Fresh Bell Pepper Stir Fry

We’ve done some other stir frys, like one with noodles. This time we chose to go with our Indian rice that we use. Stir fry should always be a go-to if you have fresh veggies in the house. This stir fry centers around bell peppers as I grabbed a bunch from the grocery for a great price. Easy to do, if you’re pressed for time at night, you could always chop them earlier on or the night before (I chopped them up before our push-muscle workout–sample here). This can be vegetarian or not, I added some chicken in for Chris, and I stayed with the veggies.

My plate

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 3 normal people [I always have to put in normal because Chris eats everything in the world]

Ingredients

4 bell peppers
1/4 red cabbage
3 cloves garlic
4 mushrooms
1 package boneless skinless chicken
soy sauce
sesame teriyaki [optional: you can use whatever sauce you would like]
1 cup rice
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp sesame seeds

Directions

Put your rice in the rice cooker and get that ready to go
Once rice is done, toss some rice vinegar and sesame seeds in there and mix around, let it
Cut up all your veggies

So beautiful

Cut the chicken into thin strips on a different board if you are eating meat

Put oil into a wok and throw some crushed or cut garlic in there. Then, add the vegetables to the wok. Pour soy sauce and any other sauces you would like to flavor the veggies

Still pretty

Once the vegetables are cooked and flavored to your desire, throw some oil and garlic in another smaller saucepan and heat it up. Then put the chicken strips into this pan and cook. This only takes 5 minutes max. Toss with soy sauce, teriyaki, and sesame seeds

Once your chicken is done, assemble plates. Load the bottom with rice, top it with vegetables, and then some chicken (if you are eating chicken). It’s good to go!

My plate

Chris’ plate

Again such an easy dish to make and such an easy dish to eat too! It’s delicious, nutritious, and filling. It also has beautiful colors if you use different peppers. Enjoy with whatever vegetable and seasoning you have. This is a great dish to stay hungry and fit! Cheers!

May092013

The Easiest Black Bean Soup You’ll Ever Make

If you’ve been following our blog, you’ll know it’s been pretty rainy here in Colorado (see my thunderstorm run). I wanted an easy, hearty dish to fill our stomachs with warmth and comfort on another rainy night. I got the recipe from here, and added my own goodies to it. The simplicity of this “soup” is ridiculous. Seriously. And it’s vegan too, if that’s how you want it.

Ready to be eaten!

Prep Time: 1 min
Cooking Time: 10 min
Serves: 3-4 normal people

Ingredients

2 cans black beans
1 bag frozen veggies
your own blend of spices
[optional] mushrooms

Directions

Put 2 cans black beans into the pot and start simmering in a pot
This is optional, but I put about 3 cloves of garlic into the pot as well

Add your frozen veggies and any other herbs, spices, or veggies you would like (or meat)

Let it simmer for at least 10 minutes (until everything is warm) and stir occasionally. If you are cooking ahead of time, it doesn’t hurt to simmer as long as you want to for deeper flavor
Serve with a side (I did cornbread)

Ready to be eaten!

I prepared all of this before a workout. After the core workout (sample core workout here), I came home, popped the cornbread batter in the oven, and heated the soup up again on the stove. It was definitely the perfect meal for a rainy night and I get to enjoy it again for a rainy lunch. It has ample amounts of protein for my healing muscles and great fiber for the whole body.

Cheers! Stay hungry and fit!

May062013

Restaurant Review: Arabesque (Boulder, CO)

It was a Friday afternoon, we had both gotten off work around 12:30pm and we were ready to eat! It was beautiful out, unlike the few random snowy May days we’ve had. On these kind of days, we want to have a nice slow meal, and enjoy ourselves off somebody else’s food. We went through our options and decided on Arabesque, a highly-rated place on Yelp with one $. We’ve always wanted to try it. Its customers boast that it has the best chicken shawarma in Boulder. We had to compare it to our favorite place, Mediterranean Market.

When we arrived, it was packed. And it wasn’t exactly what we expected. We expected it to be small and family-owned, yes, but there were lots of rich, well-dressed people (and we come directly from work in our YMCA gear) and just had a chalk-written menu. We looked over the (short) menu and decided what we wanted and then took a table outside (the inside–which is tiny–was packed, and it was beautiful out!). This place supposedly also had the best Chai in town, so I ordered that along with water.

Delicious hot chai

Now this chai was delicious. It came in a big mug and was piping hot. But I still love my Tibet Kitchen homemade chai too. The water came out in a tall pitcher with thin glasses–very elegant. And it was flavored with something I couldn’t place…lavender and honey, or something similar. Very refreshing. Chris ordered the chicken shawarma plate and I ordered the hummus wrap.

Chris’ shawarma plate

Our waitress, I think, was near the end of her shift and didn’t take our order down correctly. I ended up receiving a chicken wrap instead of just hummus, but I told the kitchen, and spoke to who happened to be the owner and he was very apologetic and delivered a fresh hummus wrap as quickly as he could. Chris wasn’t pleased with that service, but the wife of the owner (who also was the cook) bustles out to clear off a table next to us and Chris asks if he can have their scraps (yes, we don’t like to waste food). She says, “Of course!” and he says, “Never want to waste food,” and she goes, “Yes, I know! Stupid!” She has an accent…not sure where from. She shoulders me with good humor and says, “You’ve got eat chicken in my place!” Her good humor and friendliness got us back on track.

Wrong chicken wrap (still looks delicious)

My hummus wrap

I ate it up quickly as did Chris. Chris said it was the best chicken shawarma he’s had. And you can tell–he cleared the plate completely. Buuuut, the portion was way too small for him. Not even just for him, I agree that there wasn’t that much chicken and pita. Probably because we’re used to Mediterranean Market’s huge portions. And just because we were enjoying ourselves and–more so–because we can’t turn down baklava, we ordered a big baklava. We, of course, devoured it completely. It was one of the best baklava I’ve had. Perfect texture and structural integrity, filled with goodness–can’t really describe the perfection.

BAKLAVA

If you’re in Boulder, stop by this place. It’s good food, but small portions, so don’t go too hungry. And don’t you DARE skip out on the baklava–it’s just too good. I wish I still had my chai with the baklava, it would have been perfect together. The owners really made our experience that much better, we would come back again. Cheers!

BONUS KITTY PIC

Hi, my name’s Sajah and I’m a firefox

Apr242013

Bibimbap: Korea’s Perfect Meal

Let me start off by saying I’m pretty proud of myself for creating this dish tonight after a day’s worth of work and a workout. It took a good bit of work and time, but it was so worth it. Most of you are probably wondering…what in the heck is bibimbap? Well thanks to my Korean-obsessed partner, I am now blessed to the amazingness that is Korean food (and yes amazingness is a word). Bibimbap is basically mixed rice with vegetables, but is so much more. It really proves why and how Koreans are so healthy and why the obesity rate is so low there. I can’t wait to move to South Korea one day where this will be a regular meal.

You can really make it your own, using a variety of vegetables and proteins. I used this recipe and this one as well, deciding from each what I wanted to do. Chris had a so-so day so I wanted to surprise him with a Korean dinner that he would really enjoy. Now that I know how to do it from heart, I believe I will be doing this on the regular (I know that makes Chris happy).

Prep Time (for n00bs like me): 20-40 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 2.5 normal people (Chris isn’t normal)

It may seem like a lot of ingredients, but it really is a simple dish once you get the hang of it. Let’s first start off with a special sauce that is for non-spice people (Chris unfortunately can’t have spice). It’s easy and delicious.

Ingredients

4 green onions
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp sesame teriyaki
1 clove minced garlic

Directions

Chop up the green onions and put into small bowl
Pour in the soy sauce
Mix in the rest of the ingredients. Stir well

Now onto the good stuff– the bibimbap!

Ingredients

red cabbage
2 small zucchini
bag of bean sprouts
spinach
1 cup (uncooked) rice
5 mushrooms (any kind)
4 baby carrots (you can use regular)
2 eggs
1 Korean radish
sesame seeds
soy sauce
sesame sauce
garlic
salt and pepper

Directions

First off, I didn’t include cooking time of the rice. I did a running and core workout, so before I started that, I put the rice on ahead of time. DO THIS
Rinse your bean sprouts and cook them in hot water for 20 minutes. Drain them and season them with your special sauce and some salt

Bring a pot of water to a boil (doesn’t need to be much water). Grab your spinach (whether it be a bunch or separate leaves) and put into boiling water for 1 minute. Take out and drain, run cold water over it, wring it out, then season with salt and sauce.

Cut all your veggies into thin slices and sprinkle salt over

Separately, saute each veggie one by one [except for carrots] in pan over medium-high heat. You can use oil and garlic, or use the special sauce we created earlier to season and wet them. You only need to cook them for a few minutes to heat them up and infuse them with flavor.
You can either put them back on the cutting board OR have the rice ready in a wide bowl. Place the veggies in a circular fashion on the rice, leaving the middle open

Waiting for a few more ingredients..

For the carrots, just throw them in the hot pan for 30 seconds, so that they’re still crisp
For the last ingredient, throw your egg (or eggs if you’re making for two or more people) in the pan on medium heat. You want to cook it sunny side up (over easy). Put the egg in the middle

Ready to be eaten

Pour the special sauce over the top for extra flavor. And that’s it! Not so hard, is it? It looks like a long list of ingredients, but once you get the hang of it, it can be done quickly (as I found out the next night–yes, I made this two nights in a row…red cabbage goes forever!). You can cycle a ton of different ingredients into this. Whatever you have or whatever is fresh at the market. Last night, I used green pepper, beets, and tofu as well as some from the night before.

A traditional way to do this is to serve it in a hot stone bowl, so that the rice gets crispy on the bottom. I did this style for Chris, but it was less attractive as it was a little too big. But that same fresh delicious FILLING flavor.

Chris’ “plate”

It didn’t last long as we both dug in and watched Chopped All-Stars. I, of course, couldn’t finish it all so Chris ate his huge serving AND the rest of mine. Big surprise.

After we tore into it

Enjoy! And use this recipe to…stay hungry and fit!

Apr222013

Biscuits, Tofu, and Vegetarian Gravy

So this is a twist on the traditional biscuits and gravy. First of all, the biscuits are pretty healthy. Second of all, the gravy is vegetarian. So those are two big upsets there. And if you’re a constant reader on this blog, you know that we do tofu and we do it well. This idea came from a friend of ours from Bali. She made it for us a few weeks ago, and I know how much Chris loves biscuits and gravy, so I gave it a try and it turned out wonderfully. I took the recipe from several different places and made my own. Let’s start with the gravy first.

Vegetarian Gravy

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20-45 minutes

Ingredients

3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp flour
2.5 cups vegetable stock
1 tbsp dried sage
1 tbsp fresh thyme
1 onion [I only used 3/4 one]
1 clove garlic

Directions

Chop up the onion and garlic
In a medium pot, heat the oil and then add the onion and garlic. Only cook until soft (not brown)

Add the sage and thyme
Slowly add in the flour and cook until the mixture is a golden brown

: Now to brown…

Pour in the vegetable stock and continue to whisk and/or stir to prevent clumping. You want the mixture to simmer as long as it needs to until it thickens

Once thick, put the gravy through a strainer in order to discard the garlic and onions and let the rest go into a pot for serving.

Your gravy is ready to go! Just put on low heat until everything else is ready.

Now as you were letting the gravy thicken, you should start the biscuits. Let’s try these out, it’s a very easy recipe!

Biscuits

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes

Ingredients

2 cups flour
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup buttermilk
3 1/3 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees
Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a medium-sized bowl
In a smaller bowl, combine the buttermilk, olive oil and honey

Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and stir until it is well-mixed and dough-y.

On a lightly-floured surface or cutting board, knead the dough for about 12 strokes and then roll to a thickness of 3/4 inch. Mine were all different because that’s how I…roll.

Cut into pieces and place on an non-greased baking sheet
Put into oven for 12 minutes or until golden brown [this is when you start working on the tofu…]
Make sure to serve warm!

While that’s baking, quick let’s do the tofu!

Tofu

Prep Time: 2 minutes
Cooking Time: 7 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 box firm tofu
nutritional yeast flakes
olive oil

Directions

Drain the tofu juice out of the box and place the tofu on cutting board. Cut long-ways first, into thin 1/2 inch pieces
Cut short-ways, making little squares
Have a pan hot with a very light amount of olive oil and carefully place tofu on the pan, letting each have enough room to cook. I put the temperature on a little less than high (medium-high)
Takes about 5-10 minutes to cook, I use a fork to turn them over. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn on the outside, but get cooked on the inside. Turn them over one by one when the first side is done.
After both sides are ready, pop them onto a plate. Sprinkle the nutritional yeast flakes on top of each piece

Okay, so all of our dishes are ready to be put together! Let’s do this

Directions

Open the biscuits and lay the tofu on top of one half
Once the biscuits are ready, go ahead and SMOTHER THEM with gravy!

It may look like a mess, but boy is it delicious! We ate all of it up (somehow), and I was incredibly full after but it was well-worth it. We ended up burning it off while trying to sled down a hill after 13 inches of snowfall last weekend. That was a blast.

You could try this with regular gravy or store-bought biscuits, but I always prefer to make my own. I actually bought a Pillsbury can of biscuits just in case I screwed up (I obviously have incredible faith in my biscuit-baking ability), but never used it. It looks like a lot of work but, boy, is it worth it!

Cheers! And as always…stay hungry and fit!

Apr112013

Pretty Darn Healthy Enchiladas

So I got this McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook from one of my clients who so generously and sweetly gave it to me. We both have a passion for cooking (hers having a more professional side of actually owning a restaurant) and so one day she gave this book to me as a gift “just because.”

And she specifically pointed out a recipe, “Spanish Rice Enchiladas.” As usual, I diverted somewhat from the recipe because I think you should make each recipe your own. I ended up making another batch right after because Chris was still hungry for more. Check it out–it made for two meals for two!

I ADDED CHEESE

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves: About 4-6 normal people (makes 10-12 enchiladas)

Ingredients

1 cup rice (cooked, I use a rice cooker)
1/2 yellow onion
5 oz. spinach
beans of your choice (we had white)
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp cumin
1 clove garlic
1/4 block cheddar cheese (can be any kind but I lurve cheddar)
10 to 12 corn or flour medium tortillas (we used both kinds)
1 can enchilada sauce (16 oz)
salt & pepper
avocado (optional)

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Chop up that onion. Doesn’t have to be fine pieces, but small enough to eat comfortably in the enchilada

Put the water and the onion in a saucepan and stir. I put some garlic in there too. Heat the onions up until they’re soft
Once onions are soft, put the spinach in the saucepan. I added some salt and pepper here to season it up because I love flavor.
Grate a good amount of cheese, depending on how cheesey you want your enchiladas

Once the spinach is softened, take the saucepan off the heat.
Stir in the rice, cumin, and soy sauce. Make sure it is all mixed around so it’s well-balanced

Pour 1 cup of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of your casserole dish
Put the rice-onion mix and cheese down the center of your tortilla

Roll the tortilla and have the folded side placed down. Keep doing so until casserole is full like sardines in a can.

Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce atop the enchiladas
Put in the oven for 30 minutes. This number worked perfectly for me. Just make sure the tortillas are cooked and the cheese is melted, which it most certainly should be
If you’d like, which I always do, chop up some avocado and put it on top

They are messy and delicious. The above picture is the second batch I made after Chris still wanted more. It’s that easy to do. We got to enjoy them while watching a great episode of Chopped All-Stars, where our girl Sunny Anderson won. Anyways, this is a quick, DELICIOUS (seriously) recipe full of fiber and protein to enjoy with others. And there will probably be leftovers too, just don’t eat them 30 minutes before a workout like I did the next day.

Drool attack

BONUS KITTY PIC

Sajah and I both cried while I cut up the onions. For some reason, Nymeria didn’t. I felt so bad, but didn’t think I should give him human eye drops.

Cheers!

Apr042013

Spinach Feta Pie Recipe [NO CRUST]

This is another one pointed out to me by Mary Kate and it took two tries to get it just right. The second try was delicious and I hope to make it again and again–it’s healthy, nutritious, filling, and yummy! Though the ingredient list may look long, it really does not take much time at all! The recipe comes from here . Check it out:

Prep Time: 15-20 minutes
Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes

Ingredients

10 oz frozen spinach
1/2 cup scallions
2 tbsp dill
2 tbsp parsley
1/2 cup feta
2 tbsp grated cheese (something akin to Romano, Parmesan, etc)
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees and oil up your cooking pan (I used a bread tin)
Thaw out the spinach. Cut up the dill, parsley, and scallions.

Beautiful chopped herbs/veggies

Mix the feta, parsley, dill, spinach, scallions, and grated cheese into the pie/bread dish

Beat the two eggs
In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, eggs, milk, salt, and olive oil

Pour into the pie dish with the rest of the ingredients and mix it around. Feel free to put in some pepper or other spices in that you would like as well

Ready for the oven

Pop it into the pre-heated oven for 20-30 minutes. Mine took closer to 30 minutes. Just keep checking on it to see if, when you put a fork in the center, it comes out clean of batter.

And that’s it! It takes no time at all to whip up and it’s a very rewarding meal to cook. Try it out–and you can even use fresh spinach too, depends on what’s best for you. Cheers and enjoy!

BONUS KITTY PIC

Ridiculously cute picture of Nymeria

Feb282013

Getting Creative With Tofu

If you’re a vegetarian or you just like it, tofu is a big part of the diet. Usually, we just cube it and put it into the dish with whatever else we are making. But recently, a friend (from Bali) shared a new way of doing tofu. Well, the cooking method is typical for some, but the flavoring is different. Using nutritional yeast. Now, I had no idea what this was before the couple brought the dish over to us. And it is delicious. It literally had me thinking I was eating fried chicken, that’s what it tastes like. So, I was in heaven. And then, I realized I needed to know how to make this for myself. Luckily, our friend left us a little tub of this magic nutritional yeast, so I was good to go. I will be showing you how to make this tofu dish, but also sharing what we had with it (though you can have it alone too).

Ingredients

1 box tofu
knife
nutritional yeast flakes
oil
peppers [optional]
udon [optional]
teriyaki [optional]

Directions

Drain the tofu juice out of the box and place the tofu on cutting board. Cut long-ways first, into thin 1/2 inch pieces
Cut short-ways, making little squares
Have a pan hot with a very light amount of olive oil and carefully place tofu on the pan, letting each have enough room to cook. I put the temperature on a little less than high (medium-high)
Takes about 5-10 minutes to cook, I use a fork to turn them over. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn on the outside, but get cooked on the inside. Turn them over one by one when the first side is done.
After both sides are ready, pop them onto a plate. Sprinkle the nutritional yeast flakes on top of each piece

Tastes like fried chicken!

And if you want to continue with our dish…slice up your peppers (or whatever vegetable) into thin long slices.
Put some more olive oil in the pan and this time garlic too
Throw the peppers in there
After the peppers have been in there for a few minutes, throw in your udon to heat up. At the time you put the udon in, put a good amount of teriyaki in as well, flavoring the udon and peppers, as well as giving some moisture to it all.

Yum…

Once the udon noodles are heated and have absorbed the teriyaki and the peppers have cooked enough, plate them atop the already-cooked tofu!

Finished product

And voila! There you have it–an easy, nutritious, delicious meal full of protein and fiber. Feel free to add or subtract any vegetable or addition to the stir fry, but seriously go for this tofu. It is absolutely delicious.

Cheers! And as always…stay hungry and fit!

Nymeria is 98% back to normal!!

BONUS KITTY PIC

Feb112013

9 Great Sources of Protein for Vegetarians

So you’re a vegetarian. So am I (kinda)! Which means you don’t eat meat (where are you going with this, Alana…). Which means you are missing out on a major source of protein. Protein is an extremely important part of the diet, healing and building muscles and keeping us nutrient-full. The more protein in the diet, the more full you remain. Here are some great ways for vegetarians to get protein:

1. Beans. Beans, beans, the more you eat them, the more you…gain a great source of protein and fiber! That’s how the song goes, right? My personal favorite is black beans. There are many types available: black, refried, kidney, white, chick peas, red, pinto, and many many more! Always get the beans with no salt added for a lesser sodium intake and a healthier meal over all. Soy beans (edamame) and white beans have the highest protein content, but all are still good choices. Great meal options with beans are: rice and beans, bean, cheese, and cheese burrito, bean soup, and bean salad. There are so many ways to put this into your diet, so do it today!

2. Soy. Soy is an excellent source of protein for the vegetarian (or for anyone). It is indeed a bean (or legume), but it has its separate category because it has such a big part in the vegetarian diets. You can find this in all kinds of forms now: Morningstar products, protein bar products, protein shake powder, and more! It is easy to find in such products, just search it up. Morningstar products are just as good as meat products, most taste absolutely delicious!

3. Tofu. Tofu is made from soy, called ‘bean curd’ because it is used from soybean juices and curded. Tofu is huge in the Asian cultures. There are soft and firm types of tofu, depending on how you want to cook or eat it. You can eat it raw, of course, too. But it’s great to either bake or lightly stir fry with some seasoning such as soy sauce, yeast, or garlic. And easy way to get a great source of protein.

4. Mushrooms. Mushrooms, in the plant world, are a live source of protein. So instead of dead proteins that you would find from soy or other processed protein sources, mushrooms are live fungi from the ground. This source of protein is very healthy and nutritious for you, having a high protein count, depending on which type of mushroom you get. Some variations are oyster mushrooms, portabella mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, white mushrooms, and many more. I used to hate mushrooms until I became a vegetarian. I then started eating them more and now I love them. Get them a part of your diet!

5. Eggs. Eggs are definitely a great source of protein (if you’re not a vegan). You can hard boil them, scramble them, omelette them, fry them–the list is endless. There are so many great ways of adding this into your diet for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. One egg can range from 6-9 grams of protein.

6. Nuts. Another great, natural source of protein. It is also a place to get your good, natural healthy fats as well (that you NEED). Nuts come in all forms and sizes from peanuts to cashews to almonds to pistachios, if you want good protein, you better get nuts about nuts. They are an excellent snack, but can also be used in main dishes such as in your greek yogurt for breakfast, salad for lunch, and stir fry for dinner. Almonds rule the nut world for healthiest and most protein.

7. Greek Yogurt. Now, I’m not talking about the sugar-filled Yoplait yogurts that you’ll find for a good price. I’m talking Chobani, Fayeh, and Oikos. Preferably, get plain. The best of the best have a high protein count of 22 grams, the lowest you can find at around 7 grams. Greek yogurt may take some getting used to, but you can sweeten it with fruit or honey, or add granola to it as well. You can also add it to cooking dishes, such as curries and sauces. Make sure you get greek yogurt in for one meal of the day! Delicious.

8. Protein powder. Now these are made up (usually) of whey, soy protein isolate, and other milk products to create a densely packed protein addition to your diet. Goes very well after a workout too (when you need the most protein to start repairing those muscles). See this post for more information of what protein powder we like the most. You can make shakes, milkshakes, smoothies, and even your own protein bars! Great snack or meal replacement, and usually low in calories.

9. Cheese and other dairy products. Dairy is, of course, a good source of protein as it comes from an animal. You just need to be wary of how much you are consuming due to fats and calories (if you’re counting them). Cheese is delicious and comes in many forms from different animals (cheddar cheese and goat cheese are my personal favorites). Milk is good too, as is cottage cheese.

So there you have it, vegetarians, nine sources of protein ranging from fungi in the earth to processed curd. Now you have no excuses of not getting you daily protein intake–look how many options you have! Never skimp out on the protein, always get to your limit, it will keep you full longer, and keep your muscles happy.

Cheers!

Jan092013

Stir Fry Creations

Stir fry is one of my favorite dishes. It’s because there are endless possibilities. And it’s so easy to do. All you need is some veggies and a form of protein in your fridge–you can mix and match and throw things together that don’t seem normal. And that’s the beauty of it! If you have veggies, rice, and/or noodles, you have no excuse for not home cooking. Let me share with you a dish I just recently prepared, with an attempt to make it as Asian as possible for Chris.

Alana’s Monday Stir Fry

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

a bunch of bok choy
1/2 an onion
2 large carrots
1 yellow pepper
1 case of Udon noodles
1/2 pound of wild-caught scallops
1 case of tofu
wok oil & soy sauce
spices such as ground ginger, fresh garlic, pepper, salt, 5 spice, and garlic pepper

Directions

1. Let’s tackle the boy choy first. Wash the bok choy, scrub out any dirt under cold water. Cut until the stem is almost gone.

2. Cut the rest of the vegetables: thinly slice the onions and carrots. Do proper thick slices of the yellow pepper.

3. Put the wok oil and soy sauce in the wok (or frying pan, whatever you have) and heat that baby up! Crush some garlic in there and let the smells get you.

4. Once it is heated, throw those veggies in there. As you are tossing them in the oil, put your spices in, whatever they may be. I put in lots of ginger, garlic, and pepper. Make sure you are constantly tossing the vegetables so that your spices get on it all.

5. Cube the tofu, wash the scallops, and unwrap the udon noodles. Throw it all into the already cooking mixture. Again, make sure to keep stirring and tossing so that everything soaks up that flavor.

6. Cook to taste and decide when it’s ready! For me it took about 10 minutes, maybe not even that.

And there you have it, an easy 20-minute dish with tons of nutrient-filled vegetables and protein. PS- there are eggs in the picture, but I didn’t end up using them, but they are a great addition! Get creative. This is only my recipe, and it’s one of many stir-frys.