HOW DO YOU MAKE THAT?

It has taken many years, but I finally understand my mother’s recipes.

Maybe your mother wrote her recipes in the same fashion. Ingredients only. No measurements, just ingredients. No directions, just ingredients.

Readers often ask me for recipes but I find that yes, I have become my mother.

I sprinkle spices like snowflakes falling from the sky. I chop garlic and onions based on eye-balling amounts needed for the pan. A few twirls of the pepper mill and ground pepper dots the dish. Is that a 1/8 of a teaspoon or a ¼ of a teaspoon? I wouldn’t know!

Recipes created from leftovers are particularly challenging.

I often will make an extra chicken breast or pork chop with the intention of using it as a new meal. My two favorites are fried rice or a stir-fry meal.

Chicken and broccoli stir-fry? If you are a vegan, vegetable stir-fry? Any protein will do, as with any combination of vegetables. Serve over quinoa or rice and you have a quick meal in twenty minutes.

Unfortunately, if you were hoping for a recipe, I don’t have measurements. I really don’t have exact ingredients. I just use what I have on hand.

It always begins with a little olive oil and finely diced garlic and onion. Since everything is already cooked, it takes little time to warm in the pan. Spices like ginger and sesame seeds find their way into the pan, as does the ground pepper and light soy sauce. A scrambled egg in the center of the fry pan and a little extra dab of butter and dinner is served!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: You can chop and blanch vegetables such as carrots, onions, and peppers to create your own stir-fry mix and store in the freezer for when you are ready to use them. If you have a Mother’s Little Helper nearby, a vegetable peeler and a carrot make for some fine entertainment in the kitchen!

                                   LEFTOVER VEGETABLES FOR STIR-FRY