Mushroom and Broccoli Stir Fry for Lunch

 I gave up lunch meat for Lent in 2020, which means I gave it up forevs. Pretty much. If I'm at a party and the food is a bunch of hoagies, I mean I'm going to eat one.

But for the most part, this little lady is free of processed meats. As a result, I need to get creative when I'm coming up with lunches.

My Mushroom Broccoli Stir Fry is ready in less than 15 minutes. I bought those pouches of brown rice that you just nuke in the microwave for 90 seconds. So easy.  If you don't buy your mushrooms pre-sliced, that will add some minutes to your prep, of course.

This stir fry was very filling for me, and I love the taste of it all. You totally could add chicken or beef to up the protein factor and/or if grooving as a vegetarian ain't your thang.

The quantities below made me two lunches. This lunch made me super happy.

Mushroom Broccoli Stir Fry

Makes 2 lunch servings

1 Tbsp. canola oil

Button mushrooms, sliced, 8 ounces

2 cups broccoli florets, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 medium onion, sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup vegetable broth, heated in microwave a microwave-safe liquid measuring cup or bowl

2 tsp. cornstarch

2 tsp. Chinese 5 spice seasoning

1 Tbsp. soy sauce

Ground black pepper to taste

Serve with brown rice, soy sauce and sirachi if desired

Add canola or clear oil to a wok or a large pan with sides over high heat. Once the oil ripples, add mushrooms and onions, stirring frequently for about 4-5 minutes. Add garlic. Cook for a minute. Add broccoli, keep stirring. Add 5-spice seasoning, black pepper and soy sauce. Cook for another 4-5 minutes. 

Whisk cornstarch into warmed vegetable broth. Add to wok. Stir some more, Let mixture come to a boil. Cover with a lid and lower heat to medium. Cook for another 5 minutes.

Serve with brown rice and more soy sauce or sirachi if you like a little kick! Portions may be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. 

Beef Stir Fry

Parents often say their kids won't eat anything. Fights. Hunger strikes. Terrorist negotiations. Oh yes, dinner can be a nightmare for many adults trying to just get through to bedtime with their beloved offspring.

Allow me to present a solution, dear desperate readers: Stir fry. Yes, stir fry them into a frenzy of eating and not complaining.

My son is now 8. While he is very open to trying new foods and in general digs dinner time, there certainly are nights where he doesn't even want to eat dinner. But honestly, doesn't that happen to all of us, no matter what our age? There are times I do not want to eat. There are times my husband doesn't want to eat. So if my little guy just doesn't have an appetite, I get it. There's no need to argue. Some nights,he may just want a snack and there are a few nights that he is not grooving on what the main dish is. Even in these instances there is usually something that he will gnaw on at my table: Salad, bread, rice. He'll live. That's the point.

One of the many hits in my house with kiddo is stir-fry. Yes, I bust out my wok, and he is totally like, "Mom, let's DO THIS!" He even houses the hot and sour soup I occasionally make to go with stir fry dins. Yay!

Here is a steak and mixed veggie stir fry I make when my husband travels. My husband would love it, too, but he tries to avoid red meat, so I whip it up when he's on the road. My son has yet to taste the broccoli but one day, people. One day....

I served this with white rice, but of course you could do brown rice. And I think it would be really nice with ramen noodles, too. You can mix and match whatever veg your heart desires. My mix has bell peppers, broccoli, carrots and onions. I top it all with scallions as part of a grand finale sitch.

The five spice Chinese seasoning is easily found in any grocery store in your spice aisle. McCormick makes one.

Beef and Mixed Veggie Stir Fry
Makes 4-5 gigantic portions

1 1/2 pounds sirloin steak, trimmed of fat and cut into strips
1 small red bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 small green bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 carrot, peeled and slicked into matchsticks
1 small onion, sliced
12-14 broccoli florets
2 cups beef broth, warmed in a microwave safe measuring cup or in a small pot on the stove
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 Tbsp. Chinese 5-spice seasoning
3-4 Tbsp. soy sauce
Fresh ground pepper
1 Tbsp. clear vegetable oil
For serving: Chopped scallions, soy sauce to taste, sirachi if desired

In a wok or large rimmed frying pan over medium-high heat, add vegetable oil. Once hot, add steak. Stir frequently so that all the meat browns. Cook for about 4-5 minutes. Using tongs, remove cooked steak to a dish.

Add all of the vegetables to the wok. Stir frequently so that all of the vegetables fry quickly. Add the meat back to the wok. Season with Chinese 5-spice seasoning, soy sauce, and black pepper. Stir again.

Whisk the cornstarch into the warmed broth. Slowly add broth mixture to wok.

Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Cover with lid for a few minutes to cook through.

Top with chopped scallions and more soy sauce, to taste. For spiciness, drizzle with sirachi

Serve with three cups cooked rice. I like basmati.

Pepper Steak Shenanigans

January is totally the month during which I go into hibernation and try to make sense of my clutter. The Husband visits Goodwill on a weekly basis in the hopes that our collection of castoffs, retail mistakes, and gifts of yesteryear collecting dust in the basement will do somebody good somewhere all while giving me fresh open space for my new sparkly treasures.

In the meantime, I love busting out all of my Christmas gifts of kitchen gadgetry and cooking up a storm. Of course this is only AFTER finding the rightful place to store my glistening fresh wares in my comfortable kitchen. (Please note that the adjective for my cucina is "comfortable" as opposed to much more desirable describers such as luxurious, spacious, state-of-the-art, deluxe and/or designer.) But, if there's one thing the Jersey Girl can do it is make do.

Despite the average nature of my cooking space, some majorly delish eats can always be concocted and devoured. (No joke, I threw cooking parties back in college with a plug-in burner. Granted, I was also drinking Vladimir vodka with a splash of pink lemonade Snapple, so perhaps, my level of taste WAS a bit skewed. Gag.)

Anyways, ain't nothin' like kicking off the new year with some wild and crazy new recipes, so I present you with ....... pepper steak.

Right. You were TOTALLY expecting some trendy rigmarole such as sesame tofu with cauliflower or stir-fried gluten-free whole-grain noodles on a bed of shaved brussels sprouts topped with an egg, but I'm kickin' it so OLD SCHOOL with a straight-up, no surprise pepper steak. And the recipe comes from Rachael Ray. I mean, could I be any more avant garde?

While food trends - and shoe trends - come and go, the classics stand the test of time. Wholeheartedly, I must admit I am no expert in Asian cuisine,but it does seem like pepper steak stir fries or some variation of them have been a staple on Asian menus in America for ages. It's got staying power, right? So, after wracking my brain and scouring Pinterest, and cookbooks and various cookery Web sites for a fru-fru stir-fry recipe, I decided to just stick with the one stir-fry I had been making for 10 years from my good old Rachel Ray 30-Minute Meals 2 cookbook: Five Spice Beef and Pepper Stir-Fry.

The new angle is that I rocked it out in my shiny new wok, courtesy of my mother-in-law, who quite awesomely feeds my J. Crew, shoe and cookware addictions. Honestly, when I unwrapped the gift with my 3-year-old helper, I was taken aback. (Perhaps, I should have written my Christmas gift list BEFORE drinking a bottle of wine.) The Jersey Girl kinda forgot that she requested a wok from the North Pole. But, when I realized what was before me, I was PUMPED!!

My sweetie Evan helps me open my gift. Yay!

For my review of the wok, please click here.

If you do not have a wok - or the space for it - have no worries. This dish works just as well in a large pan. Make sure you have some high sides going on so that the sauce isn't spilling out, mucking up your stove.

I make my stir fry with red and green peppers. The red peps add a bit of sweetness. And, I omit the almonds from the recipe so that The Husband does not need to haul my bootie to the ER. I also did not use any sherry because that is an ingredient that I NEVER have. Sorry!

My 3-year-old culinary counterpart LOVED my pepper steak. In fact, he asked for more steak for three days after. Be sure to add the chopped scallions at the end. Gives the whole thing a nice freshness.

This could not be any easier. Honest to goodness.

Five Spice Beef and Pepper Stir-Fry
From 30 Minute Meals 2 by Rachael Ray

Makes 4 servings
Jasmine rice or short grain wite rice, 1 to 1 and 1/2 cups, prepared to package directions

2 cups beef broth or stock
2 Tbsp. wok or clear oil (twice around the pan)
1 and 1/2 pounds beef sirloin or beef tenderloin tips, trimmed, sliced and cut into bite-size pieces
2 green bell peppers, seeded and diced (1-inch pieces)
1 medium onion, coarsely diced
1/2 cup dry cooking sherry
2 Tbsp. Tamari dark soy sauce
2 Tbsp. corn starch
1 tsp. Chinese five-spice powder (1/2 palmful, found on Asian foods aisle of market)
Cracked freshly ground black pepper, to taste

3 scallions, thinly sliced on an angle, for garnish
1/2 cup smoked whole almonds (available on snack aisle), for garnish

Boil water for rice and prepare to package directions.

Place beef broth in a small pot over low heat to warm the broth.

Heat a wok-shaped skillet or pan over high heat. Add oil (it will smoke) and beef bits, stir-fry for 3 minutes then remove meat from pan or move off to the side. Return pan to heat and add peppers and onions. Stir fry, 2 minutes, and stir the meat back in. Add sherry and stir-fry until liquid almost evaporates, about 1 minute. Add soy sauce. Dissolve cornstarch with a ladle of warm beef broth. Add beef broth to the pan, then the cornstarch with a ladle of warm broth, the five-spice powder and the black pepper. Stir until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Adjust seasonings. Add more soy sauce or salt if necessary. Remove from heat.

Fill dinner bowls with beef stir-fry and with an ice cream scoop, place a nicely rounded scoop of rice on top of beef. Garnish with chopped scallions and smoked almonds.

Please note: The Jersey Girl omitted the cooking sherry and almonds. She used 1 green and 1 red bell pepper. Also, her wok did not smoke when cooking. She used low-sodium broth and low-sodium soy sauce.