Thai broccoli mix

Total cop out dinner. Somehow I keep ending up with empty cupboards...

So tonight I took a head of fresh broccoli and sautéed it in sesame and coconut oil. I then added, directly to the skillet, a carton of Archer Farms Thai curry soup.

I served this over brown rice, with a handful of raw cashews on each portion. Very delightful.

Broccoli spinach rice casserole

I made a quick casserole last night that my husband said was hearty.

Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup brown rice (measured before steaming)
- 1 bag green giant steam in bag broccoli with premium cheese sauce
- 1 cup frozen spinach
- 3 Morningstar breakfast patties, torn into chunks
- market pantry six-blend Italian cheese

I started with 1 1/4 cup brown rice in the steamer. Prepare broccoli as instructed on bag. Pour broccoli and sauce into rice, add spinach and "sausage." Stir well. Sprinkle cheese on top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Fried Rice and Egg Rolls

I'm reheating some of my crab egg rolls for lunch today because I have to work late and this way I know my daughter has had some good stuff today.

The egg rolls can be found here:
http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2010/01/crab-rolls.html
For a side I prepared some 'fried rice.'
Ingredients:

• One tablespoon sesame seeds
• One tablespoon canola oil
• one teaspoon low sodium soy sauce
• one-half cup brown rice
• one quarter cup peas
• one quarter cup spinach, ripped tiny
• one small can water chestnuts

In a wok, combine the oil, soy sauce and sesame seeds. When the wok heats up, add the vegetables. Cook a few minutes and add the rice. Cook until the rice absorbs the leftover "sauce."

Cauliflower and exploding pyrex

I started a lovely lunch today, with a base of instant brown rice that I cooked in water where I had placed about a tablespoon of parsley from my garden that I had stowed in the freezer. I made some Green Giant frozen cauliflower in cheese sauce, planning to serve that on a bed of rice, with some slices of Morningstar vegetarian Italian sausage. I started the tea pot for some almond tea as a beverage and while I began to assemble the final meal...

POP!

I had turned on the wrong burner and my large 11 x 7 pyrex dish exploded all over the kitchen. Thank goodness it narrowly missed the food...

Thai chicken?

I'm feeling lazy so I took the chicken breasts in the fridge and sprinkled with curry powder and organic four color peppercorns. Then I poured Wegman's Thai Culinary Broth on it and baked it in the oven for about an hour on 375. At about 45 minutes in, I added instant brown rice, the rest of the container of broth and peas.

Chicken "Stir Fry"

My daughter had the last of my mother's meatballs and sausages in red sauce for lunch, with an apple and some fritos.

My husband and I had my mom's leftover rice curry. BUT my husband used the last of the vegetarian Morningstar Chikn Nuggets and I had planned to make those into chicken stir-fry with the microwaveable/steam in bag vegetables and concoct some sort of Asian-style sesame sauce. I didn't get to the sauce. My husband felt bad about using the nuggets, so he chopped up one chicken breast from the freezer and fried it. We served with brown rice and some low-sodium soy sauce.

Funky Mexican Style Meal

We made that hot bean dip on Sunday and today I plan on using it for some sort of cheddar cheese burritos for lunch. I'm currently boiling water for brown rice. 1 cup instant brown rice. I put in the pan 2 cups water, about a teaspoon commercial chili powder (the kind that has all the chili seasonings not just chili powder), about a teaspoon garlic powder and a few twists of my pepper grinder with the four color peppercorns.

After the rice cooked for about six minutes I threw in some tiny pieces of fresh broccoli, about 1/4 cup frozen corn, about a 1/4 cup frozen peas, and about a 1/4 cup fresh matchstick carrots that are no longer that fresh.

I sprayed my skillet with some no-stick spray, tossed in flour tortilla, some shredded cheddar and a few spoonfuls of the bean dip. With the heat on around medium, I slapped a lid on the skillet and cooked it until the cheese melted, careful not to let the bottom of the tortilla burn. I pulled it off the heat, topped with mango salsa and rolled.

Those who have followed my blog for a while know that I serve mango salsa with my Mexican dinners because it has a nice vitamin C and vitamin A content, so it's not nutritionally void like a lot of salsas. I use Wegmans. They have a generic version that's organic.

Asian tonight

I opened my freezer in shock to find it was mostly empty. No homemade bread, no baked goods, no frozen meals left for me to heat in an instant.

So tonight, I took the last of the frozen chicken egg rolls from the warehouse store and I mixed up some oriental style sauce: about a teaspoon garlic powder, a teaspoon honey, three tablespoons sesame oil, one teaspoon sugar, about three tablespoons water, a 1/2 teaspoon ginger, and a half teaspoon oriental five spice.

I poured the sauce into a skillet with lots of frozen mixed vegetables (the kind normally for soup) and added a couple tablespoons of sesame seeds. I cooked the mix on high for about five minutes to thaw the veggies, then I turned the heat down and let it simmer.

Meanwhile, I started some instant brown rice with some butter. I also thawed the egg rolls in the microwave. When they finished, I tossed the egg rolls in the skillet with the veggies.

Finally, I started the tea pot and made some green tea with honey.

I made iced tea with the green tea. I piled rice into bowls, topped it with vegetables, and added the egg rolls to each bowl. Normally, when I make random stirfries without a formal recipe, they come out bland and I have a boatload leftover which nobody wants to eat. Today, it was incredible. And everybody wanted more. But there wasn't any.

Chicken and Rice

Today for lunch, I am recycling last night's chicken. I am taking the French-style chicken and the remaining cream sauce (the recipe made way too much sauce for the chicken) and adding it to brown rice and peas. The sauce should give the rice and peas perfect flavor. My preschooler ate two big bowls.