Recipe for Life – Brown Rice and Vegetable Stir Fry

If you are in the caregiving sandwich. That place, where you have children to care for and are the primary caregiver for an elderly person, then you know stress. Balancing life with children is challenging enough (I have 5) and when you add a person with dementia to the mix, the balancing act becomes a tightrope walk. Made simpler by a few handy appliances (at least that’s what I tell myself and my husband when I buy them).

I recently purchased a rice cooker. NOT a necessary appliance, I thought, but it would be nice to just put the rice in and forget about it and hopefully get perfect rice every time. Well, let me tell you, my rice cooker has quickly become a necessary appliance. However, it doesn’t matter whether you use a rice cooker or just cook your rice on the stove or in the oven, this recipe is fast, simple, inexpensive, healthy and delicious and that’s what the Recipe for Life is all about.

First, a little about the ingredients–

Brown Rice – Did you know that rice in its natural state is brown and not white? White rice is actually brown rice with the bran (part that contains taste AND fiber removed). A serving of brown rice has 3.5 grams of fiber. The same amount of white rice has less than a gram. Because brown rice is a whole grain, “Brown rice offers more than just fiber. It’s rich in the bone-building mineral magnesium, the immune-boosting antioxidant selenium, and manganese, a mineral important for keeping up the body’s natural defenses.”

So, the recipe for life for today is Brown Rice and Vegetable Stir Fry

I’ve heard people complain about cooking brown rice, but before my rice cooker days, I cooked it in a heavy pan 2 parts water to1 part rice and it came out just fine. I generally use regular brown rice, but parboiled cooks up pretty much the same texture as white rice.

Vegetable Stir Fry (the nice thing about this is that you can select the veggies you like OR just pick up a fresh or frozen package of veggies.)

I like to use:

• 2 medium carrots
• 1 head of broccoli (stems included)
• 2-4 leaves of bok choy OR about 1 cup shredded cabbage
• 2 cups of peas or sprouts or kale (pretty much whatever you like)
• 2 TBS olive oil

In a wok, large frying pan or even a non-stick dutch oven warm olive oil. Add veggies in order of tenderness. Start with carrots, add other veggies and stir-fry to the tenderness you desire.

Sauce

This is an easy, but delish take on teriyaki sauce

• ½ cup honey (or sweetener of your choice)
• ½ cup soy sauce (I use namu shoya)
• ½ cup water
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 tsp. lemon juice

This is a very thin sauce (and works well as a marinade too), to thicken add a little cornstarch, mix well and warm in small saucepan.

Brown Rice

• 4 cups water
• 2 cups rice
• dash of salt

bring water to boil, pour in rice, mix, cover and cook 45 minutes OR toss it all in a rice cooker and wait for it to signal you that it’s done.

Serving suggestion-Spoon veggies over brown rice and pour teriakyi sauce over both veggies and rice.