Bacon Fried Rice

When I was little, our family ate a lot of fried rice.

No wonder, there were five of us kids and my parents--7 hungry mouths to feed.

It's simple, fast, and when you add a few slices of bacon--it's very flavorful.

We always had it with a lot of vegetables mixed in, too.

Every family, or every cook, has their particular method of making fried rice.

I have friends that say they judge a Chinese restaurant by how good their fried rice is.

The great thing about fried rice--you can make it with whatever you like, or whatever you have on hand.

Bacon Fried Rice Ingredients:

4 slices bacon

1/2 sweet onion, diced

1/2 zucchini and 1 carrot, grated

shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1 stalk bok choy, diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon minced ginger root

1 small dashi packet for flavoring

about 6 cups leftover cooked rice or freshly steamed rice

Cut the bacon into small pieces.

Put the bacon in a hot skillet and fry until crisp.

When the bacon is almost crisp, remove most of the bacon fat.

Mince garlic and ginger, chop onions, and add to the pan.

The bacon will keep cooking and get crispier.

Chop or grate the rest of the vegetables and add them to the pan.

Saute until the vegetables are wilted and hot.

Beat two eggs.

I like to add the eggs to the vegetables.

When my mom made fried rice and added the eggs, she added them after the rice was already mixed in--that way the egg coats the grains of rice.

Several years ago when I visited Japan, I sat at the counter in a restaurant, and watched the cook make gyoza and fried rice.

I love watching people cook.

That cook made fried rice by adding the egg to the vegetables, so there's little chunks of egg throughout the dish, and each rice kernel is still clean.

I decided I liked it like that, so that's how I make it now.

To flavor the fried rice, I add a packet of dashi powder, it's about 1 teaspoon.

This one is the bonito flavored dashi.

Add the dashi powder to the vegetables and mix well.

If you're making fried rice without meat, you can use the konbu dashi.

Konbu dashi is made from seaweed.

Add salt and pepper to taste, too, since this brand of dashi doesn't have added salt.

Add the beaten eggs.

Let the eggs set for about 30 seconds to a minute, and stir until cooked through.

Then add the rice.

If you're using cold rice, you can heat the rice in the microwave for 2 minutes with a sprinkling of water, or add to the vegetable mixture, add a tablespoon of water and put the lid on to let the rice steam for a few minutes.

Gently stir to combine the rice and the vegetable/egg mixture.

Use a cutting/folding motion so the grains of rice don't get mushed.

Taste and adjust flavors.

My mom says that when we were little, all us kids wanted to eat was ketchup and rice, ketchup and rice.

I remember that it got so my mom would just mix in the ketchup with the fried rice and serve it that way!

I don't think any of us eat it that way anymore, but I have a friend that still needs ketchup with his fried rice.

Ketchup, optional.

If you want to add ketchup, or oyster sauce, you can add a tablespoon or two at this point.

Itadakimasu!

***

We had a baby shower over the weekend for my new nephew.

Here he is with one of his grandmas.

Maria's mother is visiting from Chicago!

My new nephew has grown so much, and his face has changed!

I didn't get many photos of him, but I will be taking some of him with his Grandma and Big Sister soon!

That's my sister-in-law and my mother-in-law making flower arrangements for the baby shower.

I picked two buckets of flowers from around my yard--they made simple, beautiful centerpieces in mason jars.

I didn't get any pictures of them, and thought about running back to my brother-in-law's house where the shower was, but then I thought--

I could pick more flowers from my yard and make one here!

Occasionally I have flashes of brilliance!

Here's what we made using hydrangeas, sweet peas, oregano and parsley that's going to seed.

There were some roses in there, too.

Last year, when my daughter got married, I became just a tad obsessed with English roses--so I planted a couple of bushes in the front yard.

That's the yellow rose on the right.

So simple, and so pretty!

Uh-oh.

Looks like my new nephew is a mouth breather, like some of his cousins.

He was born that way.

(Same DNA...)

****

Bacon Fried Rice

Ingredients:

4 slices bacon

1/2 sweet onion, diced

1/2 zucchini and 1 carrot, grated

shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1 stalk bok choy, diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon minced ginger root

1 small dashi packet for flavoring

about 6 cups leftover cooked rice or freshly steamed rice

Slice bacon into small pieces and cook until almost crisp. Remove most of the bacon fat, add onions, garlic and ginger. Chop/grate the rest of the vegetables and add to the pan.

When the vegetables are hot and wilting, add a dashi packet (or 1 teaspoon) of dashi powder, salt and pepper, and mix well. Beat two eggs and add to the mixture, letting them set for 30 seconds or 1 minute, then stir until eggs are cooked.

Add warm rice and stir gently until uniformly mixed, or if adding leftover cold rice, add rice with 1 tablespoon water, put the lid on the pot and let the rice steam for a few minutes until hot.

Cheesy Bloomin' Onion Sourdough Bread

Last week, I saw a photo on one of the popular food sites that immediately caught my attention.

The Girl Who Ate Everything made a Bloomin' Onion--like the one that's served at Outback Steakhouse--out of a loaf of sourdough bread.

You can see that scrumptious picture here, which also includes her recipe.

Then, of course, I had to make one, too!

It was DELICIOUS!

I am definitely making this for our next family get-together, we've got a lot of bread lovers!

After I made it, I immediately started to think...

Bacon bits...sun dried tomatoes...and then my friend Sue suggested... BRIE!

The possibilities are endless.

Ingredients:

One sourdough loaf

1 stick butter (1/2 cup)

3 thinly sliced green onions

1 jalapeño pepper, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

12 - 16 oz. cheese

Melt the butter and add the garlic and jalapeños.

Saute for a few minutes on medium heat until the milk solids in the butter just begin to turn brown.

Remove from heat and set aside.

Slice the sourdough loaf vertically into slices, being careful not to cut through the bottom crust of the bread.

Then cut the loaf horizontally into slices.

The bread squishes down as you're cutting, but it bounces back, so don't be afraid it's not going to turn out properly.

That makes it 'blossom'.

I had some queso fresco cheese and jack cheese.

I used about a half-cup of each, crumbling the queso fresco and cutting the jack into sticks.

Insert the cheese in between the bread pieces.

I think pepper jack cheese would be good here, too!

I put the queso fresco in first, then the jack cheese. 

Use whatever cheese you have on hand or your favorites.

I added the green onions to the butter mixture and drizzled it over the bread.

Then wrap the whole thing in foil,

Put it on a cookie sheet,

And bake at 350F for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, open the foil and let it bake for another 10 minutes uncovered.

Yum!

Serve it in a bowl,

Or on a platter, and pull-apart.

Itadakimasu!

***

Remember Brock?

The Graduate?

I gave my speech about him at his graduation party and told the story about the horses.

And I tried to say, "He's got his eyes in his butt," just like Brock did when he was little.

That story is here, scroll down, it's after the food.

When we entered the party, which was in his backyard, there was a wonderful display all about Brock.

His sister Meghan made him this touching collage.

And there were buttons--with various stages of his childhood--to choose from, to wear.

We sat under a huge tent out in their garden.

I wondered when the elephants and clowns were coming in, the tent was so big!

This pretty little sitting area was right outside the tent.

As was this fountain.

Such a beautiful yard!

The caterers were the same barbecue caterers Mark & Pam had at their wedding reception in this same backyard, years ago.

After dinner, the speeches began.

First was Papa, Brock's Grandpa.

Papa's a terrific speaker, telling stories of Brock in such a captivating and touching way, we were all brought to tears.

My favorite part was how Papa told stories about the little things Brock did, throughout his life, that made Papa feel so loved.

That was my favorite part because we all know Brock's got a lot of good qualities, and we all know how much grandparents love their grandchildren, but hearing about the things that Brock did to make Papa feel so loved was out of the ordinary.

I'm going to need a hanky just reliving the moments.

Brock sat through all the speeches with the biggest smile on his face!

This is big sister, Meghan, with her boyfriend.

She spoke about growing up with the up-swings and down-swings of her feelings about her little brother.

Meghan told stories of how she didn't like him, then liked him, didn't like him, then liked him--with such humor and great affection--that brought a tear to my eye, too.

There were several other speakers, and what struck me the most--was how much love was present that evening for this special young man, and how it was vocalized in such eloquent ways.

After I spoke, he gave me the biggest smile and the warmest hug and said,  "I love you."

It was such a special moment, I felt truly loved and appreciated in return.

After all the speeches were done--and they were all so amusing with everyone having a slightly different point of view of Brock and lots of different aspects of his life to recall--we were all treated to a slideshow made by his mother!

What an evening!

And if that wasn't enough, they had a musician that invited everyone to come sing with him, and there was singing and dancing into the night.

What fun!

It takes a village to raise a child, I've heard that often said.

I feel honored to have been a part Brock's village, and have watched him grow up into such a confident, expressive, and mature young man.

We all look forward to what his future holds.

Congratulations to Brock and the Booth family!

***

Cheesy Bloomin' Onion Sourdough Bread

Ingredients:

One sourdough loaf

1 stick butter (1/2 cup)

3 thinly sliced green onions

1 jalapeño pepper, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

12 - 16 oz. cheese

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic & chopped jalapeños and saute until the milk solids in the butter just begin to turn brown. Remove from heat and set aside.

Cut sourdough loaf in slices horizontally, being careful not to cut through the bottom crust of the loaf. Do the same to the loaf vertically.

Slice the cheese into sticks and insert them into the cervices of the bread loaf. 

Add the green onions into the butter mixture and drizzle butter mixture over the bread loaf. Wrap the loaf in foil, place on a baking sheet and bake at 350F for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, open foil and bake 10 minutes more, until cheese has melted. Serve hot.