veggies and cook until they're half tender. Serve over this pot of rice. Actually, make your own rice. This stuff if LONG gone! ;)

1 lb. beef, cut in bite size chunks
Olive oil
2 (16 oz.) bags stir fry veggies
3 T. Worcestershire sauce
3 T. soy sauce
2-3 T. teriyaki marinade
2 T. oyster sauce
1/2 tsp. Oriental Five spice
White pepper

  Fry the meat in the olive oil until it starts browning, then add all the sauces and seasonings. Cook for about 5-10 minutes. Then add the veggies. Keep stirring and cooking until the veggies are done. I always add more sauces as it's cooking until it tastes right.

Layered Potato Casserole

I wanted to use up my hamburger and I wanted to use potatoes. But I DIDN'T want to make mashed potatoes and hamburger gravy like I always do when I don't know what to make for supper. So I googled hamburger potato recipes. And I found a casserole that would now be considered a cousin of this one. It was apparently made by someone afraid of using spices. And afraid of using things like onion, corn, mushrooms, garlic powder... you kinda get the point. So I added some things. And now there's gonna be a Hamburger Potato Casserole family reunion in 2 weeks. You're invited.

Here's the seasonings I used.

And here's the stuff for the sauce. I didn't take any pictures of the main ingredients, because my husband might look at this blog and then he'd be forever scared of this casserole. I will ignore him tho', because Rosie said "This is REALLY GOOD food, Mommy!!" when she was eating hers. :D

And for some reason I forgot to take a picture of the sliced potatoes, so just imagine them down there on the bottom of this. Under the onion soup mix, pepper, salt, corn, hamburger & sauce.

Here's the layers from the side.

This is what it looks like before heading to the oven to cook it's life away.

And here's the recipe:

1 - 1  1/2 lbs. hamburger

1 smallish onion, minced

1 -1  1/2 tsp. salt

1 C. mushrooms, sliced -or minced if you're serving to non-mushroom people ;)

3 C. peeled, thinly sliced potatoes

1 packet onion soup mix

2 C. frozen corn

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup

1/2 C. milk

2 T. mayonnaise

2 T. sour cream

Salt

Pepper

Onion powder

Garlic powder

Mrs. Dash

1/4 C. milk

1  1/2 - 2 C. shredded cheese

  Brown the hamburger with the salt and onions. Add the minced mushrooms so Reece can't see them. Cook until the onions are tender.

  In a medium bowl mix together the can of soup, 1/2 C. milk, mayonnaise, sour cream and salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder & Mrs. Dash to taste.

  In a 2 qt. casserole dish, layer half the potatoes, half the onion soup mix, some pepper & salt, half the corn, half the hamburger mixture and half the sauce. Repeat layers. Pour the remaining 1/4 C. milk evenly over the top. Cover and bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour. Remove from oven, top with cheese -I used the Four Cheese Mexican blend- and bake, uncovered, for 10 minutes more. Take it out of the oven and let set for 10 minutes before serving.

Peanut Chicken & Broccoli

The other day I wanted some peanut chicken like I used to always get at the New China Buffet in SC. So I looked up a bunch of recipes and took all the stuff that sounded good and came up with this recipe. The only weird thing I added that they didn't have in SC was the broccoli. And I didn't get my chicken all crispy like theirs. Other than that? The flavor is the same! I was so happy!!

Start off by cutting up some boneless, skinless chicken breasts into bite sized pieces. Then put them in a pile and take 46 pictures of it. Oh wait. That's me. Never mind...

Then get out all your sauce stuff and stand it on the cpounter and wonder what on earth you're doing with such an odd array of items. White cooking wine, soy sauce, sesame oil, Worcestershire sauce & peanut butter. Since then I realized there's High-Fructose Corn Syrup in Heinz Worcestershire sauce, so I got Lea &Perrins. Much better! ;)

Saute some garlic & red pepper flakes in olive oil.

Add the chicken and stir-fry until it's turning white.

Add the broccoli and cover, stirring once in a while until the broccoli gets to your desired tenderness. Add the sauce and remove from heat. Serve over rice or noodles. Or just leave the broccoli completely out and eat it seperate. :D

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces

Olive oil

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 clove crushed garlic -I use my garlic press

1/2 C. creamy peanut butter -I use the natural stuff

1/4 C. white cooking wine

1/4 C. soy sauce

1 T. Worcestershire sauce

1 T. brown sugar

1 T. + 1 tsp. sesame oil

1 tsp. corn starch

3-4 C. broccoli pieces, optional

Cooked rice or noodles

  Mix together the peanut butter, wine, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil & corn starch. Set aside.

  Saute the garlic & pepper flakes in a wok until the garlic is tender. Add the chicken and stir fry until it turns white. Add the broccoli if you're using it and stir fry until it's tender-crisp. Pour the peanut sauce over and mix it around until everything is well covered. Cover the pan and shut the burner off; let set for about 5 minutes. Serve over rice or noodles.

Yummy Ham & Pickle Things

These things are so good it's ridiculous. I think they take forever to make, just because you have to have everything nice and dry... but they are SO GOOD!!!! It takes 3.5 seconds to empty a plate of them and 3.5 hours to make them. Not quite but they are really good. Or did I already say that once?

Dry off a bunch of baby dill pickles.

Break open a package or three of cream cheese, depending on how many of these you plan on making.

You use the deli sliced ham for this... and dab it dry with a paper towel so

the cream cheese sticks to it.

Spread each slice of ham with cream cheese, and slice the ham in half lengthwise.

If you have REALLY tiny pickles, you can use 4 pickles per slice of ham.

Just set a pickle on each end,

And roll toward the middle.

(If you're confused... I'm sorry. There is no more help for you on this blog.)

 Then cut it in half in between the pickles. Like this:

And here's the 'recipe' LOL!

Deli sliced ham

Cream cheese

Baby dill pickles

Dab the ham dry with a paper towel, spread with cream cheese. Slice the ham in half lengthwise and roll up some baby dills in the ham. I put one pickle on each end of the half ham slice, and roll them towards the middle. Slice them apart and set them all nice and purty on a serving tray.

Sloppy Baked Potatoes

I came up with this recipe one day, and I still can't remember what on earth possessed me to even try such a thing. Maybe we were out of bread or something. Maybe I wanted baked potatoes and we had some hamburger that needed to be used up. Or maybe I just had a momentary flash of brilliance. Whatever it was, this stuff is GOOD!!

Take a bunch of potatoes and scrub them up real good. ;) Don't ask me how many to use... that all depends on how many people you're serving and how much food they want to scarf down.

Rub your nice clean taters with olive oil and stick them in your oven that is hopefully cleaner than mine. *sigh* Bake them at 350 degrees for an hour.

While the tatoes are baking, brown some hamburger and onion. Add about a teaspoon of salt while it's all frying.

Add ketchup, brown sugar, Worchestershire sauce, vinegar, dry mustard, & pepper. I had taken a picture of this step, but the ketchup came out looking like a very undistinguished body part, so I scrapped that one. If this stuff is too runny, add some quick oats to thicken it up a little bit.

Take your baked potato, cut it in half and slather on some butter, sour cream, salt & pepper. Add a goodly sum of shredded cheese and top with the sloppy joe business. Serve with a salad and a pile of corn. Or green beans. Or whatever veggie you can get all members of your household to eat. Then say YUMMY and make it often! :D

Potatoes
Olive oil

1 lb. hamburger
1 tsp. salt
1/2 of a medium onion, minced
3/4 C. ketchup
2 T. brown sugar
2  1/2 T. vinegar
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. Mrs. Dash

Butter
Sour cream
Salt & pepper
Shredded cheddar cheese

  Scrub the potatoes, rub with olive oil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
  While the potatoes bake, brown the hamburger with the onion & salt. Drain the fat if there is any left. Add the ketchup, sugar, vinegar, mustard, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder & Mrs. Dash. Simmer for about 15 minutes. If it's too runny, add some quick oats to thicken it.
  Cut the baked potatoes in half lengthwise, spread with butter, smear on some sour cream, then add salt & pepper to your taste. Top with shredded cheese -sharp cheddar is REALLY good!- and then finally, top with the sloppy joe mixture. Enjoy immensely.