Kat's Stir Fry

One thing that stereotypical Mormon housewives know how to do is cook dinner.  It is our bread and butter so to speak.  We live for the time that we can come up with great ideas for dinner.  We even have church activities about this very subject...quick-and-easy dinners, slow-cook dinners, casseroles, making main dishes with jello; you name it, we do it.  And we never, ever get into mealtime ruts.  Meatloaf every Sunday for six months?  Never.  Pizza every Friday for two years?  Abominable.  Our vast collection of innate recipes lasts for years!

So with that stellar history, I bring you Kat's Stir Fry; a non-recipe of my own creation using nearly dead vegetables from the fridge with any kind of meat and rice that is lying around.  Luckily, my grocery store made this dish all the easier when it started carrying stir-fry cut meat.  Easy peasy. 

First season the meat and cook (I use my own homemade super secret seasoning).  Use a little olive oil in the pan too.  This time I mixed meats and used chicken and pork.  Sadly, the combination left much to be desired and I'll probably stick with beef next time, which is far superior to both pork and chicken in this dish.  If you are cooking wild rice like me, start it before you start anything so it might be done when the stir fry is done.  Timing is everything after all.

The order of the addition of vegetables is very important so as to have everything at a perfect consistency.  If you're using onions, you can brown them with the meat.  Otherwise, broccoli always goes in first.  Always.  And one must always use broccoli in stir fry.  It is the crowning vegetable as it soaks up the juices and flavorings in a highly delicious manner.  Let simmer with meat for about 10 minutes before adding other vegetables.  Then you should add anything else you want except the squash and zucchini which always goes in last, about five minutes before you are finished. 

You may be wondering what my secret sauce is...surprise surprise: it is water!  At anytime during the process of "simmering" the pan gets dry, I just take it over to the sink and add water directly from the tap.  Very exciting.  When I say simmering I mean that very liberally.  When things are in danger of burning on the bottom of the pan, I add some water.  I might add water 2-3 times before I say it is done.    

Here is my finished dish, complete with rice that is practically non-existent because I am working on portioning my food more accurately.