Make A Meal At Home

Vegetable Fried Rice

Ingredients

·          3 tbsp. vegetable oil

·          1 onion, chopped

·          1 red bell pepper, chopped

·          1 garlic clove, minced

·          2 cups cooked white or brown rice

·          1/2 cup green peas

·          1 carrot, peeled and finely shredded

·          2 large eggs

·          3 tbsp. soy sauce

Directions

1.       Heat 2 tbsp. of the oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Add the onion, pepper and garlic. Cook, stirring constantly, until softened, about 3 minutes.

2.       Add rice, peas and carrot. Cook, stirring constantly, until vegetables are tender, about 4 minutes.

3.       Push the cooked ingredients to the edge of the wok. Add the remaining 1 tbsp. oil to the center of the wok. Pour in the eggs and stir until scrambled. Slowly stir in the rice mixture until blended.

4.     Add soy sauce. Cook, stirring constantly, until well blended, about 1 minute. Serve hot.

Lumpia Shanghai

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
• 1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1 (16 ounce) package spring roll wrappers
• 1 1/2 quarts oil for frying

Directions

1.                      In a Large bowl, combine ground pork, ground beef, onion, and carrot. Make sure to completely mix everything. I suggest getting down and dirty and use your hands. Knead the meat in the bowl if you must. Gradually blend in the soy sauce , black pepper, garlic powder, and salt until all ingredients are evenly distributed.

2.                      Lay out a few wrappers at a time on a flat surface, and place about 2 tablespoons of the filling in a line down the center of the wrapper. Make sure the filling is no thicker than your thumb, or the wrapper will cook faster than the meat. Take the bottom and top edges of the wrapper and fold them towards the center. Take the left and right sides, and fold them towards the center. Moisten the last edge of the wrapper to seal. Now repeat using the rest of the wrappers, and have hubby or the kids help you out.

3.                      Heat the oil in a deep-fryer or heavy skillet to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Fry 3 or 4 lumpia at a time. Fry for about 3 or 4 minutes, turning once. Lumpia are cooked through when they float, and the wrapper is golden brown. Cut in half, or serve as is with dipping sauce. We like sweet and sour sauce, soy sauce with lemon, or banana ketchup.

Groceries

My Mother and I decided to buy the groceries the day of my meal so everything would be fresh. We had some of the ingredients already at home such as garlic cloves, rice, onions, soy sauce, eggs and spices. We picked up our ingredients at Southland Mall Safeway at about 2:00 pm. The shopping trip went great because I could get what I needed and my mom could get what she needed as of other ingredients or stuff we just needed at home in general.

Preparation

            My preparation took me actually a lot longer then I planned. It was probably the longest of my whole meal, but that usually takes that long for any meal I guess. The whole preparation took me about 1½ - 2 hours, which sounds pretty long for just preparation but I made sure that I followed every single direction correct and precise. First thing I did was get the soy sauce, and oil into mise en place. Then mince, chop and cut the garlic, onion, and red bell peppers. Next I put the ground beef in a bowl and added the sliced and cut carrots, onions, and soy sauce into the bowl. I kneaded the ground beef and veggies with my hands. It felt like brains. Wrapping the beef in the lumpia rolls would probably be the most time consuming part of the preparation. probably because I had to roll fifty rolls.

      ^Mise en Place^                                                                                     ^Cuttin Veggies^

                                                                      ^RollingUp^                                                                                

Table Setting

The table setting for my make a meal at home, I used utensils such as forks, spoon, and chopsticks. The layout for my original table setting was to have the napkin placed on the left side and have the fork placed on the napkin. Then have the plate in the center and have the spoon on the right side. Then have the chopstick placed above the plate and the glass above the spoon. Unfortunately my mother did not agree and decided to rearrange the table setting to her liking without my permeation. I didn’t notice till I saw the pictures. Below is a picture of my table setting.

                                                                Mom's Table Setting

Original Table Setting

Equipment 

 The equipment I used to make the meal is the following

·         Chopping Board

·         Chef's Knife

·         Mise en place bowls

·         Large bowl

·         Large saute pan

·         Large Spoon

·         Tongs

Food Servings

To get the servings for all my food groups I used the Canada's Food Guide.  For my grain products I have 4 servings cooked rice. For my vegetables and fruits I had 7 servings. Foods that include onions, carrots, garlic, red bell peppers, and sweet peas. For my meat and alternatives I had 6 servings of ground beef and 1 serving of 2 large eggs.

Reactions

The people I served to were my mother and my two brothers Joshua(17) and Patrick(11). My mom knew I was making supper, but my brother did not. So we decided to tell them that I cooked the whole entire meal after they had eaten it. Their reactions surprised me! I just thought that they would just eat it and make nothing of it and just thank my mom as usual, but, they said that this meal was delicious. That really made me feel good.So after they finished eating I told them that I cooked everything.They were more surprised and thanked me. Then they went to wash their dishes but then I stopped them and cleaned it for them. it felt good to feel appreciated.

Refection

This whole make a meal experience went pretty well if I have to say so my self. I really did have fun preparing, cooking, and serving my family for once. I knew my mom was happy with me because she could take a break from the kitchen, relax and let me do the work. The things that went well during this make a meal were that I basically did everything independently.sure I did have my moms help but that’s because I needed her help f I wanted to get it done by 9:00. I think I took my time carefully to read and follow the recipe directions. it definitely payed off. Finally in the end everyone was happy including me.

Everyone knows that every meal has at least one thing goes wrong, even if it’s a tiny thing it still counts. The things that went wrong in my make a meal were that I think I waited till the last second to start making my meal. I didn't really plan ahead. I just let it all fall into place and start. Also when I was deep frying the lumpia Shanghai I didn't use the pot lid to shield me from the oil. so I ended burning/ frying my skin. Definitely not doing that again.

Honestly I wouldn’t change this recipe at all. I think it came out perfect. Well not perfect, but very, very, close to perfect from my perspective. Okay, maybe there's one thing I would do differently and its to make a lot more than I had. I felt kind of bad because I didn’t make enough so that there would be some left for my dad when he comes back from work. At least I showed him the pictures and I could tell that he was proud of me. I think the most enjoyable thing was probably seeing the faces of my family eating my food. you can really see the general reaction in their face after they take the first bite. It was probably the most anticipated thing.