3 Moms and a Kitchen: Chinese Easy Breezy Style

This is one of the first recipes my friend Sheena shared with me. One of the things that really inspired the journey I have been on the last 2 yrs with my love/hate relationship with cooking. I say Love AND Hate because most of the time I really do love to cook, but everyone once in a while its nothing more than another chore to check off the to do list for the day.

I went through a very long "hate" episode while pregnant with Sariah, the entire pregnancy to be exact. Being pregnant and keeping up with 3 kiddos was too much for me most days and the last thing I wanted was to cook something, especially when most foods grossed me out. We lapsed back into our old ways of take out, easy cook, processed and prepackaged foods. That was also the bleak few months when Ted was not working and we were barely scraping by so there really wasn't much take out, maybe once a month, and the prepackaged processed stuff was often cheaper and easier to buy.

Since Sariah was born I have started to really enjoy cooking again. This was the first time I had made this dish in over a year and as soon as I tasted it I realized how much I had missed it.

This is an easy and fun dish to make. One our whole family loves to eat, although I do have to make egg rolls with just sausage in them for Teddy, he is totally anti-veggies lately. I am thinking about trying some of those recipes where they hide the veggies in other things. I will be sure to post and review them if I do.

Do not be intimidated by the ingredients or length of this recipe, it is really so simple I promise. It looks like a lot written out but its not. After you make it once or twice you won't even need the directions anymore.

What you will need:
1 roll Jimmy Dean All Natural Sausage (or any mild breakfast sausage)
1 pkg Broccoli Cole Slaw(or regular Cole slaw mix if you prefer)
1 pkg egg roll wraps
1 cup uncooked Jasmine rice. (or any rice you prefer)
1 egg
Soy Sauce to taste

Step One: Cooking the plain Rice-

Prepare rice according to package directions. I have read for fried rice it is ideal to cook the rice 1-2 hours ahead of time and allow it to sit so that dries out some and it's not real moist. However I almost always forget this and the fried rice still tastes yummy and cooks perfectly fine.
I think Jasmine rice is the best for dishes like this but I am stuck with plain long grain white rice until I have used up the huge bag I bought at Costco haha.

Step 2: The Basic Sausage and Cole Slaw Mixture (will be used in rice and egg rolls)-

In a large and deep pan brown sausage. I learned a great tip for this while watching Rachael Ray, use a potato masher while cooking. It easily separates the sausage so you don't have to fight with it.
I like to use the All Natural sausage because I try to steer clear of any unnecessary chemicals or preservatives in the food I serve my family.
Pork sausage is surprisingly low when it comes to grease so there is no need to drain the meat. Trust me, you want the flavor that the little grease that's there will give.
Once sausage is done add 1/2 the package of broccoli Cole slaw- you can add the entire package if you like. We, as in Ted and Teddy, like less veggies. Plus I am a cheapskate and this allows for the package to make 2 meals instead of 1 because the egg roll wraps have enough for 2 meals as well. This helps stretch the food dollars which is always a plus in my book. Buy 2 packages of sausage plus 1 package of cole slaw and wraps and you have 2 meals.
Put a couple of shakes of Soy Sauce in the pan and mix around. I don't measure this. Maybe 1-2 tblsp?
Cook sausage and cole slaw until veggies start to become tender (about 5 minutes)
Once veggies are tender dump the mixture into a large bowl and place the now empty pan back on the stove.

Step 3: Fried Rice-Add some oil to the pan, maybe 1/4 of a cup-again I don't measure this part. Allow the oil to become nice and hot. Medium-High heat is best for this.
While oil is heating up crack egg into a small bowl and scramble. You can use more than one egg if you like. The first time I made this dish I used 2 or 3 eggs, Ted requested less eggs next time so now I just use 1.
Once oil is hot add egg to center of pan. Allow to cook a few seconds and then dump the rice in.
Mix rice and egg around until well combine.
Add a few more shakes of Soy Sauce and half of the sausage/cole slaw mixture. Combine all of these together, allow to cook a few minutes and then move to a back burner and keep on low heat so rice stays warm. Stir occasionally while cooking egg rolls

Step 4: Egg Rolls-In a new pan add 1/2 cup or so of oil and place over medium high heat.
While you are waiting for the oil to get hot assemble the egg rolls. Place a large spoonful of the mixture in the center of the egg roll wraps and roll up. I have posted picture to help show you how to roll them. You can use some water on the edge to help seal rolls shut if you like, I am far too lazy for this and I just make sure I put the rolls folded side down in the pan so they get sealed shut by cooking.
Usually by the time I get 4 rolled up the oil is hot so I place those in the pan and make another 3-4. Watch them though, they need to be flipped about every minute or so. So make 1 or 2 egg rolls, flip the ones cooking, then make the rest.
Cook until egg rolls are nice and crispy and brown on all sides, flipping about every 30-60 seconds so they do not burn.

Step 5: Dish up Meal and enjoy:
Serve egg rolls and rice together, make sure to report back if you like them.

This is not the original recipe that was given to me. That is one of my favorite things about cooking, making a recipe your own. So feel free to experiment, change things up a bit if you like. Cooking is meant to suit the tastes of you and your family. Our family does not like onions so you will never find onions in my recipes, I omit them when a recipe calls for some. If there is something you don't like leave it out, or replace it. The original recipe called for regular cole sale mix, I choose the broccoli because at the time Teddy loved broccoli and would eat that, he wouldn't touch the regular cole slaw mix. I have also tried chicken and shrimp in place of the sausage. They were good but the sausage just gives it so much more flavor.

EGG ROLL CONSTRUCTION: