Crispy Kimchi Fried Rice

Football season is finally here :) It's the best time of the year (yes, over holiday season in this family). We loveeeee the fall because it is time for some yummy tailgate food while we are rooting for the Dawgs, Bama, & the Falcons!! Sic 'Em, ROLL TIDE, & Dirrty Dirrty Birds Y'all :) We're just so excited, even though the Falcons lost last week, but it's just preseason. Alabama & UGA football doesn't start until the beginning of September, so we have plenty of time to get ready for my tailgate menu planning :) OMG, I can't wait... tailgate food is my absolute favorite, and it is actually what really started to get me cooking! Here are some pictures of us at the games...

So, the recipes I'm going to share with you today are going to be the first of many tailgate recipes this year. I mean just prepare yourself. This first recipe is Crispy Kimchi Fried Rice, which I understand isn't the typical tailgate food, but we made asian chicken wings and I need some kind of carb to go with them. We saw some kimchi at the grocery store and I remembered a recipe I had been wanted to give a try. The fried rice was delicious and perfect with our wings. I'll be posting the chicken wing recipe next! Enjoy :)

Crispy Kimchi Fried Rice

For the Rice:

1t Sesame Oil

1T Olive Oil

1T Chili-Garlic Sriracha

3 Slices of Thick Cut Bacon, Cut into Small Pieces & Fried until Crispy

2 Cloves of Garlic, Minced

3 Green Onions, Sliced

2T Soy Sauce

¾C Kimchi, Chopped

3C Leftover White Rice

½C Frozen Peas

2 Large Eggs, Fried & Scrambled

Directions:

1. To Make the Rice: In a medium bowl, combine the rice and chili-garlic sauce. Mix until the rice is evenly covered in the sauce, set aside. In a large fry pan or wok, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and green onions until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the rice and mix everything together well. Use a spatula to flatten the rice against the pan, and keep still for about 3 - 5 minutes to let the rice get crispy. Repeat until the rice is evenly crispy. Next, add the soy sauce and sesame oil, adding more to taste, stir well. Mix in the crumbled bacon, chopped Kimchi, frozen peas, and scrambled eggs. Continue stir-frying until everything is well mixed and the peas have thawed.
2. Serve the Kimchi Fried Rice with your favorite Asian entrée or with the Pok Pok Wings.

source: crispy kimchi fried rice.

Homemade Chipotle Burrito Bowls

We love Chipotle (obviously not as much Willy's, but don't get me started about my obsession with Willy's). Our favorite thing to order are their burrito bowls. We usually get their cilantro-lime rice, steak, grilled peppers & onions, tomato salsa, corn salsa, and guacamole. I always add a side of their honey-chipotle vinaigrette too because I'm obsessed with that sauce. But unfortunately for us, there isn't a Chipotle in Savannah. I never understood why because we really don't have a good tex-mex restaurant to go to, and we would really eat mexican food a couple times a week if we could. So since we can't go to Chipotle here, we decided that we just had to make it. We made the cilantro-lime rice, roasted-chili corn salsa, pico de gallo, guacamole, and honey-chipotle vinaigrette. And we also grilled some steak, as well as some peppers & onions to top our burrito bowls. These bowls were a hit! We finally got our mexican that we had been craving, and they were wayyyyy better! What is also great about this recipe is that you can customize it to include everything you love. Some other popular toppings are black beans, shredded cheese, lettuce, chopped onion, or roasted red peppers. This will definitely be a meal that we will make again and again and again! Enjoy :)

Homemade Chipotle Burrito Bowls

For the Cilantro-Lime Rice:

2C Cooked White Rice

Juice of 1 Lime

1t Salt

6T Fresh Chopped Cilantro

4t Vegetable Oil

For the Chipotle Honey Vinaigrette:

½C Red Wine Vinegar

½C Honey

2t Dijon Mustard

1t Adobo Sauce

½t Paprika

¼t Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Dried Oregano

½C Olive Oil      

For the Burrito Bowls:

Grilled Steak or Chicken

Prepared Cilantro-Lime Rice    

Homemade Guacamole

Homemade Chili-Corn Salsa

Homemade Pico de Gallo

Grilled Peppers & Onions

Shredded Mexican Cheese

Directions:

1. To Make the Cilantro-Lime Rice: In a mixing bowl, combine the chopped cilantro, limejuice, rice, salt and oil. Toss together until completely mixed. 

2. For the Chipotle Honey Vinaigrette: Combine all ingredients, except oil in a blender and blend on low speed for 10 seconds. Slowly drizzle the oil into the blender on low speed. Chill the finished dressing for at least an hour.

3. To Assemble the Burrito Bowls: In a bowl, layer the rice, black beans, shredded beef, grilled peppers & onions, cheese, Pico de Gallo, corn salsa, and guacamole. Drizzle the bowls with the vinaigrette. 

Asian-Style Brown Fried Rice

The first recipe for tonight is brown fried rice that we served with teriyaki chicken as a side. We've been trying to eat healthier (although it hasn't been very successful), so instead of making fried rice with white rice, I decided to use brown rice. It's a pretty good alternative when you're really craving some carbs. Enjoy!

Asian-Style Brown Fried Rice

For the Fried Rice:

2C Brown Rice, Cooked & Cold

2T Vegetable Oil

1 Egg, Scrambled

½C Frozen Peas & Carrots

¼ Sweet Onion, Chopped

2 Green Onions, Chopped

1t Garlic, Chopped

1T Low Sodium Soy Sauce

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

Directions:

1. Heat a sauté pan to medium high heat and spray with Pam. Beat an egg and scramble until cooked, and set aside. Drizzle the vegetable oil in the pan and cook the sweet onions until tender. Next add the garlic, peas, and carrots. Simmer for about 5 minutes. After this mixture has cooked, add the cold, cooked brown rice, slowly heat the rice with the soy sauce until the rice is heated and soft. At the last minute, add the chopped green onion, cooked egg, salt, and pepper.

2. Serve with the Healthy Teriyaki Chicken & sauteed broccoli.