day in the yard & serving up Stir Fry Chicken

Sunday Date Day was a date with the yard … not hubby, he is still recouping. Actually, part of my date day was with my son since he helped on a couple of chores! First I had to take pictures … of the Ornamental Pear Blossoms…as you can see the blossoms are starting to turn to leaves …… so they will be gone shortly.

I bought this tree last year and kept it in the pot all this time. It was on the front porch and the birds found it. Then I moved it out back against the house … where it sat all winter. Well, it made it through all of that so I decided to finally plant it next to my son’s shop. His shop is on our property. This is where he does “car stuff”. Someday I will show you! So back to the tree - I bought it at WalMart for $14. I can’t wait to look back at this picture in two years to see how much she grows!! ~ Oh, I better mention, my son dug the hole for me!!! That is how planting goes around here, “you” dig, “I” plant!

Next, we marked/staked the area that I want to have my veggie garden! It is going to be 14x18.

Oh and remember the cabbage flower that I showed you in an earlier post, well this is what happens at the end of the season ~ she blooms a yellow flower! So I moved her to a corner, and washed down the porch and doors and windows … spring is almost in full swing!

And I hope you remember this pic (above)! My inspiration dining room! Well … my son hung the Chandy for me (below)!!! I, of course, put all the crystals on! I didn't realize how similar mine is to the inspiration chandelier (above) until I looked at the picture again! ~ happy about that! . I’m sure "theirs" was probably $2,500 while "mine" was $250. I still need the shades, though.

After a very busy day, I still wanted to make dinner. First, because I was starved from all the fresh air & hard labor and second, hubby is needing to eat healthy while he is still recouping and I couldn’t just say “you’re on your own tonight for dinner” ! I do say that ~ and then he usually fixes a sandwich and opens a can of soup!!

So, on with my Chefs hat! I’m a two pot gal! One to boil something, the other to stir fry something!

One thing you must know about my cooking and recipes ~ I never measure (that is why I am a cook and not a baker). I hope my lack of measuring won’t deter you from trying some of them. I really want to show you my cooking habits so that you can see they are quick, easy and basically healthy. Most things you already have in the house, and most of the ingredients can be substituted by something else! My dinners almost always include an onion and olive oil. The olive oil should always be extra virgin cold pressed. I will use any brand, I usually choose it by the least expensive, prettiest bottle! World Market has great bottles of Olive Oil! As you can see in my two pot photo ~ it sits on my stove top always ready!

Recipe: Broccoli & Pork Stir Fry

3 pork chops (or any meat you have – beef, chicken, shrimp, whatever) one large onion, about 4 cups frozen broccoli (I love frozen veggies, no waste or throw away and they are frozen when harvested), a can of pineapple chunks, 2 cups uncooked rice of your choice (I go from brown to white or 50/50), any seasoning you like, I used salt, pepper and curry today! Just throw it in to your taste.

Quick and Easy:

Bring a the pot of water to a boil – add a pinch of sea salt (when the water boils add the rice – stirring occasionally)

Slice your meat, set aside and season

Chop the onion

Heat your skillet or wok with about 3 tablespoons of olive oil

Once the oil is heated, put in the onion and saute until transparent

Add the meat (in this case pork)

Stir fry for a few minutes just until the meat turns white all over

Add the frozen broccoli and you can salt and pepper if you like!

At this point you may want/need to add a little more olive oil

Stir fry for a couple of minutes

Open the canned pineapple and pour all the juice over the stir fry – saving the pineapple chunks for the end (garnish).

Cover and simmer – stirring occasionally until most of the juice is absorbed (at this point, if you know how to make a gravy you can make a little water/cornstarch mixture and slowly add this to the stir fry to make a bit of a sauce)

Rice should be done. Drain and rinse

Stir Fry should be done.

Rice on dish, stir fry on top, top that with some pineapple chunks, add some soy sauce if you like!

Bon Appetit !