An English Girl Rambles from 2016 to ....: July 2016

Right up until the last day if you asked my Father-in-Law how he was, his reply would be "Everything's great!" Sadly he passed away last week and how we miss him. I am keeping this short but I know there are those of you out there who took him into your hearts when I wrote about our trip to Normandy in 2014, and have asked me during his illness, how he was doing. To borrow a quote from a gentleman who spoke at his funeral, 'the Commander has left the ship." Fair Winds and Following Seas to one of the sweetest souls I have ever met.

"You may be gone from our sight, but you are never gone from our hearts."

I am not sure where this photo was taken but it was shared among the family. Gregg thought North Dakota, probably by Celia, his wife. I don't think she would mind me sharing it today.

Cauliflower Fried 'Rice'

You know we enjoy a meal when I put it on here. The blog is a great place to store favorites, and we will definitely be adding this one to our repertoire.

The original recipe came from AllRecipes which you can read here. I had heard and seen a lot about riced cauliflower being used instead of actual rice, was curious and thought I would give it a try. I bought a packet from my last trip to the grocery store, did a quick search on line and found the recipe I had in mind. My thanks to John Melinte for sharing it.

2 cups frozen peas
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sesame oil, divided
4 cups cubed pork loin
6 green onions, sliced
1 large carrot, cubed
2 cloves garlic, minced
20 ozs. shredded cauliflower
6 tablespoons soy sauce
2 eggs, beaten

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Ready in 45 minutes

Stir peas and water together in a saucepan; bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook and stir until peas are tender and heated through, about 5 minutes. Drain and discard water.

Heat 2 tablespoons sesame oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Cook and stir pork in hot oil until lightly browned on all sides and cooked through, 7 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Heat remaining 2 tablespoons sesame oil the wok. Saute green onions, carrot and garlic in hot oil just until softened, about 5 minutes.

Add cauliflower; cook and stir until cauliflower is tender but still firm to the bite, 4 to 5 minutes.

Stir pork, peas and soy sauce into cauliflower mixture and stir-fry until mixture is hot and slightly browned, 3 to 5 minutes.

Move pork-cauliflower mixture to one side of the wok; pour beaten eggs onto empty side. Scramble eggs until cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes; stir cooked eggs into the pork-cauliflower mixture, breaking up any large pieces.

As sometimes happens I change recipes around a bit, using any left-over veggies that need to be used up in the fridge. The only thing I added today was a sweet bell pepper which I sliced and diced.

I added all the veggies in the pan together and didn't bother cooking the peas first. Just threw them all in. Everything seemed to be just fine and crisp tender. I'm not recommending everyone do that, it just works for me because there are days when I am impatient, seeing where I can do short cuts.

I cheated again when I added a small amount of brown rice left over from a recipe the day before. Stir fries are great for using left-overs.

I didn't have any pork and used tofu which I normally have in the fridge. To prepare the tofu I pressed it between paper towels, or you can use dry, clean tea towels to get all the moisture out. To a plastic bag I added 1 tablespoon of cornflower, tossed in the tofu and shook the pieces until they were coated with the cornflower, shaking any excess off. I had read that if you dust with cornflower it will make the tofu crispier and it worked. I then followed the same cooking instructions for the pork.

This would be one of those meals where for a change you can add (speaking with our combined tastes in mind) shrimp, scallops, chicken or the pork.

I didn't have any fresh garlic but instead used a couple of shakes of garlic powder.

To give it a bit of extra zip I also added two tablespoons of chili garlic sauce.

I also used low-sodium soy sauce.

There are enough leftovers for a couple of days. It gives the flavors a chance to blend and tastes even better.

That's about it. Enjoy!