Lookin for a new recipe to try? How about homemade lettuce wraps with fried rice and eggrolls served with sweet chilli suace!

Homemade Fried Rice:
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cups long grain white rice, cooked
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 egg beaten
any vegetables you like such as peas, carrots, zuchinni, onion, mushrooms, etc.
chicken, beef, or shrimp (optional)

In a saucepan or wok, heat oil and cook vegetables. Cook about 3 to 4 minutes stirring occasionally.
Stir in chicken, beef, or shrimp at this point if desired. Cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Stir in rice, soysauce, and egg. Cook 2 to 3 minutes until egg is set and meat is heated thru.


TERIYAKI TURKEY LETTUCE WRAPS:
1 pound ground turkey
One 10 oz bag shredded carrots (I did my own, about a cup)
4-5 scallions, thickly sliced (I used green onion , 2-3)
1/3 Cup store bought teriyaki marinade/sauce
1 head iceburge lettuce, leaves rinsed and separated.

In a large skillet, head 1 tbsp olive oil, add the ground turkey and cook about 4 minutes.
Add carrots and scallions. Lower heat, stir in 1/4 water and the teriyaki sauce.
Simmer til vegetables are soft.
Divide the mixture among lettuce leaves, about 1/4 cup per roll. Serve immediately.

Egg Rolls:

I got the eggrolls above as a gift from a lady I work with. They are in the frozen section of the grocery store. (Yes its sort of cheating, but hey, they are just as yummy and saves you a load of time!) All I did was heat about 2 to 3 cups of vegetable oil in a skillet and when the oil was hot and ready, add the egg rolls to the oil and cook until golden. Make sure you have enough oil in the pan so they float just a little and make sure not to burn the oil. Stay at Med to low heat. Serve the egg rolls with a sweet chili sauce sold in the Asian section of the grocery store. Any brand works!

Bon Appetit!

Rachel caught Emma playing and singing and snuck up on her to catch the video. Takes Emma a moment to figure out she is being watched. And her reaction to being caught? Hide of course!

(Sorry the Video is tilted! It was a camera phone!)

Masquerade Dance by Emma

This is Emma teaching Mommy how to dance to the Phantom of the Opera's "Masquerade." She loves Phantom of the Opera! She can watch it over and over(to the point we can no longer take it. lol). She knows all the words, and as you can see in the clip has nominated a dress-up as her Christine dress. She has also announced that she will be Christine for Halloween. You can catch her around the house playing and singing "Think of Me" or "Angel of Music." I love that she loves the music and am having fun watching her enjoy it. I am currently trying to catch a clip of her singing as well. Stay tuned...Emma is a hard one to catch if she knows you have a camera! lol.

Our 4th of July Weekend!

For the Fourth of July weekend we went to California and visited my Aunt Gaye and Uncle Russ. My Mom met us there(her idea originally) and we all spent the weekend together watching Nascar, World Cup soccer, going to the beach, and on the morning of the 4th, we went to a parade! It ran just down the street Russ' son lives on. There were floats, military vehicles, marching bands, horses, buggies, flags, red, white, and blue! It was Emma's first parade. She had a blast on Daddy's shoulders waving her flag. It was a lot of fun! We headed home on the fourth since Phil had to work Monday. We got back just as the neighborhood was alight with fireworks. The street behind us must have spent $5000 on fireworks! They were huge and oh so illegal(my favorite kind. ahaha). and they went on forever. We had our own little pack and some sparklers, but we pretty much just sat in our front yard enjoying everyone else's. We had such a good time! I love the 4th! See the next two posts that go with this one. One post only holds so much. lol

The Beach!

Who goes to California and does not go to the beach?? On Saturday we went to Huntington Beach near the pier, and of course it was packed! We had a little lunch picnic on a blanket in the warm sun and watched people flying kites and boogy boarding. Emma had a blast running around in the waves and catching those little sand crabs. We showed her how to catch them with her bucket and she had about 8 when we finally convinced her it was time to release them back into the surf. We made a sand castle too, complete with mote. When we were tired and done(4 hours later!) we headed back to Gaye's to rinse of the ten tons of sand encasing our bodies. But Oh what fun!

Friday Night Bonfire!

It has always been a tradition when we visit Gaye and Russ to do a bonfire at the beach. Since it was the Friday before the 4th of July we expected to have to get there very early and hunt down an available firepit. We packed up some water and sodas, a blanket and some chairs, and headed out early to find a pit. While the sun was still out and warm, we let Emma get her feet wet and hunt for sea shells. Then we decided to sit on the blanket and relax, Phil put some wood in the pit not realizing at first that the white ash at the bottom was still Hades hot from a fire the night before. The wood he put in started to smoke and we realized that the embers were slowly igniting the wood. It smoked for about 2 hours and just before everyone else showed up, it finally got enough air to catch fire. Russ always jokes that he has a record of starting the fire with only one match, so the rest of the night we teased Russ that Phil one upped him and started the fire with Zero matches. :)