Some people make their resolutions in the New Year. My husband works for a university so the rhythm of our home more closely follows the academic calendar. This is the time of year I get the urge to do a “spring clean”, make lifestyle changes, and generally just start anew.
One of the leaves that regularly gets turned over at this time of year is the resolution to Eat Better. It’s no wonder coming off a summer of indulging in all of our favorite treats. More meal planning, less fat, more protein – all the usual stuff. And stir fries.
One meal my husband keeps trying to convince me is the solution to all our meal woes is stir fries. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good Asian stir fry – when it is delivered to my home in a tidy cardboard carton. It’s creating it myself that I’m not so enthusiastic about.
Hubby argues that it doesn’t have to complicated, that the problem is we try to put in too many ingredients. We just need to focus on simplicity. I know from past experience he’s wrong, but sometimes it’s just too much trouble to argue. So we made stir fry last night.
We picked just a few ingredients. Broccoli, asparagus, and an onion. And a few shrimp because if it’s only vegetables then hubby is hungry again immediately. I made a garlic sauce and got the veggies washed ahead of time and then made the rice while hubby cut up the veggies and got out the wok.
The cooking part was quick, I’ll give him that. And the sauce was tasty. But that meal used up two cutting boards, two saucepans and a wok and it there wasn’t even enough for the children to have any, even if they’d wanted it. I ended up having to make (homemade) mac-n-cheese for them with a side of steamed broccoli (three more pots).
Have I ever mentioned that I don’t have a dishwasher? I *am* the dishwasher! Whatever time was saved in actual cooking was definitely consumed in the cleanup.
I am going to quietly rotate stir-fries out of the lineup…
I love stirfry, but seldom make it. Too much work…
by anny cook September 10th, 2008 at 7:09 pm