your basic vegetable stir fry

Growing up, vegetables were as much a staple as white rice was in every meal. I remember Dad watching us kids with eagle eyes until we’ve cleaned our plates off any rice or veggie residue.

basic vegetable stir fry rice topping

It was a dictatorial household, I tell you. No kid was allowed to leave the table unless and until he or she has eaten the vegetables that Dad or Mom has dished on his or her plate. I remember my younger siblings and me trying to finish the generous servings of bitter gourd (ampalaya) that Dad would put on our plates, all the while tears streaming down our cheeks. Mealtimes could be such a drama sometimes, heh.

Grown up and a-wanting my veggies all the time, I can’t help but be grateful Dad and Mom taught us how to eat our veggies. I certainly couldn’t survive without them…which brings me to my all-time favorite easy-to-cook, ready-in-a-jiffy vegetable dish: vegetable stir fry.

If I’m pressed for time, there’s a fresh harvest from my backyard vegetable garden, and hubby’s on his way home, this veggie dish is my lifesaver.

Basic Vegetable Stir Fry Recipe 

You’ll need:

1 lb pork, cut into bite size pieces
2 T soy sauce1 T sesame oil
1/2 t garlic powder
Dash of pepper
1 c water, divided
1 T vegetable oil
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium-sized sweet onion, sliced
1 c diagonally sliced green beans
2 c sliced zucchini (about 2 pieces)
1 c julienned carrots
Oyster sauce, to taste

1. Marinate pork in soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic powder and pepper and let stand for 30 minutes.
2. Cook the pork in its marinade, adding 1/2 c water, at high heat. As soon as it boils, lower heat to medium. Let simmer until water has evaporated and the fat has rendered. Place the pork to the side of the wok.
3. Add vegetable oil (if needed) and sauté garlic and onion. When the onion has turned clear, add the green beans. Sauté for 5 minutes.
4. Add the zucchini and sauté for another 5 minutes. 
5. Add the carrots and sauté for 2 minutes.
6. Add oyster sauce and adjust according to your taste. Add 1/2 c of water for sauce. As soon as the sauce is simmering, remove from heat and serve immediately with steamed rice. Yummy!

Notes:
Potatoes, broccoli, chayote, and cauliflower are also delicious additions to this vegetable stir fry dish.
 

saturday afternoon delight: weeding!

Wow, it’s been close to three months that I’ve neglected this blog. And, truth to tell, my vegetable garden as well.

I’ve a great excuse: there’s been lots of rain—blessed rain!—in the Sunshine State.

precipitation in Florida for the last 3 months

And of course, I’ve been, er, slacking off, heh. (What else is new?)

The thing is, my garden has gone to weed! Weeds everywhere—in the beds, along the aisles, and even in between the beer bottles that served as bed borders!

I couldn’t attack them before because of the dry thunderstorms and the rains that peppered our Central Florida weeks. I had visions of getting drenched in a sudden downpour or being struck by lightning so I avoided the garden as much as possible. Plus, the mosquitoes!

Today though, despite the threatening gray clouds, I couldn’t stand the sight of those darned weeds any longer so I decided to annihilate them once and for all. The rains have let up and there were no thunderstorm forecasts so...To the garden it is!

precipitation in the Sunshine State for the last 7 days

Well, it helps that it’s time to prepare for the fall planting, heh.

I forgot to take a Before picture, so I’ll only show you the After:

the itsy bitsy farm, circa august 2012

That clean look was achieved after two and a half hours of duking it out with them weeds. Those two buckets are actually packed tightly with these garden monsters.

buckets of torture

Finally, my beds are ready for September. I’ll be planting the usual suspects: okra, yardlong beans, green beans, bitter gourd, zucchini, eggplants and tomatoes. No more cherry tomatoes though. We've had too much of them last time.

Speaking of rains and thunderstorms...

From May to August, Central Florida—and the whole state, for that matter—has had a generous drenching as you can see in the maps from the National Climatic Data Center.

Beginning last June, Central Florida had been extremely moist—in the real world that's like pounding rains every afternoon and sometimes well into the night (and early morning, for that matter).

Here's how it was, rain-wise in Florida for the last 90 days:

observed precipitation in Florida for the last 90 days

It's a relief that there was no drought in Central Florida the past three months, too. The heat outside was simply unbearable even in the late afternoon. I couldn't imagine myself watering and cleaning the garden in the sweltering, nosebleed-inducing summer heat. Thank God for these mercies!

Here's the monthly precipitation mapping since I've been to my vegetable garden in May:

observed precipitation in Florida, June 2012

observed precipitation in Florida, July 2012

observed precipitation in Florida, August 2012