Arroz Chaufa (Peruvian Fried Rice)

 I prepared an Asian chicken recipe last night and cooked extra chicken to make dinner tonight. I've created a week's menu and I'm determined to stick to it. I'm trying to cut down on grocery costs and I'm also trying to make less work for myself. I'm getting older. I'm getting lazier. I am not even ashamed to admit it.
Anyhow, I read several recipes for a Peruvian version of fried rice. This is right up my alley. I can make a pretty mean fried rice, if I do say so myself.

This is what I came up with and it also uses up some of the random things rattling around in the produce crisper drawer.

As usual, with any recipe that has an Asian inspiration, make sure to prep all of the ingredients and have them ready to go. I cooked the rice this morning and chilled it down in the fridge. Rice cookers, I now feel, are a necessity. The funny thing is that I refused to use one until we bought this fifth wheel. Now, I can't imagine not having one. I just add everything in, set a timer and forget about it.

When I chopped the green onions, I separated the white parts from the green parts. This recipe starts out frying a bit of bell pepper (color doesn't matter, just use what you have) and onion. 

As long as carrots are not boiled into a mush, I don't mind them. I added in a small grated one so that I could get more veggies into Bob.He did get his new dentures, but, after going through those radiation treatments, he's left with an overactive gag reflex. So, they are making him gag. He's going to make an appointment and go in and have them fixed. 

After everything (yes, this fried rice has hot dogs in it) gets added in, hit it with a tablespoon or two of soy sauce. Don't judge for the hot dogs. Once in a while, I just crave one.

Top with a sunny-side up egg. Make sure it is crispy on the bottom. 

See? Perfectly crispy. Perfectly cooked. Perfectly delicious. The perfect thing after getting stung by a yellow jacket today...hence, the hot dogs comfort food addition. It's fried rice. It is a dish that you can put anything in and it will taste delicious.

Arroz Chaufa

2 tablespoons avocado oil
4 green onions, sliced, separate the white parts from the green tops
1/2 bell pepper, diced (use whatever color you like, it doesn't matter)
2 hot dogs, sliced
1 cup cooked chicken, cubed or shredded (whatever you like to do)
2 beaten eggs
3 cloves garlic, minced
1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 small carrot, peeled and grated
3 cups cold cooked rice
2-3 tablespoons soy sauce (or to taste)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 sunny-side up fried eggs with crispy edges

Prep all the ingredients and have them ready to go.
In a large wok, or skillet, over high heat, stir fry the white part of the onions with the bell pepper for 2 minutes. Add the carrot. Continue to stir fry for another 1 minute. Add the garlic and ginger. Stir fry for 30 seconds. Add the chicken and hot dogs. Cook for another minute or so. Add the rice. cook until everything has a slight coating of oil and is hot completely through. Add soy sauce. Toss to coat. Drizzle with sesame oil and garnish with the green part of the green onions. Set aside until you've cooked the sunny-side up eggs. Place a sunny-side up egg on top of each serving. There will be leftovers if you're making this for 2 people. Just reheat the leftovers in the microwave and top with a freshly cooked egg.

Enjoy!

Pork Brauhaus Goulash

For dinner, last night, we needed some good ol' fashioned comfort food. I'm not really into the stuff that quite a few Americans think of as being comfort food. To me, comfort embodies European peasant food. It's filling. It's hearty. It utilizes few ingredients while maximizing on flavor. This goulash recipe checks off all of the boxes.

I used a pork tenderloin to make this dish. It was tender. It was succulent. Bob was, easily, able to eat it.

I cut the pork tenderloin into bite sized pieces. It gets browned in a few tablespoons of butter. While that is going on, you'll want to...

grate up a large carrot (or 2 small ones), dice up an onion and mince a clove or two of garlic. Just put it onto a plate and set it aside for a few minutes until you need it. 

Do you see that liquid in the bottom of the pan? You want to cook the pork until that all disappears. 

It will look like this once that happens. This is when you add the vegetables and garlic, mustard, tomato paste,  along with the salt, pepper and smoked paprika. 

Cook that all for around 3-4 minutes. Then add...

a cup of German beer. I used a nice German stout. If you don't have a German beer available to you, try a Black Butte Porter or a Guinness would work really well, too.  Don't use a domestic American beer. That would not taste good at all. It actually wouldn't taste.
Cook until the beer evaporates.

It will go from this to...

this. What you are doing is concentrating the beer flavor. That's why I do not recommend using an domestic American beer. They do not taste good and they wouldn't have enough flavor to hold up to this recipe. You really need to use a stout.

After the beer cooks down, you add in vegetable broth and bring it all to a boil. Cover, put on low heat and simmer for an hour.
Five minutes before it's done, add...

the sour cream. Combine thoroughly. If you need to thicken it up, use a cornstarch slurry. That's simple to make. Mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with a few tablespoons of cold water. Pour it in, stir until it's as thick as you'd like it to be. 

Serve over mashed potatoes and enjoy!

Pork Brauhaus Goulash

1 pork tenderloin, between 1.25-1.5 pounds, cut into bite sized cubes
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large carrot, grated
1 cup stout beer
3 cups vegetable broth
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
Salt & pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon sour cream

Brown pork in butter, in large skillet, over medium heat. Cook until all the liquid that is released from the pork has evaporated. Add onion, garlic, carrots, mustard, tomato paste, salt, pepper and paprika. Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add beer. Cook until beer has evaporated from pan. Add broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 1 hour. At the 55 minute mark, stir in the sour cream until combined. At that time, if you feel it's necessary, thicken with a cornstarch slurry (1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water). Serve over mashed potatoes.

Carrot Pie

 This afternoon, I thought it would be a great day to try to turn these carrots into a pie. I hoped it would resemble a pumpkin pie.

These carrots were pretty big. I decided to use the same amount of pureed carrots as I would with pumpkin. I peeled them and boiled them until they were soft.

I decided to break out my homemade vanilla and I also opted to open up the Tung Hing cinnamon that I bought from Penzey's Spices. 

All this deliciousness gets whipped up and mixed with pureed carrots. 

I can't tell the difference by simply looking at it.

I can't tell the difference after it's baked, either. It cracked when it cooled off. 

The consensus is that the texture is just a little bit different. That's all. Other than that one minute detail, I could not tell the difference between carrot or pumpkin in this pie. I'll make more carrot pies in the future, for sure.


Carrot Pie

1 9-inch pie shell
2 cups pureed carrots (about 3 large, peeled and boiled until soft and pureed in a food processor)
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
3/4 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl until well combined. Pour into prepared pie shell.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, lower heat to 350 degrees and bake an additional 50 minutes.
Pie is done when you can put the point of a knife into the middle and it comes out clean.
Cool completely before cutting. Refrigerate leftovers.

I do not receive compensation from Penzey's spices. This is not a sponsored post.  I just really like their products.

Chicken & Dumplings

 I had Bob buy that rotisserie chicken yesterday. I made enchiladas with half of the meat. To view that  recipe, click here. Tonight's Chicken & Dumplings utilizes the other half of the meat and the carcass. This recipe took me all afternoon to complete and was worth every minute.

I boiled the carcass with all the vegetables that I had that were starting to dry out or look tired. I love that this is a great way to clear out the crisper drawers of stuff that I had just hanging around. I didn't bother to peel anything. I threw in bendy carrots, celery (that was way past its prime), half of a sweet potato. I let it cook down for about 3 hours. 

I strained it out and I was left with some fantastic looking broth. 

This is only the first part of this recipe. Congrats, you're advancing to level 2.

I wanted to do these two recipes to show how economical it can be to buy a rotisserie chicken, especially if you are feeding just 2 people. My sister always jokes with me because I'm not usually one who takes all this time to do things. I usually have several things going on at once. Anyhow, I was watching a YouTube video last night on how to make your food budget stretch and I got to thinking about just how much food is simply thrown away. It's appalling, if you think about it. So, I was determined to get every cent's worth from that rotisserie chicken. 

We just so happened to get our first storm of the year today. I don't think I'd really call it much of a storm, though. There was a bit of thunder and lightening and it did pour down rain a few times. I have to admire the grit of these two fishermen. They were dedicated there on the opposite bank of the river.

I salute them!

The next half of this recipe starts out by boiling the reserved chicken meat and whatever veg you like in the chicken stock that you just made.
There's no right or wrong way to do this because taste is subjective.
I used onion, garlic, celery, carrots and a parsnip. I thought I had another sweet potato, but it was purple and I didn't think that would look so nice. I wouldn't care but I knew I was going to take photos of this for this blog post and purple...not so much.

I let this come up to a boil with everything in it and cook until everything was soft enough to mush against the roof of your mouth with your tongue. 

This is sure comforting on a rainy day, I do have to say!

Chicken & Dumplings


1/2 of the meat from a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket
The carcass of the chicken
Any vegetables that you want to sacrifice to the stock pot
Enough water to cover
Salt and pepper, to taste

Boil all this together in a large pot and strain the solids out and throw those away. Put the rest back into a pot. Add the chopped meat, chopped vegetables, like celery, carrot, onion, garlic and parsnips. Add as many or as little vegetables as you like.
To that, add salt and pepper, to taste, 1-1/2 teaspoons Penzey's Bouquet Garni spice blend, 1 teaspoon dried parsley and some chopped fresh rosemary, optional. I grow it, so I always have it on hand.  Bring all to a rolling boil, lower heat to low and simmer until the vegetables are very soft. Add 3/4 cup of heavy cream to the soup.
Make dumpling dough.

Dumpling dough:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon dried parsley

Mix all ingredients together until a dough forms. Drop by spoonfuls into liquid. Cover, cook about 20 minutes or until dough is cooked through.

*Please not that I am not compensated by Penzey's Spices. I just really like their products and use a ton of them.