Wok This Way

First things first, I hate to cook.  Loathe it actually.  The fact that I actually have to plan meals kills my spirit....just a little bit.  However, I'm forced to do it because otherwise my kids would only eat ice cream, peanut butter crackers, pretzels, Kit Kats, and cookies.

I really shouldn't have this stuff in my house :-p

This really sounds like the perfect menu to me but kids on sugar highs, and then lows, are probably worse than cooking.  I can usually tolerate the regular kid craziness and chitter chatter with a glass of wine at the end of the day but sugar filled days make kids insane.   If you haven't experienced this it's a little bit like the movie The Exorcist.  Spinning head & all.  There's only so much of that my mind can take before I finish the bottle of wine. 

Doesn't this look heavenly?

So, since I'm not really interested in becoming an alcoholic, I have to cook. My goals for each meal (besides being tasty, healthy, blah, blah, blah...) are for them to be at least one of four things:

*Quick as possible - No matter what time I start dinner or how much they have eaten that day, the kids are always starving to death the second I start preparing to cook.

*Fun to make or eat - Kids like fun foods & making cooking fun takes the chore out of it.

*Have very little clean up - Really, who likes to do this?!

*Something everyone will eat - I hate waste more than I hate cooking.

If, by some miracle, the meal ends up being all of these things then we are probably eating out ;-)

I had a little taste for fried rice one day and decided to try the Asian Chicken Helper: Chicken Fried Rice.  I'm not really a fan of Hamburger Helper but was interested when I saw this.

I actually used the gluten free version!

To spice up this evenings meal, I decided to throw the fried rice mix in my electric wok instead of cooking on the stove top.  I omitted the chicken since I was using this as a side dish and making chicken tenderloins to go with it.  My Aroma brand electric wok is fantastic because it's huge!

I don't think I've ever come close to running out of room in it.  We can fill it with many vegetables and chicken and still have room to stir freely!  It heats up fast and the dial allows you to adjust the heat and retain a consistent heat level throughout cooking.  The handles, and even the wok itself, stay cool to the touch reducing the risk of burns. The big dome lid allows you to cover while cooking to retain heat and reduce splatter mess.  It's also easy to clean because of it's nonstick coating!   

A fun, easy, kitchen gadget that reduces mess?!  It could only be better if it actually prepared and served the meals itself!!  (Someone really needs to invent a robot for this.)

Even though the Asian Helper Chicken Fried Rice was very easy to make, it wasn't a big hit.  Maybe it was because I didn't add the chicken, I don't know. The kids didn't like it and complained about the smell. I'm big on taste and even more on smell and something just always seems "off" with these to me.  Unfortunately, I won't be buying it again and it pretty much solidified the fact that I just don't enjoy the "Helper" line.

The wok I love though ;-) 

Has anyone used an electric wok before?  What do you think?

-E