Summertime can honestly be the worst month to have to cook in the kitchen. We have an old house without central air. Although we have ACs in two out of three rooms in the house, the heat from the stove and the oven can be murder. When you've got hungry mouths, you can't always wait until it's cooler to get things done. Here's something I put together with a few ingredients in my kitchen. It might be better known as stir-fry.
It all started with three basic ingredients:
It all started with three basic ingredients:
- A bag of frozen Beef Fajita strips from Sam's Club (A cup and a half will do.)
- One bag of Uncle Ben's Original :90-second Rice
- A bag of frozen Cali Veggies from Ultra Foods (a cup and a quarter)
And I seasoned everything with:
- Kikoman Teriyaki marinade
- Garlic Powder
- Seasoned Salt (just a few light shakes)
- Onion Powder
Seriously, I just started grabbing things and putting them together. I saw the beef strips sitting on the door of the freezer. I opened our pasta cabinet and saw the rice. The veggies were a final decision after finding nothing but canned New Potatoes and a plethora of Winter soups in the bottom cabinets. What turned out to be a "make do" situation out of a basic beef and broccoli dish ended up being amazingly great. I didn't overheat the kitchen, it took me about five minutes to get everything going, and I was done within 50 minutes. by the time Wheel of Fortune came on, my grandmother had her plate.
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| Sizzle and boil... |
This is a self-explanatory recipe. Because your veggies are frozen, start them boiling first. Make sure the ratio of water to vegetables is adequate for two reasons: One--too much water makes them mushy. Two-- you're going to be seasoning them as they boil. If you've got too much water, the flavoring will be all gone. You want seasoned veggies, not seasoned water.
Next, start baking your strips. Since the bag I got was from Sam's Club, I just followed the directions and let those bake for about maybe ten to twenty more minutes longer than they want you to. I like my beef well-done, and sometimes with that particular brand (John Soules), things get rubbery when you simply follow their cooking time. I let them get nice and brown. At the same time, I nuked my rice. To me, this rice always needs extra flavor. I didn't want to give my grandma just boring rice and beef. So I tossed everything in a medium/small skillet, added a teeny bit of veggie oil, and stir-fried my rice and beef. I sprinkled a little of the 'yaki sauce, added light seasonings, and let that simmer for a bit.
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| All done! |
About 6 minutes later, I let everything cool off before dishing it onto the plate. As you can see from the picture above, it came out beautifully. It was quick, easy, and didn't have a lot of sodium in it. This is the most important part. You can't get heavy-handed with the seasonings. As for the rest, well, my father got to that. I was going to have it later on but he took one look and went "ooooh! ^.^". Before I knew it, the microwave was humming, and the leftovers were no more.