Back to Basics : Use-It-Up Stir Fry and Breakfast Bake

Yesterday I was pondering and pottering in our mesh-covered vegetable tunnel when I spied four or five rows of miniature bok choi plants, all glossy and green, some of them prematurely shooting lemon coloured flowers in their distress at our unseasonably warm, dry weather. That evening, while scrabbling frosted fingers amongst icy packets of summer vegetables trying to retrieve a packet of sausages, I found a bag of crisp Chinese long beans.

Mmm the makings of stir fry suggested themselves to me as I went about the mundane tasks of my day.  Yes, perfect. I want to dramatically diminish the contents of our freezer, and those bok choi plants are growing where I plan to plant potatoes in springtime.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that and tonight we had a delicious Thai stir fry topped with strips of omelette.  This stir fry meal is a basic recipe - BACK TO BASICS - that I often rely on. It's wonderful for using up leftovers, surplus garden produce and as a freezer clearer.

BASIC USE-IT-UP THAI STIR FRY
1) Start by gathering and prepping all your ingredients in advance. For me this means picking, washing and slicing veggies, gathering spices etc beforehand. This meal is fast to make, so have your table set and plates ready. If you are serving your meal on rice, it needs to be almost cooked before you start cooking the stir fry. If you use instant noodles in the dish, there is no need for rice.  (Tonight's choice of ingredients is shown in brackets)

2) In a very large, hot wok or frying pan, heat up your oil of choice (coconut oil for me tonight)
Sitr fry sliced ginger, garlic, sesame seeds if you have them and whatever oniony item you have  Lemongrass is great here too. (spring onions from our tunnel)

3) Stir in Thai spices or thai paste and a dash of soya sauce and/or fish sauce. (I used thai seven spice, soya sauce)

4) Add sliced leftover meat and/or nuts of choice e.g. bacon, white fish, chicken, pork, beef, cashew nuts. Stir rapidly. (I left this out and rather used the egg strips at a later stage)

5) Add a large quantity of veggies, in order of cooking time eg carrots then beans then spinach. (Our own frozen grated courgette, sweetcorn, mange tout and Chinese long beans were dumped still frozen into the pan, then once they were softened I added the fresh bok choi)

6) Sprinkle over some stock powder to complement your protein and the flavouring sachet from instant noodles, or not. Optional: Break up some instant noodles and stir into the pan. I use two spoons to keep everything in the pan. ( chicken stock and 1 packet of chicken flavoured 2 minute noodles)

7) Pour in a can of coconut milk if you have any, alternatively use a little water and a dollop of tart jam like plum or apricot jam or a dash of sherry if needed. Season to taste. (coconut milk for us tonight)

8) Place a lid on the pan while the noodles cook.  Top with egg strips if you like. (I did - Beat and cook an egg or two in a small pan without stirring, flip over like a pancake to ensure it is cooked through. Roll up and slice into strips).

Yummy!

In a similar fashion, the ideas for the other two meals of the day came together in my mind as I pondered various items that alerted me from garden, freezer or pantry. The most frequent question in my mind when entering my personal grocery store is, "What is begging to be used first?" This mindset ensures that there is minimal wastage.

Frozen apricots that escaped my daughter's smoothie-making frenzy last summer were calling the loudest from the freezer. So last night I used these apricots and a recipe from my sister to prepare breakfast for today: First I smashed the solid hunk of apricot halves onto the concrete floor to separate them inside their plastic bag. Half a packet of sweet frozen peach chunks were added to balance the tartness. Then my mind switched into FOOD FAMILY mode. Pecan nuts and peaches, the slightly bitter nutty crunch complements the soft sweet fruit. I whisked an egg, then stirred in the nuts, two handfuls of rolled oats, some oat bran, cinnamon and honey. I spread the mixture over the still frozen fruit in a casserole dish and popped it all in the fridge to defrost overnight. This morning all I needed to do was pop the dish in the oven to bake for half an hour while I showered. The oats soaked up the juices that oozed from the thawing fruit, then crisped up on top as the dish baked. We ate it alongside dollops of warm yoghurt drizzled with honey. Delicious. "Where's the recipe?" you may ask. Well it's simple

BASIC BREAKFAST BAKE
1) Place sliced fruit of choice on the bottom of your dish
2) choose nuts and spice to match eg apples and walnuts, peaches and pecans, apricots and almonds
3) mix (2) with 1 or 2 beaten eggs and a few handfuls of oats, oat or wheat bran, and a little honey/sugar mixed to a moist consistency
4) In the morning, bake in a moderate oven until bubbling and golden. Serve with plain yoghurt.

All those frozen vegetables needing to make way for the next season also inspired me to rustle up an Almost Mexican Vegetable and Bean Soup for lunch, which needed a crusty bread. So we turned cream into butter just for the buttermilk, a key bread-making ingredient around here. The butter went into the freezer and the excess buttermilk went into the soup pot. And the bonus was using up some frozen sweetcorn, green beans, mange touts and patty pans from summer. The mexican part came from the pantry - baked beans, a little tomato sauce, cumin, garlic and oregano and chilli sauce on the table. Oh and I used some of the ubiquitous leeks from the veggie tunnel.

I wrote this blog post to show how I plan my meals based on what needs using the most - true Elastic Mom Style, but meandered into sharing recipes. Both the stir-fry and breakfast bake are favourites in our home. I hope you adapt my BACK TO BASICS recipes to what's in your garden/freezer/pantry and give them a try.

Carefree Cooking - Porridge for Breakfast

Warm, comfort food on icy winter mornings fills the tummy and satisfies the soul. Hot porridge is an economical breakfast choice. I serve it to my family three times a week.

Versatile oats porridge can be livened up in many different ways. I usually enrich the oats by cooking them in a milk and water mixture and then we eat it topped with honey and cinnamon.

For each serving I cook together 1/2 c rolled oats, 1/2 c milk, 1 c water and a pinch of salt in the pot.
Bring it to the boil and simmer for a few minutes until it is creamy and thickened. That's it.

But that doesn't have to be it. Oats porridge welcomes all sorts of toppings and additions.....

- Cook it up with a handful of raisins and chopped apple before topping it with honey, nuts and cinnamon

- Add a dollop of apricot jam as a topping, or any other preserve.

- Serve with berries or stewed rhubarb and yoghurt.

- Sliced banana included with the honey and cinnamon is delicious.

- Chopped dates and cardamon cooked into the porridge is sublime.

- I saw a swish restaurant in Johannesburg serving oats porridge decadently topped with strawberries and cream.

- A really healthy option is to add a little bran, oat bran and a ground seed mix to the porridge.

Another breakfast porridge that we have been enjoying lately is good old mieliemeel or maize meal porridge. This is a traditional African staple food. The commercially produced maize meal has been stripped of most of its goodness and overrefined. So I add our own home ground yellow maize to the white mieliemeel for a healthier alternative.

Maize is grown on this farm. What fun to play in a shower of corn kernels as they pour out of the combine harvester into the waiting truck.

Last winter we gleaned the field for leftover heads of mielies after the combine and before the cattle got to it. We picked a few crates of the dried maize. For days we sat in the evenings and shucked the corn kernels off the cobs, later using the dried cobs as excellent firelighters. We collected two buckets of dried corn.

My generous husband blessed me with a grinder earlier this year which noisily turns those kernels into meal. 

I usually sift the coarse bits out to be cooked up for a different meal as polenta. I also mix the meal into bread that I am baking to make yellow cornbread.

To make porridge, I mix the lovely yellow meal 1:1  into commercial white maize meal which is more refined. This makes a smooth, tasty, healthier porridge than the standard version.

When I cook it for my family of four, I boil up half a large pot of water with a pinch of salt, sprinkle over two cups of maize meal while stirring rapidly. It bubbles like lava and spits hot porridge out the pot, so I cover it quickly with a lid  then simmer the porridge at a very low temperature for about ten minutes.

This is delicious served with a tiny pat of butter and a drizzle of honey. 

Traditionally it is eaten with milk and sugar.