Weeknight Stir-fry with Ginger Garlic Peanut Sauce

I started my masters program last week, and I'm already suuuuuper busy! Goodness. I've again adopted my plan of cooking A LOT of something and then eating it for several days to avoid having to cook every night. Last week was crock pot taco filling, which I reheated and put in tortillas with kale and salsa. This blog has seen more than its fair share of both crock pot and taco recipes, but this week dinner will consist of my two favorite things: vegetables and peanut butter. Far too good not to share!

I can't quite adopt the cook-once-and-reheat method with the veggies this week, unless I want to eat progressively soggier veggies all week. Blegh. I did however, cook a ton of rice and peanut sauce Sunday evening, which will be fine in the fridge for a few days. The veggies I will need to stir-fry every night, but it takes all of 3-4 minutes... a welcome study break!

Costco is the ultimate buy-in-bulk and save your budget store... but there are very few fresh foods I can buy at Costco and use before it goes bad. Frozen food, however, is completely fair game! I was gifted a giant bag of stir-fry veggies last week  (thanks, Mom & Dad!!), from which I can stir fry what I need each night and throw the rest back in the freezer. Perfect!

For 5-6 servings:

• 2.5 cups brown rice (dry)
• 2.5 - 3 cups water
• 7 cups frozen (or fresh!) stir fry veggies of choice. My bag has green beans, mushrooms, broccoli, pepers, baby corn, onions, and I added edamame
• 4 Tbs oil 
• 1c vegetable broth
• 1/4 c soy sauce
• 1/2 c peanut butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbs fresh ginger, minced (maybe less if you're using the powdered stuff)
• 1 1/2 Tbs vinegar
• Pepper

Stir-Fry!

1. Cook your brown rice according to the package (boil water, add rice, stir, cover, simmer until all the water is absorbed, stirring occasionally) ~30 minutes.
2. Heat 2 Tbs oil in a pan at medium heat. Add ginger and garlic, and cook 2-3 minutes until  your kitchen smells AMAZING!
3. Add vegetable broth and soy sauce and reduce heat to low. Cook until the mixture bubbles.
4. Add peanut butter and vinegar. Whisk the peanut butter into the liquid, and cook for a few minutes at low heat. 
5. In a large frying pan or wok, heat 2 tbs oil, then add stir fry veggies. 
6. Cook  on high heat until veggies are heated through, stirring constantly. Don't overcook the veggies or cook at too low a temperature or else they'll be soggy and lose color. Ew. Add pepper to taste. I didn't add salt because there is plenty of salty flavor from the peanut sauce.
7. Combine rice (~2/3 c per serving), veggies (~ 1 1/2 c per serving) and peanut sauce (2-3Tbs). 

Nom nom nom!


Stir-frys are great! They are colorful and are a great opportunity to get a couple servings of vegetables in! Vegetables are a great source of micronutrients (vitamins & minerals) that processed foods just don't deliver. Leftover veggies can be made into soup! Perhaps next week....


While we're on the topic of peanut butter...oh we weren't? Well we are now! Peanut butter is my favorite food (check out what it's doing to help world hunger!) and is a great source of some micronutrients and healthy fats! To set the record straight, choosy moms do not choose JIF. Health-savvy moms (20-somethings, students, whoever) choose natural peanut butter that contains 2 or fewer ingredients: peanuts and salt. That's it. None of these partially-hydrogenated oils! Peanuts contain healthy fats (mono and poly-unsaturated fats that are GOOD for heart health!). These fats also naturally separate, but don't dump the separated fat off the top! THE FAT IS GOOD FOR YOU!! (Promise! Never though you'd hear that did you?) Check out this cool tip for mixing the oil back into the peanut butter!