Super Easy Stir Fry

Today my husband woke up at 3 with errands to run (that's pm, since he works graves). Since Bugs missed him and wanted to spend time with him, I thought it would be a good idea (ha!) to run errands together as a family. I regretted that once I realized we were finally going to be getting home at 6 and Roo's bedtime is 7, and Bug's is 8. Not much time for messing around. Especially considering I didn't have a plan for dinner yet. Oops.

Anyway, I came up with stir fry as an easy and fast dinner for tonight's meal. And it was a hit!

Bug's plate, ready to go. Okay, okay, I admit it-- the chopsticks are a prop. She didn't use them. But then again, she's only 2!

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In your rice cooker (something I feel is an essential kitchen item), put in desired amount of rice and water and set to "cook." Or I suppose you could cook your rice conventionally if you must. Follow the instructions listed on your rice's packaging.

Cut four chicken tenders or one chicken breast half into small pieces. In a large skillet or wok, heat 2 or 3 T sesame oil on medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook through stirring frequently, 3-4 minutes. Add 2 T oyster sauce and 2 T soy sauce.

Add approximately 4 cups of frozen stir fry vegetables. I use the huge bags you can buy at Costco, mainly because they have the little corn in them and Bugs loves those. Plus it's cheaper to buy them in the huge bag. Add 2 t Asian seasoning (I use Essence of Emeril) and 1 t sesame seeds. For a regular stir fry, you would continue stirring, but because these are frozen vegetables it cooks faster if you cover for a few minutes until they are cooked through.

Serve over mounds of rice.
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Feeding a very young toddler like Roo is a difficult task sometimes. They have food sensitivities and sometimes have reactions. I do think my pediatrician's suggestion to take Roo to the emergency room for a rash over her mouth, chin and eyes was a little overboard, though. DH said she was probably covering her butt and didn't want to be held liable if she told me something different and there were serious consequences. Instead I ignored that part of her advice and just gave her Benedryl, like she suggested. The rash was almost gone within a few minutes of taking the food away, washing her hands, and giving her Benedryl. As a treat for enduring the medicine, we gave her watermelon for dessert. Yum! I was hoping as a pleasant side effect of the Benedryl, she would sleep soundly for more than 1 hour at a time, but since quarter to 8 when she fell asleep, she's woken up 3 times. Whoops, make that 4 times. Gotta go!

Fresh fish

I am married to a fisherman. That means a lot of tasks left to the wayside during fishing season. It also means a lot of fresh fish for dinner. On Saturday he caught a 4 1/2 pound largemouth bass, and we didn't have an opportunity to cook it up until tonight. It was delicious.

DH prepared it by filleting the fish and placing in a foil-lined pan, and made a sauce of mayonaise, soy sauce, and garlic. He covered the fish and placed in the oven set at 375 for about 20 minutes.

To go with our fish, I made a rice pilaf. It's quite simple and delicious, so I make it a lot. For some reason, I can't imagine anything as a side dish with fish besides rice.

Rice Pilaf

2 T butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups rice
salt
pepper
3 cups chicken stock
handful of frozen peas
2-3 T pine nuts

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter on medium. Add the chopped onion. Once the onion begins to become translucent, add the rice and stir on the stove for one minute. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes. When the rice is cooked, add the frozen peas. The heat from the rice will warm the peas quickly, so there is no need to place over heat. Add the pine nuts, to taste.

Favorite fast & easy lunch-- Dressed Up Mac & Cheese

"MOM! I want mac and cheese!" Every day when I ask Bugs what she wants for lunch, it's mac and cheese. Every. Single. Day. Needless to say, Mom gets a little tired of mac and cheese. Not only that, it's not terribly nutritious. So today, we compromised. OK, you can't really compromise with a 2 year old. When I told her we were adding vegetables, she freaked out. "I don't like veg-a-bowls. I don't want it!" I told her she could pick them out, but her sister liked vegetables so I was going to add them. She did pick some of them out, but most of them she didn't notice or forgot that she was supposed to be mad about eating veg-a-bowls. How sneaky of me!

To make this super easy lunch, you just need a box of your favorite macaroni and cheese, 1/3 bag of mixed vegetables, and a protein of your choice. I have Annie's macaroni and cheese, which I prefer because it uses organic ingredients and I understand all the words on the ingredients list, plus it uses less butter so it's slightly less bad for you. I also used a leftover smoked sausage cut into bits for the protein. You could also use lunchmeat, tofu, hotdogs, leftover cut up chicken, or whatever else you have on hand.

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Begin by boiling 6 cups of water, with a pinch of salt, and begin making the macaroni noodles according to the instructions on the box. When there are about 3 or 4 minutes remaining in the cooking time, add the frozen vegetables and the protein, cut into bite sized pieces. Alternatively, you can cook the protein or the vegetables in the microwave.

When the noodles are done, drain them in a colander.

At this point, I scoop out some noodles and vegetables for my one year old, Roo, and let it cool off for a minute.

Now make the macaroni and cheese according to the instructions.

Serve with fruit on the side.