Recipes for your enjoyment

I was craving Chinese food this week, so I ended up making my own! Unfortunately I didn't have time (or ingredients) to make some of my favorite things, such as egg rolls or crab rangoons . . . but I did make some Sweet and Sour Pork and Fried Rice. I love how colorful everything looked on the plate! Here are the recipes:

Sweet-and-Sour Pork (from the September/October 2005 issue of Quick Cooking)

2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup cider vinegar
2/3 cup ketchup
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 pound boneless pork loin, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 medium onion, cut into chunks (I left this out for Jim's sake--he prefers most things without onions)
2 medium carrots, sliced
1 medium green pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 can (8 oz.) pineapple chunks, drained
Hot cooked rice, optional

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, vinegar, ketchup and soy sauce. Pour half into a large resealable plastic bag; add pork. Seal bag and turn to coat; refrigerate for 30 minutes. Set remaining marinade aside.

Drain and discard marinade from pork. In a large skillet, cook pork in oil for 3 minutes. Add the onion, carrots, green pepper, garlic and ginger; saute until pork is no longer pink. Add reserved marinade. Bring to a boil; cook for 1 minute. Stir in the pineapple. Serve with rice if desired. Yield: 4 servings

Homemade Fried Rice (from my mom)

1 cup uncooked rice
2 1/4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
4-5 slices bacon, diced (I just cook them first, then break them up into smaller pieces--seems easier to me that way)
4 eggs
4-5 scallions, sliced
soy sauce
any leftover meat, cut in tiny pieces (optional)

Combine rice, water and salt in heavy saucepan. Bring to boil; cover, reduce heat and cook on low for 20 minutes.

In heavy skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Add scallions and cook till tender. Drain off some of the bacon fat, leaving a bit for flavor (or if you're not using a non-stick skillet, you may want to leave more to help with cooking the eggs in the next step.) Slightly beat eggs; add to skillet. Stir to scramble eggs. Add cooked rice and optional meat; mix. Add soy sauce until rice is as brown as you like it. Cook over low heat 15-20 minutes. Serve piping hot! Yield: 4-6 servings

Here's another recipe that I made last week. It turned out yummy, but I did have a little trouble with it. The recipe called for a 9" springform pan. My smallest one is 9.5", so that's what I used. I STILL had too much filling for the pan, and some of it ran over and burned on the oven floor. So, I personally would recommend using at least a 10" pan, or maybe even larger, if you have one! This is from the December/January 2006 issue of Taste of Home magazine.

Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake
Prep time: 20 min.
Bake time: 55 min. + chilling

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup crushed Oreos
1/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

FILLING:
3 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup (8 oz.) sour cream
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup hot fudge ice cream topping, divided
6 peanut butter cups, cut into small wedges

In a bowl, combine cracker crumbs, Oreo crumbs, sugar and butter. Press onto the bottom and 1 in. up the sides of a greased 9 inch (I recommend 10+ inch!) springform pan. Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 7-9 minutes or until set. Cool on a wire rack. In a microwave safe bowl, heat peanut butter on high for 30 seconds or until softened. Spread over crust to within 1 in. of edges.

In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and sour cream until smooth. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Stir in vanilla. Pour 1 cup into a bowl; set aside. Pour remaining filling over peanut butter layer.

In a microwave safe bowll, heat 1/4 cup fudge topping on high for 30 seconds or until thin; fold into reserved cream cheese mixture. Carefully spoon over filling; cut through filling with a knife to swirl. Place pan on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 55-65 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer.

Microwave remaining fudge topping for 30 seconds or until warmed; spread over cheesecake. Garnish with peanut butter cups. Refrigerate overnight. Remove sides of pan. Yield: 12-14 servings

Please excuse any spelling errors I may have made here--I was typing in a hurry, trying to get this posted before Sam wakes up! :)