One of the most popular and delicious Chinese recipes is shrimp fried rice. In the past I have posted a couple fried rice recipes – egg fried rice and chicken fried rice. In these articles I have shared various tips on how to make delicious fried rice. In this article, I will share a few more. A key ingredient to fried rice is fish sauce or oyster sauce. These items can be easily found in the Asian section of your local grocery store or super Wal-Mart. The most important tips to making great fried rice are using left over rice that is at least one day old. Also, fried rice is something that you want to adjust the ingredients to your taste. I prefer a lot of garlic and soy sauce in mine. Instead of adding the egg to the pan with the rice, I usually cook and scramble it in a separate pan. With a little practice and these tips you will be making amazing fried rice in no time. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
½ lb small shrimp (cooked, peeled, deveined and tails removed)
4 cups cooked white rice (that is at least one day old)
1 cup frozen peas and carrots mix (thawed)
3 garlic cloves (minced)
1 small white onion (diced)
1 green onion (sliced)
1/8  cup soy sauce (or more to your taste)
1 tablespoon fish sauce (or oyster sauce)
2 eggs
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
Vegetable oil (for frying)
Sesame oil (for frying)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Add a little bit of vegetable oil to the pan. In a bowl beat 2 eggs. Pour eggs into the pan and scramble until cooked. Remove from pan and set aside.
Step 2: Add a little more vegetable oil to the wok. Stir fry white onions, green onions, garlic and peas and carrot mix until vegetables have reached the desired tenderness.  Add a little sesame oil to the wok and add the white rice. Stir fry rice for 2 minutes. Add fish sauce (or oyster sauce) and soy sauce while stir frying the rice.

Step 3: Add white pepper. Add eggs and shrimp mix well and stir fry until heated thoroughly.
(Makes 3 Servings)

Unfortunately, I have yet to post a lasagna recipe but I have something just as good- Lasagna roll ups. Lasagna roll ups are cooked lasagna noodles rolled up with a cheese mixture and baked in a sauce. If you are not a fan of cottage cheese it could be replaced with ricotta. This dish uses three different types of cheeses- cottage, parmesan and mozzarella. Don’t worry if you want meat in your meals, the sauce is a meat sauce. The meat sauce is very delicious and slightly spicy. It gets the heat from a little bit of cayenne pepper, you can adjust the amount of cayenne to your taste. This is a fantastic dish to bring to a party or even to have as a meal. Serve with garlic bread. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
Sauce-
¼ lb ground beef
2 tablespoons onion (chopped)
2 garlic cloves (minced)
1 (16 oz) can crushed tomatoes
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon dried oregano
1 dash cayenne pepper (or more to your taste)
Filling-
1 ¼ cups small curd cottage cheese
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
1 egg (lightly beaten)
1 tablespoon fresh parsley (minced)
¼ teaspoon onion powder
6 lasagna noodles (cooked)
½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: In a large skillet cook ground beef, onion and garlic until the beef is no longer pink. Drain any excess fat from the pan. Add tomatoes, oregano, salt and cayenne. Simmer for 10 minutes. Spread half of the meat sauce on the bottom of a greased 9” baking dish.
Step 2: In a bowl combine cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, egg, parsley and onion powder. Spread ¼ cup of the cheese mixture evenly over each lasagna noodle. Roll up and place seam side down in rows in the baking dish. Top with remaining sauce.

Step 3: Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes. About 5 minutes before the dish is finished cooking remove from the oven and top with shredded mozzarella cheese. Return to oven and cook until cheese has melted.
(Makes 2 servings)

If you enjoy citrus, you will enjoy this 7-Up Bundt cake. Lemon is without a doubt my favorite citrus flavor when it comes to desserts. This Bundt cake gets most of its flavor from a whopping 2 tablespoons of lemon extract and 7-Up.  If you don’t want to use 7-Up any carbonated lemon-lime beverage will work as well. I knew before I had even begun making it that I would love this cake, and I was right, it was delicious. The cake turned out to be extremely moist with excellent citrus flavor. You will definitely want to take small pieces because this cake is not a light dessert by any means. This cake also had a fantastic lemon glaze that goes over it. This does not take very long to make, you can have it in the oven within 10 minutes. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
¾ lb butter
3 cups white sugar
5 eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons lemon extract
¾ cup 7 Up (or any carbonated lemon-lime beverage)
Glaze-
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl cream butter and sugar for 20 minutes. Add eggs one at a time beating after each one. Add flour and lemon extract. Fold in 7 up. Pour into a greased 12-cup Bundt cake pan.

Step 2: Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Step 3: To make glaze- in a bowl mix powered sugar and lemon juice. When the cake has cooled drizzle the glaze over it.

Szechuan chicken is a spicy Chinese chicken dish. It consists of breaded chicken bits tossed in a spicy and flavorful sauce. The sauce uses ingredients such as oyster sauce and chicken broth to give it that amazing flavor. Most of the spice comes from dried chili peppers. I know authentically you would be using Szechuan peppercorns but these can be a little hard to find in some places. This dish reminds me a lot of Kung Pao Chicken. The original recipe called for a batter but I decided a light coating of cornstarch would be better as I prefer my chicken bits to be crispy. This dish is great served with rice and vegetables. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
2lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into strips)
½ cup corn starch
oil (for deep frying)
Sauce-
2 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
6 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
½ cup low sodium chicken broth
6 red dried chili peppers (or more depending on how spicy you want the sauce)
1 tablespoon sherry 
2 garlic cloves (minced)
¼ teaspoon fresh ginger (minced)
3 green onions (chopped)
¼ cup dry roasted peanuts
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons cold water

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: In a bowl or shaker bag toss chicken strips with cornstarch. Heat deep fryer to 375 degrees. Fry chicken strips in batches until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
Step 2: In a bowl combine soy sauce, oyster sauce and chicken broth. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok. Add garlic, ginger and dried chilis. Stir fry 30 seconds. Add soy sauce mixture and then add the sherry. Simmer for 2 minutes and then in a measuring cup combine 2 teaspoons cornstarch with 2 teaspoons of water and slowly pour into the sauce. Stir until the sauce has thickened.

Step 3: In a serving bowl (or in the wok) toss the chicken bits with the sauce. Garnish with green onions and peanuts.
(Makes 4 Servings)

Buffalo wings have quickly become one of the most popular foods in the United States. They are called Buffalo wings because they originated in Buffalo, New York. The wings are first coated with a flour mixture, deep fried and then tossed with a hot sauce. The heat comes from hot sauce and cayenne pepper. You can easily adjust the amount of heat by using mild, medium or hot sauce. If you want to save time you can buy precut wings from the store. These were so good and I found them to be restaurant quality. I think they must have got devoured in a matter of minutes. I would highly recommend these wings as an appetizer for a party or even as part of a meal. Serve with ranch or blue cheese dressing.  Enjoy.

Ingredients:
10 chicken wings (cut into sections)
oil (for frying)
¼ cup butter
¼ cup hot sauce
1 dash black pepper
1 dash garlic powder
½ cup flour
¼ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon salt

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: In a bowl mix together flour, paprika, cayenne pepper, and salt.
Step 2: Place chicken wings in a large bowl and toss with the flour mixture until evenly coated. Cover the dish and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Step 3: Heat deep fryer to 375 degrees. Fry chicken wings in batches for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

Step 4: While wings are frying- In a sauce pan combine hot sauce, butter, black pepper and garlic powder over medium heat. Stir until butter is melted and the sauce is well blended. Remove from heat.
Step 5: Place wings in a serving bowl, add the sauce and toss to coat evenly.
(Makes 4 servings)

Pot stickers are Chinese dumplings, also called ‘gyoza’ in Japan.  Pot stickers have become very popular in the United States. These dumplings are filled with a shrimp, pork and cabbage mixture and then steamed. I had wanted to make these for a long time but I had trouble finding the dumpling wrappers. This article also includes a recipe for the dipping sauce, although, in my opinion it is not required. The sauce is just a simple mixture of soy sauce, vinegar and ginger. I found the pot stickers to have amazing flavor even without the sauce. Crimping the pot stickers in the traditional way is probably the biggest challenge here. I will try and explain it the best way I can. I feel it is important to slightly freeze the pot stickers before cooking them. This will help the skins become tougher so they don’t fall apart when you are steaming them. Now you can make your own pot stickers at home! Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1 package dumping wrappers (also called gyoza or pot sticker wraps)
2 cups cabbage (finely chopped)
1 teaspoon salt
½ lb shrimp (peeled, deveined, cooked, and chopped)
1 lb ground pork (cooked)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine
1 tablespoon green onion (chopped)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons fresh ginger (minced)
2 garlic cloves (minced)
¼ cup oil
1 cup chicken stock
water (for sealing)
Dipping Sauce-
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon ginger (minced)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: In a bowl add shredded cabbage and sprinkle 1 teaspoon of salt over the cabbage. Let sit for 5 minutes and then squeeze the juice out of the cabbage. Squeeze out any liquid from the shrimp.
Step 2: In the same bowl combine cabbage, shrimp, pork, soy sauce, rice wine, green onions, sesame oil, ginger and garlic.
Step 3: One by one lay out a dumpling wrapper and add about 2 teaspoons of the cabbage mixture in the center. Lightly wet the other edges of the wrapper with your finger. Bring up both ends and pinch together the top in the middle. What we are doing here is sealing the upper half of the pot sticker.  Start at one side and pinch that end closed. In small sections fold the dumpling wrapper skin over on itself until it is fully sealed (or you can just fold it into a half circle).Place pot stickers on a cookie sheet and put in the freezer for 30 minutes to an hour.

Step 5: In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of oil. Add enough dumplings to fill the bottom of the pan and fry for 1 minute or until golden brown on the bottom. Pour ¼ cup of chicken stock into the pan, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 7 minutes or until the dumplings are translucent. Uncover and cook on higher heat for about 5 more minutes or until the bottoms are dark brown. Remove from the pan, put on a platter and keep warm. Repeat until all the dumplings are cooked.
Step 6: To make the dipping sauce- Mix all of the dipping sauce ingredients in a bowl and serve with the pot stickers.

You can find Calzones at a lot of your favorite pizza places and in grocery stores. Now you can make them yourself from home with this simple and easy recipe. If you are not familiar with calzones- calzones are Italian turnovers made with traditionally pizza ingredients. There are a lot of different fillings for calzones and like a pizza you can easily tweak this dish to your tastes. For this recipe you are making your own crust, but if you want to save some time you could get a box mix or a can of pizza crust dough from the grocery store. Serve with garlic bread or bread sticks. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
Dough-
1 package yeast
1 cup water (warm)
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 cups flour
Filling-
1 can sliced mushrooms (drained)
1 green pepper (diced)
2 slices of onion (diced)
1 jar pizza sauce
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
½ teaspoon garlic salt
1lb Italian sausage (cooked)
1 small package sliced pepperoni
½ cup mozzarella cheese
butter (melted, for brushing)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: To make the dough- dissolve yeast in 1 cup of warm water. In a large bowl mix sugar, oil, salt, and flour. Add water/yeast mixture and mix together until smooth. Knead well and cover and allow to sit for 30 minutes.
Step 2: While dough is resting. In a separate bowl mix mushrooms, green pepper, Italian sausage, onion, pizza sauce, Italian seasoning, oregano, basil, garlic salt, and pepperoni.
Step 3: Split the dough in half and roll out each half on a flour surface into a 10” circle. Place 1-2 cups of sauce in the center of each circle of dough. Top with mozzarella cheese.

Step 4: Fold over and crimp shut. Place calzones on a greased cookie sheet.
Step 5: Place into the oven and bake for 25 minutes at 375 degrees. After 15 minutes into the baking remove from the oven and brush lightly with melted butter. Return calzones to the oven and allow them to finish cooking.
(Makes 2 Calzones)

Its spring time again and you know what that means, grilling season is upon us. Over the next few months I will be posting a few burger recipes, starting with this recipe for southwest burgers. These were some of the best tasting burgers I have had in awhile. The many different components come together almost flawlessly for a near perfect burger. If you enjoy tacos, you will surely enjoy this burger. You can adjust the amount of heat by using mild, medium or hot salsa. I don’t like an extreme amount of heat so I went with the mild. The sauce, which is a combination or guacamole and sour cream, just really tops this burger off nicely flavor wise. This recipe calls for buffalo burger but if you can’t find it, ground beef will work as well. Like most burger recipes, this is great if you are looking to prepare a quick meal. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1lb buffalo burger (or ground beef)
2 teaspoons taco seasoning
1/3 cup salsa
¼ cup sour cream
¼ cup guacamole
3 slices jalapeno jack cheese
1 small can green chilies (diced)
lettuce (shredded)
1 tomato (sliced)
French fried onions
Hamburger buns

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: In a large bowl mix together burger, taco seasoning and salsa. Shape mixture into 3 patties. Grill burgers on medium heat on a grill for 6-8 minutes on each side.

Step 2: Meanwhile, in a small bowl mix sour cream and guacamole. Top burgers with cheese and grill until the cheese has melted.
Step 3: Remove burgers from the grill. To assemble – put the burger on a bun. Top with green chilies, tomato, French fried onions, and lettuce. Spread sour cream/guacamole mixture on the bottom of the top part of the bun.
(Makes 3 Burgers)

If you like Chocolate chip cookies, you will love chocolate chip muffins! I love to eat these in the morning for breakfast or for a late night snack. These delicious muffins are packed with chocolate chips and walnuts. If you do not want to use walnuts, pecans will work just a well. As you can see this recipe calls for an entire bag of chocolate chips, if you do not want that many you can cut down on the amount a little. These muffins are very easy to make, I think I had them in the oven within 5 minutes. If you are looking for a great tasting muffin recipe, give this a try! This recipe makes 12-18 muffins, depending on the size. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk
½ cup butter (melted and cooled)
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (11 ½ ounce) package milk chocolate chips (or less)
½ cup walnuts (chopped)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease 12 muffins cups (or muffin tins). In a large bowl mix together flour, white sugar, brown sugar, baking powder and salt.
Step 2: In another bowl stir together eggs, milk, butter and vanilla until well blended. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the milk mixture into the well and stir until well combined. Lightly stir in chocolate chips and chopped nuts.
Step 3: Spoon batter into muffins cups or tins. Place into the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes.