Cup Ramen Fried Rice

 Cup Ramen Fried Rice

and yet another goodie from the couple at Futuredish.com for my personal cooking library. Head over there for the short video. This is another quick meal.

1 K cup ramen

1/2 cup cooked rice

Small handful chopped green onion

1 egg

Open cup ramen. Shake out noodles into plastic baggie and crumple into small pieces. 

Place noodles back into cup. Add seasoning and dried veg. 

Pour some boiling water in the cup just barely enough to cover the noodles, set it aside to cook in cup.

Place cooking oil into frying pan, add onion and stir fry until sizzles. Crack in the egg and scramble. Add rice. 

Stir in ramen noodles from cup. Stir fry it all around until the rice is evenly mixed with noodle. 

Place everything back into cup. Tamp down lightly then flip it upside down onto a plate so you have FANCY tower of fried rice noodle. Enjoy

No Bake Chocolate Cookies

Yes, those. They look like pig droppings but they are not.

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter or shortening or a mix of both
1/4 cup powdered cocoa

Mix and bring to a boil in saucepan. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Add:
1 tsp vanilla

then stir in:
3 cups oatmeal

Stir well. Then quickly drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper. Let cool.

After you've scraped out the pan as much as you can, then let the pan soak with hot water for a bit. Rinse, soak with hot water again. Then it should be easy to clean.

Macaroni and CHEEEZZZEE

Macaroni and Cheese. It's not hard. It's super easy. Today I made it while on the phone with one hand. Give it a try, use some of your own ideas to make it what you want. You don't have to bake it but baking it does give it some crunch in the right places and makes it "set". You'll see. This makes enough for 4 people. Lately we have been cutting down on portions because I only know how to make a ton and we don't eat as much anymore. Plus our household is small.

Use cheese of your choice. Remember, each cheese has different properties, melting temperatures and tastes. Use what you like and experiment later after you get used to making this. You can also add tomatoes, ham, cooked bacon and other seasonings if you'd like.

Here's todays recipe.

3 TBS Butter
2 TBS flour
3/4 cup milk
3 cups shredded cheese (Mexican blend was today)
salt, pepper

1/2 package of macaroni (today was rotini)

Cook pasta until al dente. Drain.

Melt butter, add flour and whisk until smooth. Add milk and whisk until smooth again. Add cheese, salt, pepper. Whip well. While hot, add pasta, mix well.

For baking: bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes in greased casserole dish.

 Can add panko or breadcrumbs on top before baking. If doing so, spray with vegetable spray to toast them without burning.

Potatos Soups

As Toki would call it. Potato Soup. Easy, cheap and delicious.


Potato Soup

4 potatoes peeled, quartered
1 cup water
1 can chicken broth
italian seasoning, salt
pinch of Tony Cacheres cajun seasoning
2-3 TBS butter
1/2 diced onion
2 cloves chopped garlic

Saute onion and garlic in butter. Add potatoes, stir up for a minute in butter. Add water and chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Add seasonings. Bring to a simmer and cover for 20-30 minutes, stirring often.
Whip well so it breaks up to get creamy. Add 1 TBS flour to 1/2 cup of milk, whisk well and add slowly to soup. (if you have a hand blender, put it in there for 30 seconds) Cook another few minutes to thicken. Serve with bread.

You can also add a cup or two of chopped ham which is a great way to use up holiday leftovers.

Holy Gobshite We Have Company! recipes

This is the stuff for pupus when you have company and need to whip some stuff up as fast as you can so you have munchies to share. Standard fare at our house when we have company.

Peanut Butter Dip

Mix well with food processor, blender. Serve with sliced apples.

8 oz cream cheese softened
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup milk

5 cup Ambrosia Salad

1 cup each sour cream, mini marshmallows, coconut
1 can each drained mandarin oranges, pineapple chunks
1 large chopped apple

Mix well. Chill.

Bacon Pupus

Preheat oven 400. Line cookie sheet with foil. If not, you've ruined a good pan.

1 pkg bacon, sliced into thirds
1 pkg little smokies sausages
wrap bacon around sausage, secure with toothpick place on cookie sheet. Sprinkle with brown sugar.
at this point my friend Benjamin likes to sprinkle a little bit of fresh pepper on them. Your choice.

Bake for 20 minutes or until bacon is how you like it.

Artichoke Dip

1 can artichoke hearts (drained)
1 cup each mayonnaise, grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp granulated garlic (or 1 TBS garlic chopped)

Process in blender or food processor. Pour into oven proof bowl and bake @400 for 20 minutes. Serve with sliced baguettes, crackers, sourdough bread or INSIDE a hollowed out sourdough round loaf. Use bread chunks for dipping.

Asiago Dip

1 cup each mayonnaise, sour gream
1/2 cup asiago cheese, shredded
1/4 cup soaked julienned sun dried tomatos (drain after soaking)
1/4 cup sliced mushrooms, green onions

Mix all together, put into oven proof dish and bake @350 for 15-20 minutes. Serve with sliced baguettes, crackers or in a hollowed round loaf bread.

Bruschetta Pomodoro

2 cups minced roma tomatos
1 1/2 tsp capers
2 TBS chopped kalamata olives
1 TBS each: red onion, basil, olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
sprinkle of fresh pepper

Mix all together well. Let sit for 30 minutes, drain and serve over sliced toasted baguette slices. (Got this one from Karen A. The best bruschetta recipe)

Bruschetta easy

2 minced garlic cloves
1/4 c. olive oil
1 cup finely chopped roma tomatos
1/3 cup finely chopped basil
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
sprinkle of salt, pepper

Mix well.

Moms homemade dip

1 cup sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp dry onion
1 tsp italian herbs
sprinkle of salt, pepper

Mix well, season more to taste. Chill for an hour or two. Taste again. If flavors are too strong add little more sour cream and mayo by the spoonful. Serve with sliced celery, carrots.

Dill Dip

1 tub sour cream
2 cups mayonnaise
1 tsp each of garlic, garlic salt, dill
1/2 tsp each of oregano, basil
1 TBS dried onion

Mix well. Chill for 2-3 hours.

Cheeseburger Pie and Lentil Stew

Ahh cheeseburger pie. The food of Wednesday nights being in a rush out the door to Awana. This one and lentil stew! Here they are, oh the memories.

Cheeseburger Pie

1lb ground beef
chopped onion
1 cup shredded cheddar, jack, jalapeno cheddar jack or longhorn cheese
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup bisquik or jiffy mix (or homemade mix)

Cook beef with onion. Drain, salt a little. Add rest of ingredients, mix and dump into a pie plate. Bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees.

Lentil Stew

3 tbs olive oil
1 chopped onion
1 cup sliced celery
1/2 cup or so thin sliced and quartered carrots
6 cups water
1 can vegetable broth or beef broth
1 cup dry lentils
1 can tomato paste
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 TBS italian herbs (oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme)
Sprinkle of salt. pepper
(1 lb ground beef cooked-optional)
grated parmesan cheese
In large pot, saute onion, celery, carrots in hot oil for 5 minutes. Add rest of ingredients (not the cheese). Simmer 40-45 minutes until lentils are tender. Ladle into bowls, sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Serve with baguettes, french bread and butter.