Rainbow Stir-Fry Recipe (2024)

I had planned to write about a pasta dish today, but I’m under strict orders to post this recipe immediately. I don’t really mind; in fact, I’d love to use the phrase “guest post by my daughter” right now, but the truth is, E. likes to cook the food, photograph it, and eat it, but she doesn’t want to write about it. It’s too much like all those reports she has to do for school.

So I’ll just have to be content with the fact that my darling daughter and wonderful husband got in the kitchen and actually cooked dinner two nights in a row. I’ve been having some back trouble that makes it painful for me to stand too long on the hard tile of our kitchen floor, so for the past two nights, D. and E. have come to the rescue. The first night I helped out by telling them which ingredients to use and how much to add to make our fall-back meal, a fast and easy soup, but last night they did it all themselves, with the help of E’s favorite cookbook Kids Can Cook: Vegetarian Recipes. They adapted the recipe for Asian Stir Fry–adding tofu and cutting fat–and did an excellent job.

E. wanted me to let you know that she did all the chopping (except for the ginger root), chose the set-up for the photo, and even clicked the remote shutter release (after I chose the angle and focused the camera). And I wanted to let you know that I asked them to reduce the oil in the recipe but failed to notice that it had over 1/4 cup of soy sauce. So, to my taste at least, it’s very salty. But good. And colorful! Best of all, when E. makes a meal, she tends to eat it, even the ingredients she says she hates like bell pepper. I strongly advise all parents to get their kids cooking; it just may turn them into vegetable lovers!

2021 Update

My now grown-up daughter has been cooking since she was a child, and since she has moved into her own apartment and kitchen, she’s been re-making some of her old favorites and taking photos of them with her iPhone. (That’s her photo just above.) Here’s what she had to say about this recipe:

“Yesterday I decided to revamp one of my very own recipes- Rainbow Stir -Fry. Now that I’m older I like my food a little more spicy, so I added 4 cloves of garlic, a few dashes of smoked paprika, and a pinch of cayenne. I also wanted more protein so I doubled the amount of tofu and adjusted my marinade accordingly. Finally, for even more color, I used ‘rainbow’ carrots of orange, yellow, and purple. It’s good!”