I am still trying to get my family (and myself) to eat more vegetables.  I am serving larger salads with more ingredients than lettuce, tomato, spinach and onion.  I am putting them in just about every entrée I can and serving 1-2 vegetable sides per meal.

The other night I decided to just stir fry all the veggies that were left in my refrigerator. I am overbuying vegetables right now as I cannot estimate what I need.  Until I get a good estimate I would rather have too many vegetables to offer my family than too little.  But, before they went bad I wanted to use them all up.

If you have your vegetables cut and prepared this dish takes about 30 minutes to be on the table.  If you have time the night before or morning you plan on cooking this prepare your vegetables and you will have a simple, hearty meal ready in 30 minutes or less.

Doesn’t that pan look beautiful? I love the colors.

Verdict:

Other than overcooking the broccoli this was an amazing dish.  I only used one 6 oz. package of Chow Mein noodles for the four of us to encourage us to eat the vegetables and not the noodles.  Both kids completely emptied their bowls and there was only enough for one lunch serving the next day.

For my mostly gluten-free son I used gluten-free spaghetti noodles (I have also used rice noodles before), gluten-free soy sauce and gluten-free teriyaki sauce so he had a similar meal to the rest of us.  I just separate his vegetables into a separate dedicated gluten-free pan when I start to mix in the noodles.

Instructions:

• 2 TBSP dark Sesame Oil
• Mixed Vegetables – your choice about 10-12 cups (cut and prepared for stir-fry)
  • broccoli
  • red, green or yellow pepper strips
  • mushrooms
  • shredded carrots
  • celery
  • cauliflower
  • onion
  • pea pods
  • cabbages
• Your favorite Teriyaki Sauce or homemade sauce
• 1 (6 oz) package of Chow Mein Noodles

Directions:

1. In a large sauce pan or wok heat sesame oil over medium heat.  Cook vegetables in sesame oil in order of how long it will take them to cook.  Add carrots, cauliflower, etc. first.  Then peppers, onions, etc. after the first batch is partially cooked.  Add mushrooms, pea pods etc. at the very end as they need very little cooking time.  Cover vegetables to help steam the heartier ones such as carrots and cook uncovered the rest as you want them to fry not steam.
2. While stir frying vegetables make chow mein noodles according to package directions and rinse in cold water when done.
3. Add noodles and Teriyaki sauce to pan and toss with tongs until well coated.
4. Serve warm.