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What are some of the best meals to freeze?
Lasagne, soups, stews (as mentioned above), dolmades, spring rolls, chinese dumplings etc etc etc.
Dinner Tonight: Orzo 'Risotto'
Huh? Isn't risotto rice risotto rice and orzo orzo?
I thought the whole point of using arborio rice is to get the grains of rice to break, so you're left with a creamy "wet" risotto? If you want additional creaminess, you add a touch of cream and butter at the end.
Do you brown bag it for lunch?
I don't currently work, but I do make my other halfs lunches. When I do go out to work, I'd do exactly the same for me. I usually wrap them in a bit of clear wrap and he takes them to work in his laptop bag.
I make whole wheat flour tortillas (from scratch), fill them with salad and a variety of fillings including feta cheese and walnut, houmous, proscuitto, imported italian salami, canadian bacon, chilli and garlic prawns etc. And on other days, he takes a plastic bowl (tupperware variety) with him with home made soup and home made bread rolls.
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Recent Comments | Response to Comments
The Cheeseburger in a Can Reveals Itself
That is so disgusting... is anyone actually going to enjoy that? I think I'd opt for the power bars, they'd have much more flavor and are a damn site healthier looking!
What are some of the best meals to freeze?
Lasagne, soups, stews (as mentioned above), dolmades, spring rolls, chinese dumplings etc etc etc.
Dinner Tonight: Orzo 'Risotto'
Huh? Isn't risotto rice risotto rice and orzo orzo?
I thought the whole point of using arborio rice is to get the grains of rice to break, so you're left with a creamy "wet" risotto? If you want additional creaminess, you add a touch of cream and butter at the end.
Do you brown bag it for lunch?
I don't currently work, but I do make my other halfs lunches. When I do go out to work, I'd do exactly the same for me. I usually wrap them in a bit of clear wrap and he takes them to work in his laptop bag.
I make whole wheat flour tortillas (from scratch), fill them with salad and a variety of fillings including feta cheese and walnut, houmous, proscuitto, imported italian salami, canadian bacon, chilli and garlic prawns etc. And on other days, he takes a plastic bowl (tupperware variety) with him with home made soup and home made bread rolls.
Starbucks Discontinues Breakfast Sandwiches
They need to focus a bit more on coffee as far as I'm concerned! Did they ever actually focus on it to begin with?
Their coffee is over-roasted, bitter and leaves a horrible sour aftertaste. It might be good in diluted in the milk based lattes, but as an espresso - yuck. Espresso should be aromatically sweet, there should be no need for sugar to counteract the bitterness.
My vow is never to drink another coffee at Starbucks whilst I'm in the US. It's not the corporation/business, I just don't like their coffee. I'd gladly drink tea/water there if I had no choice - lol.
Is there a food trauma in your past?
Yes pig's liver. My dad used to buy it, slice it and cook it for dinner. I didn't mind it, it was quite nice.
However, one time the gall bladder in the liver had ruptured and all the bile had leeched into the liver itself. It was so disgusting, I've never been able to eat it ever again - ewwww... I can taste that disgusting taste now...
How to make fried rice like they do at Chinese takeout?
You will never get Chinese style fried rice like from the restaurant/take-out in a domestic kitchen, unless you have a Chinese style range with a huge gas ring - as mentioned above for the "wok-power" and use ladles of oil.
My family have always been involved in cooking in Chinese restaurants earlier than the day I was born and that's how it's done. It's not the most healthiest dish in the world, in fact it's not - seeing them add so much oil makes me want to hurl. I make the "healthier" version and I love it.
PS - Sesame oil should be used right at the end to season dishes. Never ever cook with it, it burns very easily.
Healthy food for youngsters...
At the age of 6 - that is quite a tender age of nurturing. It still isn't too late to get him used to eating healthy and not be so finnicky. Remember he is ONLY finnicky because you let him.
Try getting him involved in cooking - cooking and eating healthily does not need to be a chore. You also have to be firm with him - he is there to learn good/bad habits from you. It's amazing how little things can be picked up by kids at an early age and how it escalates into the adulthood.
There are friends of ours, their kids are 5 and 3, and they are eating and savoring blue cheese and black olives.
Have you tried soups, such as butternut squash soup? Don't bother with e cream etc, just prepare the squash into chunks and maybe throw a few red peppers in it, drizzle very very lightly with some oil and bung it in the oven to roast. When done, puree the squash with a bit of seasoning, stock and maybe a tiny bit of sugar (yes a tiny bit, maybe 5-10g max).
How about shakes made from frozen fruit and low fat skimmed milk/soy milk (unsweetened variety)? This if done with the right proportions of the two - makes it almost like a slushy/ice cream.
Have you tried pasta for example? Pasta with tinned tomatoes and ground beef. Use the leanest beef (9% i think it is here in the US). Fry some onions, garlic in the minimal amount of oil, add the beef, season with a little salt and pepper, then add the tomatoes (I always add fresh ones too). Add a bit of JUST bouillion, stir, season with herbs like basil etc etc and serve with freshly made pasta.
To make nuggets even healthier - why not make them yourself at home. You then know exactly what you put inside them. I mean use proper chicken meat, lightly coat them in egg then flour and breadcrumbs. Don't deep fry them, you can bake them - it's so much more healthier.
Yucky foods of the past
I hated anything that looked whole-wheaty - now I'm a health freak.
I also hated tomatoes, the ones we could buy in the UK - were often unripe, bland and tasteless. That was before they started to promote the vine ripened ones. Now I love them!
I also disliked cheese, with an Oriental upbringing we rarely had cheese and when we did, it would be the disgusting, plasticy kraft-like slices - eurgh. Now I absolutely adore cheese, especially European ones - oh how I miss them so...
PS is it so bad that your daughter hates whipped cream? It's full of saturated fat and bad for your arteries.
What’s your favorite quick fix dinner?
Anything - I plan my meals weekly. Most of my dinners take less then 30 minutes to make and are always wholesome and delicious. They contain no processed foods/minimally processed and are all home made.
For example, this week I had:
- sweet potato and coconut curry with rice
- sliced tuna steak with veggies and chinese wheat noodles in garlic and black bean sauce
- forbidden rice with braised napa cabbage and szechuan spiced pork
- king prawns and vegetables in a chinese satay sauce stir fried with udon noodles
- pizza (yes, I make the dough at home too, ok this one actually takes longer than 30 minutes because I have to warm the stone up)
- pan fried trout with stir fried vegetables and brown rice
- chilli with polenta
And IF I'm really really lazy, I will get out some of the soup from the freezer I made earlier and microwave it until it's ready. I also have some chinese dumplings in the freezer, highly convenient when you want to make say szechuan noodle soup.
It's snowing here! Favorite hot food to warm you up?
Good ole British beef stew with root vegetables in a thick gravy and herbed dumplings.
Greek Yogurt-tell me about it
+1, definitely go for the Fage TOTAL Greek yoghurt. Make sure it's the imported variety. This is a well known Greek yoghurt sold in Europe (including Greece itself).
Try the full fat version, it's a tad thick but exceptionally creamy - try it with honey and roasted almonds! The 2% and 0% just aren't the same, they have the same slight tang to them, but are more "watery" in flavoUr.
You can eat it with what you like. You can use it in your cakes, as a filling, or in the mix itself, with fruit/granola, to make tzatziki (as mentioned above), the list is immense.
The Cheeseburger in a Can Reveals Itself
somebody go down to your local burger joint get a burger and send it to Germany I am shure by the time they get it it will still taste better than that!
The Cheeseburger in a Can Reveals Itself
You guys obviously have not tasted one of these before, I had one of these yesterday, and it was delicous.
I want another one of these right now, I'm so hungry.
It's snowing here! Favorite hot food to warm you up?
a huge bowl of oatmeal with fresh pumpkin puree, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, raisins, and molasses.
or a nice bowl of tomato soup with a side of asiago cracked pepper bread
mmmm
The Cheeseburger in a Can Reveals Itself
This product would be great to send to the kids in Iraq and Afghanistan. A field-ready burger is better than none when you are on patrol!
How to make fried rice like they do at Chinese takeout?
Oh -- and you don't need a wok, either.
How to make fried rice like they do at Chinese takeout?
These things are true:
Use cooked rice, refrigrated for at least 24 hours
Have everything prepped ahead of time
Use a minimal amount of oil
The pan needs to be very hot
These things are not true:
Lack of BTUs on home stoves prevent this from being made successfully
Asian cooking is called "oriental"
Chiffonade basically nailed it. The whole "PARBOILED RICE" thing? Meh, I wouldn't personally go there. It may be idiot-proof, but then again, I'm no idiot and I don't intend to settle for second-best.
Don't let anyone tell you that you can't make perfect fried rice at home. That's a BS line that professional cooks will tell you. Just mind the details.
How to make fried rice like they do at Chinese takeout?
tablespoon of oil into VERY HOT wok, bacon sliced into tiny pieces - cook until bacon is just starting to brown. Add your favorite veggies (I usually use onion, bell pepper and cabbage - all cut into small cubes). As soon as the veggies start to soften reduce the heat to low and push them to all to one side - add 1-2 lightly beaten eggs to the free area, and cook until they are not runny, then mix with the veggies and bacon. Add 1-2 day old rice to the mix and stir until everything in incorporated. While mixing the rice I add soy sauce, dash of salt and pepper, chipolte seasoning, and of course a dash of sesame oil.
How to make fried rice like they do at Chinese takeout?
I am not a big fan of fried rice with soy sauce. I like fried rice with shrimp, eggs, scallions, green peas and bacon bits....top it with KETCHUP! Key is to use cold dry rice, otherwise the rice becomes too sticky...you need a really hot big wok to stir fry a bowl of delicious fried rice.
Healthy food for youngsters...
these are all good suggestions, but my kids are teenagers now, and unfortunately, we all have bad eating habits...trying to change that now, but i really need some help changing "junk foo" junkies. the school food that is offered is no help, either. any suggestions or advice?
How to make fried rice like they do at Chinese takeout?
just an fyi...
If you like gummy, clumpy, sticky rice, always buy the regular long or short grain stuff.
If you want idiot-proof perfect rice everytime that does not stick together, all the kernels fall loosely apart, is difficult to burn (for most people), then use PARBOILED RICE. You'll be pleasantly surprised how well it works for fried rice, and how fluffy and unsticky it is.
I usually make it per instructions on package (2c water per 1c rice), then dump it out of the pan into a big screen colander to let it drain. If I don't have time to refrigerate it, I pour cold water through it to cool it quickly. Then it goes from there into the wok, mixing anything else you want to ad and fry it up!
It takes lots of practice and some real oriental cooking knowledge to learn how to make restaurant-quality fried rice with the basic sticky kinds of rice. A very hot wok, just the right amount of oil etc. You don't have to be concerned about that when using PARBOILED RICE. It's never failed to turn out unsticky and fluffy for me, and I'm no seasoned chef.
It's snowing here! Favorite hot food to warm you up?
I live in Florida, and we don't have many really frigid days here. But when the mercury dips, a large bowl of well seasoned chili, with a side order of French bread with minced garlic, butter, and mozzarella... will usually give me a warm fuzzy feeling.
Starbucks Discontinues Breakfast Sandwiches
Hmm, I just had one the other day. Looks like they're a little slow on the discontinue. I agree that I enjoyed having a breakfast option other than a sugary pastry or overpriced fruit.
How to make fried rice like they do at Chinese takeout?
Some really nice suggestions here, I'm learning too.
I would agree, a good, hot, properly seasoned Wok
would work best.
But wouldn't MSG work better than salt?
It is not a main ingredient/flavor enhancer of Chinese cooking?
The Cheeseburger in a Can Reveals Itself
The world has officially gone MAD.
The Cheeseburger in a Can Reveals Itself
Burger looks like someone previously ate it then recycled it!
The Cheeseburger in a Can Reveals Itself
I agree 100% this is so much worse and vile than rehydrated food! Tried it 'cause I thought it would make a nice change on festivals, boy was I wrong:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xFQvDC6lXAY
How to make fried rice like they do at Chinese takeout?
I'm still improving my fried rice, but here are a few possibly obvious tips that i nonetheless had to learn and which made huge advances in my success. First 3 are repeats of others, but #4-5 were big revelations for me:
1) I agree with all the emphasis on cold, leftover rice. Even making the rice and then immediately chilling it doesn't seem to quite do the trick. Maybe if I'd let it cool off in an open container (so the steam can evaporate).
2) Wide-flat pan. I loft my electric skillet for this, but it's certainly not necessary.
3) Fry the vegs first then take them out of the pan. They risk either overcooking or steaming the rice if it's too crowded. Easier to just tip them out before adding the rice and mixing it all together at the end.
4) When you add the rice, stir briefly to coat the grains with oil, then leave it still for a moment. This allows it to get that light toasted flavor and color. When it's time to stir again, use a flat utensil and sort of hack at the rice and flip.
5) Use salt to get 66% or more of the seasoning. I always over-relied (or even exclusively relied) on soy sauce for saltiness on my first attempts, and it was terrible. When I started paying more attention I realized that the soy flavor is actually very subtle or even absent in restaurant fried rice. Use salt.
On a related note, I found an awesome recipe for homemade roast pork. I usually make a lot of it, and we have some for our meal and some for fried rice the next day. Works best with with cheaper cuts of pork (butt/shoulder, country style ribs, could use spareribs if you wanted), and it's awesome. I've even used the electric skillet with a small rack to roast the meat, and it works very well. But the recipe is designed for a conventional oven. I've paraphrased both methods below.
Source: Everyday Asian by Marie Hendricksson (a book I highly recommend).
Chinese roast pork
2 lbs. pork country style ribs or pork butt, cut into 2-in. chunks and trimmed of excess fat
1/3 c. hoisin sauce
1/3 c. rice wine (I was out and used mirin to great effect)
1/3 c. soy sauce
1 tbs. ketchup
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbs. brown sugar
Combine liquid ingredients, garlic, and sugar in a bowl large enough to hold the meat; stir to mix well. Add the meat and turn the pieces to coat. Marinate in fridge 1-3 hours.
If using a conventional oven, preheat to 400 and line a cookie sheet with foil. If you have an oven-proof rack or broiling tray that will fit in the sheet, set it in or over the sheet.
If using an electric skillet, preheat to 400 and place a small rack inside the pan (foil isn't necessary if your nonstick coating is good).
Carefully remove the meat from the marinade, reserving the marinade, and place the pieces onto the rack. Place in the oven or the skillet (close the lid) and roast for 20 minutes. (When using the electric skillet, I found that there was a lot of sauce dripping onto the pan and starting to burn during the first 20 minutes. I just removed the rack with the meat and lifted off the sauce with a spatula.)
Meanwhile, pour the reserved marinade into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low and simmer to reduce the sauce slightly, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
After the first 20 minutes of roasting, use a brush to glaze pieces with the marinade, turning them over. Set back to roast another 15 minutes and repeat with the glaze. Return to roast another 15 minutes.
Remove the meat from the pan and set it to rest a few minutes before slicing into small pieces to serve.
Serves 4.
How to make fried rice like they do at Chinese takeout?
What's missing is the wok hay from setting the wok in an intense heat source.
The Cheeseburger in a Can Reveals Itself
auuwh.
that's just nasty!
look at the lower bun. so soggy!
...making ME queasy
What are some of the best meals to freeze?
oooh, that reminds me... i have a pan of christmas stuffing in the freezer! chestnuts, sausage, and pecans!
What are some of the best meals to freeze?
Angie_Earthy, what a great idea using the deviled egg container for the shells. I never use it for actual deviled eggs anymore. It would work for anything that you want to individually scoop. Perfect!
How to make fried rice like they do at Chinese takeout?
After many years of making fried rice, using a Malaysian wok burner, I think the main reason most fail is that the rice is not dry enough. You don't want it to take up much moisture, and you do want it to toast a tiny bit. Lay regular rice out in a sheet pan for a day and follow any of the suggestions that catch your fancy.
The Cheeseburger in a Can Reveals Itself
sorry i've been camping for weeks at a time and rehydrated food cooked properly is 1000x better looking than that! not to mention very very tasty, at least depending on the cook.
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About ssnmr77
Location: WA
About: I relocated from the UK in 2006. I obsess about food, especially healthy, wholesome non-processed foods. Moving here has made me more aware of processed foods and I avoid it. I cook everything at home, the most processed food I have is vegan cheese.
Favorite foods: - ezekiel cereal
- freshly baked bread
- high fruit content preserves
- spanish black olives
- dolmades
- home made pizza
- stir fried udon noodles
- garlic & chilli prawns
- pan seared scallops
- ginger and spring onion crab etc etc
Last bite on earth: Everything on the dim sum menu (best dim sum restaurant I've tried out of Hong Kong is in Utrecht, the Netherlands).
That is so disgusting... is anyone actually going to enjoy that? I think I'd opt for the power bars, they'd have much more flavor and are a damn site healthier looking!