Quick Dinner: Mom's Stirfry with Cheese

I eat weird food and this mostly comes from the fact that mom cooks us all kinds of strange stuff when we were growing up. Last night she made stir fry, which was excellent, and included her own little twist - adding Tillamook cheese on the top. Apparently, I only vaguely remember this, we used to love cheesy stir fry as kids. She used to plate the stir fry up on brown rice, top with yellow cheese and soy sauce, then cover it for a few minutes so the cheese gets all melty.

Mom's Cheesy Stir Fry

Sesame oil
Sunflower oil
Chopped green onions
Broccoli florets and chopped stems
Sliced baby carrots
Chopped asparagus
1 can chickpeas
Sliced yellow squash
Pine nuts
Grated yellow cheese
Soy sauce

This recipe does not need measurements and the ingredients are very flexible - just look in your fridge and grab the veggies already in there. Alter your amounts of oil as you go and depending on how many veggies you have. Prep all the veggies before heating up your pan. Things go fast once you start stirring in veggies.

1. Start by heating a few tbsp of sunflower oil and sesame oil in a skillet or wok
2. Once hot, add the onions, cook for a few minutes
3. Stir in the broccoli and carrots
4. Once the broccoli and carrots are al dente, add the asparagus and chickpeas
5. Add the squash when the asparagus is almost done (if the skillet looks dry add a bit more sesame oil)
6. Stir in the pine nuts and drizzle with soy sauce, turn off heat, leave pan on burner
7. Grate cheese

Plate first with brown rice, then a pile of veggies. Top with grated cheese and cover for 1 minute.

Thanks Mom for teaching me that cooking is fun and an adventure. Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there.

photo credit: Cayenne 05.10.09