One of our favorite cuisines as a family is Chinese, but it can be so expensive! Even if we ditch the take-out or buffet & head to the freezer section we're still looking at well over $30 for dinner by the time we buy all the individual components to the meal. Seriously- have you priced frozen egg rolls lately? And a lot of the pre-packaged "entrees" don't even include rice, so naturally we had to come up with a way to lessen the financial blow & up the health value somewhat.
A favorite for us is stir-fry a la Dee. I was able to buy her a steamer for her birthday this year, so while she soaks the meat with Kung Pao sauce she steams the carrots and broccoli while I make a big pot of rice. (Quick tip- it takes the same amount of time so go ahead and make twice the rice you'll actually need for dinner. You can freeze the rest in baggies for later use in soups & such.) Later a pack of seasoning will help create the fried rice, and some of the onions and peppers from the freezer will round out the other veggies and meat for the stir-fry.
While Dee handles the main course I'm getting to work on the egg rolls. Seriously easy folks. Brown and drain a pound of ground sausage and combine it with a bag of cole slaw mix in a big bowl. (You could also use shredded chicken, shrimp, etc- whatever you like is good.) Put about 2 TBSP diagonally onto an egg roll wrapper, fold according to instructions, and lay on a baking pan sprayed with cooking oil. Brush the egg rolls with olive or vegetable oil, and pop into the pre-heated oven at 400F. Bake about 10- 12 minutes, or until golden brown. That's it!
It is worth mentioning though that this is going to make a lot of egg rolls, so either plan for a gathering or you can look forward to having your own Chinese section in the freezer.
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