Quick Stir Fry, Slawless

I had once again forgotten to make a list while doing a quick shopping trip at the only Meijer near us (which isn't exactly local because it's 30 minutes away but when one can Meijer, one should Meijer, for the produce alone). This sometimes (mostly) happens. Of course, everyone knows that the best way to do the shopping is to make a weekly menu and divine a list of those items needed to make said menu that aren't already in the cupboards/fridge.

Then, you STICK TO IT. You don't buy extra and thus, maintain some semblance of budget.

So this shopping trip was not one of those well-planned ones, but we still needed to remain budget-conscious, in light of the bills of Christmas past. We tried to buy sale items only and only necessities. My bakery-made blueberry mini-bagels were both of these things because who doesn't need mini-bagels? I was so excited by the sale, I bought two bags.

We did fairly well for once (bagels really would have been on the list), mostly because we did not go to the grocery store while hungry. We were practically running through the produce aisle (which tends to be where I find fun ways to spend lots of money. Purple kale, anyone?) when my eye halted on one of those orange clearance stickers. Now, these stickers are a price-conscious shopper's best friend. They mean "this food isn't bad yet but is very-near or just-past its sell-by date so you can have it at a significant discount that will totally be worth it if you eat this item soon, like today." This sticker was on a bag of broccoli slaw mix.

I've never had broccoli slaw, mostly because I really dislike slaw in general. There's something about vinegary vegetables that just doesn't do it for me. I almost walked right by but then I thought:

Just because you buy broccoli slaw mix doesn't mean you have to make slaw with it. So I bought that bag and I took it home and made some broccoli slawless stir fry.

 

Broccoli Slawless Stir Fry
One bag of broccoli slaw mix
2 cups uncooked brown rice
a random can of beans
whatever sauces and seasonings you want

1. Make the rice.
2. Fry up the slaw mix.
3. Add in a can of beans and some sauce and seasoning. I used a few twists of my Asian spice grinder (McCormick) and soy sauce. There may or may not have been teriyaki.

 

So simple. Also, cheap. Also, broccoli stems are very tasty when cut up into teeny tiny slivers.
 Who knew?

Tofu Noodles

The husband bought Shirataki Tofu spaghetti noodles on sale. Just to try.

They were delicious with a spaghetti noodle shape and a consistency that reminded me of lo mein. What's more, they are low-calorie, vegan, and gluten-free. One package seemed to come out to about half a box of normal pasta, so obviously, even on sale, they are a bit more money. Then again, they count as protein, not carbs, so they might be on the less-pricey side, all things considered. How much is chicken breast these days? I know tofu isn't cheap.

 

All and all, you get tofu without having to fix tofu. It's the ease of a pasta dinner with the health benefits of a vegetarian stir-fry. I, for one, am sold.

Swiss Chard Sautee

To finish up old business, despite the fact that Google Reader still seems to be working at the moment, it was supposed to die yesterday. I have already provided a button on the left to follow me using bloglovin. Note that now there is also a button to follow me using feedly, if that is your preference. Feedly seems to be winning the RSS race to become the next Google Reader, so the option is there if you want it. This is an equal opportunity RSS blog.

Now on to the fun.

And that fun revolves around Swiss Chard. Below is the lovely plant growing in my front garden. It's big and lush and beautiful, and frankly it looks delicious. It's been growing so fast in all the rain we've been having that I have been able to try out a little side dish sautee twice now.

Sauteed Swiss Chard with Parmesan

Click the link above for the original recipe. It was a fairly quick one. Just chop the stems and leaves.

Then, stir fry to stems for a while (under 10 minutes) with the sauce ingredients and then add the leaves and wilt. Add some parmesan cheese and voila.

Between the first attempt and the second, my husband learned that his grandfather enjoyed swiss chard. Boiled. Can't say that I'd recommend that or that we will ever convince my mother-in-law to try swiss chard again, not after a childhood bogged down with the taste of it after extensive boiling.

In our version of swiss chard, it has a strong, tangy flavor and a bit of a crunch, as long as you don't overcook it too much, as well as a great color. I'm not a huge fan of wine-based sauces, though, so the next time we subbed a half and half mix of cranberry pomegranate juice and balsamic vinegar for the wine. We paired the chard with baked salmon. Delightful.

In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm making it again tonight.

Duck Sauce

A year or two ago, I purchased canned apricots. The idea was that if I love the fresh ones, I'd at least like the canned ones. However, canned apricots are just mushy and a tad overripe, or at least these ones were. I managed to get through all but one can, and there that can remained in the back of our canned-goods cupboard.

Then, there came one of those nights (ever so frequent now) where we needed a meal and just searched the cupboard to make a stir fry. I happened upon a recipe for duck sauce, remembered that can of apricots, and things just fell into place.

Veggie and Tofu Stir fry with Duck Sauce
What you need:
1 package noodles
assorted veggies (I believe I used red peper, broccoli, carrots, and mushrooms)
1 package extra firm tofu
4 t soy sauce + more for marinating the tofu
1 can apricots
2 T white vinegar

1. Bake the tofu, marinated in a liberal amount of soy sauce, for about a half an hour, turning once halfway through the cooking time.

2. Cook the noodles according to package instructions.

3. Make the duck sauce. Put the apricots, vinegar, and 4 teaspoons of soy sauce in a blender. Blend to smooth. It will look a lot like egg yolk and frankly, really unappetizing.

4. Stiry fry the veggies until tender and add the tofu to them. Pour in half the duck sauce and fry for a few minutes.

5. Add the noodles and the remaining duck sauce and fry for a few more minutes, stirring occasionally.

6. Dig in. The duck sauce is sweet with a hint of salt and really makes the stir fry special. You can also just make the duck sauce and use it on meatier dishes if you tend toward carnivorism.

BBQ Tempeh and Soba

Some nights dinner is just unplanned. You get home, open the pantry, and pray there's something in there you can serve.Well, we had some tempeh in the refrigerator and some soba noodles in the cupboard.

Tempeh and Soba Noodles in Barbeque Sauce
What you need:
white mushrooms
one eggplant
red bell pepper
kale
barbeque sauce

1. Boil the noodles! Then drain them (important step).

2. Cut up and clean the mushrooms and assorted vegetables.

3. Cut the tempeh into thin slices and stir fry them in soy sauce until they are golden brown on both sides.

4. Add the vegetables to the stir fry and fry that up in barbeque sauce until the veggies are to your desired consistency. Then, add the noodles and yet more barbeque sauce.

5. Eat and enjoy, thus avoiding dinner disaster.

Cedar Point and Chayote Squash

The hot weather deflated kitchen productivity. When the heat index hit its peak, our new microwave became a real workhorse. Only discomfort and desperation could lead to meals like this:

(That would be a veggie dog pseudoburger.)

Despite this, we tried for a Cedar Point trip. The boy had never been and he's been making a fuss about it for months. It was just soul-crushingly hot. After a test run on the Troika that went rather well, I took him on Disaster Transport. This was not entirely because the line for this particular roller coaster is in an air conditioned building. Of course, I did not take into account that the boy is highly afraid of the dark. He refused to so much as open his eyes for the duration of the ride. I think I only succeeded in getting him on any other roller coaster because one of them had the word "dragon" in its title.

I failed to remember to photograph the necessary Cedar Point Potato Hut cheese fries, but I assure you, I ate them and they were as delicious as ever, faux cheese-like substance and all. After three go-rounds through Thunder Canyon that left me drenched through my cut-off capris, we ventured on to a few of the kiddie rides and then the trip culminated in a trip through Dinosaurs Alive!, which costs even more money that the entry fee to the park (fortunately, we had a discount).

I admit, however, that it did get rather impressive near the end, with a life-sized T-Rex and long neck (sadly, I'm not sure which species) and a big sand pit that the boy spent a substantial amount of time digging up a plastic fossilized dinosaur skeleton with a sand shovel and a wide paintbrush.

Eventually, the heat got the better of us and because the boy refused to ride any more rides, we left around 6 p.m. Sandusky has a Meijer and much more reasonable food prices, so we stopped on the way to the cleveland-bound highway. While there, I found this:

It's called Chayote Squash. This Mexican native vegetable looks like a pear and tastes a lot like a mild potato. It was a buck per squash. I plopped one in the cart just because I was intrigued. Back at home, I googled information on my hispanic find. One site said that it made a great side dish stir fried with apple cedar vinegar. An idea for a recipe began to creep into my head, as I wondered: I bet that would taste great if I swapped the apple cedar vinegar out for balsamic. I grabbed an eggplant fresh from the garden out of my fridge and got to work.

Balsamic Chayote and Rice

What you need:

1 chayote squash

1 large japanese eggplant

2 cups brown rice, cooked

1 can black beans

balsamic vinegar

thyme

oregano

1. Peel and slice the eggplant into thin slices width-wise. Then cut the squash into 1/4 in slices length-wise. They will resemble apple slices for pie.

2. Stir fry the eggplant and squash in a large skillet for 9 minutes. Add a good splash or two of balsamic vinegar. Top with thyme, oregano, and salt. Cook another minute or two. Add black beans and enough balsamic to just fill the bottom of the pan. Cook until beans are heated through, stirring occasionally.

3. Add the rice (it should be hot still from the cooker or the pan, whichever) and stir thoroughly, cooking an additional minute or two. Add balsamic to taste and serve.

It's a simple light dish with very few ingredients, but those ingredients pack a real punch. The chayote squash retains a very slight crispness to it that adds texture to the meal. Because it's so mild, it takes on all the flavors of what you cook it with, which really works well for balsamic vinegar.

Even the cat was intrigued.

The June Garden 2012 and Black-Eyed Pea BBQ

The garden is off to a solid start. The summer squash, zucchinis, and one eggplant bush are flowering. One of the tomatoes has two green starter fruits.

So far, only one of the pepper plants has been attacked by wildlife. We unleashed enough garden fencing to cover the perimeter of the main garden plot. It stands maybe one foot off the ground. I was thinking chicken wire might do the trick but this fence was already hiding in the garage. We figured: why not? Hopefully it works.

While waiting for the veggies to grow, the supermarket still has to serve as the main veggie provider. The last time we were in Michigan, Meijer had a sale on peppers and mushrooms. The man went a little overboard: three bell peppers (yellow, orange, and red), two cartons of baby bella mushrooms, and a six-pack of portobellos. The caps were grilled up and eaten like burgers on buns with cheese and ketchup. For the rest, there was stir fry.

We had the wedding shower a few weeks ago, and one of the gifts was a set of prep bowls. I was thinking they'd work perfect for my one-serving of breakfast cereal in the morning. The man had more grandiose ideas. I got home from work to the peppers and mushrooms, plus carrots, all chopped and waiting in a few of the prep bowls and the rice already done in the cooker. I felt like I was on the cast of Americas Test Kitchen as I dumped the veggies into our clearanced-out giant Emeril saute skillet.

First, I stir fried the mushrooms separate so they could stay on the flames long enough to caramelize.

While the veggies fried, I got to thinking that they needed a little something extra, so I added a can of black-eyes peas. I added a bit of teryaki to start, but I've done so much with teryaki stir fry, I just didn't want to same old, same old. For good measure, I plopped in a fair amount of barbeque sauce. It left the veggies sweet but tasting like themselves and gave them some sauce that would add pep to the rice.

It was my first forray into black-eyed pea territory. I quite liked them. They tasted like a hybrid between a black bean and a chickpea. Come to think of it, they probably are. The meal was quite tasty at the dinner table but really didn't keep well for lunch the next day.

Throwing Things Together and a New Faux Chicken

When it comes to cooking, I'm the queen of throwing stuff in a pan and having it taste good. What I lack in technique, I apparently make up for in instinct. Just as I am the designated pancake flipper in this house, I am the one who makes the impromptu meals when nothing in the kitchen seems to add up to one full dinner. I am the Macgyver of the pantry.

The routine is pretty set at this point in my employment. I come home and dinner is usually waiting or in the process of being finished. I do little, but there have been a few nights when the cupboards were on the bare side a la Mother Hubbard. At such times, I do what any superhero would do. I rip off my outer layer of clothing, revealing my secret identity. (Then, I put on a more sensible outfit because I'm messy.)

Here are two end-of-the-pantry meals I've cooked up lately:

Option 1:
This one is my vegetarian version of the chicken and mushroom rice my mom used to make when I was younger. It involved chicken stock, minute rice, chicken pieces, green beans, and canned mushrooms. The chicken stock contained a fair amount of MSG, which my mom can't tolerate very well, so she either avoided eating this particular meal like the plague or she suffered the inevitable MSG headache.

I cooked up some rice (2 cups, I'd wager. That's what I usually cook up.) Then I searched the cupboards. I needed the obvious ingredients. What was more, I needed something to use instead of the chicken and stock.

Butter and Green Bean Mushroom Stir Fry (no MSG required)

The ingredients for this will be rough because I didn't stop to make note of how much I threw in while I was throwing, but all of said ingredients come from cans. This means, if you put in one can and it doesn't seem to be enough, add another one.

Ingredients List

French Cut Green Beans

Rice

Mushrooms

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Butter Beans

Water Chestnuts

A pinch of miso

Stir fry it all together in a saute pan and hey presto! Dinner is served.

Option 2:

This is a variation on a recipe I learned a few years back, in which zucchini gets peeled lengthwise with a veggie peeler all the way around until you hit seeds. This leaves thin strips of zuke that resemble liguine. Then, you can stir fry them up and add your favorite pasta sauce. It's the no carb pasta of champs.

Of course, I like carbs and find that as a veggie, they are just plain necessary to provide me with adequate nutrition. So here's a few Italian 50/50 of faux pasta and regular.

Whole Grain and Zucchini Pasta Stir Fry

Ingredients

3 small zucchinis, peeled as indicated above

whole grain pasta (enough for two servings, give or take)

pasta sauce (about half a jar)

1 tomato, diced

a handful or two of kale (mine was frozen and crumbled)

Stir fry it all together in a saute pan and once again, food.

I served this one with Gardein's faux crispy chicken tenders. I have to say, not bad. The man tasted them too and said that he thought they tasted more like real chicken than any other veggie meat product I've tried to date. Unlike some brands, this one is a mix of soy protein and seitan. This, of course, makes me want to get my hands on some 100 percent seitan all the more. 

What's more, they have seven grains and are vegan-friendly (no eggs, no dairy). I'd recommend them, but they are a little pricey. I got mine on sale half off and that put them only slightly cheaper than a boca-type product. Overall, though, thumbs up.

Miso Stir Fry with BBQ Tofu

What I wanted was a stir fry sauce made from miso, so that's what I got, with a nice sweet honey contrast.

I paired it with a BBQ tofu "steak" and, of course, rice, which we managed, despite its long grain nature, to turn into sticky rice.

To Make Sticky Rice:

It's basically just a process. Put the rice in the rice cooker as usual with the asked for amount of water. Then, instead of turning on the cooker, let the rice sit there, soaking in the water for 30 minutes. Then, add back whatever water was absorbed (there should be measurement lines on the sides of the cooker) and turn that puppy on. When it's done, the rice should be sticky. Pretty cool, right?

BBQ Tofu:

Cut the block of tofu in half widthwise and then slice those in half lengthwise. Put the resulting "steaks" on a baking sheet and slather on your favorite BBQ sauce. Broil, about 5 minutes per side, more if you want it more browned than it looks after the first 5. Voila, BBQ tofu.

Miso Stir Fry

What you need:

1 bag frozen Asian veggie mix

1 carrot, sliced (if veggie mix doesn't contain carrots)

1 T miso

1 t hot water

1 t soy sauce

1 T honey

2 cloves minced garlic

ginger

1/2 t cornstarch

a few shakes sunflower oil (optional)

1. in a bowl, mix the miso, hot water, soy sauce, honey, garlic, a few shakes of ginger, cornstarch, and the sunflower oil.

2. In a skillet, stir fry the carrots about 6 min. Add veggies. Stir fry to heated through. Add the miso sauce mix. Fry another min, mixing well.

Now, you can plate the stir fry with the tofu and add a nice bowl of the sticky rice. It's very flavorful and makes for a nice light meal. Fair warning, if you want to make miso soup with the leftovers, remember (as I didn't) that there's already a lot of miso in the veggies already and adding the entire required amount of paste for the soup will make a very very potent soup. So don't do that.

Because I succeeded with the sticky rice, I also had fun playing around with making rice balls, which are like Japan's delightful answer to the tuna melt. First, combine 1 T of mayo with a can of tuna and a splash of soy sauce. Then take a handful of sticky rice, put it in a bowl, plop a bit of the tuna on the rice, and then use a spoon to mold the rice into a ball around the tuna. To really make it look authentic, add a strip of nori wrapped around the outside of the ball. It's an odd but welcomed change for a little kid's lunchbox.

Anything and chocolate

I'm your standard everyday overachiever. I am one of those people who overschedule, overbook, overkill everything. And as I'm trying to do what good ole Semenza taught me to do in Graduate Study for the 21st Century and work work work harder, longer, and faster than even your professors work, just to prove your chutzpah, I find that I have no time for, well, anything not in some way directly related to schoolwork, including my 20 hour per week internship at the local NPR/PBS station.

The blog has taken a hit and for that I apologize. I still have my index cards. One, in particular, a nice eggplant meatball recipe, I've had Art make again and again for me to take in tupperware and leave in the faculty frig for supper before night class after teaching and doing NPR research all day. It's coming soon and believe me, you're going to love it. In the mean time, Mondays I get home in enough time to eat with my boys. Today, Art made a fun concoction that started out as stir fry before he realized we were out of the usual stir fry veggie standbys.

Instead, he added a bit too much dark chocolate baking cocoa into the rice, adding black beans, a can of tomatoes, a can of mixed veggies, and a can of diced tomatoes (dented and clearanced at Kroger). It was a rather strange color but utterly delicious. I have no photos. I have no recipe. Just my man, a pan, a larder full of canned goods, and a starved, overworked vegetarian in need of both vegetables and protein.

And chocolate, as everyone knows, goes with anything. Magic. Do I have the best guy on the planet or what, ladies? Black beans and chocolate... love if ever I saw it.