Chicken Fried Rice

I have made this recipe a few times now. I originally got it from Joelen's Culinary Adventures. If you haven't checked out her blog yet, you should, she is quite the busy foodie. I never thought that I could make a decent fried rice until I followed her instructions. The other night we were stuck on what to prepare for dinner, and we realized we had leftover chicken, rice from the Pork Chops in Tomatoes we'd just made, and veggies in the freezer. So we made up a quick Chicken Fried Rice that hubby says is better than at the restaraunts. I skipped a few ingredients from the original (because of an upset stomach from too much movie popcorn and laziness), which is listed above, and have the recipe we used below. Even with the limited seasonings in my version it is an incredibly flavorful dish. You could easily make this with any variety of meats and veggies.

Chicken Fried Rice

• 1 cup cooked chicken, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 2 eggs
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup frozen mixed vegetables
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 cups day old rice

Heat oil in a wok or large fry pan. Stir fry chicken until crispy, push to side of pan. Crack the eggs into the pan and scramble until cooked through. Add rice to the pan, crumbling it up as you do so to seperate the grains. Add soy sauce. Add frozen vegetables and heat through.

Frito Soup

This is a quick and easy meal to prepare, and is one that we usually will make on our camping trips (we're RV campers). My husband got the recipe from one of his coworkers, and after a couple of slight modifications this is the way we prepare it. For me, it's essentially an excuse to dump all sorts of Fritos on top of my dinner, and don't let the photo fool you - I added more Fritos after I took the picture.

Frito Soup

• 1 pound ground beef, browned
• 1 can corn
• 1 can great northern beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 jar salsa
• 1 package taco seasoning
• 1 bag Fritos

Combine all ingredients except Fritos in a saucepan and heat through. Depending on the consistency of the salsa you use and desired thickness, you may want to drain the corn or add water to the soup. Serve topped with Fritos.

Could've had a V8

This is another recipe I found online years ago and have no idea where it came from. So again, if it's familiar, let me know so I can credit the source.

This is one of those recipes that's great because we generally have all the ingredients on hand to make a last minute supper. It's quick, easy, tasty, and full of your daily vegetable servings. It can be thrown in the crock pot in the morning or made quickly on the stove after work.

V8 Soup

• 1 46 ounce bottle Spicy Hot V8
• 1/2 to 1 pound ground beef, lightly cooked and drained
• 3 to 4 cups vegetables (can be fresh, frozen or canned)
• 2 potatoes, peeled and cubed

Combine all ingredients in a crock pot and cook on high for one hour. Reduce heat to low and simmer 6 to 8 hours. -OR- Combine all ingredients in soup pot and simmer on stove top for 30 minutes.

Hamburger Potato Casserole

Many of you know this dish as Shepherd's Pie. When I was growing up, we always called it Hamburger Potato Casserole. For me, this is a go-to winter warming dish, and I always look forward to it as the weather turns cool. The version I grew up eating is a bit different than most, as it doesn't have a tomato based sauce or gravy in it like most recipes I've seen. I've tweaked it a little bit since I've started cooking it myself, adding in some extra seasonings. This is another recipe that can be adjusted to your personal tastes, making it with less meat and more veggies if desired.

Hamburger Potato Casserole

• 1 pound hamburger
• 10 medium potatoes, mashed
• 3 to 3 1/2 cups vegetables (fresh, canned or frozen)
• Seasonings to taste (I used salt, pepper, chili powder, garlic)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown hamburger in a pan, drain if needed. Mix in your desired seasonings at this time. Place the hamburger in a casserole dish, add in vegetables and stir. Top with the prepared mashed potatoes. Bake for approximately 30 minutes at 350 degrees (I like just a little bit of crispness on the top of my potatoes).

Stuffed Pepper Casserole

Stuffed peppers were always a big hit in our house, but the leftovers were a lot of work since whole peppers take forever to reheat in the microwave. After chopping up my pepper to reheat one day I got to thinking that I could just make it that way to start with. And Stuffed Pepper Casserole was born. This is a very simple and very forgiving recipe. This time around we went heavy on the veggies and light on the meat. You can just as easily double the meat for a heartier meal. You'll notice that there are no seasonings in this dish. That's because we use home-canned tomatoes, which are so delicious they're all the flavor you need. If you use commercially canned tomatoes you may want to play around with some herbs and spices.

Stuffed Pepper Casserole

• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 1 quart stewed tomatoes, divided
• 3-4 medium green peppers, chopped into large bite-size pieces
• 1 1/2 cups instant white rice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix beef, half of the tomatoes, green peppers and rice in a large bowl with hands. Put into a casserole dish. Dump the remaining tomatoes on top. Bake for approximately 1 hour, or until you get a thermometer reading of 160 degrees.