Saturday, March 31, 2012

Taste of Food: Chicken & Shrimp Fried Rice

Asian food is one of my favorite cuisines. Growing up, my mom would create stir fry dinners and add some of my dad's smoked meat to it. Delish. But, I also grew to love the quick Asian buffet dinners that you could purchase from the mall food court. Out of the options, fried rice was certainly a favorite.

I had never thought about making fried rice until hubby mentioned it one day. As a bachelor, he used to make this dish, or he would  run by Panda Express and get a "healthy" meal. Not really sure how healthy it was, but at least it was a change from his dependable Wendy's #7 combo.

I did an overview of our frig to see what we had in stock to make fried rice.  Here is what I came up with:

Chicken & Shrimp Fried Rice

Serving Size: 4

1 chicken breast (or 2- depends on how much you desire)
1 cup of cooked medium shrimp
1 cup of brown rice
2 celery stalks (chopped)
2 carrots (peeled and chopped)
1/2 onion (chopped)
1 Tbsp minced garlic (I buy the minced garlic in the jars. Sooo hard for me to peel and chop garlic!)
4 eggs
Soy Sauce
Sweet Chili Sauce
Olive oil for sauteeing meat and scrambling eggs

Instructions

1. In a medium size boiler, begin cooking brown rice according to package instructions. When rice is done, transfer to a glass bowl and refrigerate if time permits. (Refrigerating the rice helps to prevent it from being too sticky.)

2. In a separate boiler, boil chopped carrots and celery until tender.

3. Cut up chicken breast into bite size pieces. Season with seasoning salt and spices.

4. Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in a large skillet. Saute chicken pieces. Add shrimp to skillet with sauted chicken.



5. In a skillet, saute onion and garlic, and then, scramble eggs with onion/garlic.

6. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in wok. Add brown rice, carrots and celery, chicken and shrimp, and egg/onion/garlic mixture. Combine and fry. Finally, add soy sauce and sweet chili sauce. (I add just enough of both to coat the mixture.)

Enjoy this entree with green beans, broccoli, or a salad.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Southern Belle Taste from Bama

Born and raised in the Black Belt of Sweet Alabama, I would like to consider myself a true Southern Belle.  You know, one that knows about sundresses and sweet tea, cows and homemade buttermilk, shelling peas and shucking corn, and suntans with no beach in sight. While my hometown was a tiny place to grow up, nothing can replace the experience I had and the appreciation I have grown to cherish being taught and learning true Southern hospitality.  Now, as an adult and a married lady, I still reside in the South, just a couple of states over in the great state of Texas.

Since being married, I have grown to love the quest to lead a healthy lifestyle. While we would love to have our own gardens, we just don't right now.  So, we make our shopping adventures interesting. Now, everything I cook is definitely not labeled healthy, and I'm positive that I am not your "I only eat healthy foods and no sweets" belle. Life is about enjoying it, not deprivation, and for me enjoying life includes enjoying the taste of food. I've learned that the key aspect of leading a healthy lifestyle is moderation and exercise.  So here at Southern Belle Taste, you will get a taste of a variety of dishes that I will attempt to make whether it may be southern, Mexican, asian, healthy, or my favorite sweets. Also, you will learn some tricks I've discovered to keep me feeling healthy. My taste is to enjoy food and aim to be healthy all in-one. So, here's to cooking, eating, and burning calories so I can repeat this cycle. Find your taste today!