Everyday Cait

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What's for Dinner

Some of you are going into college, or are starting to live on your own and are living on a tight budget. There’s no reason to exile yourself to the Top Ramen ghetto. There’s no reason to do that. This quick stir fry is fast, delicious, and dirt cheap.

I try not to do too many stir fries, because Gordon Ramsay calls them lazy, and I care about what that man thinks of my cooking. That said, every once in a while, I am pressed for time, and there is really nothing easier.        

                        

You will need:

  • 3 ounces of meat of some kind per serving. I used pork, because that was on sale, but chicken and beef both work.
  • Shot of soy sauce or teriyaki sauce, whichever you prefer.
  • A little bit of spaghetti. I used about half a serving, whole wheat if you want to be healthy.
  • Vegetables. So many vegetables. I like to have twice as many vegetables as everything combined. Eyeball it.
  • Shot of vegetable oil.
  • Clove of garlic.
  • Pinky of ginger, peeled and chopped finely.

Directions:

Put the spaghetti on to boil. It can do it’s thing while you’re working on everything else.

Throw your shot of vegetable oil into a frying pan (or wok if you’re super spiffy), and start the meat cooking, along with the ginger and garlic.

As your meat starts to get done, throw the vegetables in.

When the vegetables get soft, add in the cooked, drained spaghetti. And coat everything with the soy/teriyaki sauce. IF you haven’t been stirring your fry, now is the time to be doing that.



And you’re done.

This business also keeps really well in the fridge if you need lunch (or dinner...or breakfast) the next day.
   
Tips:

White rice is nutritionally useless, which is why I prefer a whole wheat pasta for recipes like this.

Use a lot of colour in your vegetables. Everyone tells you this, but it’s true. I buy frozen bag mixes (like Green Giant) during the winter or when I’m feeling particularly broke because you get a lot of variety for cheap. I used exclusively frozen in this recipe.

Try to follow the 50-25-25 rule when making up a plate. It’s 50% vegetables, 25% simple carbs (pasta, bread, grain), 25% meat.

Corn isn’t a vegetable. Don’t treat it like one.


I usually buy my meat in bulk, whatever is on sale, weigh and cut it into 3 oz servings and individually freeze the portions. 3 oz is about one serving of meat. This is the only thing that I measured for this recipe. 

Let me know how it goes!

It was actually requested that I do some everyday cooking recipes. If you have a request like that, or something else, whatever is cool, you can send it to me or leave it in the comments and I’ll do my best!