Stir Fry

I like to call this "poor man's stir fry", since all I only had broccoli and carrots in the fridge. But, it turned out really well. Both of these veggies are strong enough to hold up well through the cooking process, and their flavor blends well with the soy sauce. This was a good quick cold weather meal. I'm made versions of this before, and will probably keep making versions of this in the future.

Recipe: Serves 2-3

2 carrots, washed and julienne cut
1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
1/4 onion, thinly sliced
1/4 inch fresh ginger, grated
2 cloves of garlic, grated
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tbs soy sauce
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 C. cooked brown rice (I had instant on hand).

-Start cooking your rice as package/bag directs

-Cut all veggies. Combine broccoli and carrots.

-Heat olive oil, soy sauce and brown sugar over medium high heat in a large skillet

-Add onion, garlic and ginger and red pepper flakes. Saute until onions are tender, stir often to not burn the garlic.

-Add the carrots and broccoli. Continue to stir fry for about 10 minutes until the veggies are cooked. Serve warm over rice.

-Enjoy!!!

Broccoli Cheddar Soup with Corn Bread

This 4th or July weekend was a bit cold and very rainy. What better weather for comfort food! Greg had a morning and afternoon off, so we got to spend our lunch hour making food together. Greg tackled the corn bread, while I made a new Broccoli Cheddar recipe. Our old recipe, though very tasty, had 1 brick of Velveeta in it (hm....). Not surprisingly, this soup was far superior to our old recipe! We found the recipe on the Food Networks website, courtesy of Emeril. We made a few minor changes based on what we had in the apartment, but it's more or less the same recipe. The corn bread recipe is actually from my Mom. Since Greg is a very precise baker (he often weighs and sifts his dry ingredients), he followed her recipe very closely, and as always it was wonderful!

The soup is very easy to make, and is really fragrant. Our apartment smelled like it for a day or so afterwards. I suppose we could have aired the place out, but it was just so humid that we left the air on so we wouldn't melt.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup Recipe:

5 TBS butter or margarine, cut into 2 and 3 TBS
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp thyme
salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 TBS flour
3 C. chicken stock
1/2 C. skim milk
8oz shredded cheddar cheese
1 16oz pkg frozen broccoli

-In a stock pot, melt 3 TBS butter or margarine, add onion, nutmeg, thyme, salt and pepper. Cook until tender. Add the garlic and stir to combine.

- Slowly add the flour and stir to coat. Add the chicken stock to this mixture, whisking constantly. Boil and bring down to a simmer for 5 minutes.

-Add the broccoli, continue simmering for about 10 minutes.

-Add the milk, let simmer for another 5 minutes. When the soup has thickened, slowly add the cheese, whisking constantly while it melts. Serve warm, enjoy!!!

Corn Bread Recipe:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees

1 C. cornmeal
1 C. flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 C. milk
1/4 C. melted butter

-In a large bowl, combine all of your dry ingredients. Mix well.

-Melt your butter. Add all of your wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Combine well. Pour into a greased 8x8 baking pan, bake for 20 minutes.

-Enjoy!!!