Fried Rice

I made this last week for a dinner and two lunches, to use up some rice I'd cooked last week for fajitas.

Fried Rice
makes 3 servings
(you can easily adjust the ingredients to make more servings)
adapted from Bowl Food

1 egg
approximately 1/2 tsp. butter
1 - 2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced into 1" strips
1/2 carrot, thinly sliced
1 stalk broccoli (I just used the florets)
2 handfuls snow peas, rinsed and trimmed (can substitute 1/2 cup frozen peas)
1 clove garlic, minced
.25 lb pork sausage
2 cups cold, cooked white rice
1/4 cup canned corn, rinsed
3 scallions, thinly sliced
2 - 3 tsp. sesame oil
2 tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce

In a small pan, coat a pan with a small amount of butter (less than 1/2 tsp.). Whisk egg in a bowl and add to the pan. Gently move pan to coat bottom with egg and let cook over medium heat until small bubbles appear. Flip the egg and cook through to the other side. Remove from heat and let cool on a plate.

Heat 1 tbsp. oil in wok or large frying pan. Add red bell pepper and carrot. Allow to cook for a minute, then add broccoli, snow peas and garlic. After a minute, add pork sausage. (I cooked the pork sausage whole until it browned on both sides, then removed, allowed to cool, sliced, and added back to the mixture.) Cook for about five minutes, add a small amount of oil, and add rice. Incorporate the rice well, breaking up any lumps the rice may have formed. After the rice has fried for about a minute, add the corn and scallions, mixing frequently.

Thinly slice the egg and add to the mixture. Toss well, add sesame oil and soy sauce, stir again and remove from heat. Allow a few minutes to let the mixture's flavours incorporate. And voilà. An American girl's version of Fried Rice.

Costs

Broccoli $2.29
Corn $.89
Snow Peas $2.58
Pork Sausage $2.28
Carrot $.78
Red Bell Pepper $1.56
Scallions $.89

Cost per meal: $3 I had a lot of the pricier ingredients on hand, including the sesame oil. I put the other half of sausage in the freezer, used 1/4 of the red bell pepper in a salad I took with me on a bus ride on Thursday, and used the remaining vegetable ingredients tonight in a stir fry with a bit of chicken and some whole wheat noodles. The other half of the stir fry is tomorrow's lunch. And the rest of the week's lunches will fall out of tomorrow's dinner.

So, for just an additional $1.69 for noodles and 2 chicken thighs (4 for $4.61, two are now in the freezer), that's 5 meals for just $3.50 each (not to mention some sausage and chicken in the freezer for future meals). Not bad!

Nutritional Information: 496 calories, 23g fat, 6g saturated fat, 20% sodium, 55g carbohydrate, 8g dietary fiber, 8g sugar, 20g protein, 96% vitamin A, 262% vitamin C, 12% calcium, 30% iron. Also a good source of Folate (59%) and Vitamin K (247%). (Note: I couldn't find soy sauce on Nutrition Data so this is an estimation and probably contains more sodium than these figures.)

Flank Steak

In order to make this week's lunch, I needed to prepare the meat. I bought a .83 lb flank steak and tried out my mom's amazing marinade, which requires a good 24 hours soak in the fridge before broiling (or grilling). It's a large recipe, but my mom said she freezes it after using it and reuses it about 3 times.

Flank Steak Marinade

1 cup soy sauce (I used low-sodium)
1/4 cup vegetable or olive oil
1/2 cup sugar (my mom said she uses a little bit less)
1 jigger gin or vodka (I went without since I didn't have any on hand)
1 tbsp. toasted sesame seeds
3 - 4 green onions, thinly diced
1 clove garlic
1 tsp. fresh ginger (I probably used closer to 3)

Combine all the ingredients and let the steak marinade over night in the fridge for at least 12 hours. I prepared my steak by broiling it for about 5 - 7 minutes on each side. Doing this on a warm, humid New York night was probably not the wisest of decisions, but it makes your kitchen smells divine and gives the meat a delicious crust on the outside.

Costs

Sesame seeds $2.49
Kikkoman Lite Soy Sauce (large bottle) $3.49
Ginger root $.72

Total: $6.70
approximate cost per use: $2.24 (if you use it 4 times total -- you should also have plenty of soy sauce, ginger and sesame seeds left over for other meals)