Tag Archives: celery

Homemade Stir Fry Sauce

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I’ve been sharing a lot of stir fry recipes over the past few months. The great thing about making a stir fry is that you can put almost any vegetable in the pan, and it will taste good. This recipe is unique because I made my own stir fry sauce this time. I found this article on Food and Family detailing several different stir fry sauces. I thought both of the lemon sauces looked good, so I decided to try combining the recipes.

Lemon Stir Fry Sauce

I used an interesting combination of vegetables in this stir fry-pepper, carrots, celery, onion, and cabbage. Yum!

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Lemon Stir Fry
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • Juice of 3 lemons
  • Grated peel of 2 lemons
  • ½ cup chicken broth
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thinly sliced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • ½ large onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 large carrots, thinly sliced
  • 3 stalks celery, thinly sliced
  • 2 bell peppers, thinly sliced
  • ½ large head of cabbage, thinly sliced
  • 2-3 tablespoons peanut oil
  • 2 cups cooked brown rice
Instructions
  1. Combine lemon juice and peel, chicken broth, soy sauce, sugar, and crushed red pepper flakes. Marinate the chicken breast in 1-2 tablespoons of the sauce while you chop the rest of the vegetables, about 15 minutes.
  2. Heat 1 tablespoon of peanut oil in wok or large skillet. Drain chicken, discarding marinade. Stir fry chicken and garlic until cooked through. Remove from wok.
  3. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the wok. Add onion, carrots, and celery. Stir fry until they just start to soften.
  4. Add peppers and cabbage. Continue to stir fry until everything is tender crisp.
  5. Return chicken to the wok. Add reserved lemon sauce. Stir fry until everything is heated through.
  6. Serve over rice.
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Crock Pot-Good for Summer, Too!

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This past weekend was really busy! My husband had Friday off, and we planned to get a lot done around the house. We needed a quick dinner. Plus, it is hot again. We are usually done with the mid 90’s by now, but we’ve been up there all week. Using the crock pot in the summer is a great way to cook a delicious dinner without heating up the kitchen.

Rosemary and Thyme Stew

Every time I cook with rosemary and thyme, I get that Simon and Garfunkel tune in my head (“Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme”). I was singing it all day, as I got the household chores done.

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Rosemary and Thyme Beef Stew
Recipe type: Main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
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Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • ½ cup flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon pepper
  • 2 pounds beef stew meat
  • 2 tablespoons cooking oil
  • 1 pound small, thin skinned potatoes, halved
  • 3 carrots, cut in bite sized pieces
  • ½ large onion, chopped
  • ½ pound mushrooms, quartered
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 stalks celery, cut in chunks
  • 1¼ cup water, divided
  • 2 teaspoons beef bullion
  • ½ cup red wine
  • 3-4 sprigs rosemary
  • 3-4 sprigs thyme
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
  1. Combine flour, salt, and pepper in a large zip top bag. Add beef cubes, a few at a time, and shake to coat.
  2. Heat oil in large skillet. Brown floured meat, turning frequently.
  3. Place meat, potatoes, carrots, onion, mushrooms, garlic, and celery in crock. Stir to combine.
  4. Dissolve bullion in 1 cup warm water. Add wine. Pour over meat and vegetables. Gently stir in rosemary and thyme.
  5. Cook the stew on low for 7-8 hours.
  6. About 30 minutes before serving, dissolve cornstarch in remaining ¼ cup water. Stir into stew. Turn heat to high and cook 30 minutes, until stew thickens.
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Improved Beer Stew

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Improved Beer StewBack in February, I posted a recipe for Beer Stew. I completely forgot about that recipe when I was planning meals for this week. The improved recipe I came up with for Beer Stew this week is thicker than the original. It was a great warm meal on a cold fall evening.

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Improved Beer Stew
Recipe type: Main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • ⅓ cup flour
  • 1½ pounds beef stew meat
  • 2-3 tablespoons canola oil
  • 2 large potatoes, cut in bite sized chunks
  • 3 carrots, cut in bit sized chunks
  • 1 onion, cut in bit sized chunks
  • 3 stalks celery, chopped
  • 12 ounces dark beer
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 teaspoons beef bullion granules
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
  1. Coat beef with flour. Heat oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Brown beef.
  2. While beef is cooking, place potatoes, carrots, onion, and celery in crock pot. Add beef, stir to combine.
  3. Combine beer, tomato paste, and bullion. Pour over beef and vegetables. Cook on low for 8 hours.
  4. Remove ½ cup of the liquid from the crock. Add cornstarch, whisk to combine. Pour back into crock, stir to combine. Increase heat to high, cook another 45-60 minutes, until desired consistency is reached.
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This version is not only thicker, but also more flavorful. The darker beer definitely made a difference.

Happy eating!

Ruth

Oatmeal-Not Just for Breakfast

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oat and celery saladA few months ago, I saw a recipe in a cooking magazine for a Waldorf salad that contained cooked steel cut oatmeal. I saved the recipe somewhere, but never got around to trying it. While searching for a recipe for the pomegranates this week, I came across this recipe for a bulgur salad on 101 Cookbooks. I decided to use the oats instead. The hardest part of this recipe is getting the seeds out of the pomegranate. I used these instructions for seeding the pomegranate, and these for juicing the pomegranate.

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Oat and Celery Salad
Recipe type: Salad
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
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Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup uncooked steel cut oats
  • 1 pomegranate, seeded (divided)
  • 1 clove garlic
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 6 tablespoons olive oil
  • 6 stalks celery, chopped
  • ¾ cup toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped
  • large handful parsley, chopped
Instructions
  1. Bring 3 cups water to a boil. Add oats and cook until al dente, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. (This step can be done ahead.)
  2. Seed pomegranate. Place half the seeds in the blender. Add oil. Blend a few seconds. Strain to remove seed parts. Mash garlic with salt. Whisk into oil mixture.
  3. Combine remaining pomegranate seeds with cooled oatmeal, celery, walnuts, and parsley. Dress with oil mixture right before serving.
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If anyone has an easy way to seed a pomegranate, please share.

Happy eating!

Ruth

Cream of Broccoli Soup

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cream of broccoli soupMy original plan for the broccoli was to steam it. However, I found this recipe for Cream of Broccoli Soup on allrecipes.com. The day I started to make it, I found out that it takes a LOT of broccoli to make this soup. The 2 small heads we got in the box would have been enough for 1 bowl. I bought another big head and got enough for a total of 2 bowls. The end result was worth it, though; because this was absolutely delicous!

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Cream of Broccoli Soup
Recipe type: Soup
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2
 
Ingredients
  • 2½ tablespoons butter, divided
  • ½ onion, chopped
  • 1 small stalk celery, chopped
  • 4 cups broccoli florets
  • 1-14 ounce can chicken broth
  • 1½ tablespoons flour
  • 1 cup milk
  • dash paprika
  • cayenne pepper to taste (I used a couple of dashes)
Instructions
  1. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a soup kettle or large sauce pan. Saute onion and celery until soft. Add broccoli and chicken broth. Cover and simmer 10 minutes.
  2. While the broccoli simmers, melt remaining butter in a small saucepan. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Add milk and simmer until thick and bubbly.
  3. When broccoli is soft, puree the broccoli mixture (I used an immersion blender). Add milk mixture. Season with paprika and cayenne pepper.
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It must be getting cooler-when I made our meal plan this week, I put soup on the menu almost every night!

Happy eating!

Ruth