The Best 10 Minute Veggie Fried Rice

Over the weekend I made this quick recipe. I paired this with boneless chicken thighs marinated in store-bought huli-huli sauce. There was enough sauce leftover that I marinated shrimp the next day and paired it with the remaining rice.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons sesame oil, divided
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 1-inch piece fresh ginger, grated*
  • 3 eggs
  • 4 cups rice (cooked, cooled, and separated)**
  • 1 cup frozen corn
  • 1–2 cups frozen peas
  • 1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar
  • 2–3 tablespoons soy sauce
  • fresh chives, fresh basil, baby spinach, any other add ins you want!

Instructions

  1. Heat one tablespoon oil in a large pan over medium heat.
  2. Add the garlic cloves and ginger and stir fry for one minute.
  3. Crack the eggs directly into the pan and gently push them around in the pan until barely cooked, 1-2 minutes.
  4. Add the rice and stir fry for a few minutes, adding the other tablespoon of oil and turning the heat up to get it sizzlin. The eggs should sort of incorporate and stick to the rice.
  5. Add the frozen corn, peas, rice vinegar, and soy sauce and stir fry for another 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in any additional add-ins.

Tips

  • You can use powdered ginger if in a pinch (1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger for every 1 tablespoon of fresh ginger).
  • I add a tablespoon or two of hoisin sauce for extra flavor.
  • For the version last week, I used a frozen vegetable mix of green beans, corn, peas, and carrots, frozen broccoli, and leftover shelled edamame.
  • I’ve not tried this recipe, but if you’re interested in huli-huli sauce, this would be worth trying! https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020347-huli-huli-chicken

Source: https://pinchofyum.com/best-10-minute-veggie-fried-rice

Farfalle with Edamame, Shiitake Mushrooms, Chicken, and Mascarpone

I thought I’d share some recipes we cook regularly, especially as I see people struggling with cooking during the quarantine. Because I can’t eat dairy, I’ll put substitutions at the end on any recipe where needed.

I can’t find the source of this recipe, though I’ve seen some very similar versions made with fava beans.

Ingredients

  • 1-1/2 cups shelled edamame
  • 12 ounce box farfalle
  • 4 T olive oil, divided
  • 2 raw chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped onion 
  • 1 cup fresh shiitake mushrooms, chopped (use full container)
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced 
  • 2T dried oregano
  • 1 cup chicken stock
  • 1-1/2T kosher salt
  • 8oz mascarpone cheese
  • freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preparation

  1. Cook and drain edamame according to package directions. Set aside.
  2. Cook pasta according to package directions (al dente). Drain and set aside.
  3. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2T oil to pan, swirling to coat. Sauté chicken until just cooked, set aside. Add remaining 2T olive oil and onion to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until tender. Add mushrooms and garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Add stock, edamame, oregano, salt, and cooked chicken. Cook until liquid is reduced to approx. 1 cup (about 5 minutes). Add mascarpone to edamame mixture and stir to blend.
  4. Add pasta; toss gently to coat. Pepper to taste.

For a dairy substitute, I suggest dairy free yogurt, cream cheese, or sour cream. I’ve also had success with making a dairy free cheese sauce from scratch. I’d also recommend cooking a slightly larger box of pasta, scooping out a portion, and adding the dairy free sauce if you want a mix of dairy/dairy free. Be sure to double check your chicken broth is dairy free! If you can’t find frozen edamame right now, you may have luck with fresh stuff in a container in the produce section.

Tom Mix

My wife and I are giving our 4-year-old daughter an old iPod shuffle.  In the process of looking for music to give her, I found a few mixed CDs I’d made for people over the years.  There’s one that I don’t think ever got to the person, so I’ve compiled it on Spotify to send to them.  There are a few substitutions from the original, but I’ve found what I can on YouTube.  That’s still missing a few things, listed here:

  • The Beatles’ cover of The Band’s ‘To Kingdom Come’
  • A cover of Dylan’s ‘Tonight I’ll be staying here with you’ by Mark Erelli

I also added Lady Lamb’s cover of Cher’s cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘All I really wanna do.’

It’s full of in-jokes and randomness, but then again, isn’t that what mixed CDs and tapes were for?



Appendix:

THEM!

I’m frequently amazed by what you can do with a cell phone.  If you told me 20 years ago that a phone could do macro photography, I would have laughed in your face.

Here are some recent photos made with my iPhone and processed through Instagram (I’m a sucker for their vignette tool):

 

Blurred Lines

I heard Marvin Gaye’s Got to Give it Up on the radio today.  I’m still hesitant to say Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines was an intentional copy beyond Pharrell’s “woo!” noises.  However, I’ve been listening to Shawn Mendes (what, it’s surprisingly good!) and think his song Nervous sounds A LOT more like Got to Give it Up (starting around the :33 second mark).

There are also some similarities to the Blurred Lines video, namely the white backdrop with strong pops of red, a slight sepia tone, and women as props (have you seen the uncensored version of Blurred Lines, for sure NSFW!).

What do you think, am I wrong?  Will he be sued by the Gaye estate too?

California Loco

My kids are obsessed with a short film included with “Moana” called “Inner Workings.”  An important part of the movie is a song called “California Loco.”  It’s one of those songs you can’t get out of your head, no matter how hard you try.

Looking into its background, the composer, Ludwig Göransson, is someone you may not know by name, but you’ve certainly heard his music.

I’d first heard of Göransson through his collaboration with Childish Gambino/Donald Glover.  Genius has a great breakdown of their recording process of “Redbone,” which started with Donald playing drums and Ludwig layering many, many instruments to build the sounds they wanted.

Not a Gambino fan?  Well he also scored Black Panther and Ryan Coogler’s other films, “Fruitvale Station” and “Creed.”  Similar to his work with Gambino, much of the music was built by layering contributions from others, in the case of “Black Panther,” Senegalese artist Baaba Maal.

He also scores “New Girl,” contributed to music to “Community,” and many other films and TV shows.

Lastly, I love this and I’m tossing it in for the heck of it (song starts around 1:16)…