Anne Can Cook

Last weekend, my youngest aunt and her family were in town for a preseason football game. They were gracious enough to bring me up some stuff from home.

I suspect my mom got a bit carried away with cleaning out her cookbook cupboard, because she sent me something like twenty editions of Taste of Home Quick Cooking.

But I love Taste of Home, so this is totally okay.

I was on my own for dinner tonight, and so I turned to my latest acquisition for guidance. Sure enough, I had barely flipped through the pages of my random edition before I found something that sounded perfect. The entry is called "Sesame Broccoli," and it was submitted by someone named Myrna Innes for the July/August 2003 edition.

I did add a bit to Myrna's recipe, but not much. I'll note my changes.
"Sesame Broccoli" (with Rice Noodles)
1 cup water (Note: I almost always ignore the amount of water for boiling things. Fill pan with water. Boil things. Done).
1 pound fresh broccoli spears (or, in my case, 1/4 bag of frozen broccoli spears)
*Approximately 1 oz of dry rice sticks
1 Tbsp. sesame seeds
*3 cloves garlic, pressed
4 tsp olive or canola oil, divided
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. lemon juice (I used lime juice. It's just what I grabbed first).
1 Tbsp. soy sauce.

*Stuff I added to the original recipe.

In a saucepan, boil the water and add the noodles and broccoli. Boil until tender. Meanwhile, heat 1 tsp. oil in a small skillet. Once hot, add the sesame seeds and saute until brown. This goes surprisingly fast. Don't think you can walk away during this part. It seriously took me about fifteen seconds, tops.
Remove the skillet from the heat. I added some pressed garlic here, since the skillet was still hot enough to cook it a bit.
Add the sugar, lemon (or lime) juice, soy sauce, and the rest of the oil. Mix well, set aside.

Once the broccoli and rice sticks are done, drain them well, then toss with the sesame seed mixture.

I sprinkled some lemon pepper on top, because I've been into it lately.


This had an incredibly homey flavor to it. The progression went something like this for me:
1st few bites: Yeah, this is okay.
Middle of eating: OMG this is soo good. Broccoli! I love broccoli! Pasta! Mmm. Lime in the background! Mmmm! This tastes like something mom would've made!
End of eating: I'm sort of full but I. Can't. Stop.

Ridonk.

The only other VISTA on this campus right now is working on green initiative and sustainability. She spends Thursday mornings working at her advisor's farm and comes home with arm loads of fresh vegetables. We decided to do a stir fry last night. She provided the veggies and the wheat spaghetti for pan fried noodles, I provided my box of spices and my sub par knife skills.

It was delicious.

In soy oil, we simmered garlic and carrots with ginger powder and other spices. Then we gradually added in other veggies in accordance to cooking time. Broccoli was next, following by small onions, and finally zucchini and yellow squash. We seasoned liberally with soy sauce, cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, garlic powder, and an herb blend called Bouquet Garni. The final touches were the wheat spaghetti and some fresh basil (she also has a basil plant).

It was so good, although maybe a touch too spicy. We ate with chopsticks and congratulated ourselves on a job well done. I promised I'd have actually cooked something by the next time I posted and I have...with help, of course.