Simple and Easy Chinese Fried Rice

This is a super simple and basic recipe for Fried Rice done Chinese style.  It will take about 30 minutes and will serve 4-6.  There are lots of fancier recipes out there but this is the pared down version that my kids will ask for as leftovers for their lunch :)

Ingredient list:

3 cups uncooked rice

4 Chinese Sausages (Lap Cheong) (details below!)

3-4 eggs

1 cup frozen mixed vegetables

2 tbsp regular soy sauce (for extra yumminess, try the sweetened kind!)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

Measure three cups of rice (I use a 1:2 mix of short grain to long grain jasmine rice but anything is fine).  You may also cook the rice and sausages (see below) the night before and keep it in the fridge to save time.

Wash the rice well trying to let the water run clear.

Measure it up to the 3 cup level (since you are using three cups of rice).

This is the Chinese Sausage ("Lap Cheong") that I use in the recipe.  I usually put in 3 or 4.    It is a dried, hard sausage usually made of pork.  It is often smoked, sweetened and seasoned with rice wine and soy sauce.  It is delicious and the children love it.  You can find it at any Asian grocery (or on Amazon!!!! ).  You may substitute shelled shrimp, ham other sausage or ground meat (about 150g).

Place the sausage over the rice and water and let the rice cook.

In the meantime, scramble up three or four eggs and set aside.  Put 4 tbsp of oil in a wok but leave the heat off for now.

When the rice finishes cooking, turn the heat on your wok and take the sausage out and cut them into small slices.  Watch out for the squirting oil!  I like to use tongs to hold the hot sausages.

When your oil is hot, scramble the eggs.  When the eggs are cooked, add the cooked rice and the following:

1 cup of frozen vegetables.  I usually used mixed vegetables (corn, carrot and peas) but only had peas in the freezer today.

2 Tablespoons of light soy sauce.

1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of sugar (the one in the middle is just the soy sauce).

Mix everything very well and continue to stir-fry until the frozen vegetables are hot.  This may take up to 5 or 6 minutes.

All done!

Enjoy!

Valentine's Crayon Hearts

A perfect Valentine's idea!  This is definitely not my idea.  If you google it, you will find tons of great examples of hearts other people have done over the years!

Method:

1)  Go buy crayons from the dollar store to make sure you have enough.  One box of 48 costs $1.

2)  Peel off all the paper.  If there is an adult helping, we have found the fastest way is to score the paper with a blade and then hand it to a child to peel off the paper.

3)  Use one of these:  Wilton Nonstick 12 Cavity Heart Whoopie Pie Pan

4)  Choose 2 -3 colours per heart of crayons (6-7 crayons total) and break up into pieces to put in your heart.  You may overfill slightly.

5)  Once you have your 12 filled, put in a 250 degree oven for about 10 minutes and check on them occasionally.  They should be melting v e r y  s l o w l y.

6)  When they have all melted, remove the pan carefully from the oven and let cool COMPLETELY.

7)  Gently flip them over onto some paper towels.

8)  You may buff the sharp edges but it isn't really necessary.

9)  Put into cello bags with Valentines Cards or glue them onto cardstock as a card :)

One idea for a phrase to add:  Happy Valentine's Day, for CRAYON out loud!

Hank Skein Ball Cake