Everything But the Kitchen Sink Stir Fry and Coconut Rice

I carved out a tiny space on my dining table to set up my laptop. All three kids are spread around the table, Chromebooks, headphones, work packets, notebooks and snacks littered around them. I figure I should try and string a few words together while they do their schoolwork.

One child is on a Zoom call. The other is doing an online math program, music spilling out of his headphones. Another child, who shall remain nameless, is tapping their feet, also a pencil and managing to slurp water all at the same time. I think said child is working on something school related but it's taking all my mental energy to block out the noise so I’m not entirely sure.

In some ways, I feel like we’ve settled into a nice routine being at home together. We sleep late,  the kids do a few hours of schoolwork, read, play games, and spend hours outside before coming in and curling up for movies in the evenings. We take long walks and bike rides. We planted our garden and the kids have multiple forts around the yard and pasture, perfect little nooks for nerf gun wars and imagined adventures. The simple pleasures of reading a book in the sun or going for a long walk in the middle of the day are a welcome change from what we are used to. 

And yet our life is not a movie reel. There are moments (many many of them) that are difficult. The kids are bored and restless and I’m short on patience. We miss sports and friends, school and a regular routine. There are larger looming worries hanging like a question mark in the air around us. We push them to the peripheral while we wait.

Each day the push and pull of the good and hard mingle moment by moment and the dinner hour is no different. Some days look like music playing, a glass of wine on the counter and a beautiful meal prepared. Other nights it looks like frozen pizza on paper plates. Sunday evening I stood in front of the refrigerator looking for dinner inspiration. I had leftovers and bits of this and that. I was just about to give up when I decided to just start pulling things out of the fridge. I figured if whatever I came up with was a bust, there was always pizza. What came from my experiment was a lovely stir-fry and a recipe I plan to return to again and again. The point of this recipe is to use up whatever bits of veggies and meat you have. This recipe is more of a guide than a set-by-step instruction manual. I had a little bacon to use up but you could easily make this a vegetarian meal and skip the meat. On the flip side, ground chicken or pork would be lovely as would any leftover steak or chicken off the grill. The sauce is easy to recreate with whatever decide to throw in the pan. I can’t wait to experiment again.

Everything But the Kitchen Sink Stir Fry with Coconut Rice

Stir Fry

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 bunch swish chard

• 1 cup thinly sliced purple cabbage

• 1 zucchini, cubed

• 1 sweet potato, cubed

• 1 cup broccoli florets

• 2 pieces center-cut bacon, diced

• 4 green onions, diced

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 2 to 3 tablespoons soy sauce

• 1 to 2 tablespoons garlic chili sauce such as sambal oelek

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

In a large sauté pan, cook bacon pieces over medium heat until cooked through, about four to five minutes. Turn heat off to the pan and use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon to a paper-towel lined plate. 

Add a tablespoon olive oil to the pan with the sweet potato and broccoli. Turn the heat back to medium and stir often until the potato and broccoli begin to soften. Add the Swiss chard, purple cabbage and zucchini stirring often until the chard and cabbage begin to wilt. 

Return bacon to pan and add garlic and green onions. Cook for an additional minute. Add the soy sauce, garlic chili sauce and brown sugar and stir to combine. Season with salt and reduce the heat to low until ready to serve.

Coconut Rice

• 2 1/2 cups water

• 1 cup coconut milk

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 2 cups jasmine rice

• Zest and juice of 1 lime

Combine the water, coconut milk, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the rice and reduce heat to a low simmer. Give the rice a stir and cover saucepan with a lid, cooking undisturbed for 15 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed. Turn the heat off and let the rice steam for another 5 minutes until full cooked. Uncover, fluff and toss in the lime juice and zest.

To assemble, divide the rice among bowls. Top with stir fry, a lime wedge, sliced cucumbers and fresh herbs such as cilantro or basil.