Thrifty Thursday: Time Savers

Thinking of being thrifty involves more than just pinching pennies.  Stop and think of how valuable your time and energy is.  You'll realize in a hurry how important it is to be frugal whenever possible. That's when you are thankful for two of your favorite time savers: A food processor and Leftovers.

Tonight's dinner prep took 15 minutes.  That's not bad for a veggie stir fry for ten people! 

I took about 10 minutes to get the brown rice cooking, veggies washed, peeled, and then run through the food processor.  Another five minutes to mix up a yummy pineapple ginger sauce, pull the bags of frozen veggies out to thaw and the raw cashews, and you're ready to put your feet up and blog about it for a good 20 minutes or so while that rice simmers.

 

 

Pineapple Ginger Stir Fry Sauce

 

2 cans of unsweetened pineapple chunks, juice only

1 tsp of ground ginger

1 tsp - 1 TBS of Bragg's Liquid Aminos (depending on taste preference)

1 TBS or more of garlic (you can use fresh, minced, or dehydrated like I used tonight)

2-3 TBS arrowroot powder or thickening agent of choice

 

Mix together and add to veggies about 5 minutes before serving to allow the sauce to thicken.  Stir in pineapples and 1 cup raw cashews just before serving.

 

I use whatever vegetables I have in the fridge, making Stir Fry a financially frugal meal at our house as well a thrifty time saver, especially if I have leftover vegetables from the week to use up.

 

Tonight's Veggie Mix:

 

Through the food processor, slicing blade, in this order:

 3 large ribs of celery

3 large carrots

1.5 yellow onion

half a box of baby portabella mushrooms

1/4 red bell pepper that needed using up

 

Frozen Veggies to be added:

1.5 bags broccoli

1 bag baby Brussels sprouts

1/4 to 1/2 bag of chopped collard greens

 

Other:

1 container of leftover green beans from the fridge (about 1-2 cups)

1-2 cans water sliced water chestnuts, drained and rinsed

1 can bean sprouts, drained and rinsed

Add the above ingredients just prior to adding the sauce. You only need time to warm them up and you don't want them getting too mushy in your veggie mix.

 

*Because I'm using some frozen vegetables, I allow for about 20 minutes to get everything cooked up and to the table. I generally need to use a large skillet wok and a large frying pan to cook all the veggies at first. Once they cook down, I can combine the veggies in the wok before adding the sauce, pineapple, and cashews. But really, with that 15 minutes of prep work done, this becomes and easy dump and serve meal.