Panko Shrimp & Fried Rice

I found this Panko shrimp recipe on Savory Safari, and while she was daring enough to make her own sweet and sour sauce, we just settled for some yummy red La Choy sauce. So then I needed a fried rice recipe to go with it and found this one from Joelen's Culinary Adventures.

This has quickly become a favorite in our household. It's honestly better than going out to a restaurant.

Fried Rice:
1 cup leftover meats - pork, chicken, beef, seafood (I left this out, but added more veggies than it called for)
1-2 eggs
3-4 cloves minced garlic
1/2 onion finely diced
3-4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup chopped vegetables (fresh or frozen)
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 tablespoon onion powder
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
1-2 tablespoons light or dark soy sauce
1-2 cups prepared rice, cold (or day old)

In a hot skillet or wok, heat oil.
Add garlic and onions & stir.
Add leftover meats of your choice, chopped up in bite sized pieces.
Stir fry meats until you get them a bit crispy.
Push the meats aside and crack eggs into the pan.
Scramble the eggs into the pan until cooked.
Add cold rice over the eggs & meat into the pan, making sure to crumble it in your fingers. (Dumping a large chunk of rice is not going to work here. You need to crumble it so it separates nicely).
Add salt, pepper, onion & garlic powders and soy sauce; toss.
Allow the rice to heat up and absorb the spices and soy sauce, tossing to help it along.
Add the fresh or frozen veggies and toss into the rice.
Continue cooking it all on high heat until rice is heated through and veggies are cooked.

Panko Shrimp:

Canola oil to cook
Salt and black pepper, to taste
12 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 cup all-purpose flour, in a shallow dish
2 eggs, beaten, in a shallow dish
1 cup panko, in a shallow dish

Directions
1. Season the shrimp with salt and pepper. Dredge shrimp in flour, then egg, then panko.
2. Heat oil until shimmering and a sprinkling of flour sizzles and immediately dissolves. Fry shrimp until golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes total, turning once. Drain on paper towels.

Chicken & Asparagus Risotto Skillet

I'm continuing to find new recipes to try and I must say, so far so good. We have a friend in culinary school that came over last winter and made us the most delicious risotto. OMG it was good. Well...I didn't exactly want to compete with that, but I've been dying to have risotto again! So when I stumbled across this quick recipe, I knew I had to try it. I was so determined to make this that even after my asparagus in the fridge went bad and Meijer was out- I made an extra stop at Kroger just to make sure I had all the ingredients! This was the perfect coming home meal for Carl who has been gone all week!

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 tsp. salt, divided
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. olive oil
1/3 cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 oz. fresh Parmesan cheese, grated
1 T lemon zest
2 cups milk
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1/2 lb. fresh asparagus cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
2 cups instant long-grain rice

Season chicken with 1/4 tsp. salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in skillet and cook chicken 5-7 minutes on each side or until chicken is no longer pink.

Remove chicken from skillet; keep warm. Add milk, soup, asparagus, onion, garlic. cheese, lemon zest and remaining 1/4 tsp. salt to skillet. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes.

Stir in rice; top with chicken. Cover pan; remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes. Serves 4-6.
This is yet another recipe from Pampered Chef (I have a bunch of the cookbooks).

Notes: I actually used 3/4 c of cheese because I just love cheese and an extra clove of garlic...well because I love garlic. You could definitely taste the lemon zest every once in awhile- which was an awesome flavor addition- but if you aren't a fan I think you could easily leave it out. From start to finish, this took me 45 minutes- not bad.

Carl loved it. I'm a fan. It will stay in our regular rotation. (He thought he would be funny and give the wine glass bunny ears...he didn't know he was in the picture :) )