Stir-fry

Stir-fry is SO forgiving. Even when you can't find the "right" ingredients.


I was going to use some cubed beef that I chopped and marinated about a week ago. Except... I couldn't find it in the freezer. Oops.
I remember putting it in the freezer.
I even remember labeling it... painstakingly... as it always is these days. Did I use soy? Did I use citrus? I have to know later. I have to almost write the entire recipe on the plastic baggie.

And yet, it wasn't there.

So... I used shredded beef, from a roast way back in September. I made a sauce with soy (tamari, to be gluten-free) sauce, the juice of a lemon, about 4 cloves of a garlic, smashed, about an eighth a cup of Worcestershire, and a bit of water and cornstarch (to thicken). Other than that, I sliced and sauteed half an onion, half a red bell pepper, about half a carton of button mushrooms, two stalks of celery, and one smallish bunch of bok choy. I would have done the bok choy separately, but I had a cranky almost-three-year-old on my hands. You do what you can do, ya know?

I put it together with a bit of previously-undercooked steak and the "shredded beef" I found in the freezer. I put it over The Usual Rice*. It was very tasty.

* The Usual Rice is, usually, made with somewhat approximate parts of coconut milk, chicken broth, and 'rice water'. Rice water is... the water skimmed off almost-done Tinkyada brown rice pasta. Because... it makes the rice somewhat stickier. And because... brown rice is better than white rice, but my kids hate brown rice. So this way I get some nutrition into them. Ha ha.