Ground Beef Lo Mein

I also made this yummy dish to go with the sweet n' sour chicken & fried rice recipe...was trying to have a very small oriental buffet, can ya tell? This was quite tasty! LOL

Ground Beef Lo Mein
Original Recipe Yield 6 servings

Ingredients
• 8 ounces uncooked spaghetti
• 1/2 pound cooked ground beef
• 1 (16 ounce) package frozen stir-fry vegetable blend, thawed
• 1 (12 ounce) jar homestyle beef gravy
• 1/4 teaspoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper

Directions
1. Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until heated through. Add the vegetables, gravy, soy sauce, garlic powder and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Drain spaghetti; stir into beef mixture.

Baked Sweet N' Sour Chicken & Fried Rice

This recipe is really delicious and I will be making it again. It is still not the oriental buffet sweet n' sour chicken recipe I am looking for though. I guess their chicken is more of a tempura batter. I'm still on a mad search for a clone recipe of their chicken...will certainly share it when I find it. These are very EZ recipes so as Martha Stewart would say "it's a good thing." Enjoy! One of these days I'm gonna add pictures...I know that makes it way more fun to look at. Sorry for now!

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken and fried rice

The chicken coating:

3-4 boneless chicken breasts
salt + pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil

The sweet and sour sauce:

3/4 cup sugar
4 tbs ketchup
1/2 cup vinegar
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp garlic salt

Start by preheating your oven to 325 degrees. Rinse your chicken breasts in water and then cut into cubes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Dip chicken into the cornstarch to coat then dip into the eggs. Heat your 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet and cook your chicken until browned but not cooked through. Place the chicken in a 9x13 greased baking dish. Mix all of your sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a bowl with a whisk and then pour evenly over the chicken. Bake for one hour and during the baking process you will need to turn the chicken every 15 minutes.



Fried Rice

3 cups cooked white rice
3 tbs sesame oil
1 cup frozen peas and carrots (thawed)
1 small onion, chopped
2 tsp minced garlic
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 cup soy sauce


On medium high heat, heat the oil in a large skillet or wok. Add the peas/carrots mix, onion and garlic. Stir fry until tender. Lower the heat to medium low and push the mixture off to one side, then pour your eggs on the other side of skillet and stir fry until scrambled. Now add the rice and soy sauce and blend all together well. Stir fry until thoroughly heated! **You could really play around with this rice too! Try adding some diced ham, or green onion :) Yum!

Finished Okra Santa

Well, I'm still playing around with how to paint my okra santas but this is the first one I have completed. I'm getting there! I have three sculpted to finish. I forgot how much fun it is to sculpt. My next project is going to be making santa faces out of clay and add them to seashells. Can ya tell that I'm all about anything santa? Love him!

I could not have made this santa without the help of a wonderful tutorial posted by the following blog:

alittlefurinthepaint.blogspot.com

Anne, is such a sweet person and very talented! Her tutorial is perfect! Thank you Anne for getting me back into sculpting which I have loved for many years.