Beef Stir-Fry

I hope there are some Chinese food fans out there. If you don't like Chinese food, there is something seriously wrong with you. I know someone who says to me all the time that she can't eat Chinese food because of how it smells. Well you are just missing out my friend. There is nothing better than fried rice and big chunks of chicken, beef, and shrimp married with delicious vegetables.
Chinese food doesn't cost that much considering they give you a mound of it to eat, but I have to cut back on eating out and decided to get my Chinese food fix by cooking it at home myself. I like mine simple with meat, rice, and vegetables. Those noodle recipes they can keep. Someone once told me they look like worms; maybe that is why I never eat them. Here is my version of stir fry beef and rice.


Ingredients
Flank, sirloin, or skirt steak (for stir-fry)
1 cup rice
2 Tbsp hoisin sauce
½ an onion
1 egg
1 green onion
¼ cup soy sauce
6 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Flank steak is the best steak to use for stir-frying. If cut against the grain, the muscle fibers become tenderer. Cut the flank steak into thin slices and put into a bowl. Add 2 Tbsp hoisin sauce to the meat as a marinade. Put it in the fridge for an hour to make the meat happy. Cook a cup of rice and refrigerate that too since rice is best cold before you stir-fry it. Once all of your ingredients have been in the fridge for a while, heat a wok on medium high heat with 2 Tbsp olive oil. Make sure the oil is hot by adding a drop of water. If the oil sizzles, it's hot enough. Lightly beat the egg and add to the hot oil. Chop it into pieces and set aside. Add 2 Tbsp oil to hot wok then cook steak slices. Remove from wok and add 2 Tbsp more of olive oil. Add in cold rice to hot oil. Chop onion into quarter pieces and add to the rice and stir-fry together. Add in the steak strips, soy sauce, and egg to the mixture. There is a lot of sodium in soy sauce; don't use much salt. Stir the mixture around and place on a serving dish. Garnish the stir-fry with sliced green onion.

Healthy Slow Cooker Stew With Herbs and Fall Vegetables

Slow Cookers are the best investment for simmering stews and soups on a cool, autumn day. A little planning ahead will free up hours during the day for other projects.
Squash and zucchini are still plentiful and great stew starters. Add some of your favorite vegetables and lots of spices and herbs and prepare to feast.
Caution: remember to cut your vegetables in small pieces for the slow cooker. This stew is a good staple for those who are limiting their use of potatoes and pastas; full of nutrition and good taste and hearty enough for any appetite.


Mediterranean Stew
2 cups of sliced zucchini
1 can chick-peas, drain and rinse
1 medium acorn or butternut squash, cubed
1 pkg. frozen okra pieces
2 cups eggplant, unpeeled and cubed
1 cup chopped onion
1 large carrot, sliced thin
1 large tomato, chopped
Combine the following and mix with above ingredients in slow cooker.
½ cup raisins
1 minced clove garlic
¼ teaspoon each: red pepper, ground cinnamon, paprika
½ teaspoon each: tumeric, cumin
8 ounces tomato sauce
½ cup water or low sodium broth
Cover and cook 8 to 10 hours in slow cooker on low. Vegetables should be tender but not too soft. This stew is very tasty; good by itself with crackers or cornbread. It is especially great when spooned over steaming rice or couscous.
In trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle, it is important to limit your intake of sodium and fats. Soups and stews, when properly prepared, will do just that without compromising taste. Become aware of natural juices from fruits and vegetables to use in cooking instead of tossing them. A slow cooker adds moisture which helps cut down on the need to add fats. This way of cooking also enhances the natural flavor of foods as it slowly cooks them.
Economically, it is good to find uses for foods in season. For years I snubbed some squashes and other foods. Now I realize how nutritious many of them are and how tasty when prepared properly. It has become a joke around our house to see what Mom has "dragged in to feed us."
I hope you join me in experimenting with new foods and combinations that work for your family and those in your care.

Find Out How To Make Eggs Over Easy The Right Way

One of the most common meals in the world is eggs over easy. A lot of people will typically take it as a meal at breakfast or may choose to eat it as lunch with other foods like bacon, bread or sausages. Anyone can use the following recipe to know how to make eggs over easy.
The simplest method, when preparing this dish, is to use a clean pan for frying and use some oil. A standard choice of oil would be canola oil, but many types of oil would suffice. With any oil of choice, very lightly cover the entire bottom of the pan. The egg should not be swimming in oil. The oil serves only as a means of eliminating the possibility of the egg sticking to the pan.
Take care to ensure that the fire is set to medium low otherwise the eggs are going to burn later in the cooking process. The next step is to simply crack an egg into a bowl while taking care to avoid breaking the yolk. Once this has been accomplished, simply put the eggs into the pan.
Take care when adding the eggs to the pan to make sure there will be room to flip the eggs over half-way through the cooking process. Too many eggs in the pan will result in the eggs sticking together after turning. Cooking the first side will take about two minutes.
After the two minutes period, the white of the eggs should have become more solidified as a result of the heat from the frying pan. How solid the whites of the eggs will be would depend on how high or low the heat at the bottom of the pan is. The eggs' whites will usually solidify much more quickly if the heat is high than if it is low.

Flipping the egg is going to be the real challenge in this entire effort given that this part of the process is when people are most likely to break the yolk. It is best to do this by getting a large-sized spatula and using this to flip the egg. This should be done carefully and slowly or else the yolk will no longer be full.
The final step in this process is to flip it over once more so that the opposite side can cook. The fire should be lowered at this stage because the second side is already partially cooked and could become burned otherwise. So, after having completed the final flip, it is possible to leave the egg for a bit and then turn the burner off entirely.

The mystery has now been taken out of this simple egg preparation technique. Approximately ten minutes of effort will produce any number of well-prepared eggs. Now that you know how to make eggs over easy, add some toast and a nice cup of juice to complete a quick breakfast or lunch.

How To: Make the Best Home Made Fettuccine for the Holidays

Having some good old pasta on the dinner table is one of the best things to have when the season's getting a little chilled and jolly. The holidays are the perfect time to let go of all your worries about dieting, and how your figure looks. After losing so much weight just for summer and beach trips, this is now the time when you can let go and feast for Christmas comes but only once a year.
You can of course order your own fettuccine online or through the phone, but there's still a little something about when you get to do it by yourself and present it to your family during Christmas Eve. Now you might be wondering how you can make this, well fret not, because here in this article you will indeed earn how to make your own famous Italian pasta.
First the Dough
Of course you can buy yourself some easily cooked pasta on your local grocery store, but if you intend to get to create everything from scratch, here is how you can create the pasta from scratch!
For the Pasta Dough you will need the following:
3 cups of all-purpose flour
1 Teaspoon of salt
3 eggs plus 2 yolks
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon of water
Cornmeal for dusting
To make the pasta dough, you start by combining the flour and salt, then shape it into a mound on your work surface. Then shape a well in its centre in which you will have to add the eggs, yolks and one tablespoon of olive oil. These can now be beaten lightly with a fork. While mixing with one hand, you can use another hand to keep the wall of the outer well stable.
You continue with this process until you are able to mix all the flour and form a ball. That's when you start to mould and fold the dough until it becomes elastic and smooth. This shouldn't take too long and will be achieved in only ten minutes.
Then with some left over olive oil, brush the surface with the remaining olive oil and wrap the dough in plastic wrap. After thirty minutes, divide the ball of dough in small sections. *Remember to always cover some of the parts of the dough that you are not going to use in the mean time so that these parts will not dry up.
To flatten the dough, form them into rectangles first. After which you run them through the pasta machine. You will usually need to run the dough two to three times in this machine until it's already 1/4 of an inch thick. If you do not have this machine you can use your own rolling-pin.
Now you cut long sheets into workable eighteen inch long pieces, which you can now run through the fettuccine cutting attachment. Once you've already made some strips for the fettuccine pasta, you will have to let the dough strips dry for a while before cooking them in boiling salted water for three minutes.
Alfredo Sauce
For the sauce you will have to need these:
1 Pint of heavy cream
1/2 Cup or one stick of unsalted butter
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Freshly cracked black pepper
Chopped flat-leaf parsley for garnish.
The first thing you can do is to heat the heavy cream on low-medium heat in a deep sauce pan. After which you add the butter and let it melt. While stirring you sprinkle in the cheese. You can use the black pepper to season the sauce.
Once you have finished cooking the pasta and the sauce, place them both on a sauté pan and gently toss the noodles to coast in the Alfredo sauce.
After placing this on a plate, top it off with some grated cheese and some parsley on the side.

Healthy Baked Chicken Recipe - Parmesan Herb Stuffed Chicken

Fresh herbs and parmesan cheese come together to make a delightful Parmesan and Herb Stuffed Chicken. This recipe tastes like something from a restaurant, but easy enough for any weekday night. Thanks to the fresh herbs and parmesan cheese, it has tons of flavor but it's light on calories and fat. In less than an hour, you can have a crave-worthy meal that will please the entire family.
My Parmesan Herb Stuffed Chicken recipe is baked, gluten-free and healthy but it is also drool-worthy. Even your most picky eater beg for this meal to become part of your weeknight rotation. It tastes fancy enough that you could also serve it for a dinner party, date night or any other special occasion. You could also make this dish ahead of time. You would just stuff the chicken breasts ahead of time and refrigerate the uncooked chicken until about an hour before serving. Let the stuffed chicken breasts come to room temperature before cooking.
One of my favorite kitchen tools is my rice cooker. It is programmable so I can schedule it to come up to 10 hours ahead of time so your food is cooked when you are ready. You can use a rice cooker to cook just about any grain. In this recipe, I could cook my quinoa in the rice cooker if needed.
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 40 mins
Total time: 55 mins
Serves: 6
Ingredients
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
3 tablespoons of minced fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon of minced fresh basil
1 tablespoon of minced fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon of minced fresh spicy oregano
1 tablespoon of minced fresh lemon thyme
1 large garlic clove, minced or pressed
½ cup of grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbs of grated Parmesan cheese
salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Start with lots of herbs, whatever ones that you like... I chose cilantro, basil, rosemary, spicy oregano and lemon thyme. These are the herbs that I have currently in my garden. Chop them finely and mix with parmesan cheese and fresh garlic.
Cut a pocket in each chicken breast, fill with herb parmesan mix and secure with tooth picks. Then spray a 3 quart baking dish with non-stick cooking spray or extra virgin olive oil. Next place stuffed chicken breasts in the baking dish and top with parmesan cheese. Then bake chicken for 35-40 minutes or until juices run clear.
I would suggest that you serve this dish with quinoa mixed with the same fresh herbs and a simple green salad. This would keep the dish gluten-free, full of protein and very healthy! You could also serve with brown rice or with gluten-free or whole wheat pastsa

Healthy Game Day Guacamole

We all want something salty and crunchy to indulge in when we're gathered around the TV cheering on our favorite sports team. It's OK to splurge on buffalo chicken dip and hot wings every once in a while, but if you make a habit out of doing it every weekend you could be sabotaging all the hard work you put in during the week. Curb that expanding waistline and keep it light this weekend by trying this omega-3 packed guacamole recipe.
You really don't need much to make a good guacamole. If you usually buy pre-made packaged guacamole from the grocery store, I promise the first time you try this you'll never buy it again. Fresh, wholesome ingredients are the key and it only takes about 10 minutes to throw together this one-step recipe.
Healthy Game Day Guacamole

• 2 avocados
• 1 small roma tomato, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon jalepeno
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 1 heaping teaspoon fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, diced
• 1/2 tablespoon red onion, diced
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• Pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1. Cut avocados in half. Remove flesh from skin, place in a medium bowl and discard the seeds. Smash with a fork or potato masher (I like to leave mine a little chunky). Add tomato, jalepeno and spices to bowl and stir. Done!
You can pair this dip with whole grain tortilla chips, whole grain pita chips, unsalted pretzels or carrot and celery sticks. When searching for tortilla chips, first look at the ingredient list. Are there words you can't pronounce or does it take you more than 10 seconds to read through the entire list? If so, you may want to pick a different chip. Don't be fooled by products that read "mult-grain" as this term does not necessarily mean whole grain.
Also keep in mind that you don't have to just use this guacamole as a dip. It also tastes great as a spread on toast for breakfast and as a topper for mexican-style soups, casseroles, salads, quesadillas and tacos.
Do you have any favorite game day healthy dips or snacks that everyone loves? Other healthy snacking options include black bean dips (avoid refried beans and tons of cheese or sour cream), and fresh fruit and vegetable plates.
Additional tip: when storing half-used avocados, do not discard the seed. Keeping the flesh with the seed will help to prevent browning.

Fried Breakfast Chops

I'm sorry to say that I had to give up eating pork. Why you may ask? Well, my body rejects it now. I have major issues after eating pork. Clearly it is due to the gastrointestinal problems I have, but that's another story. Let me plead my case, I do eat bacon from a restaurant, but not often. You're allowed to do that. Don't deprive yourself where you spend your hard-earned money.
As far as eating pork at home, it is very rare. I prefer turkey bacon, which to me, is just as good as regular bacon as long as it's crispy. I can't recall the last time I had a pork chop. I used to eat them fried in between two very soft slices of white bread slathered in miracle whip. Those were the days. If I ate a pork chop sandwich like that now, I would probably have to take a trip to the local ER to have an EKG done for possible heart attack symptoms.
I could bake them for a healthier alternative but I would rather cut pork altogether. I would like to share a way I used to cook them so you can enjoy some fried pork.
Ingredients
1 pack of breakfast chops (thin pork chops)
¼ - ½ cup grape seed oil
1 cup flour
1 tbsp paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
I like using breakfast chops since they are super thin cuts of pork. Wash the meat and season with paprika, salt and pepper. In a cast iron skillet, heat just enough grape seed oil to cover the entire bottom of skillet. You don't want to use a lot of oil nor have the chops covered in oil. I sometimes like to set the seasoned chops in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour but it's not necessary. Take the thin pork chops and dredge them in the flour. Make sure you season your flour generously with salt, pepper and paprika. Once the oil is hot, lay them flat in the hot oil and fry until golden brown. Flip them over and fry the other side until brown. Since these chops are thin, they will cook fast. Remove from oil and place on a paper towel lined plate. I usually eat these with fried eggs and buttermilk biscuits for breakfast; an egg pork chop biscuit. Of course, bread is always the best option; nothing like some fried pork on bread.