Stir Fry Night

It was another stir fry night at our house. It's becoming pretty much once a week. We lay out a selection of vegetables and sauces (my meat-eating family usually chops up some sort of meat to go with it). It's a mix of what you like, what sounds good, and what is on hand. Mine usually consists of onion, garlic, shredded carrots, mushrooms (tonight was a mix of button and sliced portabellas), green onion, and broccoli. Depending on the season and what is in the fridge there may also be snap peas, lima beans, corn, green beans, asparagus, peppers and/or marinated tofu. Sauces and spices are all done to taste and changes depending on what's on hand. (My mom often will take scoop of my veggie filled stir fry and some of my brother's mostly meat stir fry to combine the two.) Served over some plain brown rice with a vegetable egg roll I have a meal fit for a queen. Of course, I have such a weakness for decent vegetable egg rolls and try (try being the key word) to keep them in the freezer most of the time.

Picked up some veggie burgers while getting veggies for tonight's stir fry. Between the veggies, the veggie burgers, and what's in the house I should be good for awhile. Although we so seem to be dangerously low on homemade salsa.

"Support you right to arm bears." -- Cleveland Armory

Bring on the Yumminess!

It's been a fairly long weekend and I am ready for a break in this chilly weather. In the meantime I've been embracing some of those foods that are easy to fix for vegetarians, especially along side a family of non-vegetarians. Last night we had stir fry choked full of vegetables and mushrooms served over some white rice along side of a vegetable egg roll. Sliced mushrooms, onion, garlic, carrot, water chesnuts, and some snow peas made me happy. (The meat-eaters here added meat to their seperate serving.)

Tonight, after an afternoon/early evening rehearsal I came home to find the starts of tacos (okay, so the meat for them had been prepared). I sauteed up some diced onion, mushrooms, and a touch of garlic (my standby) in olive oil, then added some pepper flakes and black beans I had in the freezer (i usually don't use a whole can at once and have found freezing whatever I don't use for later to be super handy). Spiced it all up and let it simmer with a little water until it thickened and cooked down nicely. It didn't take too long to thicken.

I warmed some soft taco shell in the microwave between damp paper towels, then topped with my black bean/mushroom mix, shredded lettuce, shredded cheese, and some black olives. Then served it along side some nacho chips and salsa. (Vegan, with the exception of the shredded cheese although that is getting easier to substitute or replace with something else.) Bring on the yumminess!

"Cruelty must be whitewashed by a moral excuse, and pretense of reluctance." ~George Bernard Shaw