Best weeknight throw-together meal ever: Easy Stir-Fry Recipe

I haven’t posted here in ages, so I’ll make it short and sweet to encourage myself about how easy it is!

Tonight I had an amazing experience, which happens to me so rarely (culinary success!) that I thought the whole internet should know. I was overtired, my hub was stuck in traffic as usual, and I completely forgot to make dinner until 7pm (about 1/2 hour before Bedtime)! At that point, when my husband got home, I suddenly realized I needed to do something, before those kids discovered a grown-up sweets stash and made that their dinner while I wasn’t looking.

The trouble was, I had no real protein in the house. Just eggs. I’ve frittata’d my way out of that situation many a time, but this time I had no time, and I had something else: the big pot of rice leftover from last night that we never finished off. Again. I’ve thrown away too many giant tubs of unfinished rice from my over-ambitious little rice cooking heart.

Never again, I tell you.

I did a quick google, and my world was opened up (this is probably news to no one but me): Fried rice!

So, so easy. I had some almost-spoiled fresh broccoli in the fridge, and it was fantastic just thrown in the pan early on, cooked but with a nice crunch.

My four-year old even scarfed down four bowls of the stuff. He’s a carb-eater, so it was nice to sneak in protein with the eggs hidden in the rice. He even ate up all the broccoli “trees” with delight!

So, here’s the “recipe”:

Ingredients

Whatever’s on hand! I used:

• 2-3 cups day-old cooked rice
• 2-3 tsp pre-chopped garlic
• 1 fresh broccoli head, chopped into bite-size florets
• 3 eggs, scrambled
• ginger, salt, garlic salt, pepper to taste
• Soy sauce to taste (I did one good sprinkling, which was delish; I added another later and it was too much for us)

What do to

1. Heat up a big wok pan on the stove
2. Add oil, garlic and sauté a minute or so, while you chop broccoli
3. Add broccoli and sauté about five minutes
4. Add rice, more oil, and soy sauce if desired. Keep stirring to mix and fry. Season as desired.
5. Judge by your rice, but when you’re almost done, make a hole in the middle and pour in scrambled eggs. Let set a bit then scramble into the rice, stirring until all of it is cooked and distributed throughout.
6. If desired, add seasonings and let them cook in just a bit, then (if wild animals are leaping at your elbows, demanding supper) serve!

I LOVE recipes like this that you can throw together from whatever’s in your fridge!

Again, I’m sure I’m the last person to discover this, but the great thing about the internet is someone is always discovering something entirely new to them that the rest of the internet seems up to its neck in!

But if anyone stumbles across this blog who’s done this for ages, let me know what variations you do! I’d love to add them to our repetoire — I think this is going to be a regular, day-after-chicken-and-rice meal!

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