PANTRY CASHEW STIR FRY

These days, I eat a ton of vegetables, but with few exceptions, I don’t rely on frozen or canned. I use a lot of frozen corn because I can’t get it fresh all year, and canned tomatoes, because, well grocery store tomatoes are terrible.

I’m lucky enough to live in a place where even in the coldest months, I can get a good variety of fresh produce, and so I take advantage of it as much as I can.

But recently, I had one of those days where I didn’t have much in the way of fresh veggies. I’d just gotten back from a quick trip to Puerto Rico, so there wasn’t much fresh in the house, but after drinking rum and eating heavy food, I wasn’t in the mood to order a pizza (this is rare for me — my husband was shocked!)

So before heading out to the grocery store, I scoured my pantry and freezer. I found a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies, some cashews, and a package of instant brown rice. With the right flavors and spices, I knew I could make a decent, nutritious meal faster than it would take for a pizza to get here.

I started with my Ava Jane’s Kitchen extra-virgin avocado oil, which you may not think makes a good stir-fry, but it’s actually pretty good. It goes particularly well with ginger, so I added that along with some garlic. I wasn’t trying to get fancy, so I didn’t do much else, but some chili flakes, fish sauce, or Sriracha would be nice here. The cashews were added for crunch, and in a minute or so, I had brown rice to round it out. Not my usual kind of dinner, but I may buy a few bags of frozen veggies and instant rice packs for just this kind of occasion.