Simple Delicious Pasta Salad

An easy weeknight side dish perfect for warm weather days, or picnics. This recipe is good for picky eaters too, as there are no tomatoes or olives present in the salad, and it's not too salty or vinegary.

1. Boil pasta according to the package instructions. It's best to use minimal additional salt as the dressing already contains the perfect amount. When the pasta has finished boiling, drain the remaining water and set it aside.
2. Meanwhile, whisk or stir together mayonnaise, mustard, sugar, vinegar, black pepper, cayenne, and garlic powder; taste before adding salt, then taste again. The dressing should taste just a little bit too salty, since it needs to provide flavor for an entire pound of pasta. Once the dressing is seasoned to your preferences, set it aside.
3. Use a food processor to mince the onion, pepper, and celery until fine. It's best to mince each vegetable individually to avoid over-encumbering the food processor. Place your minced vegetables in a large salad bowl.
4. Add the drained pasta to your salad bowl followed by dressing,  gently stir until everything is thoroughly combined. Taste for salt and pepper.
5. Serve and enjoy! Feeds a lot, and even better the next day.

Cheap Canned Crab Is Only Good For Cat-food

The Walmart brand of canned crab smells like an aquarium. The crab meat is very mushy and strange tasting. When you are eating the meal cooked using the crab, you can feel little bits of shell/cartilage in your mouth. It is an unpleasant texture with any meal. It is better to buy lump crab meat, or the one in the jar. Cheap canned crab will ruin any meal.

Simple Sugar Syrup

When a recipe calls for simple syrup this is how you make it:

1 cup white sugar
1 cup water

Heat sugar and water in a saucepan until simmering. Use for homemade lemonade, iced tea, sauces and lots of other yummy foods.

Double Pork Fried Rice

This is perfect if you're craving some extra tasty and indulgent Asian takeout but don't want to spend 10 dollars a plate. This rice is called "double pork" fried rice because there is both tender sliced Chinese roast pork and bacon in the rice. It makes enough for 4 people and since the frying pan used in the pictures is too small for 3 cups cooked rice + pork and vegetables this fool proof method of stir frying for serving 2+ people at once has been developed. Cooking the components of the dish separately, and then combining as it is done is a way to make sure each part of the rice cooks perfectly, and maintains it's distinct flavor. Sound good? Here's how to make it:

Ingredients

4 slices bacon, chopped into bite sized pieces

1 celery stalk chopped

1/2 onion chopped

1 cup broccoli florets

1 lb Chinese roasted pork sliced very thin

3 cups cooked rice, cold. day old is best.

3 tbsp soy sauce

You definitely want all your ingredients ready and prepped before you start cooking for this meal. 

Fry bacon in the olive oil until just cooked.

Add in broccoli, fry 2 minutes (less if using frozen) and then add in onion and celery. Stir fry for 2 minutes and then make a well in the center of the pan. Add a teaspoon of vegetable oil if necessary and place ginger and garlic in the oil. Fry until you can smell the lovely aroma of garlic and ginger, about a minute. Remove garlic and ginger from pan. Stir fry everything for another 20 seconds, then remove from pan.

Add a tablespoon of oil to pan and then add in soy sauce, then rice. Stir fry breaking up rice as it cooks until it is a slightly darker color, for as long as 5 minutes. Rice should not begin burning. Dump into a bowl with the already cooked vegetables and stir.

Drop chopped pork into frying pan to warm through, adding the liquid from the pan they roasted in adds great flavor.

When pork is hot combine with rice and stir until everything is well combined. Quickly fry eggs in the now empty pan, breaking up and scrambling as it cooks. Combine with rice. Serve and enjoy!

Serves 4

Beef and Broccoli

Try this simple and delicious Chinese style beef and broccoli recipe. Marinated beef sliced thinly and stir fried with crisp broccoli. Frozen broccoli can cut a few minutes off the cooking time as it cooks so much faster than fresh raw broccoli. 

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless beef, cut into small pieces.

4 tbsp oyster sauce

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1/2 cup sherry (or water)

1/2 onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic minced

1 tbsp minced or grated ginger

2 cups broccoli cut into small florets

For the sauce:

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 teaspoon honey

Cut beef into small bite sized pieces. Mix oyster sauce, soy sauce,  and sherry (or water) into the meat. Make sure meat is well coated and allow to marinate for at least an hour.

After meat is well marinated have onion, garlic ready and chopped. 

It is best to put chopped broccoli in the freezer while the meat is marinated. The broccoli will cook much faster when stir frying.

 Heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a frying pan or wok and carefully put in broccoli, stir constanstly until broccoli is a little tender, about 2 minutes if using raw broccoli, seconds if usinf frozen broccoli.

Quickly drop in onion and continue to stir to prevent the onions or broccoli from sticking to the pan and burning.

When broccoli is as soft as desired removed everything from pan and set aside.

Add another teaspoon of oil is needed and drop in marinated meat, shaking off excess liquid from each pieces to prevent the oil from splattering. Make sure beef remains in a single layer to keep the meat frying, not steaming or boiling.

 Since the pan used here is too small to keep the beef in a single layer (the recipe was doubled) the meat is moved to the side as it browns, and new meat is added to the center. Once all the meat is browned add the garlic and ginger to the center and quickly stir for a few seconds until aromatic, 30 to 60 seconds. Burning the garlic will result in a very bitter taste. Mix everything in the pan together and stir for a few seconds.

Mix the chicken stock, honey, and extra oyster sauce. Pour over meat and stir until sauce starts to thicken and form a glaze over meat.

 Return the onion and broccoli to the pan and stir to combine.

Serve and enjoy!  Feeds 3

Chinese Roasted Chicken

Oven roasted Chinese takeout is so much healthier than the greasy fried alternative, and since you're making it at home you know exactly what went into it. You can use these tender chunks of chicken marinated with chinese flavors in everything from salad to fried rice. Either dark meat or white meat can be used, with the latter taking less time to cook.

Ingredients

1 lb boneless chicken cut into bite sized pieces
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 drop sesame oil
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Combine all ingredients. Place chicken in a sealed container and marinate for at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 300 F
Place marinated chicken on a aluminum lined pan, or one with a rack. Place in oven.
Slow roast chicken for 1 hour, if using chicken breast (white meat) remove at this point.
If using dark meat chicken after the first hour is up lower oven to 250 F
Roast for 30 minutes more, then check to see if juices run clear.
Chicken should be tender and delicious.

Serves about 3.

Try dicing the roasted chicken for use in this easy Chinese chicken fried rice recipe.