Fried Rice

When was the last time you were offered fried rice and said "no"? That's right...fried rice is always a yes. Especially when you can make it at home and not go to a nasty Chinese place for it :)

This recipe is kind of one of those ones where amounts of ingredients are not very important, as you'll see below. Just go with it. Short one ingredient? As long as it is not rice, you'll probably be alright. Serve as a side dish or as a main dish with a protein meat!

For this recipe, you will either need a wok or a sauce pan with high edges.

Ingredients

• 4 servings of rice, cooked and cooled - the cooling is helpful when mixing the rice with other things later but not imperative.
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2-3 carrots (or 2 handfuls of baby carrots), finely chopped
• 2 eggs, scrambled
• 1 can peas
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 cup cooked meat, if desired (chicken, pork, shrimp, etc.)
• Olive oil

Directions

• If possible, prepare rice ahead of time and put in refrigerator to cool
• Place a small amount of oil in a saucepan over medium heat and saute carrots for 3 minutes

• While carrots are cooking, scramble eggs in another pan
• To saucepan, add the minced garlic and sliced onions. Add more oil if needed. Cook 4-5 more minutes until soft

• To the veggies, add all remaining ingredients and mix well.

We used smoked pork

• Heat through and serve!

Sugar Free Fresh Strawberry Pie

You will need:

• 1 package of sugar free cook and serve vanilla pudding
• 1 package of sugar free strawberry jello
• Strawberries - about 3 cups cut up in bite sizes chunks ...
• 2 cups water
• Pie Crust
• Cool Whip

Mix together sugar free cook and serve vanilla pudding with two cups of water (do not follow directions on the box). After it becomes thick stir in the cook and serve sugar free strawberry jello.

Let cool but not still it is so cool that it is forms up.

Mix in strawberries. Put in fridge till it forms up and put cool whip on the top!

Enjoy this great summer "healthy" desert!

Spicy Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork

I happened upon this recipe about a week ago and had been looking for an excuse to try it.  It makes a lot of food so I didn't want to do it with just me and my husband.  So I invited some friends over and gave it a shot.

O.M.G.  So delicious.  If only I could convey the fantastic smell of this dish to you through this blog.  Darn blogspot.  They need to do some upgrading...

So here's how you do it....

Ingredients

• 1 pork shoulder.  They generally come in the 5-7 lb range.  The packaging may read "pork shoulder butt".  Do not be afraid.

hehe...butt

• 1 (7 oz) can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce - I'd never purchased this before but found it in the grocery store aisle that had other types of "ethnic foods"

• 1 white onion, roughly chopped
• 2 cans Dr. Pepper
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

• Place the chopped onions in the bottom of a crock pot

• Season the pork shoulder with salt and pepper
• Place pork shoulder in crock pot, fatty side up
• Pour peppers and sauce on top of pork shoulder

• Sprinkle brown sugar on top
• Pour Dr. Pepper on top as well.

• Cook in crock pot on low for 8-10 hours - I did not have quite enough time for this so I did it on high for about 3 hours and low for another 3.  Turned out just fine!
• If possible, flip the pork shoulder over a couple times while cooking.  If you aren't around and can't, no biggie.
• When cooked, shred with two forks.

After the meat is cooked and shredded, you can do tons with it.  Serve it on burger buns as a sandwich, in warmed tortillas as tacos, or even on pizza.

For a little added flavor, we strained out the cooked peppers and onions and diced them up to be served on the side for those who wanted a little more of a spicy kick.  It was great!

Enjoy...we sure did!