Stir Fried Rice with Egg, Mushrooms and Green Peas

I’ve yet to find a good recipe for fried rice. There’s this place in Boise, Idaho (Confucius) that made the best chicken fried rice. My mom used to take me there after a hard day of shopping for some us time. I still get hankering for it. I saw this recipe made on TLC and thought it looked closer then the other methods I’d seen. I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks good! Yet another recipe to put on my To Make list!

 

Stir Fried Rice with Egg, Mushrooms and Green Peas
From Take Home Chef on TLC Episode 170 Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 cups/625 ml water
• 1 1/2 cups/300 g uncooked long grain white rice, rinsed, drained
• 1/4 teaspoon/1.5 g salt
• 6 tablespoons/90 ml vegetable oil
• 8 ounces/225 g assorted mushrooms (such as oyster and stemmed shiitake), coarsely chopped
• 2 large eggs, beaten to blend
• 4 small carrots (about 4 ounces/115 g total), peeled and finely diced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup/100 g frozen petite green peas
• 3/4 cup/70 g thinly sliced green onions
• 1/3 cup/85 ml reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon/5 ml toasted sesame oil

Method:

Combine the water, rice, and 1/4 teaspoon/1.5 g of salt in a rice cooker and cook according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer the steamed rice to a baking sheet to cool to room temperature. Heat 2 tablespoons/30 ml of vegetable oil in a large wok over medium to high heat.

Add the mushrooms and sauté for 4 minutes or until tender. Transfer the mushrooms to a plate and set aside. Heat 1 tablespoon/15 ml of vegetable oil in the wok over medium to high heat. Add the egg and stir with a fork for about 30 seconds or until just cooked.

Remove the egg from the wok and allow to cool. Heat the remaining 3 tablespoons/45 ml of vegetable oil in the wok over medium to high heat. Add the carrots to the wok and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the cooled rice and stir fry for 2 minutes or until heated through.

Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the peas then the mushrooms and eggs. Stir in ¾ of the green onions. Add the soy sauce and sesame oil and continue to stir fry for a further 1 minute.

Transfer the rice to a platter and sprinkle with the remaining green onions. Serve as an accompaniment to the Orange Chicken with Carrots and Celery.

 

 

 

 

 

magazine plug

For those of you who have a yard or even a small 4’x6′ porch off of your apartment, I would like to encourage you to pick up this year’s copy of Martha Stewart Outdoor Living (a once yearly magazine).

It has great sections on container planting, plants for problem spaces, and of course all the great ‘good things’ and answers to readers’ questions. If you do not have a yard or porch, I would caution you against it because it might tempt you to discontentment. Although I am currently without gardening space (and therefore easily tempted to yard-envy), I justified the purchase of this periodical by writing it off as an expense for my little landscape design business. I’m telling myself that it is getting me geared up for the design season, all the while tucking away ideas for the yard that I will someday have. It actually is getting me excited for the design season, and it will be nice to have that handy guide to plants for problem spaces. So pick yours up today, or at least by April 28th when they are set to be taken off the shelves.

baby blanket how-to

I am happy to report that my sewing machine made it home safely yesterday and now I can present the baby blanket how-to. I really have to apologize for my tutorials, because I’m horrible at writing directions. Showing you would be super easy, but putting it into words is not my strong point. So, if I’ve left anything out or anything is confusing, please let me know and I’ll try to fix it!

Begin by purchasing a yard each of two different flannels (preferably matching ones). Spread the fabric out, place them right sides together and trim the edges so that they are even. It is easiest to do this with a rotary cutter and mat, but I’m sure it could be managed with a decent pair of scissors.

Sew along the edges (still right sides together), 1/2″ from the edge of the fabric (this is called a 1/2″ seam allowance). Leave about 5″ along one side un-sewn, so that you can turn the blanket right side out.

Turn it right side out and stitch 1/4″ from the edge, so that you’re stitching through four layers of fabric (the outsides of the blanket and the seam allowance that is on the inside). You’ll have to fiddle with it a bit to get it to lay flat and straight. In fact, you may want to iron it first so that it’s easier to work with.

Once you get to the bit that you left open so that you could turn it all inside out, just kinda keep going. Make sure the seam allowance bit is tucked in and the edges are straight, and then just keep on sewing that 1/4″ away from the edge like you’ve been doing all along.

Once you’ve sewn all the way around, you’re done! These two took me about an hour total, and that included putting a kiddo to bed and checking email and taking the pictures. Good luck!

beauty on film

I’d like to introduce you to the photography of Steve Uzzell. I had the privilege of seeing him speak at an ASLA (American Society of Landscape Architects) convention a few years ago, and I was blown away by the quality of his work. I’ve been an amateur photographer for a while now (it started with yearbook back in middle school), and seeing work like Mr. Uzzell’s is such an inspiration. His style isn’t groundbreaking, but what he does he does incredibly well. Check him out at steveuzzell.com.

the next few months

I just wanted to give you all a heads up as to what the next few months will bring, at least as far as my posting goes. Today is the start of track and field season and I’m going to be coaching again this year, so my posts may be a little sparser over the next few months. Another effect that this will have is on the types of recipes I will be posting – with only 45 minutes or so between getting home from practice and dinnertime, I’ll be focusing on a lot of quick meals! Fortunately, the latest issue of Everyday Food also focused on quick meals and I have a ton of them bookmarked, so I’m looking forward to the challenge!

I always look forward to this time of year and the chance to be outside with the kids. Spring is our family’s sport season, with me coaching track (with Little B’s help, of course) and my husband serving as volunteer athletic trainer for the LaCrosse and Track and Field teams at Logos. We spend a lot of time out on the various fields, and enjoy being able to do it all together. If it wasn’t such a ‘family affair’ I probably wouldn’t make the time commitment, but as it stands we have a great time. I have to say that another reason that I’m willing to make the time commitment is the caliber of the kids and other coaches – it’s simply wonderful to work with people who can love a sport so much without worshiping it and who can see it as another way to glorify God in their daily lives.

So please forgive the lack of posting over the next few months – I promise I’ll be back in full force at the end of May!

Morning Sickness

Sorry, I can’t do any posts about food right now. The very thought turns my tummy! However, I’ve reached that point in my pregnancy where nothing stays down. I’ve tried all the basics (saltines, little meals, ginger, lemon mints, mint tea, minty mints, even Premesis RX) does anyone have unusual suggestions for helping morning sickness? With O, I had to get a prescription, but my doctor’s appointment isn’t until March 3rd, so…..help? anyone?

Also, for anyone else in this situation, I got a great tip from a very wise friend of mine. She dealt with morning sickness while nursing a newborn (long story/short version: breast feeding and condoms don’t always work as birth control). She said to make a list of the chores you need to get done, grab your puke bucket and run around the house to get them done as quickly as possible. It works! True, it doesn’t feel fabulous, but your husbter will have a nice clean house to come home to and you won’t feel like such a dead weight! Yay!

For Betsy

Thank you for being such a wonderful inspiration!  

baby blankets

First of all, I would like to state for the record that it was foolish of me to think that I could do without my sewing machine for a month. Just foolish. Now that that’s out, let us continue.

I have to apologize for not mentioning this idea in the comments of Abra’s post on baby gift ideas. This is one of my favorite gifts to give, when I have the time. If I can get the flannel on sale (like the $2/yd. it was this weekend) I can usually give two blankets and it costs about $8 for a pretty decent, hand made gift. You can of course add to it with a cute toy or pack of onesies if you want to bulk up the gift a bit, which I do frequently.

Due to the above mentioned foolishness, I cannot yet show you how to make these blankets, but I will put together a little “how-to” once my trusty Viking is back at home. They’re really quite simple actually – sew two big pieces of flannel together. That’s it. I made three of these blankets when B was born and I found them very handy for draping over the baby carrier/car seat thing. They wash well, and she’s still using them to snuggle up under in her crib.

I picked some really bright fabrics this time around, and most of them are going to be made into blankets for a friend of ours who just had a little girl on Sunday. Very girly and very springy (I think).

I went ahead and embroidered her name in the corner of one of them…

…and it’s a good thing, too, because I’m afraid I might have kept that fabric for myself if I hadn’t put her name on it! As soon as my machine is back at home (probably Saturday or Sunday), I’ll post pictures of the finished products along with a quick how-to.

linen storage?

Do any of you have any tips on storing linens? It seems that whenever I pull sheets out of the closet that I haven’t used for a few months, they smell horribly dusty and I have to wash them again before I can put them on the bed. I’ve tried storing them in Rubbermaid containers too, but that doesn’t help. Any tips?

Good bye Binky!

While in KC last month, I picked up a hot tip from Abbea’s amazing mom on how to wean toddlers off their pacifier. She suggested just scissoring off a bit of the nipple every couple days/weeks until there wasn’t anything to suck on. I tried it with Ophelia shortly after returning home and it worked like a charm!! It only took about a week and a half (I snipped every 3 days) before she wasn’t even asking for it anymore! I especially appreciated how there was no drama involved. Ophelia still had her binky, it was right there, it was just different. The first time we gave her the revised paci, she popped it in her mouth, and immediately took it out and studied it with a comical amount of confusion. She didn’t say anything, though, and just popped it back in. By the end of the week there wasn’t anything left to suck on, but she did still hold on to it. However, within a couple days, she was over it. It’s amazing how much easier it is not to have those pesky little helpers to keep track of! Thanks, Mrs. R!