I haven’t been cooking much lately. I’m so disappointed in myself. We still don’t eat convenience foods much at home, but I order out often. Usually it’s good, but it’s just not the same as a home-cooked meal, and it’s way too expensive for all the time. Not preparing most of my own meals also makes me feel off. I love cooking, it’s so soothing to put together whole ingredients and turn them into something delicious, and I’m good at it. Chopping vegetables is relaxing to me. I also love knowing what’s in the food I eat and feed my daughter. No hidden salts or high-fructose corn syrup if I make our meals myself. One of the reasons I’ve slacked in the kitchen is I’m working a lot. Since I usually work at home I never get off and get to go home. The other is that I have a 2 year old that wants to “help” with everything, or at least be held by me as soon as I start doing something that doesn’t directly involve her. It’s not easy to cook, say, sauce, when the little wants to be one the one stirring it! Still, that’s no excuse for the way we’ve been eating.

This is the only thing I cooked in the last week (besides bacon, eggs and sandwiches). The flavors were amazing and I’ll definitely make this meal again. We don’t eat steak very often, but I think it’s an excellent choice at times.

1 ribeye
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary
1 Tablespoon fresh chives
1/2 cup brown rice
1/2 cup quinoa (I buy mine in the bulk section at Whole Foods)
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 bunch carrots, cut into sticks
1 onion, sliced

Preheat oven to 350
Put steak in a bowl, cover with olive oil, add 1/3 of the fresh herbs and salt and pepper to taste, set aside
Put rice, quinoa and chicken stock in your rice cooker and start, it takes about 25 minutes (If you don’t have a rice cooker the stove top will work just fine, rice is just one of the things that I can not seem to get right!)
Lay the carrots and onions on a pie pan or baking sheet, coat with oil to cover, add the remaining herbs, salt and pepper to taste, mix, roast 15-20 minutes
Cook the steak to desired doneness either on the stovetop or grill

brown rice and quinoa

roasted carrots and onions

Making fried rice at home is very easy and very delicious. The great part about it is that you can put almost anything in it and it will turn out. It’s what I usually make when I have a bunch of veggies that need to be eaten before they go bad, and you can throw any kind of leftover meat in too. I’ve made this once with freshly cooked rice and although it was still good, it wasn’t as good as using day-old. It’s something about the way it sticks together when it gets a bit dried-out. Feel free to use this recipe as a base and use whatever vegetables you have on hand or prefer, and the sauce is easily customized to taste. Usually I put a bit of fresh ginger and Sriracha in, but this time I didn’t have any on hand. I doubled the sauce recipe and marinated scallops, then seared them and served on top. Yummy!

For the rice:

1 box left-over chinese white rice
1/4 cup broccoli
1 red pepper, chopped in strips
1/4 cup snow peas
4 garlic scapes, chopped
1 Tablespoon peanut oil
2 Tablespoons cup low-sodium soy sauce

Heat the oil in a large skillet, add in the rice. Stir to coat.
Add the soy sauce, stir and sauté.
Add the vegetables, cook 3-5 minutes, until they are just soft.
Add the sauce (recipe below), remove from heat, serve.

For the sauce:

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 Tablespoons peanut oil
1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
Salt & Pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients.