Sausage Fried Rice Recipe

Numerous people have asked me for this recipe, so I figured I should type it up for anyone who loves fried rice.  The best part is this recipe is easy, quick and cost effective to make.

(Recipe Credit: One of my long time friends taught me this recipe when we were teenagers.  I think I remember her saying it was her Grandmother's recipe, but she tweaked it a bit.)

Here's what you'll need:

• 1 package of sausage links (I use Farmer John's brand)
• 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 2 broccoli crowns, separated into bite sized pieces (pulling the broccoli apart works better than cutting the pieces)
• 1 bushel of green onions, diced up
• Soy sauce to taste (I use Kikkoman's reduced sodium)
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 egg (optional)
• 2-3 cups of long grain white rice (I usually use my rice cooker to cook the rice, but have used the frozen steam bags in a pinch)

Directions:

• Start cooking your rice per the instructions for your specific rice cooker or steam bags

• Using medium to high heat - Cook the sausage links in a wok or large pan.  Brown and crumble.  The smaller the pieces, the better.  Depending on how spicy you want your fried rice, you can add some fresh black pepper while the sausage is cooking.

• Once the sausage is browned, use a spatula to push the sausage to the outer area of the pan, creating a ring, leaving the middle of your pan for the veggies.
• Add the carrots and broccoli first.  I usually let them fry/steam with a lid on for about 8-9 minutes.  The oil from the sausage helps fry them and the moisture from the veggies creates steam.

• Once your carrots are soft enough to easily cut through, add the green onions.
• Mix all of the veggies and the sausage together.  I leave my glass lid on and cook for about another 5-6 minutes.  Add more freshly ground black pepper if you'd like.

• Once your veggies are nice and steamed (not limp), add your rice.  Mix thoroughly.
• Add soy sauce.  A few tablespoons to start, and more as needed.  You want to keep mixing it all in really well and the soy sauce should just barely coat the rice.  If you see rice that is still all white, mix better or add a little more soy sauce.  Add more black pepper if needed.

• Optional - if you want to add an egg (I've even used 1/4 cup of egg beaters before), move the rice mixture to the edges of the pan, again, creating a ring and leaving the middle of the pan open.  Add your egg.  Your pan will be really hot, so it only takes a few seconds to scramble the egg.  Once the egg is cooked, mix it into the rice mixture.

Voilà.  You just made the best fried rice ever!

PS this dish works great hot or even once it cools (like for a pot luck or BBQ).  You can also use different veggies.  For example, tonight I was running low on carrots, so I added in some diced sweet orange, yellow and red peppers.

I used My Fitness Pal to figure out the following basic nutritional information for this recipe (please note, this is not going to be 100% accurate, just a base based on the ingredients used and approximately 5 servings per pan):

If you try this recipe, please post your pictures in the comments section.

Garden Fresh Zucchini Pasta with Garlic, Spinach and Basil

It is still hard for me to believe I have my own garden and have been able to grow fresh herbs, veggies and fruit successfully!  Who knew it could be this easy?   I was inspired to create this dish using things found in my own front yard.  Yep.  All from my garden I started a few months back.  (You can read all about that journey here).

I belong to many Facebook groups and earlier this morning someone posted a Zucchini Linguine recipe in one of them.  It looked so awesome and sounded so easy to make, I thought, "Shoot, I have most of these ingredients right outside in my garden!"

This was the recipe that inspired mine.  Granted, I made a few substitutions along the way and my pictures in no way look as good as this:

via Feasting at Home

My version still turned out super yummy.  Here is how I made it...

Garden Fresh

Store Bought Parmesan Cheese

 Ingredients:

• 1 Large Zucchini
• 3 Cloves of Garlic
• 4 Tablespoons of Light Olive Oil
• 5-6 Fresh Basil Leaves
• 8 Fresh Spinach Leaves
• 3/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese
• 8 Turns of Fresh Ground Black Pepper
• 1/4 Teaspoon of Sea Salt

I started by peeling my zucchini and cutting the smaller end off.  I wanted my "noodles" to be similar in size and shape in order to cook evenly.  (Next time I will leave the peeling on - I think it would make for a firmer "pasta").

Zucchini

I used the shorter piece I had cut off to "practice" my technique.  I think my mini noodles turned out pretty well.

Small Zucchini Noodles

Then, I sliced the larger piece into what resembled the approximate size of fettuccine noodles.  At this point, I realized I needed a way bigger knife, but it worked out in the end.

Larger Fettuccine-Like Noodles

Next, I diced 3 cloves of garlic.  My basil wasn't looking that great (blame it on the hot California weather), so I decided I would add some spinach.  I wasn't sure if the two pair well together, so I Googled and voila! there were plenty of recipes out there using both spinach and basil in the same recipe.

Zucchini, Garlic, Basil and Spinach

I copied the "ribbon" technique from the original recipe to cut both the basil and spinach leaves.  It was really easy.  Stack your leaves, roll them and then slice.  Do not slice lengthwise, start at the smaller end and keep slicing until it is all cut up.

Rolled Spinach Leaves

Basil & Spinach Ribbons

Next, I warmed about 4 tablespoons of olive oil and sauteed the diced garlic in the oil over medium heat for about 2 minutes.  Then I added the zucchini, salt and pepper.  I put the lid on and continued to cook the zucchini for about 9 minutes, stirring often.

Cooking Zucchini Pasta

There really is a ton of moisture when cooking zucchini this way and it steams up quite nicely.  Once the zucchini actually started to resemble cooked pasta, I added the basil and spinach and continued to cook for about a minute.  My kitchen smelled heavenly.

Basil & Spinach

Finally, I added the Parmesan cheese.  I used DiGiorno.  It saved me the step of grating my own.  I continued cooking over medium heat for about a minute or so - just until the cheese started to melt.

Parmesan Cheese

Since there was still quite a bit of moisture, I used a slotted spoon to plate the pasta.  I then added some additional Parmesan cheese and fresh ground black pepper.  This is the end result.

I know it does not look super pretty, but I promise it was so flavorful, even my mom, who really doesn't eat this type of stuff, liked it.

Next time I make this I will leave the peeling on the zucchini, cook in a nonstick pan and use half the amount of olive oil.  My thinking is doing all of these things will help eliminate some of the excess moisture.  I could be wrong.  Either way, this was simple and tasted great.  All in all, it took me about 30 minutes to make.  That includes picking the zucchini and herbs from the garden, all of the prep, cooking and taking pictures.  It made three servings the size you see in the picture above.  I could easily grill some chicken at the same time and really have a great meal even the hubs would love.  Please post a comment if you try this and let me know how yours turns out.  Until next time...

Easy Peasy Health(ier) Nachos

What makes this recipe so great?

First, It is easy.

Second, it is lower in fat than traditional nachos.

Third, you can make it at home.

Fourth, it is super quick.

Fifth, your options are limitless.

Please note, I have listed the brands I prefer to use, but you can use any brand you prefer.  Ready?  Here is what you will need...

Ingredients:

1 Bag of Padrinos Reduced Fat Tortilla Chips

(2) 16 ounce cans of Rosarita Fat Free Refried beans, heated

(1) pound of Laura's Lean Ground Beef, seasoned, browned and crumbled

1 pkg of Kraft Reduced Fat Shredded Cheese

1 Bunch of Chives (aka Green Onion) finely diced

Prefer a different meat?  You could easily use shredded chicken, beef, etc.

Want to make it Vegetarian?  Forget the meat and add some additional veggies (ideas: olives, tomatoes, additional types of beans, etc.)

This recipe is all about layers....

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

To make clean up as easy as possible, I line my casserole dish with foil before adding any ingredients. This recipe makes approximately 10 servings.

Layer the ingredients in this order:

Chips, Beans, Meat, Cheese, Chives.

You will have something that resembles this:

Bake in the oven for approximately 20-25 minutes (the cheese will be completely melted) and Voila!

You have a healthier version of nachos that even the kids can throw together.

If you must know the calorie content for this recipe, head over to My Fitness Pal and figure it out.  I kid, I kid.  I already did it for you!

Thanks for reading and please leave a comment.  I really do read them all.  :)

Pumpkin Muffins

Fall is here!  (Well, kind of - it is still in the 100's in my neck of the woods).

How do I know Fall is here?  Because Starbucks has their Pumpkin Bread again.

Which is a couple of dollars per slice.

The mix I use for my knock-off version is around $3.00 per box and makes approximately 12 servings.

My son LOVES the Starbucks Pumpkin Bread.  I don't love the price.  Or the fat.  A few years back, I had to cut fat from my diet (Settle down.  I am talking about saturated fat; not the "good" types of fat).  Around that time, I came up with a ton of alternatives for myself by searching the web and playing with recipes.  This is one of them.

It is super simple.

The best part is it only requires 4 ingredients.

1. (1) Package of Trader Joe's Pumpkin Bread & Muffin Mix
2. 1/2 cup of Egg Beaters
3. 1/2 cup of Apple Sauce (I used unsweetened, but I bet Apple Cinnamon flavor would be great)
4. (1) cup of Water

Seriously.  This is all you will need to make a knock-off, lower-fat version of Starbucks Pumpkin Bread.

 

 Let's get started:

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.

Prep your pan.

I purchased this pan a few years ago from Williams-Sonoma.

I went to find the pan I have on their website and they now have a loaf pan I really want to get, too.

By the way, when I first started making this Pumpkin Bread/Muffin recipe, I originally used the Williams-Sonoma Spiced Pecan Pumpkin Quick Bread Mix (shown above), but at around $12.00 per bag of mix, there is no way I could justify making it that often.  Also, the Trader Joe's version tastes almost as good.

 Now for the fun stuff....

Add 1/2 cup of Egg Beaters to your mixing Bowl.

Next, add 1/2 cup of Apple Sauce.

 Then, add (1) cup of water and Pumpkin Bread Mix.

Attach the bowl to your mixer.

I used my Kitchen Aid Mixer with the Flat Beater attachment.

Mix until blended well.

 Scoop into muffin or loaf pan.

(I used a 1/3 cup measuring cup to ensure the muffins would be uniform in size).

Place in oven.

 I baked mine for approximately 22 minutes.

Then, let cool for about 15 minutes.

Voila!

Another view.

Perfect Pumpkin Muffins.

These are great for class parties, after school snacks or as a special lunch box treat.

 Disclaimer:  My 8 year-old son ate 5 of these before I could put them up.

Good thing I have another box.  :)

Low(er)-Fat Lemon Cupcake Recipe

The past two times I have gone grocery shopping at my local Ralphs Fresh Fare I have been tempted to buy their lemon cake with lemon frosting they carry in the bakery section.  Seriously, it is like it has been calling my name!  The cake is gorgeous - I will try and snap a picture next time I go in there.  (Because that won't be weird at all).  You get half of a double layer cake for $6.99.  Not a bad price in my opinion.  What is bad is the way it is (probably) made.  I try my best to choose health(ier) alternatives when I decide to eat something that I know I shouldn't.  I was two seconds from swooping that lemon cake up and moving right along.  I mean, I could taste it.  Then I thought to myself, "Ang, you know how to make a healthier version, so settle the heck down".  Which is true.  I do know how to make cakes so they are not AS bad.  So, I pushed my cart straight to the checkout cake mix aisle.

What did I find there?

 

Duncan Hines Signature Lemon Supreme Cake Mix

Lemon Cake Mix!

AND

Lemon Frosting!

Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme Creamy Frosting

No, neither of them were on sale.  Did I really care?  Short answer: Noooo.  I threw both items in my cart along with some cupcake liners (just in case) and was on my way.

Some of you may have read a previous post I made regarding a new fitness program I am trying out.  (If not, you can read it here).  So, in all honesty I really ZERO business eating ANY type of cake unless it is made from carrots, broccoli and spinach (ew and no thanks!!).  But, since I bought the stuff, I had to make it.  Right?

Well, I went to bed that night dreaming about a double layer lemon frosted cake very tired.  (I was totally okay with this, because I knew the next afternoon it was so going to be on).  Fast forward to the next afternoon:  uhm where are my cake pans??  For sure I know I had some, probably a few sets at one point.  Hmmm.  Oh, yes.  I seem to remember during one of my OCD cleaning sprees (future blog post on those, later) I told my self I would never, EVER bake a cake again.  Yeah, THAT is sure working out.

Anyway, thank goodness I had the foresight to purchase these bad boys:

Per the package directions the original recipe calls for just (3) ingredients (in addition to the cake mix that comes in the box):

• 1 1/3 Cups Water
• 1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
• 3 Large Eggs

I learned a long time ago when baking almost any type of cake, bread or muffin you can substitute the oil with an equal amount of apple sauce.  Yep, apple sauce.  It completely cuts the fat out you would be adding if using oil.  I promise no one will know the difference.  It even had the part about using applesauce on the box (near the bottom in super small print).

This is what was printed on the box: "Lower Fat Recipe: Prepare and bake following the directions above except using 1 cup water, 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce and 3 eggs. Reduce baking time 1-2 minutes"

3 eggs??!  That's a lot of fat (approx. 15 grams of fat and 6 grams of saturated fat are in (3) large eggs).

Did you know there is an easy substitute for using whole eggs in baking?  Really.  I have been using it for years.  Years.  No one can ever tell the difference and if you use the substitute instead of whole eggs it cuts all of the fat and cholesterol and about half of the calories as compared to when using whole eggs.

Some of you have probably used this trick yourselves.

If not, once you have tried it you probably won't go back.

Ready?

Egg Beaters Original

You can use Egg Beaters in lieu of whole eggs.  Yep, EGG BEATERS.  Egg Beaters are simply eggs without the yolk.  Crazy, right?  Don't question this.  Just try it.  I am telling you, everyone I have told who has tried this egg substitution has LOVED it.  I mean, come on.  No more cracking eggs, dropping shells and having to try and dig the shells out of your cake batter?  (Yes, that has happened to me.  Probably a lot more than I am willing to admit).  Personally, I don't even prefer eggs.  Ever.  For anything.  But, this is like some serious stuff right here.  1/4 Cup of Egg Beaters = 1 Large Egg.  Pretty simple, right?

All righty then.  This is how I make my Lemon Cupcakes....

I follow the directions on the box, substituting the following ingredients for the original ones:

1 Cup Water

1/3 Cup Apple Sauce

3/4 Cup Egg Beaters Original

This is the applesauce I use.

Mott's Original Applesauce

 The cups are approx. 1/2 cup each.  This works out well for me.  I don't bake often, and when I do, I hardly use enough applesauce to justify buying one of the huge jars of the stuff.  It always goes bad before I can use it all.  So, this is a fine alternative.  Plus, you can keep it in the cupboard.

Easy to store AND less waste is all right by me.

I dump all of the above ingredients, along with the cake mix into my KitchenAid Mixer.  From there, I pretty much follow the directions printed on the box.

 I use the wire whip attachment to mix the ingredients.

Since my hands are free while it is mixing, I prepare my cupcake pan by lining it with cupcake liners.

I scoop even amounts of cake batter into the liners.

(I like to use a 1/4 Cup measuring cup to ensure they all have close to the same amount of batter).

Then, they go in the oven and I bake as directed. 

(Using the Egg Beaters and applesauce in lieu of oil and eggs sometimes cause the cupcakes to bake a bit faster, so I check the cupcakes a couple of minutes early to make sure they don't over bake).

After they are done, I let them cool on the top of the oven for about 30 minutes.

Once they are cool, it is time to frost them.

My younger sister, Rachel is somewhat of a "cupcake whisperer" and she makes the best cupcakes ever.  Seriously.  Everyone says so, so it must be true.  I try not to eat them because I know she is using whole eggs, oil AND butter.  But, people keep ordering them, so she is going to keep making them that way.  She makes all of her cupcakes from scratch (!!).  Like as in, not-using-a-cake-mix-from the-store kind of "scratch".  Yeah, that's not happening at my house.  Just saying.  Anyway, I called her to ask her if she had any tips for store-bought frosting.  She got all quiet after I asked her.  Hmmm. I was like, "HELLO!  Are you there, Rae?"  (I'm thinking she was thinking I need to learn how to make my own frosting).  Once she found her words, she told me she adds a stick of butter (!!) and some powdered sugar to the frosting and mixes it on the highest speed to fluff it all up.

Okaaaayyy!

That kind of defeats my purpose of eliminating the eggs and oil.  Scratch that idea.

This is what I did instead ~ I decided to try her idea of placing the frosting in my mixer.

I used the wire whip attachment to "fluff" the frosting.

 

It actually worked!

I was pretty impressed with myself.

(Don't judge)

 Since I knew I was going to be blogging about this entire experience, I decided to try my hand at using an actual cake decorating kit I bought a couple of years ago from Macy's. 

I decided to go with the "Star Tip".

Problem was, I wasn't really sure exactly what to do with it.

I called the cupcake whisperer my sister and of course, she did not answer.

I'm not one to wait around, so a quick Google search took me to this video.

Seemed EZ PZ.  I'm all about frosting "12 cupcakes in less than 1 minute".

I filled the frosting bag with my "fluffed" frosting and got busy.

That chick in the video is such a liar!  It took me like 3 whole minutes to frost 24 cupcakes!  Sheesh.

I kid, I kid.

Anyway, I realized (in the middle of my first time frosting cupcakes using an actual tool other than a butter knife) the chick in the video had a much bigger "Star Tip" than mine.

(Is it just me, or does that sound kind of dirtay?)

Here is what my cupcakes ended up looking like.

TA-DA!

 Pretty, right?

Are you still here?  This is like the longest blog in the history of Lemon Cupcakes evaaaaa.

Hey, I'm thorough if nothing else.

Have any of you tried these lower-fat substitutes?  Did you notice a difference?  Do you have any other low-fat baking tips?

I'd love to read about them.  Please, share them in the comments.