Ginger Garlic Stir Fry

Hey all, I wanted to share a recipe that is my go-to for stir fry. It is seriously so easy, fresh and DELICIOUS. Even Chris loves it, and he's no stir fry fan. The secret is my special sauce that I use (eyebrow wiggle and wink).

I love this recipe because it's a good way to use up leftover veggies. I'll usually do this towards the end of the week, when I might have half a cabbage or a lone red pepper leftover. It's filling and satisfying and perty cheap!

Ingredients:

1 c sliced veggies/serving; onions and carrots are always a MUST, and then I like to add broccoli, peppers, cabbage as I have them. If I'm feeling lazy, I sometimes use a frozen stir fry veggie mix.

1/2 c of protein; I usually use tofu, but beef or chicken would be great

1 cup cooked rice/serving

1 recipe of the sauce found below

1 T cooking oil

Ahem. So what I usually do is prepare the sauce below, then I'll marinate my tofu in the sauce. Tofu holds flavors wonderfully. Then I'll throw about a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and cook it until it's nice and crispy on all sides. If you use tofu, save the marinade; with raw meat, this might be unsafe, so you may have to make more sauce.

Then, I'll remove my tofu from the pan and start cooking the veggies in the same pan (you can use 2 separate pans so you could cook your protein/veggies at the same time), adding a little oil if needed. When they are getting close to how I like them I will throw in the sauce I used to marinate the tofu and let the veggies soak it up a little, for about 3 minutes. Then I pull it off the heat. To eat I usually pull a cup of rice and then top it with the veggies/tofu. Delicious, healthy, and fast.

Sauce:

It's mind blowing how easy this sauce is to make—and how good it turns out. And I like to use it because I know what's in it, unlike Bragg's or other bottled teriyaki sauces that can have preservatives or high fructose corn syrup in them (yuck).

1/4 c soy sauce

1 c water

2 cloves garlic, minced (more if you like garlic)

1 tbl minced fresh ginger

1 t sugar (optional)

1 tbl corn starch

Mix the soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and sugar together in a small bowl, reserving a 1/4 water. Mix the water with the corn starch until it is dissolved, and pour into sauce. Easy peasy :)!

MexiMeat Mix

MexiMeat Mix is delicious and is adapted from the Mexican Meat Mix recipe in the "Make-a-Mix" Cookbook. It is a mix and is intended to be made in bulk and then frozen in meal-size portions.

We mostly use this meat to make delicious burritos by adding black beans to the meat, then placing that mixture on a tortilla with cheese, sour cream, guacamole, tomatoes, salsa, and lettuce. It can also be used to make nachos, enchiladas, or taco salad.

Here's the recipe:

5 lb. beef roast or combination of beef and pork roasts

3 onions, chopped (I used 2)

1 (4 oz.) can chopped green chilies

2 (7 oz.) cans green-chile salsa

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

4 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

1-2 tsp. salt (I start with 1 tsp. but usually add close to 2 tsp.--to taste)

1 tsp. ground cumin

Directions:

Place roast, chopped onions, green chilies, and green chile salsa in a crock pot. Cook on low 8-10 hours or high 4-6 hours. Drain meat, reserving juices. Cool meat, then remove bones (if you used a bone-in roast) and shred the meat and set aside.

Add 3/4 of the reserved cooking juices to a large stock pot. Add garlic powder, flour, 1 tsp. salt, and cumin. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes until mixture bubbles. Cook one minute more. Add shredded meat. Stir and add additional salt to taste. Add more of the reserved juice, if needed, to reach desired consistency. Set aside to cool enough to freeze.

Put about 2-3 cups cooled meat mix into 1-quart freezer bags or freezer containers, leaving 1/2-inch space at the top. Seal and label with date and contents. Freeze and use within 6 months.

I used a large pork shoulder butt roast this time (it had a couple bones). Beef roasts are also great, a combination of the two is good, too.

Here are the onions, green chile salsa, and green chilies I used.

It's all in the crock pot and ready to cook! (4 hours on high this time)

Shredding the meat after it's cooked and slightly cool.

A close-up of the meat shredding. Just get two forks in there and pull the meat apart!

This is how the meat looks when it's shredded.

The juices and flour ready to simmer.

Last time I made this, I needed all the juice. So, I poured it all in this time. I should've done as my directions above indicated and started with 3/4 of the liquid (I added those directions due to this experience). This meat turned out a bit juicier than I prefer.

My bags of meat ready to go into the freezer to provide delicious, easy to prepare meals!

French Bread Pizza

1 loaf French Bread

Spaghetti, Pizza Sauce, or Homemade Pizza Sauce:
1-8 oz. can tomato sauce
¾ tsp. Italian seasoning
½ tsp. Garlic powder
(Or use 1 tsp. Homemade Gourmet Garlic Basil Seasoning)

8-16 oz. mozzarella cheese, grated

Desired Toppings: pepperoni, ham, pineapple, onion, green pepper, etc., etc. (I recently found Canadian Bacon by the pepperoni at the store, and we've enjoyed that find).

Mix the tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder (or Garlic Basil Seasoning) together. Let stand while the other toppings are prepared. Cut loaf of French bread into halves or thirds (depending on loaf thickness), lengthwise--as pictured above. Arrange bread pieces on a cookie sheet. To save on clean-up time, line cookie sheet with foil and then place bread on the foil. Divide sauce among the pieces of bread and spread evenly. Top with toppings, then sprinkle cheese over toppings. Bake at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until cheese is melted and edges of the bread are light brown.