It's so fall. The leaves are even turning in Marin, and the stores are full of pumpkins, even those pre-decorated, which I sprang for! And this little pumpkin looks ready to gobble up my fall stir fry!

And so I'm again entering Kalyn's fun cooking event - Weekend Herb Blogging this week hosted by Haalo of Cook (Almost) Anything at Least Once.

This week my herb is bell peppers, and you can see the pretty bright orange one, celebrating fall, in the Fall Stir Fry above.

Bell peppers are considered 'sweet' peppers since they contain a gene which suppresses the production of capsaisin which gives other peppers their spiciness. Bell peppers are super C carriers -- a green bell pepper contains 2x the vitamin C by weight than citrus fruits, and a red bell pepper contains 3x that of the green bell peppers! Green bell peppers are actually that -- unripe bell peppers. All the other varieties of color are ripe ones. Peppers are native to Central and South America, and were brought to Europe by Christopher Columbus where they spread all the way to Asia.

In my wok I heated up some safflower oil, and sesame oil (sound familiar, just using what's in my cupboard! another light oil may be substituted for the safflower, but the sesame oil is important for the flavor), and put sliced strips of organic chicken breast (Rocky - 1 breast was just over a pound) in the wok and stirred it quickly. I followed the chicken by an entire sweet onion sliced up, and stir fried until the onion started to get limp, then followed it by a small box of presliced white mushrooms. Both the onion and the mushrooms intensify in flavor with reduction, so I cooked them longer than I normally would in a stir fry to bring the flavors out.

Next I added a cup of broccoli florets and after they looked about right, the slices of one orange bell pepper. When I was nearly ready to take it off the stove, I poured in the remaining Kikkoman Teriyaki Marinade to flavor and to meld with the juices at the bottom of the pan. Once it was heated and evenly coating the ingredients, I emptied the perfectly wok seared dish into a round white Pyrex bowl. And thus ends another week of WHB, with the Fall Stir Fry served over brown rice for dinner with Dad.

Personal Note: Sunday morning I received a call from my Aunt Ruby in Louisville that my Aunt Nell had passed away suddenly at 84. A 4'10" ball of fire! She and her husband had a 65 year long love affair and two wonderful sons. Although they had their trials in life like anyone else, I don't think it gets any better, and they stuck close through it all. It's another reminder to keep in touch as things can change in an instant.