I totally forgot about this week’s Tuesday night supper. In fact, I don’t even know what we are having for dinner tonight and it is 3:30 in the afternoon. My child’s behavior is preventing me from venturing much further than my mailbox. Odds are I’ll ask my husband to pick something up on his way home.

There are some nights that we are able to just throw a bunch of stuff into a pan and call it supper. Most of the time that involves some sort of chicken and veg combination. The other night this was the plan. However, when we defrosted the chicken that had been in our freezer is smelled a little off. The meat supply in the house was getting slim and there wasn’t anything that could be defrosted quickly and it was getting late. My husband already had fried rice on the stove so we had to find something that would go with that. No meat, a drawer full of veg that needed to be eaten, a can of black beans and a pan of fried rice, I’d call that dinner. Here’s what resulted*:

Mexican Vegetarian Stir-fry

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 ear of corn (kernels cut off)
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 cup broccoli florets
1 cup green beans
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 small tomatoes, diced
cumin
chili powder (optional)
season salt
salt & pepper to taste
olive oil (or oil of your choice)
1/4 cup chicken stock

Prepare whatever you are going to put this stir-fry on first. In our case it was fried rice (recipe below).

Prepare vegetables and put in one big bowl. Heat oil in a large saute pan or wok over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook until just fragrant (don’t burn it). Add vegetables and stir fry, about 2-3 minutes. Add spices to your liking. I prefer a hefty dose of cumin and less salt. Add chicken stock and cook vegetables until they just soften. Don’t over cook them or it will be all mush.

Serve over rice.
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Fried Rice
It sounds strange that a woman on a mission to rid her home of processed foods would allow such a thing as granular chicken bouillon into the house, but hey, I like it.

1 cup short grain Cal-rose rice (don’t use long grain)
garlic powder
granular chicken bouillon (or option 2)
1 3/4 cup water
1 1/2 T butter

(option 2)
1 3/4 cup chicken broth
salt to taste

Heat butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Add rice. Add a sprinkling of garlic powder and cook rice until opaque. I don’t know exactly how much garlic powder to use since I just sprinkle it on. Probably 1/2 – 1 teaspoon. Add 1 heaping spoonful (regular dinner spoon – no soup spoon) of granular bouillon, don’t stir it in. Add water and cover until the sizzling stops (about 10 seconds). Remove pan lid and stir in bouillon. If you are using the chicken broth skip the bouillon step and just add the broth instead of water. Reduce heat to low and cook covered about 15 minutes or until rice is tender. Stir rice after about 5 minutes in to prevent sticking.

This dish should be slightly salty.
salt