Pork and Cauliflower Stir Fry for the Workin' Folk

Happy New Year Y'all. Mine has already started off with a bang. Work's crazy. Toddlers are crazy. Oh and all that holiday eating and drinking has left me feeling less than virtuous. Enter the stir fry. Chock full of veggies and about a million miles away from cheese-laden holiday casseroles. Not that there's anything wrong with cheese-laden casseroles, we just need to take a break from one another for a little while.

The beauty of this recipe is you can prep all the veggies and even the sauce in the morning and store them in the fridge until you're ready to make it. I bet you could even do this the night before.

Hope your new year is starting off wonderfully.

Pork and Cauliflower Stir Fry

Veg to prepare and store ahead (or use right away):
1 large shallot, sliced into thin rings
2 green onions, chopped
2 bell peppers, chopped or cut into strips (I like one red and yellow)
1 head of cauliflower, cut into small florets (to cook faster)

Sauce (mix the following together and chill in a small airtight container or use right away):
1/2 inch piece of ginger, grated
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/3 cup soy sauce (use low sodium if you are sensitive to salty food)
1/3 cup sake
1 tablespoon rice vinegar (I like brown rice)
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Also needed:
Canola/peanut or oil of choice (I like Spectrum non GMO canola/coconut blend)
1 pound lean ground pork
1 cup rice combined with 1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken stock in a medium stockpot with lid - bring to boil then reduce heat to low and let cook for 10-12 minutes, fluff with a fork and set aside
Chopped cilantro, for garnish
Red pepper flakes, optional

To make stir fry:
Add just enough oil of to lightly coat bottom and sides of a wok or large cast iron skillet, turning to help coat. Heat over medium/high heat and allow to warm through for one minute.

Add the ground pork and cook, stirring frequently for 5-7 minutes until cooked through. Kill the heat as you transfer the pork to a holding plate or bowl and set aside. Add a little more oil to the pan and turn the heat back onto medium/high.

Add the veggies (do not season with salt if using regular soy sauce) and sauté, using your spoon to disperse them over as much of the surface area as you can to help sear them. Cook and stir for about 7-10 minutes until you have a good sear on the veg and the cauliflower seems mostly cooked.

Return the cooked pork into the pan and pour over the prepared sauce. Crank the heat up all the way and stir everything to coat in the sauce and let it reduce and bubble away for a couple of minutes.

Serve over the prepped rice.

Garnish with chopped cilantro and/or red pepper flakes if desired.

Homemade Gingersnaps with Lemon Zest Sugar

Merry Christmas you guys! This year has been so crazy that I hope for some calm or at least more organized chaos in the new year. That said I feel so blessed I shouldn't even complain about a darned thing. My family is healthy. My baby is almost 16 months and full of piss and vinegar. Tomorrow he will wake up and be present enough to realize it's Christmas! I can't wait.

In the meantime I leave you with a new favorite cookie recipe from the cookbook, Baked Occasions. It's a gingersnap recipe and I promise you it's the easiest, most unfussy yet delicious recipe I have ever made. No mixer required and the dough will sit on the counter without getting too soft or weird should you get caught up in other holiday (or life) nonsense.

In fact, it's the PERFECT recipe if you want to make cookies (or have to) but forgot to set out the butter to soften or thought ahead for any other fiddly bits that baking often requires of you. You might even have everything on hand to make them!

Merry Merry, sweet people.

Gingersnaps with Lemon Sugar
* I used large decorating sugar versus granules - colors are even more beautiful!

Lemon Sugar Coating:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Zest of 1 large lemon

Dough Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon canola oil
1 large egg yolk
1 large egg
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon molasses
2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons ground allspice (or a scant 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

How To:
For the lemon sugar, place the sugar 3/4 and lemon zest in a shallow bowl. Stir together, being sure to break up any clumps of zest and set aside.

For the dough, preheat the oven to 325. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and canola oil until combined. Add the egg and egg yolk and whisk to combine. Add the molasses and whisk again until fully incorporated.

In another large bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Use a heavy wooden spoon (and/or very clean hands) to fully combine everything well.

Use a small (1/2 inch) ice cream scoop (or a melon baller) to scoop small scoops of dough from the batter. Mix with your hands into rounded balls, roll them in the lemon sugar and set on the prepared cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 12 minutes, or until just crackled on top and beautifully spread out. Let set on sheet for a few seconds before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. Will keep for 3-4 days in airtight container.

Corn, Sausage & Leek Chowder. A warm hug in a bowl.

If I was one of those organized people who hosted holiday open houses with Vince Guaraldi playing in every room and Mistletoe hanging above the doorway, I'd serve this soup. Comforting yet not too rich with its brothy stock laden with all kinds of textures, it has everything going for it. And that's before you add toppings!

You can use sweet sausage instead of spicy but I love a little heat against the sweet corn. And if you want it 'meatier' feel free to up the sausage to one pound. I find the ratio below makes this a perfect guys and gals soup though. The dudes feel like they're eating a hearty meal and us gals can still hold our head up and say we had soup for dinner. But if you're in the camp of 'mo sausage, mo betta' cheers to that.

Maybe one year I'll be organized enough to actually host that holiday party of my dreams. Until then I'm just happy knowing I already have the perfect recipe.

Corn, Sausage and Leek Soup
* This soup is great to make ahead and tastes amazing reheated.
* I can't stress rinsing your leeks thoroughly enough. This is best to do once you've halved them lengthwise so you can get the water in between the leaves where fine grit hides.
* Serves 6.

Ingredients:
3/4 pound spicy Italian sausage, loose
2 tablespoons salted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 med sweet onion, chopped
3 leeks, white and light green (not tough) parts only, well rinsed, halved lengthwise then chopped into thin strips crosswise
3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon salt, plus extra to taste
pinch pepper
10 oz frozen corn
32 oz low sodium chicken stock
1/2 cup half and half

Shredded cheddar cheese, for serving
Chopped Fresh cilantro, for serving
Tortilla chips, crushed up, for serving

Directions:
In a large dutch oven, break up the sausage with a wooden spoon and cook over medium heat until cooked through and some bits have become nice and brown and crispy, about 8 minutes. Remove sausage with a wooden spoon and set aside.

To the dutch oven, add 2 tablespoons salted butter and a tablespoon of olive oil. Allow the butter to melt then add the onion. Cook stirring often for 3 minutes then add the leaks. Season with coriander, salt and pepper and continue cooking and stirring over medium heat until the onion is translucent and the leeks are super soft, about 10-12 minutes.

Stir in the corn, chicken stock, and cooked sausage and raise heat slightly so the soup comes to a simmer. Simmer for a few minutes, then reduce heat to low and stir in the half and half. Taste for seasoning. If it's not the most delicious thing you've ever eaten, it needs more salt so make gradual adjustments until it is.

Serve with chopped fresh cilantro, crushed tortilla chips and shredded cheddar and or/any other toppings you see fit.

Flank Steak Stir Fry, My New BFF

I'm crazily gathering recipes that are fast and easy and can be thrown together even when you have the coordination and where with all of a zombie which I understand is about to be the new norm for me with a newborn.

This one is modified from The Pioneer Woman and really aside from from a few tweaks the main difference is that I dump everything into a giant ziploc first (a step that can even be done several hours ahead) and then from the bag straight into a heated wok. Then while it's cooking all you have to do is cook the rice and dinner is DONE.

I realize I'm probably butchering wok cooking here by dumping everything in at once but I promise you it's still delicious and as long as you let everything rest a couple of minutes with the heat off after cooking the steak will be tender and delicious.

The secret is to reserve some of the chopped green onions and cilantro for garnish (though I doubt I'll remember to do this once sleep deprivation kicks in.)

Flank Steak Stir Fry

Ingredients:
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce (I've used regular and it was fine just don't add additional salt)
2 tablespoons white wine
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger, optional
2 whole peeled garlic cloves
good pinch red pepper flakes
1 to 1 1/2 pounds flank steak, trimmed of excess fat and sliced against the grain into thin slices (I like to then take the slices and cut them into 2 inch pieces but it's up to you)
5 green onions cut into 1/2 inch pieces plus 2 green onions, chopped and reserved for garnish
1/2 cup chopped cilantro, divided
Optional (or use all!) veg: 8 oz snow peas, 1 red bell pepper cut into slivers, 2 carrots sliced into thin rounds, 16 oz frozen broccoli, 1/2 small sweet onion cut into thin strips
2-3 tablespoons canola oil or peanut or olive oil
Rice, cooked according to package, to serve alongside (my recipe is 1 cup rice to 1 3/4 cups low sodium chicken stock, brought to a boil then reduced to low with lid on for 12 min but follow whatever yours says for the amount you want)
Wok or a large dutch oven or cast iron pan for frying

How To:
Add the soy sauce through the sesame oil to a large ziploc. Gently smush around while holding the top (you can seal and shake it if it helps) to mix everything together and help dissolve the cornstarch and brown sugar. You can also mix this up in a small bowl first but this saves a step and washing it up by doing it right in the bag. Win-win.

Add the ginger (if using) and the garlic, red pepper flakes, steak, 1/2 inch pieces of green onions, 1/4 cup chopped cilantro and the veggies of your choice. Smush everything around, seal and refrigerate if not making right away or simply seal and set aside while you prepare your wok.

Add the oil to the wok and turn it around carefully so that the sides get coated. Put over medium high heat and let get nice and hot for a couple of minutes. Carefully add the stir fry - the contents of the entire bag - to the wok using a wooden spoon to spread everything out as much as possible so it cooks evenly.

(FYI now is also the time to start your rice in another pot.)

Lower the heat slightly and cook, stirring every so often to keep everything from sticking as well as cooking evenly, for 4-5 minutes until the steak is cooked through and veggies have softened. This might take a little longer if you've opted for all the veggies as well as the full 1 1/2 pounds of steak as opposed to a pound.

Turn the heat off and let the stir fry rest for a couple of minutes. Serve over rice with chopped green onion and cilantro.