Stir Fry and "Fried" Rice

We've come to prefer this far healthier version of our favorite chinese food order. It's easy enough to have it hot and ready to go at about the same time it takes the delivery guy to work his way to your house. The sauce takes the longest, so start it first if you use it.   It is not very low sodium though, so you will have to adjust the ingredients in the sauce a bit to make it so. 






Stir Fry

Sauce:

1/2 c red wine
1/2 c or less low sodium soy sauce
1 Tb oyster sauce or hoison sauce
2 tsp corn starch to thicken

Saute minced onion and garlic in a bit of water or oil until soft. Combine corn starch and red wine and stir until dissolved. Add remaining ingredients and stir, then add to onion and garlic mixture. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens. Pour cooked vegetables into the pan, stir to coat them, and cook until vegetables are heated through.

Ingredients

1 bag frozen asparagus stir fry vegetables
1 bag frozen broccoli florets
optional - another bag of frozen sugar snap peas or other of your favorite vegetable

Cook according to package directions - steam or microwave just until defrosted, while it's still brightly colored.




"Fried" Rice
Ingredients

Cooked brown rice
1 cup shredded broccoli slaw
1/2 pound mushrooms
1 large onion
6-8 Garlic cloves, minced

Chop onions & garlic and saute in a bit of oil or water.    Add broccoli slaw or individual ingredients (finely chopped broccoli crowns, red cabbage, shredded carrots, and so on).    Cook until vegetables start to soften, then add mushrooms.    

Season with pepper & garlic powder, then sprinkle with low sodium soy sauce (to taste).   Add 1-2 cups brown rice and stir all together. 

*This is also the filling for the cabbage rolls. 


 

Cabbage Rolls

Instead of egg rolls with our chinese food, we decided to try to use a healthy wrapper instead.   We'd already improved upon the filling, so the wrapper was all that was left.   The filling is the "fried" rice from the chinese food post here. 

Take a large collard green leaf and wash it/rinse it off.    Then immerse it in boiling water for 30 seconds or so.    Remove it with tongs and lay it out flat.    Fill it with the "fried" rice filling and roll it up.   

At this point, you could just eat it as is, or you could pop it in the oven and bake it.  Serve with a dipping sauce or soy sauce if you like - but it's pretty good as is.  

Health Nut Cookies

Veggie Cookies

• 2 med/large zucchini
• 2 large apples
• 3 large carrots

Shred all into large bowl

• 1-1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 organic eggs or chia “eggs” (2 Tblsp chia soaked in ½ cup water for 15 minutes)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar or molasses or honey
• 1/2 cup applesauce

Mix together then mix with shredded produce

ADD:

• 1-1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 4 cups oatmeal
• 1 tsp baking soda (2 tsp if using molasses as sweetener)
• ½ tsp salt (optional)
• 1 cup raisins or other dried fruit
• ½ cup raw sunflower seeds (optional)
• ½ cup mini chocolate chips (optional)

Mix all together until combined
Bake at 350 degrees for 15-17 minutes

NOTE - I've always baked these as cookies because they started out that way, as regular Oatmeal Raisin cookies.  But, recently I started making them into bar cookies, a thin layer, and it so much easier.

Creamy Garlic Balsamic Vinegar Dressing

I could seriously drink this straight out of the cup. 

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon chia seeds
1/2 cup water

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (or more, to taste)
10 cloves roasted garlic (or less, to taste)
1 tsp spicy brown or dijon mustard
salt and pepper, to taste
splash of olive oil, OPTIONAL and unnecessary for a great taste

Put the chia seeds and water in a blender and blend on high for 30 seconds.  Let sit 5-10 minutes and blend again.   Let sit another 15 minutes or so until a gel starts forming. 

Meanwhile, roast the garlic in the oven - 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Combine everything in the blender and enjoy.    I like garlic in massive quantities, so if you don't, you might start with half this amount, taste the blender contents, and then add more if you like.   Ditto with the balsamic vinegar.  

Banana Bread

This is an old family favorite, made over; regardless of which recipe I use, it never lasts more than a day around here.   I'll post both recipes here.  





Banana Bread, original recipe
from The Fanny Farmer Cookbook

3 ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs, well beaten
2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.   Mix bananas & eggs together in a large bowl.  Stir in all the dry ingredients and the walnuts and blend together.   Pour the (thick) batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for 1 hour.  

Banana Bread, modified recipe

3-1/2 bananas, mashed
2 chia/eggs flax "eggs" (2 tablespoons fresh flax meal + 6 tablespoons water)
1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup quick cooking oats (not instant) *
     OR, 2 cups oats

1/2 cup sweetener or equivalent in ground raisins, dates (or, honey, maple syrup) *

1 tsp baking powder
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (or less, to taste)
optional - 1/2 cup nuts (pecans, walnuts)

Make the flax eggs first - mix the water into the flax meal in a bowl, stir together and let sit in the refrigerator for 15 minutes minimum (30-60 is best).   Stir the mixture again when it's ready, and add it to the bananas.   Blend in the remaining ingredients and pour into a loaf pan.   Bake at 325 for 50 minutes. 

* if you use old fashioned oats, you can give them a quick run in the food processor if you want more of a flour feel and less chunky oats.   Either way is fine. 

Notes: Using whole wheat flour and oats rather than white flour makes a different texture and calls for more sweetness in the recipe.  I can easily cut the sugar in half on the original recipe without noticing a taste difference, but it affects the modified recipe much more.  So, I have tried leaving out the sweeteners (sugars, honeys) and just using ground dates/raisins.   It is a different taste but I'd rather see them use a 1/2 tsp or so of honey directly on it than load the recipe with it.   The little guy usually just puts peanut butter on his.