Macaroni May #5

As May draws to a close, so does soccer, and so too does Macaroni May. We started with traditional mac -n- cheese, ham steak and mixed veggies.  We moved on from that an made better food in sausage spaghetti with broccoli, pesto shrimp and mushroom pasta with peas, and chicken alfredo with green beans. Every meal has been tasty and has taken less time to cook than a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese we started with. This week we're going to step way outside the box, and head to the far east, the home of the noodle.

Shrimp Stir Fry with Chow Mein Noodles

This is basic cheap and easy stir fry. I use frozen stir fry vegetables from the frozen food section. I add a meat of my choice and packets of stir fry sauce mix. This week I used a pound of shrimp because they cook so fast. I also switched out my usual rice for chow mein noodles. Rice takes about half an hour to cook, the noodles take 3 minutes once the water is boiling, that's a serious time savings. I started by turning the heat on three pans, one for the veggies, one for the shrimp, and one for the noodles. About all you're doing is making things hot here, so turn the heat up high and follow the directions on the package. Make up the sauce mix while everything is cooking and add it to the veggies once they're heated through. Add the now cooked shrimp and finally add the drained and rinsed noodles. It literally took me more time to write and organize this post than the 14:55 it took to make this meal. It's nicely balanced with a lot of veggies, a bit of meat, and some noodles. Additionally, if you keep a package of shrimp and a package of veggies in the freezer, along with some chow mein and sauce mix in the pantry, this meal can be right at your fingertips any evening you need it in an emergency. We all have those days where things go all pear shaped and we don't get home until 2 hours after the roast was supposed to go in the oven. A meal like this in your back pocket is better than macaroni and cheese and beats the hell out of the fast food you might be tempted to get instead. That whole 'be prepared' thing that you thought only applied to jumper cables and boy scouts can work in the kitchen too.
I hope you enjoyed Macaroni May and managed to get an idea or two out of it. Very few, if any, of my recipes are ground breaking, and I know that. I'm not trying to teach anyone how to be a gourmet chef, just how to cook good nutritious food that will keep your kids happy and growing. Food that you can fit into the life of a stay at home dad.