January 4th / 6th / 19th: STIR-FRY
Stir-fry is my go-to when I’m feeling lazy. It’s quick, easy and I can use up a bunch of veggies from the fridge all in one shot. I usually throw a half a cup of rice in the rice cooker before I do anything so at least that is on and requires zero attention from me. For my beef stir-fry I use thinly sliced beef, different colored bell peppers, sliced onions and carrots cut into little sticks. If I think I may be making stir-fry in the week, I usually cut up all the veggies at once and store them in little Tupperwares in the fridge so I can just throw together a stir-fry at the last minute.
And by ‘last minute’ I mean, I have woken from a nap to discover there is nothing defrosted and it’s 7:45pm.
For the beef, I buy a huge round of beef from Costco and cut it up. I get four steaks, four baggies of stew meat and 2 baggies of stir-fry beef. To get it so thinly sliced, I cut the beef into thinish slabs and lay them out on parchment paper. Very carefully, I then balance the parchment paper on a tray and place it in the freezer for 30 minutes. One it’s frozen, I take it out, slice it up nice and thin, portion it back into separate baggies, label and refreeze. This way it will defrost super quick, cook super quick and be table-ready from the freezer to the plate in 30 minutes.
For the stir-fry on the 4th, I used a Chinese 5-Spice Sauce (below) and for the Beef Stir-Fry on the 19th, I used an Asian Home Gourmet Szechuan Sauce I picked up at the Co-Op. I recognized it from living in Korea and couldn’t remember if we liked it so figured we’d try it again. We didn’t like it and I now remember why we only ever had it that once.
For the Sausage Stir-Fry two days later on the 6th, I used the same veggies as the Beef Stir-Fry as I had halved the bell peppers and onions for the first stir-fry and wanted to use up the other halves before they went weird in the fridge. And the onion smell each time I opened the fridge served as both an inspiration to cook anything stir-fry and a reminder to buy a new baking soda thingy for the fridge. I also used two smokies we had in the fridge and sliced them up into half-moon shapes.
The sauce for the one on the 6th, however, is the best part. For this one, I made my homemade stir-fry sauce: Spicy Stir-Fry Sauce. OK, so the name is a little obvious BUT it IS soy-free, dairy-free and gluten-free.
Just to be clear, I know I can’t have dairy and have been told to limit or eliminate gluten from my diet. The soy is on the fence. The whole saga is documented here but for the sake of argument, I basically eat something that may have soy in it, if it makes me sick, I don’t eat it again, if it doesn’t make me sick, I do eat it again. It’s a very simple process. I’ve avoided tofu and soy sauce anyway just to limit them but I can tolerate soybean oil and the teeny bit of soy that’s in some foods. For the soy-free ‘soy sauce’, I use this recipe. I make a large batch and then freeze it in an ice-cube tray for later use.
RECIPE: SPICY STIR-FRY SAUCE
3-4 tbs soy sauce or not-soy soy sauce
2 tbs white vinegar
1 cup of beef / chicken / vegetable stock
1/2 tb Splenda
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tb minced garlic or 1 tsp garlic powder
1 tb Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp onion powder
1-2 tsp Sriracha
2 tsp cornstarch
I sometimes also add 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika or ground chipotle powder just to give it a little more of a smoky flavour.
Throw all the ingredients EXCEPT the cornstarch into a bowl/jug/something to hold it all in and mix it about a little. I put it all in a mason jar and shake it. Works like a charm.
RECIPE: CHINESE 5-SPICE STIR-FRY SAUCE
1 tbs Chinese 5-spice powder (I use this one)
½ – 1 cup of beef stock (depending on how saucy you want your stir-fry)
2 tbs soy sauce or not-soy soy sauce
1 tb cornstarch.
RECIPE: BASIC STIR-FRY – Makes 2 meals for 2 sometimes with leftovers for the next day
Oil
1 cup of sliced chicken/beef/tofu/pork
2 carrots, sliced into sticks
½ each of 2 different colored peppers, sliced (or just one colored pepper. Red is nice. Or green. Orange is kinda cool. But not yellow. I’m kidding. Any colour pepper you’ve got is fine. It’s a stir-fry, not a painting.)
1 onion, sliced (try keep all the sliced veggies the same-ish size)
The instructions for all the stir-fries are pretty much the same.
Fry a small bit of oil in large frying pan or wok, if you’re feeling fancy and happen to have one. I use vegetable oil or canola oil.
Then fry up some sliced onion and garlic, add the beef or chicken or whatever meat you are using. Fry until browned, continually stirring.
Add the carrots and peppers and stir-fry for maybe 5-6 minutes.
For Chinese 5-Spice Stir-Fry:
Add Chinese 5-Spice powder and stir-fry for 1 minute, stirring consistently.
Add beef stock and soy sauce / not-soy soy sauce. Bring to boil and simmer for 10-15 more minutes.
Mix cornstarch with 2 tbs of water. Remove pan from heat, add cornstarch mixture, return pan to heat and stir until thickened.
For Spicy Stir-Fry Sauce:
Skip over the ‘add Chinese 5-spice powder’ step and just add your sauce mixture from the jug/bowl/jar and bring to boil then simmer for 10-15 more minutes. I usually simmer until the rice cooker beeps and the meat is cooked.
Mix cornstarch with 2 tbs of water. Remove pan from heat, add cornstarch mixture, return pan to heat and stir until thickened.
For the package stir-fry sauce, follow the instructions on the package. Obviously.
Return to list
January 7th: FRICOT – Makes 4 bowls of soup
The Canadian One would constantly talk about a soup his grandmother would make him called Fricot. I wasn’t until recently that we realized it was not written how it was pronounced, ‘Fricko’, it was actually ‘Fricot’, a traditional Acadian stew. As a result, the misspelling made it difficult to work out exactly what goes into it other than his memory of turkey and potatoes. The Canadian One’s cousin eventually gave us an idea of what went into it and through trial and error after each holiday with leftover turkey, the Quest for Fricot began. Of course, NOW we have looked up a recipe and realized it is very similar to the one we came up with and are rather proud of our little version.
2 cups cooked and shredded turkey or chicken
1 cup carrot, diced
1 onion, diced
2 tbs butter
3 potatoes, diced
4 cups chicken stock
1tsp each of dried sage, thyme, marjoram
Salt and pepper
1 tsp garlic, crushed, optional but I like it
Melt butter in large pan. Fry onions and garlic a little until soft. Toss all other ingredients in. I throw in some Silk Road All-Purpose Blend sometimes. Just a tablespoon. Bring to boil. Simmer for 1-2 hours. I usually just put it on while I’m doing other stuff in the kitchen like watching Scandal on my iPad or Instgramming pictures of my cats. We serve it with buns or bread.
Return to list
January 8th: CHICKEN DRUMSTICKS & FRIES – Makes enough for 8-10 drumsticks
Friday is Fry-day in our home. I like making fries on a Friday. I have no idea why or even how this happened. It just began as a pattern and stuck. The fries are pretty simple; they are frozen oven fries so I just follow the instructions on the package.
For the sauce, we use an adapted version of Barbecue Chicken Legs by The Pioneer Woman.
1 tsp onion powder
1-2 tbs tomato paste
1/2 cup no-sugar ketchup (or regular ketchup)
1 tsp garlic powder
3 tbs white vinegar (more or less to taste)
1 tb Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp molasses
2 tbs chipotle adobo sauce or 2 tsp ground chipotle powder
1/2 tsp mustard powder (optional)
1 tb Splenda (optional)
1/4 tsp smoked paprika powder (optional)
Sprinkle of salt and pepper
Place all ingredients in a saucepan, heat gently and stir until throughly mixed. This bubbles and splashes a bit. Not gonna lie. I sometimes make double and freeze half.
For the drumsticks, we rub oil (usually olive oil) over the chicken and then sprinkle it with some salt and pepper and bake at 425F for 20 minutes, flip it and bake for another 20 minutes, then add the sauce, reduce heat to 350F, cover with foil, bake for 5 minutes, flip and kinda spoon the sauce over it (or use a brush if you have one) and bake for another 5 minutes.
I dip my fries in the excess sauce. I just LOVE it.
This also works as a wing sauce. Just FYI.
Return to list
January 9th: LEFTOVER TURKEY CHILLI – Makes 2-3 meals for 2
We had a LOT of turkey leftover from Christmas dinner. It being just the two of us, and given my penchant for buying large turkeys on sale and stuffing our freezer with them, it leads to an extraordinary amount of leftovers. And let’s be honest, after eating nothing but turkey for 2-3 days over the holidays, you’re done. You need something else. Like a steak.
Whenever there’s a large turkey cooked, I (meaning not me at all, The Canadian One) cuts off enough meat for 2 dinners and puts it aside and then cuts off all the rest of the meat, and I slice it, portion it out and freeze it. I would make stock out of the carcass however my current pot is not large enough and into the trash the bones go.
This chili came about because during a month-end freezer inventory, I found a small baggie of frozen sweetcorn and a baggie with a cup of cooked kidney beans in it. Coupling that with a tin of chopped tomatoes, an onion and the remainder of a sandwich baggie of frozen tomato paste, we had ourselves a meal.
Vegetable or coconut oil
1 cup cooked turkey
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup cooked kidney beans
1 large can diced tomatoes
2 tbs of tomato paste
½ cup of sweetcorn
2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
A sprinkling of red chilli flakes or diced jalapeños (optional)
Heat oil in pan or pot. Add onion and garlic and fry until softened.
After that, I usually just dump all of the rest of the ingredients into the pot, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes. I’m sure there is an actual order I should be adding these all to the pot but in the interest of time and ease, I don’t seek it out.
This, incidentally, would also work as a slow-cooker recipe. Probably fry onion and garlic, add to slow cooker along with all the other ingredients and then put it on low for 6 hours. If anyone tries that, let me know.
Return to list
January 13th: CHICKPEA & SAUSAGE STEW WITH RICE – Makes 2-3 meals for 2
This was more of a what-do-we-have-in-the-fridge type of stew more so than a gourmet-fancy-follow-a-recipe type of thing. I buy a lot of dried chickpeas, soak 3 cups of them overnight, boil them the following day and then freeze them in 1 cup baggies in the freezer to add to whatever I want.
For this I laid out all the ingredients I could find on the table and came up with the plan to toss everything into a pot and hope for the best. I like all those things separately, there was no reason I could think of as to why it wouldn’t all work together.
1 cup chickpeas
2 smokie sausages, diced
1 can of whole tomatoes
Some tomato paste, it looked like about a tablespoon. It was a frozen square. I feel like when it melted, it was about a tablespoon. I just threw it into the pot frozen.
1 onion, diced
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced aka bashed with a frying pan until small
1 red bell pepper, diced. It was actually 3/4 of a bell pepper because some of it had gone a little soft.
2 tsp mild chilli powder
1 tsp cumin
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup of chicken stock
Red chilli flakes and chopped jalapeno peppers
Frozen sweetcorn, a handful
I fried up the garlic and onion in some oil and added them to a large pot. Then I basically threw everything else into the pot and brought it to a boil. Then I simmered it for about an hour with the lid on.
You can also make this without the sausage. Obviously.
Return to list
January 21st: CHICKEN VINDALOO CURRY AND RICE – Makes 1 meal for 2
This curry is HOT, I’m not gonna lie. The first time I had it, I put a lot of curry powder in it and had to add a little coconut milk to mine to mellow it out a bit.
1 tb Vindaloo curry powder (I used The Silk Road’s Vindaloo curry blend) Add more or less to taste. I suggest the first time you make it, use less and then build from there.
2 chicken breasts, diced (or meat/vegetables of choice)
2 tomatoes, diced
2 tbs tomato paste
1-2 tsp red wine vinegar (to taste)
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 cup water / stock
Blend the tomato paste, curry powder and vinegar into a paste and marinate the chicken in it in the fridge for an hour or so. I sometimes just gloss right over this step if I feel like it. I mean, we’re the ones eating it, if we don’t mind, who cares? If you DO mind, however, please do marinate it for a bit in the fridge.
Fry up the garlic and onion until soft in a little oil. I use vegetable oil or coconut oil.
Add chicken mixture and fry, stirring, until the chicken is browned on the outside.
Add tomatoes and water/stock to pan. Bring to boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Serve with rice.
Return to list
January 23rd: SAUSAGE AND PEPPER PASTA – Makes 2-3 meals for 2
This is a recipe I got from CrockPot Diabetic Recipes but adapted it for use on the stove and not the slow-cooker.
I kept the basic ingredients the same except I used Mild Italian Pork Sausages and not the chicken sausages called for in the recipe.
4 mild Italian sausages (or any sausage, really)
1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced (again, I just whack it a few times with a pot until it’s all small)
1 large can of whole tomatoes
A mixture of sliced peppers (red, green, yellow, orange) making up about 2 cups, if you have them. If not just slice up 2 different coloured peppers.
1 tbs dried basil
1 tsp red chilli flakes
Salt and Pepper
Remove the sausages from their casings, cut into little balls and fry in a frying pan with a little oil until browned. Tip into a large pot.
Add onion and garlic to the frying pan and fry until soft. Tip into the large pot.
Add all the other ingredients to the large pot. Stir it around, bring to boil, cover and simmer for an hour.
Serve with pasta.
Return to list
January 29th: BEEF MADRAS AND FRIES – Makes 1 meal for 2
This requires marinating overnight. Unlike the earlier curry, I’ve never skipped over the marinating of the beef. Also, I usually serve this with rice but lately we’ve been having it with fries…and here’s why:
We had a friend visiting from Chicago a few months back and, as you do when friends come to town, we went out and got drunk, returning home at 2am…ish, starving. I threw some fries in the oven and located some leftover Beef Madras from dinner earlier in the fridge.
I heated it up, poured it over the cooked fries poutine-style and we ate it with a side of Sriracha and tomato ketchup. Now, you may be scrunching up your nose at this, but it was the best thing we had ever tasted and we felt like geniuses. It just worked. We have no idea why.
We later tried it again, after not consuming copious amounts of beer and vodka and it still worked. It was glorious and thus a new, unusual dish was born.
You, of course, can serve this with just plain rice and not the fries, ketchup, Sriracha combo….but if you’re feeling adventurous, I urge you to try it.
1 cup of stewing beef – I say 1 cup. I have really no idea how much it was. About 1 1/2 handfuls, I would guess.
1 onion, diced
2-3 tbs madras powder (I used this one)
2 tbs red wine vinegar
2 tbs tomato paste
1 cup water
Mix the madras powder, tomato paste and red wine vinegar together, add the beef, squish about and make sure it’s all nice and mixed and then marinate overnight in the fridge.
The next day, fry up the onions in a little oil and then remove from pan.
Add the beef and curry mixture to the pan along with 1/2 cup water. Simmer gently until the water is almost gone. It will take maybe 5-10 minutes.
Add the onions and the rest of the water to the pan. Bring to a small boil, cover and simmer for 1 hour, adding more water if it looks like it’s drying out.
Serve with rice…or, as discussed, the fries/ketchup/Sriracha combo. Think about it.
Report back if you’ve tried it.
Return to list
The Ketchup War 