Despite my lack of blog posts in the past few weeks, I have continued to think and cook.
You should probably be thankful I’m not posting all the thinking I have been doing.
It’s overwhelming even to me. Lol
When I can muster the energy to drag both kids to the grocery store (or I run out of essentials like eggs, milk and bananas – how weird that those are our essentials!) I go grocery shopping.
Rather than make a list of meals like I used to one upon a time, I still just buy a bunch of stuff and figure it out later.
I’m not sure how I feel about this method.
Lately it has resulted in some tasty dishes….mostly things I made up, so I guess that’s a win! Too bad I haven’t had an ounce of inspiration to take pics, because I’d have a handful of new recipe posts.
Cest la vie.
This one came together quickly last night and was really delicious so I just had to share it with you.
I literally had everything on hand to whip this up and I bet you have most of it too!
I started with leftover pork tenderloin that we had eaten the night before ( maple dijon glazed and served over sautéed apples, carrots and onions – yum!).
Then I whipped up a batch of brown rice (you could also use white) early in the day and I spread it onto a rimmed baking sheet and stuck it into the fridge for a couple of hours to mimic leftover rice. If you have leftover rice, that’s even easier :)
The only other things I needed were carrots, onions, celery, garlic, soy sauce and eggs.
Any extra veggies you have on hand are a bonus.
That list may sound extensive, but if you’re like me and have the following items on hand most of the time, it’s a cinch to whip this up:
- carrots
- celery
- onion
- garlic
- soy sauce
- rice
- eggs
- frozen meat or leftover cooked meat
- cooking oil
But enough of the unofficial recipe, let’s take a look at the real thing!
- 1½ cups brown or white rice, cooked according to package directions and cooled (overnight for best results, but at least a couple of hours) - THIS YIELDS ABOUT 4½ CUPS COOKED RICE
- 2 cups finely chopped meat of your choice (leftover chicken, pork, beef, etc) You can also use fresh meat, chopped into small pieces. See instructions for more info.
- 1 cup finely diced carrot
- 1 cup finely diced celery
- 1 cup finely diced onion
- ½ cup frozen peas (optional)
- ½ cup diced bell pepper (optional)
- 2 eggs, scrambled but not cooked
- 5-7 cloves fresh garlic, minced
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce (or more to taste)
- 3 tablespoons heat safe oil (coconut, peanut, etc)
- **If you don't have leftover rice available, cook a cup and a half of dry rice early in the day, remove from heat and spread onto a rimmed baking sheet. Place uncovered in the fridge for several hours so it can cool and firm up. This will yield fried rice that isn't mushy or soggy.
- In a large wok or other round bottomed large pan, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium high heat until it's very hot but not smoking.
- IF STARTING WITH FRESH MEAT, add it to the pan and toss often until it's golden brown and almost cooked through (it will finish cooking later when you add it back to the pan). Remove from pan and set aside.
- Add additional tablespoon oil, get it back up to a high temp and add carrot, celery and onion. Stir fry for 3-4 minutes until veggies start to soften.
- Add frozen peas and/or diced bell pepper if you're using them and stir fry for about another 2 minutes.
- Add minced fresh garlic and stir fry another minute or so until fragrant but not burned (it may be good to turn heat down to medium at this point.
- Push veggies to the sides to create a space in the middle of the pan.
- Pour scrambled raw eggs into the center of the pan and stir only a few times until the eggs are mostly set.
- Mix everything together again and toss a few times to combine.
- Add leftover meat (or fresh meat you just cooked and set aside) to the pan and turn heat back to medium high. Stir fry for 1-2 minutes, then add leftover rice into the pan.
- Stir to mix everything together well and break up any clumps of rice.
- Create another well in the center of the pan by pushing everything to the sides and pour in 4 tablespoons of soy sauce. Let it bubble up a little then mix everything together again.
- Season with fresh pepper if desired and taste to see if any additional soy sauce is needed (remember people can add it to their individual plates later, you don't want to over salt!)
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
