Crispy Bacon & Egg Fried Rice

My son loves fried rice - I hate spending $10 on a dinner size portion so I decided to make him some homemade fried rice with a tasty twist, BACON! Who doesn't love bacon? Two of my favorite things, rice and bacon.

This dish was a breeze and sooo good! Easy, tasty and back to basics!

Ingredients:

2-4 cups of cooked white rice (semi-cooled)

4 eggs

5 strips of diced bacon

2 T of veggie oil

soy sauce (I use the low sodium one)

sesame oil (you purchase this oil in the asian section of the grocery store)

black pepper

I also used a wok - of you don't have a wok, use a large frying pan

Directions:

Add oil and set heat on high, get the oil nice and hot and then add the bacon. Let the bacon cook in the oil until crispy. Add 4 eggs (make sure you scramble them before adding into the hot oil and bacon). Cook until all eggs are scrambled well. Add cooked rice and stir, make sure to blend up the bacon, egg and rice together. Now add soy sauce, sesame oil and black pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Fried Chocolate & Peanut Butter Wontons

This is such a tasty treat and so easy to make. I made two different wontons, one has just milk chocolate in it and the other wonton I added creamy peanut butter and milk chocolate. My boys love this little dessert that has so much flavor.

Ingredients:

wonton wrappers
milk chocolate pieces or morsels
oil
1 egg whipped


Optional:


peanut butter
powdered sugar


Place chocolate in the middle of the wonton wrapper and using your finger, wipe all 4 edges of the wonton with the egg wash. Pinch edges together and then take the 2 corners and match it in the middle, using more egg wash to keep it sealed. Fry in hot oil until golden. Serve warm & add powdered sugar on top.

Pierogi Casserole

Ingredients:


1 box of dried lasagna noodles
8 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 large onion (diced finely in food processor)
1 stick of butter
1/3 cup of milk
1 tsp. of salt
1/2 tsp. of pepper
2 cups of shredded mild cheddar cheese


Full of flavor, this pierogi casserole is nothing short of rich & hearty goodness. My entire family loved it, including my 1 year old baby girl. I was able to make it during the day and quickly bake it before Bart got home for dinner. I served it with a sausage patty which complimented the dish nicely. Cost less than $10 to make and there is plenty of leftovers! If you love pierogis, you'll love this dish, total comfort food!



Directions:

1. Cook pasta accordingly to package. Set aside.


2. Cook potatoes in boiling water for about 20 minutes or until tender. Drain and place in a large mixing bowl. Mash well until it's creamy, I used a hand blender.


3. In a large skillet, add onions until tender. Add to mashed potatoes once onions are done.


4. Now add the butter, milk, salt and pepper and 1 1/2 cups of cheese together and stir together with a spoon. Make sure you taste, taste, taste, if you feel it needs more salt, add more, salt, more pepper, add more pepper.


5. Let mix sit for 15-20 minutes for the flavors to mix together.


6. In a casserole dish, spray with cooking spray, add a layer of pasta, potato mixture and then sprinkle with a little more cheese. Repeat this step until all the ingredients are used. Top off with remaining cheese, cover with foil and bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.

Banana Bread

I have been away from the foodie blog world for quite some time. I missed it! I sat down one morning with my morning cup of joe and was floored when I started looking up some of my old stomping grounds. The meals were so detailed...and extravagant. I was so overwhelmed, I walked away from the computer...bummed. I stayed away for quite some time after that really thinking that I had lost touch with the food Internet world. But the more I stayed away, the more I longed for it. So once again I decided to give it a whirl. And eventually I found some of my oldies but goodies...Picky Palate, Prudence Pennywise & Rookie Cookie, to name a few. Then one day on Facebook a friend of ours posted that we had all but abandoned our food blog (not naming names..AMBER!) and it made me sad because what people are searching for in this economy are meals that are cheap, easy to make and basically BASIC! I feel that's what people are looking for these days...simplicity.

I remember when I started this blog, I would go nutso writing down recipe after recipe and heading to the grocery store only to spend hundreds of dollars on meals that were mediocre. I missed the good ole days of Fried Chicken and Peach Cobbler. Well I will still have to semi miss those days as we know that Fried Chicken is bad on the thighs and the heart but if it was so bad for us why is the generation of our grandparents living into the 90s and my generation is dying off? It's because back then, ingredients were grown in their gardens and the environment was much kinder to our foods. What I'm getting at, is times are tight and tough and time is precious. Let's get back to our roots and save ourselves some time and money and we might just be surprised at how much we miss it.

My first recipe in my Back to Basics theme is Banana Bread. I know there are zillions of recipes out there for banana bread and I know some of the originals call for sour milk or vinegar and can take up to almost an hour to bake, but I wanted something easy and on any given day I always have every ingredient for this quick and easy recipe. I made this and was so happy with the results...it was so moist and yummy. Give it a try and it might just become one of your basic recipes!

BANANA BREAD

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 t ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large ripe bananas
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)


Heat oven to 350 degrees

Coat two loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray

In large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Make a well in the center. (basically pull the flour up the sides of the bowl so when you pour the banana mixture in, it goes in the middle, much easier to combine that way)

Mash bananas in medium-sized bowl (potato masher works GREAT).

Add eggs, sugar and butter and beat with mixer until fairly smooth.

Pour banana mixture into well in dry ingredients and stir just until blended. (Don't over stir as this will make your bread tough and chewy)

Fold in walnuts, then dive batter evenly between prepared loaf pans. (One of my sons is allergic to some nuts so I don't give him any. Before I add the walnuts, I pour half of the mixture in one loaf pan, decrease the nuts by half, mix in with the remaining batter, and pour the remaining batter in the second loaf pan)

Bake loaves for about 35 minutes or until browned and tops spring back lightly when gently pressed. The sides will pull away from the pan as well.

Cool on a wire wrack.

Serve with butter...YUM!

Back To Basics

Well it's been almost a year since we updated this blog...SHAME ON US! Life got hectic for both of us. We were having a little too much fun!

But we're BACK! And we're all Back to Basics. In this economy, the basic essential of making a meal for your family can break your budget. I think it's important to get back to our roots and stop getting so overwhelmed by all the extravagances...there will be plenty of time for that later. I'm a mother of 4 and live on a tight budget and my time is precious. I scour the ads every week and I clip coupons (occasionally) but ask anyone that knows me I'm a sucker for a bargain. I want to teach my children to stretch our dollar all while making a healthy home cooked meal. This will be my goal for my next several posts. I want my boys to be able to "fend for themselves" in the kitchen and I want my daughter to have all the skills needed to be a wife and a mother...especially in the kitchen. I don't feel like this is being femanist...I feel like this is being a realist. So without much further ado, I would like to say "Welcome Back" and I can't wait to hear from you all. Drop us a line and let us know how we're doing or what you would like to see on this blog. We are here to make your life easier in the kitchen. Help us help you. I'm so excited!!!