Fried Rice

My favorite way to reinvent leftovers or get half-used vegetables out of the fridge is to make fried rice. It's a fast, easy dinner and it is always a crowd pleaser.

I apologize for how dark these photos are... Fried rice is always a last minute decision and the sun was already down when I started to make dinner.

You will need: any leftover meat or vegetables you have in your fridge (I had some prime rib, cauliflower, carrots, celery, and onion), 2 eggs, 4 cups of cooked rice, 2 garlic cloves, minced, 2 Tbsp butter, 1/2 cup reduced sodium soy sauce, 1 cup of frozen peas, green onions for garnish, and salt and pepper, to taste.

Start preparing rice according to package directions.

In the mean time, begin chopping your vegetables. Chop up some carrots...

Some celery...

Some onion...

And some prime rib.

Just so you know, normally I would not mix prime rib in with other ingredients but this poor thing had been reheated to medium-well and that is prime rib sin. So I had no choice but to put it out of its misery.

Add 2 Tbsp of butter to a LARGE skillet.

Add all of your chopped vegetables...

And some garlic. Stir it around and cook it for a few minutes.

Now add in the meat!

Any leftover meat you have works here.

Stir it around and let it heat through.

Once the rice has finished cooking, add it in the skillet and stir it around a bit.

Pour in the 1/2 cup of soy sauce and stir it around some more. You want to press the rice down into the pan and leave it for a few minutes so you get some crispy bits going. Those are my favorite part.

While the rice is crisping up, crack two eggs into a bowl...

And scramble them with a fork.

Pour 1 cup of frozen peas int the rice. Stir it around.

Now make a well in the center of the rice.

Pour the eggs into the well...

And scramble.

The rice will get a little mixed in with the eggs which is fine.

Especially since we're going to mix the eggs up with everything else now.

 

Fill a large bowl with some fried rice and top with green onions.

Enjoy! If you cook for a vegetable hater, this is a good way to trick them into eating some.

Fried Rice

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• Any leftover meat or vegetables you have in your fridge, chopped
• 2 eggs, scrambled together, but not cooked
• 4 cups of cooked rice
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1 cup of frozen peas
• Green onions, for garnish
• Salt and pepper, to taste.

Instructions:

1. Add the butter to a large skillet over medium heat. Toss in the leftover meat and veggies. Stir until cooked/heated through.
2. Add in the cooked rice and soy sauce. stir everything together then press the rice down into the bottom of the pan and leave it alone for a few minutes. Repeat the stir and press process until the rice has as many crispy areas as you would like.
3. Make a well in the center of your rice. Pour your eggs in the well and scramble until done. Mix into the rest of the rice along with the peas.
4. Garnish with green onions, if desired.

Kale and Chicken Sandwiches

 Sorry it has been so long since I posted a new recipe. I had this recipe all ready to go but then my internet freaked out and deleted it. In addition to this, school decided to get its final revenge before I graduate so I haven't had a chance to re-post this. Just pretend I posted this a few days after the kale post, ok?

I needed to come up with a portable meal to bring to Chunk at school. He had a very busy week and he isn't so great at remembering to sleep, let alone feed himself.

I think I'm half girlfriend, half nanny.

I had made kale for my post earlier this week, I had some new hot sauce I wanted to try, and I love bacon. Voila! This sandwich was born. And it was good.

You will need: 6 sub rolls, 2 cups of cooked kale, 3 Tbsp dijon mustard, 1 Tbsp hot sauce, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 2 cups shredded cheese, 6 thin chicken breasts (or 3 fat ones cut in half length-wise), 1 Tbsp butter, and 9 strips of bacon.

Start by frying up the 9 strips of bacon.

I recommend frying up extras if your bacon tends to disappear into your mouth like mine does.

Set cooked bacon on a paper towel lined plate and set aside. Pour off any excess bacon grease, leaving about 1-2 Tbsp in the pan.

Now fry up your chicken in the leftover bacon grease. I added some butter too but that's completely optional.

I always add some butter.

Don't forget to season the chicken with some salt and pepper.

While your chicken is cooking, slice some sub rolls in half length-wise.

Place them on a large baking sheet, cut side up, and throw them under the broiler to toast.

Keep an eye on these! They will burn really quickly if you aren't careful.

Once the chicken is nice and golden brown on one side, flip it over and cook the other side.

While the second side of the chicken is cooking and the buns are toasting, let's make some spicy mayonnaise! Throw 1/2 cup of mayo into a small bowl.

I doubled this part of the recipe because I wanted some left over for some other sandwiches later this week.

My parents picked up this hot sauce for me on a recent trip. It's really good and different from most hot sauces. It has habanero peppers, carrots, lime juice, and some other yummy stuff.

If you have a unique or favorite product to cook with, let me know! I'll try to make some recipes for it! Send me an e-mail at realgirlseatrealbutter@gmail.com.

This will definitely happen if you send the product to me... Just saying.

 

Anyways... Add 1 Tbsp of the hot sauce to the mayonnaise.

I added 2 because I can handle the heat! I'm awesome like that.

Not really... This hot sauce turned out to be pretty mild. I blame the carrots.

Mix it all together and set aside.

Remember those buns? Now is probably a good time to take them out of the oven. Set them aside and let them cool for a bit or else the mayo will soak into the bread. Grody. I left mine in a tad too long. No worries, I scraped off the almost black part and all was right again.

 

Once the chicken is all cooked, place it on a baking sheet. I used the same one I used for the buns because I never do more dished than I have to. Top each piece of chicken with about 1/3 cup of kale.

Now cut all of the pieces of bacon in half and place three halves on each piece of chicken to cover up all that healthy green stuff.

Don't worry if it doesn't look pretty because we are about to cover it in cheese!

Now put about 1/3 cup of cheese on each piece of chicken.

Also, I admit it, I put on more than 1/3 cup. I like cheese, okay?

Throw those suckers under the broiler and keep an eye on them!

While the cheese is melting, slather one side of each bun with dijon.

Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?

Then slather the other side with spicy mayo.

Once the cheese is good and melted, take the chicken out of the oven.

Put a piece of chicken on each bun bottom...

And top it off!

Look at all of these delicious sandwiches waiting to be wrapped in tin foil and a flannel shirt and taken to a hungry Chunk. (True story.)

Just look at those yummy layers... Enjoy this one guys!

Kale and Chicken Sandwiches

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

•  6 sub rolls, split open and toasted
• 2 cups of cooked kale
• 3 Tbsp dijon mustard
• 1 Tbsp hot sauce
• 1/2 cup mayonaise
• 2 cups shredded cheese
• 6 thin chicken breasts (or 3 fat ones cut in half length-wise)
• 9 strips of bacon, cut in half
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 Tbsp butter

Instructions:

1.  Cook the bacon in a large skillet. Set aside and drain all but 1 or 2 Tbsp of the grease from the pan.
2. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add 1 Tbsp of butter to the bacon pan and cook the chicken breasts in a single layer. You may need to cook them in batches. While the chicken is cooking, mix the mayonnaise and hot sauce in a small bowl. Set aside.
3. Turn the broiler on to 500.
4. Once the chicken is all cooked, place it in a single layer on a baking sheet. Top each chicken breast with 1/3 cup kale, 3 half strips of bacon, and 1/3 cup of cheese. Place under the broiler until the cheese melts.
5. While the cheese is melting, smear Dijon mustard on one half of the sub roll and spicy mayo on the other half.
6. Once the cheese is melted, top each roll bottom with a piece of chicken and top it off with the bun top!
7. Take a bite, chew, swallow, repeat.

Southern Style Greens

These are the kind of greens you would expect to get at a Meat and Three. They're extremely good for you (despite the bacon fat I add to them) and they're cheap!

I'm using kale in this recipe but any type of dark green works here too (collard, mustard, etc). I love kale. It makes me super happy.

You will need: 1 bunch of kale, 1 Tbsp bacon grease, 2 Tbsp + 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper.

BOOM. Easy.

Start by filling up your (very clean) sink with water. Or you can just fill up a REALLY big bowl.

 

Add 2 Tbsp of salt to the water. Don't feel you have to measure out the salt. We're only putting it in because it helps draw out any critters that may be inside the kale.

Now toss all your kale in the water...

Now shove it under the water and shake it around a bit.

Now let it sit in the water for about 10 minutes. Every once in a while, give it another shake around. This helps get the grit out of all the curls and then the grit will sink to the bottom away from your food!

Fill a large pot with about 1-2 inches of water. Turn on the heat and get it to boil.

Now fish a piece of kale out of the water. Pull it apart (like shown) and make sure there is no more grody-ness on the leaf.

Next find the spot where the stem becomes super leafy...

I'll give you hint: it's where my finger is pointing.

Snap that sucker off and discard. Rip the remaining leaf into pieces.

Do you like my new cutting board?!

Technically, it's not new. My dad made it in shop class in high school. However, it's new to me and I love it.

After you do this to each kale leaf, you'll have a giant pile of kale. After it's cooked, you'll have a tiny pile of kale.

 

This sink full of nasty is why you have to wash your greens! I don't know about you, but I don't want to eat that.

By now your water should be boiling so throw in the last tsp of salt...

And the Tbsp of bacon grease. You could also use salt pork here. If you don't know what salt pork is, I'm so sorry.

If you do know what salt pork is, I bet your green beans taste fantastic.

Toss all your kale in the water.

It should fill up the pot.

Now give it a little stir. Try to push all of the kale down into the water.

It will turn this pretty bright green color.

Now throw on the lid and let it simmer for about 30 minutes. To test if it's done, try a piece that has a fairly fat stem on it. The stem takes the longest time to become nice and tender. If the piece you try has a tender stem, your kale is done!

Remember all that kale we had before? It now all fits into a cereal bowl. Top it with a little pepper and you're good to go!

Fun fact: some people like to drink the water the kale cooked in. It's really good for you. I tried it, and it doesn't taste bad at all!

But the kale is where it's at. So tasty.

Southern Style Greens

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of kale, washed, trimmed, and ripped into pieces
• 1 Tbsp bacon grease
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/ tsp pepper

Instructions:

1. Fill a large pot with 1-2 inches of water. Bring to a boil.
2. Add bacon grease, salt, and kale to boiling water. Put lid on pot and cook kale for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Remove kale from pot with tongs. Top with pepper and serve!