NPR: What I Made for Dinner 3/27

What I Made for Dinner 3/27

It was one of those bad nights when you look in the fridge and there isn't a whole lot of edible going on. So I went the stir-fry route. Here's what I used:

2 onions, peeled and cut into big chunks
2 cloves of garlic
A handful or two of baby carrots cut lengthwise
Some fresh green beans with a little snap still left in them
A bag of faux chicken bits (a brand called Quorn -- it's actually made of a kind of fungus! Well, they say "mycoprotein" but you know what that means -- Yummy!)
A tomato cut into big chunks
A mango, peeled (badly) and cut into big chunks
A bottle of Thai peanut marinade/stir-fry sauce
Basmati rice

Here's what I didn't use:
mushrooms (too slimy)
peppers (kind of liquid)
broccoli (in an out-of-date bag and I'm scared since that whole bagged-salad business went down)
other broccoli (was that fuzz growing out of the top?)

Here's how I did it:
Threw the rice in a rice cooker
Threw everything else in a frying pan (in order as listed above) with some wok oil
Turned on the burner

Family reaction: mixed. Husband liked it very much. Daughter ate the rice and some of the "chicken" and carrots. Honestly, I was "meh" about it. I didn't like the peanut sauce. I also would have liked some mushrooms.

Tricia McKinney

1:11 PM ET | 03-27-2008 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

Faux chicken? I now feel better about having eaten Cheez-It Stix for lunch.

Sent by David Hollis, Hamilton, NY | 2:04 PM ET | 03-27-2008

Quorn fake chicken is really good! Someone recommended it to me, so I had a box in my freezer for a loooong time because I was pretty skittish about it, fully expecting to throw it out after one bite.

When I finally tried it I was very surprised by how good it was. The firm texture is the key.

Sent by Maura | 2:22 PM ET | 03-27-2008

you sound like you're right on the "cutting" edge of moving dangerously close to actual vegetarian cuisine...all you need to have on hand is tofu, canned beans, boca veggie burgers, nuts, fake cheese, soy bologna, lots of grain bread and hummos...and miso paste for really quick soup...brown rice, Quinoa, buckwheat/sorba japanese noodles and a part time chef to take the pressure off!!! bon appetite.

Sent by jayn | 4:43 PM ET | 03-27-2008

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