M. Suzanne Terry

I realize the picture above may not automatically match the post’s title in everyone’s mind.

But in our family, you can use the grill for just about anything. Never one to waste an opportunity to plan ahead or cook in bulk, Dad cooks a lot when he goes to the trouble of firing up the grill. He will grill lots of meat that we will eat at the upcoming meal, and that will be the priority, of course. He may also grill some vegetables for the meal or make veggie packets to place on it that will steam perfectly in the residual heat.

He also cooks the bacon and sausage that he uses for breakfast almost every day in bulk. Taking the pre-cooked bacon out of the freezer and just warming up what the two of them need gets the everyday breakfast he makes for himself and Mom on the table without a lot of fuss. He “accidentally” (thinly veiled fib) makes extra when he knows I’m coming for a visit so that he can sneak a bucket of bacon or sausage in the to-go cooler when I leave.

I use these particular reserves in different ways, though.

For supper at the farm, meat is the star of the show. It’s the main course. There are usually 2-3 veggies or other sides, plus a salad, to go with it. This is what constitutes a proper meal there.

When I’m at home, however, most of the meals I cook don’t have meat at all. And when a meal does contain meat, it may be part of the main dish, but it’s rarely the centerpiece. Sometimes, it’s little more than seasoning.

When I returned from my visit to the farm on Labor Day weekend, I brought about as much meat back with me as Mom and Dad eat in a week. I, on the other hand, spent the next couple of days using it to cook big-batch meals so that I could freeze portions of them to eat throughout the month. A month later, I still have a couple of portions left in my freezer.

The meals I cooked included:

• Spaghetti with spicy marinara and bacon
• Steak, sweet potato, and kale stir fry
• Orecchiette with bacon alfredo
• Ginger fried rice with steak, bacon, scallions, and carrots
• Warm corn, green bean, carrot salad with steak
• Sausage and broccoli stir fry

Most stir-fry meals are pretty straightforward – you can tell most of the ingredients by just looking at them. And almost all of mine start with a saute of garlic, onion, and ginger. Here’s how I made the sausage and broccoli stir-fry pictured above (6 servings).

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• Several cloves of garlic, minced
• Sesame oil
• Olive oil
• Red pepper flakes (to taste and optional…ish)
• Soy sauce (optional but recommended)
• Salt (especially if you don’t use soy sauce) and pepper
• Large bag of frozen, chopped broccoli (of course, you can also use fresh, and admittedly the texture is better, but frozen is sooo easy)
• 1 quart (or about 1 1/2 pound) ground sausage, browned
• 2 cups rice

1. Steam rice according to package directions or according to how Woks of Life does it. Or if you want leftover rice you can freeze for up to 3 months so that it’s ready next time you want to make fried rice, bake a big batch of it (a winter freezer staple of mine, because I do not turn on the oven in the summer).
2. If using frozen broccoli, microwave in a bowl for 4 minutes (or steam in the bag according to package directions, if that’s what you bought) and pour off the excess water.
3. Generously coat the bottom of a large skillet or wok with equal parts sesame oil and olive oil. Warm oil on medium-high heat and add onion, garlic, and ginger. Cook until soft. Add red pepper flakes and stir to mix.
4. Add sausage to skillet to brown (or if pre-browned and frozen, to thaw and warm throughout).
5. Add broccoli and stir together with sausage, allowing everything to finish heating evenly (shouldn’t take more than 2-3 minutes).
6. Remove from heat. Add pepper and either soy sauce or salt to taste.
7. Serve sausage/broccoli on top of rice.

Do you like to grill? If so, what do you make?

I’m writing about the food I grew up with this month. Click to see the whole list!