Pork Stir Fry

 It's Date Night!

My husband and I both work pretty hectic schedules during the week and between work, errands, kids and everything in between there are some weeks that we simply pass like ships in the night.  We are truly a well-oiled machine!

Once a week we have Date Night.  Some weeks we might go out to dinner or even a late lunch, but most of the time it's Date Night In, and that's how we did Date Night this week.  A nice dinner and once the little one is in bed, it's movie night snuggled up on the couch.

Instead of ordering out, we made it IN.

This is truly one of my favorite go-to recipes because it's quick, easy and you can literally make it with almost anything you want.  Those are the recipes I love the most.

Let's begin ... 

Remember how I said you can use whatever you want in your stir fry?  It's true!  Here are my 'standard' ingredients ... vary yours to your taste.

• Thin sliced pork, cut into strips
• 1 orange, (zest and juice will be used)
• 1 bell pepper cut into strips
• 1 onion cut into strips
• 2-3 carrots, thinly sliced and cut into strips
• 1 cup Teriyaki sauce
• 1-2 tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes
• 3-4 garlic cloves diced
• 4 servings rice
• 2 handfuls of peanuts

So let's get started ... begin by cutting your pork into strips.  Add enough Vegetable oil to a large skillet to coat the bottom; allow to get nice and hot and put in your pork strips.  Brown until cooked through.

While the pork is browning go ahead and start cutting up your veggies.  I cut everything into equal sized strips to help with even cooking.  Once the pork is cooked through, pull out of the pan and set aside.  Keep the skillet hot and add a touch more oil if needed.

Add in all your veggies.  Don't you just love the colors of it all??  Oh my gosh, I think it's my favorite part.  Stir and allow to cook slightly for about 3 minutes.  Next we want to get our sauce ready to go.  The sauce is the KEY to your stir fry.  You can make it any flavor you like, but this one happens to by my favorite.

In a small bowl, add 1 cup of Teriyaki sauce, the zest of one orange and then squeeze the juice into it.  Add in about 1 clove of diced garlic and all your red pepper flakes.  You can omit the red pepper flakes if you like, however we like a touch of heat in ours.  The citrus from the orange really helps to cut the heat, so it's okay to be liberal with your red pepper flakes.  Stir up your sauce with a small whisk and set aside.  The longer it all sits together, the better it tastes.

Here are my veggies after about 3 minutes of cooking.  This is perfect for me: still have a nice 'bite' to them and aren't too soft.  So now we need to marry everything together.  This is where the LOVE comes in.

I cleared a spot in the middle of my skillet and added my cooked pork back in.  Then, pour your sauce right over everything and turn the heat down to about medium at this point.  We want to allow our flavors to marry together nicely and really reduce down nicely.

Reduce the sauce down by cooking on a simmer for about 5-7 minutes.  Everything gets coated and it all comes together.  Insert mouth watering at this point.

While this is coming together go ahead and cook up your minute rice.  Minute rice is amazing - it cooks up in 5-7 minutes and is a great staple for ANY pantry.  After it's cooked I add some butter and salt to taste then set aside until ready to serve up.

And then it's time.  Time to create the look.  Take a shallow bowl and add in your rice as a bed for your stir fry goodness.  Top with your stir fry mixture and then add peanuts to the top for some crunch.  A little secret about me: I will eat peanuts in almost anything.  Yep.  Love those little suckers.

There you have it ... an amazing stir fry that is good for a weeknight meal or special enough for a Date Night In.

Cheers! 

~Jacqui