While trying to stay healthy during this time of staying indoors, I borrowed a page from some Italian bloggers and concentrated on easy healthy food to prepare at home. I was going through the fridge to see what we had on hand and needed to use up. That resulted in several peppers, a sweet onion, some mushrooms, and a lemon. Decided to make a quick healthy vegetable stir fry with some brown rice cooked with lemon zest and lemon juice. I added fresh lemon thyme, garlic chives, and oregano from the garden and had a very tasty meal.
This colorful dish is really easy to prepare. Just slice the vegetables into manageable pieces. I used a Le Crueset pan found at a thrift store to sauté the vegetables in a little lemon olive oil and the herbs from the garden. I also added some fresh carrots that I pre-cooked in the microwave to al dente then added at the end. I used two cups of brown rice with lemon zest and juice from one lemon and added enough water to the lemon juice to make two cups.
The colorful dish lifted our spirits as well as “teasing our taste buds” yeah I know that was pretty bad.
To accompany the rice dish I made some skillet cornbread. This was my first try at cornbread and I will definitely be making it again. It was really easy and turned out perfectly. The cornbread baked beautifully in the skillet placed in the oven and was very tender and moist. The entire meal took about 45 minutes to put together and we have leftovers for today.
Cornbread Recipe
This recipe is from the Colonial Milling Co. using their Hickory King Yellow Cornmeal
1 1/4 Cup of Cornmeal
3/4 cup All-Purpose Flour
1/4 cup of sugar
1 tsp Kosher Salt
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/3 cup Whole Milk
1 cup Buttermilk
2 eggs lightly beaten
8 tbsp (1 stick) butter – melted
1. Heat 9″ skillet in 425 degree oven
2. Mix dry ingredients
3. Add wet ingredients plus 7 tbsp melted butter
4. Coat hot skillet with remaining butter
5. Pour batter into hot skillet, reduce heat to 375 degrees
6. Bake 20-25 minutes until golden (toothpick will come out clean)
I baked mine for about 23 minutes for my oven and it was perfect.
Enjoy!