How to Make Stir Fry Vegetables

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Are you interested in learning how to make stir fry vegetables at home? They really are a quick and yummy way to enjoy vegetables on a regular basis.

One of the good things about making stir fry vegetables is that you can use just about any vegetable that you have in the house: onions, carrots, green beans, zucchini, bok choy, mushrooms- the list can go on and on.

What I feel is the most important part of making a stir fry is the order that you cook the vegetables and what you use to add flavor to the dish.

When I say the “order” of the vegetables, I mean to be mindful of which vegetables cook faster or need longer cooking than others. Sometimes, as with carrots, if you cut up these longer cooking vegetables into small thin pieces then you can shrink the cooking times. Vegetables such as onions, carrots and peppers are great when they are cut a little bit smaller for a stir fry.

So you are asking “what are fast –cooking vegetables”? These include softer vegetables such as mushrooms, snow peas, spinach or bean sprouts. These sorts of veggies are best when added right at the end of the stir fry.

Now if you are using a frozen bag of veggies like the Trader Joe’s Stir Fry Vegetables, just pour the whole bag into the pan and start to cook from there.

Trader Joe's Stir-Fry Vegetables

Trader Joe's Stir-Fry Vegetables

Beyond the order that you add the veggies to the pan, what you are using to flavor this dish is very important. There are certain flavors that are special to stir fry or Oriental cooking in general. These flavor makers include:

  • Garlic
  • Ginger
  • Soy Sauce
  • Sesame Oil

When you add a combination of these 4 ingredients, you are going to create the best stir fry veggies.

Grated Ginger & Garlic

Grated Ginger & Garlic

So what we do to make Stir Fry Vegetables quickly and easily  is to pour one bag of Trader Joe’s Stir Fry Veggies into a sauté pan and add about ½ inch of water to the bottom. Cook on medium until the veggies are just thawed, about 5 minutes.

Now add 2 cloves of grated garlic and the same amount of grated ginger to the pan (Use the Microplane 35001 Home Series Coarse Grater, Black for best results). Also add a splash of Soy sauce ( ¼ cup) and a Tablespoon of sesame oil. Turn the heat up on the pan and “stir fry” all the ingredients together for 2 minutes or until hot and sizzling.  Taste a veggie and see if you need to add more soy sauce or sesame oil to taste.

It really is just that easy to have a delicious batch of stir fry vegetables ready to serve.

To make it even easier, Trader Joe’s sells small jars of chopped garlic and chopped ginger so that all you needed to do was add a spoonful from a jar to your pan. We used to use these items but now that Trader Joe’s sells fresh ginger root in the produce area and also those wonderful Elephant garlic bulbs right next to the ginger, I just love to use the items fresh and just grate up what I need each night.

So give these 4 super flavor makers a try and see if they don’t make your next Stir Fry meal the best you ever had. You will also see just how easy it is to make stir fry vegetables at home.

Meatless Monday Recipes: Pasta Salad

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This great Meatless Monday Recipe is an easy summer pasta salad. This easy recipe combines whole wheat pasta spirals, garbanzo beans, fresh veggies and a tasty olive dressing. It is quick, simple to make and you can add or subtract ingredients that you want to and still have a colorful, tasty main dish for Meatless Monday as a result.

Meatless Monday Easy Pasta Salad

Meatless Monday Easy Pasta Salad

Now when I think back to past salad, I get a number of great tasting ideas in my head. There are times when I want a cool and creamy pasta salad, but there are other times that call for an olive oil based pasta salad. I like to make these olive-oil based salad dressings when it is hot outside and I am bringing a salad for lunch to work or a picnic.

For this pasta salad I used the Organic Whole Wheat pasta that is available at Trader Joe’s. This pasta comes in all shapes and sizes and my favorite one looks like little spirals. I also like the nutty flavor that this pasta has, and the fact that it holds up well, even when you cook it a bit longer than you needed to (yes, I forgot about the pasta cooking away for a few minutes- but it was still great and held up very well when I tossed the salad).

What you need:

  • ½ pound Whole Wheat pasta spirals (or use your favorite noodles)
  • 1 container Trader Joe’s Tapenade
  • Olive Oil
  • Balsamic Vinegar
  • 1 can Garbanzo beans, rinsed
  • 1 16 oz packet cherry tomatoes (we used Trader Joe’s Heirloom tomatoes)
  • 3 green onions, sliced thin

1. Cook pasta spirals following package directions. Drain under cold water. In a small bowl combine tapenade, a splash of olive oil, a splash of balsamic vinegar and salt & pepper. Pour over pasta and toss lightly.

2. Cut cherry tomatoes in half, and add to pasta. Also add rinsed garbanzo beans and the green onions to the pasta as well. Toss lightly and taste. Add more salt and pepper if needed. Also check the amount of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Add another splash of both if you like.

That’s it! See how easy that was? I like to use tapenade to make the dressing as it has garlic and other great spices. Another great product for summer pasta salads would be to make a pesto-balsamic vinegar salad dressing.

Variations:

  • Add frozen, thawed sweet peas, diced peppers or cucumbers would be great too.
  • Diced Sweet onions (red or white)
  • Fresh herbs such as basil sliced thin, or thyme
  • Canned black olives in rings
  • Pimentos (roasted red peppers) chopped fine

I would also suggest that you make this pasta salad the day before you serve it, to allow the flavors to really develop.

We hope you enjoyed this Meatless Monday Recipe idea. Let us know what you are serving this week.

Easy Raw Diet Green Smoothie: Spinach & Ginger

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Another great tasting Easy Raw Diet Green Smoothie:Spinach & Ginger was created today in our kitchen! We are so excited by the yummy green smoothies that we are enjoying and wanted to share another one with you today. This one was just loosely based on a recipe, and then became a sort of  “just toss it in” creation.  Now even if you are not on the Raw Diet, you can add these yummy Green Smoothies to your day. They are a fantastic way to eat more fruit and veggies!

Click HERE to Get FREE shipping on your Vitamix

Trader Joe’s has made this smoothie kick we are on sooo easy! In our Tucson store they have added a lot more “individual” pieces of fruit. So now we can go in and just pick up one pear, or one orange when we want to.

Vita-Mix Raw Green Smoothie: Spinach & Ginger

Vita-Mix Raw Green Smoothie: Spinach & Ginger


We recently purchased some great looking Kiwi fruits…. Look out Vita-Mix!

We are using a base of fruits in our smoothie recipes that seem to be working out very well for us. We are using an orange, a banana and a pear with 1 ½ cups of water and a ½ cup of ice. Then the creative part comes in and we start to add the green stuff and this week a super-delicious “extra” ingredient…. fresh ginger root.

Wow! Was that a great idea. The ginger added a kick to our raw diet green smoothie. It was subtle at first, but then as you sipped a bit more, it hit you- as a sweet spiciness in your mouth.  We recommend trying some fresh ginger in your next smoothie, but we would also recommend starting out on the conservative side. We added a slim round slice from our ginger root. It was the size of a quarter and about as thick as two quarters. I was thinking I would like to add a second slice, but then thought not. I figured that I could always add more ginger, and would taste and see.  I think the amount was perfect and I am now glad that I did not add more.

OK here is the recipe for a wonderful Raw Diet Green Smoothie:

Awesome Spinach-Ginger Raw, Whole Fruit Smoothie

  • 1 orange, peeled
  • 1 pear, quartered and seeds removed
  • 1 banana, peeled
  • 1 coin of ginger
  • 1 handful Trader Joe’s baby spinach
  • 2 sprigs parsley
  • 1 ½ cups cold water
  • ½ cup Ice cubes

1. Prepare fruit (peel and remove seeds where needed), wash and rinse the ingredients and add to the Vita-Mix blender. Whirl until smooth about 1 minute total.

Like I said before this Raw Diet Green Smoothie was just wonderful. We were a bit concerned because I tossed some parsley in the container, but all we could taste at the end was the fruits.

The finished Green Smoothie

The finished Green Smoothie

So if you are trying to add in some more fruits and veggies into your day- we say – go ahead and try a green smoothie. Even if you are not on the Raw Foods diet 100% (we are not…. But we are just trying to add some more raw foods into our diet) you will love the energy you get from this drink.

Have you checked out the Vita-Mix yet?  This super blender might be just what you need to reach your health goals. Take a look today at

Click HERE to Get FREE shipping on your Vitamix

What do you like in your smoothies?  Have you tried a Green Smoothie yet?

Meatless Monday: Cornbread and Pinto Beans

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Cornbread for Meatless Monday

Cornbread for Meatless Monday

You never know what you will learn when you listen to the radio, right?

Today we were listening to NPR whilst doing errands, and heard about a new marketing plan for better health: Meatless Monday’s

The announcers made a lot of good points about how much fat and cholesterol you could avoid adding to your diet by not eating meat on just one day a week. Whose diet would not benefit from a little cut in fat, cholesterol and calories? So we decided to give this a try.

Our Meatless Monday Meal: Cornbread and Pinto Beans

For the cornbread we used the Trader Joe’s Cornbread Mix and make a few additions of Pepper Jack Cheese & Green Onions before baking.

Cornbread with Pepper Jack Cheese and onions

Cornbread with Pepper Jack Cheese and onions

We followed the Trader Joe’s box directions and then added ½ cup of pepper jack cheese cubes and about 1/3 cup sliced green onions just before we slid the pan into the oven. WOW the whole house smelled wonderful for the 30 or so minutes that this baked…

Trader Joe's Pinto Beans

Trader Joe's Pinto Beans

For the Pinto Beans, we just opened up a can of Trader Joe’s Pinto Beans, and heated them up with a teaspoon of Trader Joe’s Taco Seasoning, onions and a clove of garlic. (you could add any your favorite spice blend too) You could also serve baked beans if you like…. We wanted to serve the beans up, but if we wanted to make a quick bean soup- you could add water and Trader Joe’s vegetable stock to the pan….some leftover veggies….yum…. Maybe we will try the soup in the fall?

This was a wonderful inauguration to Meatless Monday for us! The whole place smelled great, and we had a delicious meal. We also nibbled on some carrot sticks and some cherry tomatoes- as well… YUM! This is going to be a tasty new tradition around our house!

Cornbread hot from the oven

Cornbread hot from the oven

Oh yeah, the cornbread… here is a small warning… the cornbread smelled wonderful and we dove right into the pan just as it came out of the oven…. If you could wait a bit (yes I know nearly impossible, right?) your slices will look a bit better. Our pieces were all crumbly and just about fell apart on us… but when we went back for a second piece, the squares held together much much better.

What did you serve on Meatless Monday?