I used to think a delicious stir-fry meal required a lot of prep and cooking time and could be unhealthy and expensive. My love for these dishes led me to experiment with different creations in an attempt to make them healthy, easy and inexpensive. This meal costs only $1.00 per serving, is loaded with nutrition, and can be on the table in just 15 minutes. It’s also delicious!
Budget Friendly – Take advantage of sales and vegetable stands. It’s easy to find a wide variety of delicious vegetables for only 25 cents to 99 cents per pound if you look for sales and compare prices at stands and local grocery stores. I try to load up on these vegetables which also give me a great workout when I’m carrying 10, 20, 30 or even 40 pounds of vegetables home.
Quick and Easy Prep and Cooking Time – A great meal in 15 minutes. I love to cook, but there are many days when I need to turn to my quick and easy meal list. Sticking with only one or two vegetables per meal saves a lot of prep time. I only spent a maximum of five minutes preparing these carrots.
Healthy – A well-balanced meal low in fat, calories and salt made with nutritious ingredients. One thing I love about this meal is that I can use any vegetable. A few of my favorites are mushrooms, broccoli and zucchini.
Flavorful – Lightly charred vegetables add a ton of flavor to dishes. Rice vinegar also lends a hand in giving this dish a ton of flavor. Rice vinegar is so delightful on it’s own, I find myself tasting it from time to time straight from the bottle. It’s that good! The two tablespoons of water that gets added to the rice vinegar and tamari mix tones it all down just a bit, and also creates enough liquid to fully coat the ingredients creating consistent flavor in every bite.
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Cost: $1.00 per meal!
Nutrients: Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Beta-Carotene, Thiamine (B1), Riboflavin (B2), Niacin (B3), Folate, Calcium, Iron, Potassium, Copper, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Zinc, Selenium and Protein.
Ingredients
- Rice – 1 cup cooked
- 4-5 peeled and sliced carrots
- 2 tablespoons of cashew pieces
- 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
Sauce
- 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons of water
- 1 tablespoon of tamari or soy sauce
Directions
- Cook one cup of rice in a rice cooker.
- Peel and chop 4-5 carrots.
- Microwave carrots for 3 minutes.
- Add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil to a pot.
- Transfer carrots to pot with oil. Stir to coat carrots with oil.
- Lightly season with salt.
- Stir-fry on high stirring frequently. You will want to see light charring to add that wonderful flavor. Turn your heat to medium if you want to slow down or stop the charring.
- Stir the 3 ingredients for the sauce together.
- Combine rice, carrots, cashews and sauce in a bowl, then serve.
Hope you enjoy this quick, delicious and nutritious meal as much as I do!
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