Two for Two

I know . . . this looks almost the same as my last post, but even though this is going to end up looking different from the last dish, it is the same easy method.

Two for Two?  What does that mean?  Well, I totaled up the cost for the food you see above, and it was just a smidge over two dollars.  The two of us ate our fill, and there was even still enough left over for one diner’s hearty meal, or – add a couple of eggs, and more veggies – and there would be a full lunch for two.

If more time is available, the planned overs would provide a lovely base for an Egg Foo Young, which would be a really fun thing to experiment with.

I just can’t emphasize enough how much time, effort, and expense is saved by preparing and utilizing planned over foods.  Above you see more of the boneless thigh/leg pieces that I roasted all at one time and bagged up.  The rice came out of a bag in the refrigerator, so the veggies were the only “initial effort” item.

What you see is about three minutes of chopping up a carrot, a small onion, two stalks of celery, and half a bunch of bok choy.  I didn’t have any mushrooms or bean sprouts, but those would have been added as well.

Once the veggies are cooked about three-quarters of the way, spray a little moisture around in the pan (I used some water from my trusty spray bottle, and a sprinkle of soy sauce), plop in the rest of the food, cover and turn the heat down, or all the way off, if your pan is heavy like mine is.

At this point, you can offer each diner the choice of quantity of each food by just leaving it as is, or you can mix it all together and have a one-dish, Chicken Fried Rice dish.

Sliced almonds are good on top, as is a sprinkling of sesame seeds and/or sesame oil, additional soy sauce, and a blob of hot Chinese mustard on the side of the plate keeps your mind active!

I usually have a jar of hoisin sauce around, for extra flavor, too.  If you are really into Oriental-type foods, keeping a small array of specialty sauces around makes a meal like this very desirable, and so much more enjoyable than trudging out “for Chinese”!

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