Spicy Ground Beef and Eggplant Stirfry

Luckily my local supermarket always has delicious lean, ground beef for sale, so I have it for dinner at least once every other week. Sometimes as burgers, chili, or spaghetti with meat sauce. But at other times I like to try something new -- mix up the meat and vegetables to eat a variety of colors in a diet.  A few days ago, I made ground beef and eggplant stirfry, but you could easily substitute chunks of beef or chicken and whatever vegetables are in season. This is a good way of eating vegetables you don't love that are nonetheless good for you. [For me it could be asparagus or okra. I don't hate asparagus or okra, yet never crave them either.] My recent dinner, featuring ground beef and eggplant is a quick one-pan meal that turned out tasty:

Spicy Ground Beef and Eggplant Stirfry

Ingredients:

2 stalks celery, diced

1 small onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, cut up

1 jalapèno pepper, sliced

1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef, broken up

1 eggplant, diced

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon basil, or a bunch of fresh basil

Season to taste, I use rosemary, parsley, dried garlic and basil, as well as, fresh.

Directions:

1) Dice the carrots, celery, onion, garlic, jalapèno pepper and grill with the broken up ground beef in a skillet uncovered until the beef starts to brown. Uncovering it at first lets the liquid evaporate so that you don't end up with a stew.

2) Salt and spice to taste. Add diced eggplant.

3) Cover with a lid and simmer until the eggplant is tender. (It's fine to cover it now so the eggplant can steam.)

Serve on brown rice; a grain of your choice; on top of grainy bread; or rolled inside a tortilla with cheese. The stirfry dish is very versatile. Enjoy!
 

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