lunch on me - pork and rice stir-fry

I am a terrible lunch planner.  I mean terrible.  I always have these big ideas at the grocery store, buying wonderful ingredients, thinking I'll actually pre-prepare them so I can grab a great mid-day meal on my way out the door throughout the week.  

Then Monday morning hits.  

Three other lunch boxes are staring at me waiting to be filled, breakfast is necessary too, I suppose... Luke has gone to bed the night before with wet hair - major bed head - and there's at least one item that has found the absolute best hiding place ever, just moments before we're heading out the door.  It's at this point I stagger to the car with 49 things in my hands, none of which is lunch, and thank the Lord I work in a building with a cafeteria...  salad bar it is, one. more. time.  Or Mr. Marvin's grilled cheese with extra butter... love that guy!

But then there are moments when an aligning of the stars takes place, and I pull together something super-fast and super-easy, like this stir-fry, and wonder why in the world I don't do it more.

When we got home from our recent visit to Indiana, I pulled out a couple of pork loin chops Mom had gotten on sale.  Still frozen, I let them sit in just a little bit of Dale's seasoning and put them in the crock pot over night.  By the next morning, I had incredibly flavored meat to use for whatever.  Simple.  I stir-fried some veggies I had on hand, threw in a few flavor hits, a couple of cups of rice, stirred it all together, and bada bing!  Lunch is served.

I'm looking forward to a great weekend... a little cooler, but a lot of sunshine and a ton of baseball.  Grocery shopping is on the list as well.  I have some fun ideas in the works and a few cooking adventures up my sleeve.  I hope you're enjoying the blog as much as I am!  Come sit a spell, and bring your friends.  There's always room at the table!

Happy Friday to all!

Pork and Rice Stir-Fry - makes four servings
Ingredients:

• 1 lb pork or chicken, cooked and seasoned to taste, cut in pieces
• 2-3 cups brown rice, cooked
• 1 cup sugar snap peas, julienned
• 1 cup bell pepper (orange, yellow, or red), sliced
• 1/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp. dark sesame oil
• 1 1/2 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. brown sugar
• pinch of crushed red pepper

~ In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.

~ Add peas, peppers, and green onions, stirring until just beginning to soften.

~ Add soy sauce, lemon juice and brown sugar.

~ Continuing stirring and moving around veggies until only slightly crunchy.  

~ Add cooked meat and turn to coat.  

~ Add rice and red pepper to mixture in pan, stirring frequently until heated through.

Recipe from The Lazy Daisy Kitchen