On We have dog-sat for this couple several times in the past and we fell in love with this pup.  Well, now they have a 5 month old boy at home and have not been able to care for Bella as much as they would like to.  So…. we borrow her and we get to have Bella for few days, and they get to focus on the baby.  What a great idea, right?  Growing up my husband wanted to become either veterinarian, pediatrician or a writer.  Well, unfortunately he is allergic to animals in general.  So, that sort of made a decision as to which profession to pursue alot easier for him.  He became a pediatrician.   He still wants to be a writer though.  He is allergic to dogs too, but it is not all too bad.  Oh I wish I could have taken a picture of his face!  When he saw me and Bella coming home, he was surprised and so excited!He has been enjoying Bella alot!

So, Ginger Lime Chicken Bites.  I just knew I had to make try this recipe.  Ginger and Lime?  What’s not to love about this recipe?  And best part is that it is such a simple and easy recipe!  I added some my own tweak to it and turned out SO delicious!  My husband I both loved it.  I packed up some for my lunch tomorrow.  Cannot wait for my lunch hour to come.  It was slightly sweet from honey, sour from limes and salty from coconut aminos.  And fresh scallions added fresh taste to it.  Oh it was so gooooood!

You can find the recipe here.  And here are my twist.

1. add one thinly sliced onion -  Cook it first and then add chicken.
2. Added more graded ginger because I love ginger.
3. add 1 tsp of pepper paste

Sorry for the blurry picture.  I could not find my camera and resorted to using my iPhone camera.  But not too shabby, huh?  I served chicken bites with salad and did not use dressing.  The sauce from the chicken sort of wilted the mixed green and it was perfect!

Oh this picture does not do any justice to this delicious chicken bites at all!  I know I will be making this often.  I will be sure to take pictures again just so that I can show you how wonderful this dish is.  Trust me, it is SO DELICIOUS!

Then, here I saw this beautiful and simple recipe from nom nom paleo.  They posted this tuna salad recipe that looked easy and looked like something that I can make without much noise.  So perfect!  Plus,  because my husband is sleeping I did not make anything so special that he would have to miss on it anyways.  This worked perfectly.  I added some own tweaked to it.  Oh it was so creamy and simply delicious! I cannot help getting some more on my plate!

Creamy Tuna Salad with Avocado

( adapted from nom nom paleo)

Ingredients

• A can of tuna in water ( or 1/2 cup of grilled chicken)
• handfull of cilantro chopped
• 1/2 jalapeno pepper diced
• 1/2 lime juiced and zested
• 1/2 avocado diced in cubes
• 2 stalks of scallions or 1/8 cup of red onions chopped
• 1/8 cup home made mayo
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup of mixed green
• 1/2 hard boiled egg sliced (optional)

Methods

1. chop jalapeno, scallions, avocados, and cilantros.
2. Drain water from canned tuna
3. in a bowl, mix in all the ingredients ( except for mixed green and egg)
4.  Gently mix them well.  Adjust the flavor to your liking with salt and pepper
5. Serve on the plate with bed of mixed green.

It was so easy and yet so delicious!  And I did not wake my husband up!  Probably the loudest noise that I made was when I dropped the lid of the canned tuna accidentally.  Ha!

And here are some ideas for when I make this again…

1. add halved cherry tomatoes
2. put slices of hard boiled egg as a garnish
3. use red onion instead of scallion
4. add chopped green olives
5. add in some freshly ground ginger in mayo
6. actually make it when my hubby is awake and have him try it!

Anymore ideas?  Anybody?

So, I realized that this became a long post.  Please bear with me and my bad grammar.  (oh and my scattered mind!)

Its been too long, but we have finished our another Whole30 challenge!  We are lighter, stronger, leaner, less gassier, have lower blood pressure (!), happier, and our emotional relationship with food is healthier!  I could not be more proud of my husband for finishing strong.   There have been many obstacles on the way ( all the sweets and snacks provided at his work place,  poor food choices at hospital cafeteria, his own birthday and cakes… and occasional battle against cravings for some junk foods), but he has pushed through and finished strong!

We are very thrilled that we finished this Whole30, but this time, our challenge was more special because my brother in law, Steve, and his wife, Samantha, Samantha’s mom, and Samantha’s sister, Robin also joined us on this Whole30 journey!  This chain reaction of “live full at the maximum potential” literally caused a tidal wave in our family and beyond.  My brother in law lost at least 8 pounds, and I believe Samantha has lost some weight she put from her 5th pregnancy.  I am surrounded by so many awesome result and encouragement!  And this was such great opportunity for me to connect with my sister in law, Samantha.   I had fun seeing what she had put on her weekly menu and lean new recipes from her.

Over the few weeks, some friends have asked me what kind of “diet” I am on.  And one of my best friend ( talking about you, Jess!) has asked me what Paleo is and why I am doing it.  So here are some of my rough ideas….  and just my personal thought.

1)  having a pretty good amount of medical back ground,  I am aware of influences of inflammation.  It is one of the first thing you lean in your pathology class ( and perhaps also in pathophysiology class) and it is the foundation for the understanding of the pathology.  That being said, I believe it is only reasonable to make a conscientious decision to avoid foods ( or anything) that are inflammatory.

Over the past few years, the importance of anti-oxidants are becoming a common knowledge.   I believe it is only natural to think that you should aid the works of anti-oxidants by avoiding any foods that are inflammatory.  I mean, you pay and swallow huge omega-3 pills that gives you fishy burps for nothing?  If you make that effort, you might as well make every burp count!  The effect can be different from person to person, but any small change counts, and effort should be made.

2)  I am a believer in preventative medicine.  When you are in internal/family medicine, your job are mainly to take care of patients with chronic diseases such as asthma, COPD, hypertension, coronary artery disease, rheumatoid arthritis, hypothyroidism, hyperlipidemia and list goes on.  I believe to take preventative care during or especially before you have any chronic disease would be very beneficial for your health and wise.  And quite frankly, there is no reason not to.

• For an adult with any form of chronic disease(s), it would be a responsible thing to take care of your body by nourishing your body with food that actually works for you.  Some of the diseases are reversible, and it would only make sense ( and economical in a short and long run) to take care of your body with real foods.

• For “healthy” young adults, though you might not see signs and symptoms just yet, no matter how physically active and make a “healthy” decision on foods, the chances that your body is under the stress from the chronic inflammation is very high.  It is never too late nor never too early to start eating right as part of the preventative care.
• After all, cost of managing chronic diseases will be much more than to make some small investments on better and quality meals now.  And come on, who wants to be taking nasty medicine rather than tasty and whole-some foods!?  Without a second thought, I chose delicious and good quality food!

3) “You are what you absorb.”  ( or my friend would say “you are what you don’t poo out.”)  That statement is so simple and yet so true.   There is no other way to it.  We must eat.   And it is just a simple fact that foods that you eat would either benefit you or harm you.  ( Sure, there is something “neutral” to your body, but that category is very small. ) So why not making intentional decisions to feed our body, our only one body, with foods that would benefit you and actually work for you?

It is very naive to think that food stuff that we digest and absorb are just “only foods.”  In the modern world, foods that you purchase at your local grocery store has so much more than just pure food.  ( I am talking about preservatives, artificial flavors, and list goes on…)  Just as much as you absorb and use the basic building blocks of life, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids, you cannot ignore or help thinking that there’s more that’s been absorbed into our body along with food stuff.   And just as much as you see the effect of these basic building block of life in growing children over time, you can surely assume that there must be some ongoing adverse ( if not advantageous) effects.  So why not make a conscientious decision to purposefully select foods that are good and beneficial to you?

4)  Lastly and most importantly, this is the very reason why I do Whole9/30/Paleo

So wahtever you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God. 

I Corinthians 10:31

For many christians, this is a pretty “popular” verse.  Whether its about foods that you eat, work out that you do, job that you have or anything, it encouraged you to do it as our offering to our God.  But, I think this verse goes alot further than that. I believe it talks about how our actions could have heavy influences on people who might see us how and what we eat ( in this particular chapter, it talk about foods that are offered to idols and consuming them.) I can definitely apply that principle to how I select and buy at the grocery store, how I cook and serve foods at our table to my family can influence or at least make then think and wonder and challenge our friends and people who surrounds us.   And I want that to speak loudly on this verse

    Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20

So, all that being said……

does this mean that  paleo/whole9/30 are the ONLY answer to the better health and better quality of life?  Not quite.  I have attended Whole9 workshop and it was so beneficial to me and had a TONS of fun.  Whole9 staffs (Melissa and Dallas) are very friendly, encouraging, and great people.   And I highly recommend you to go and be challenged.  But, there were some points that I wanted to go back and study and do research on my own.  It is not that I disagree with them.  NO.  But it simply means that there are things that that raised me questions and I must study and research before I accept some ideas/theories/”facts” and practice them. After all, I am a curious person!  I usually refuse to simply be spoon-fed the information, but rather learn and earn that knowledge.

The danger that modern day consumer has is that they are not train to think outside the box, study on their own and challenge their mind.  We are prone to go after something “quick and easy.”  And I am so guilty of doing that so often.  We see TV shows and commercial and, and even main stream medicine and quickly believe in what you are told without any doubt. And I am not saying that modern day medicine is faulty and not trust worthy.  I am also not saying that you should not just “swallow” Whole9/30 are not trustworthy. Quite the contrary!  I love medicine and that is what I pursued and studied!  I follow paleo/whole9/3o because it challenges me to think.  And it gave me some good foundation to build my knowledge upon.

So with that all in my mind, I thought myself why not educate yourself to be able to truly be able to take care of your own body?  And that is why I started the journey of paleo/whole9/30!

Hmmmm it became a long post.  Are you still there?  Anyone?  Anyone? Sleepy?

I am writing about “Love and Run” today.  After all, this blog title is Eat Love Run!  Amanda ( in a red shirts) just had her first baby last week.  It truly was an exciting moment.  Her husband waited for this moment for a long time, and me and Lucy ( one in a blue shirts in the picture) walked along side her pregnancy.  I still remember the very moment when/how/where she broke the exciting news.

Amanda’s baby girl, Maggie, is over a week old!  Looking back how our friendship grew through our running, I cannot help but thank God for his love, care, and grace that He has granted me through them.  Over the time as we ran, we got to know each other and started “doing the life together.”  We even ran a Turkey Day Race and then celebrated Thankgiving together!!  We would meet up for morning every other day to  run and then go to coffee to read on  Saturday morning, and that was my favorite time of the week.  Running literally united us and brought us closer and it eventually became “unspoken accountability meeting.”  During the course of Lucy and Amanda’s pregnancy, there have been some “up hills” and “down hills,”  but it was such blessing to walk through these seasons together and being sanctified together.  And here is the verse that comes to my mind when I think of them….

but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.

I Peter 3:4

Amanda and Lucy’s friendship have been just above and beyond that I asked for.  Having moved so often in the past, being able to establish a real godly friendship was something very difficult for me.  Sure I love running, but it simply became a “media” where it allowed our friendship to grow and eventually to walk and share our lives together.  I appreciated the fact that we got together not to be accountable to each other, but we became accountable to one another without even noticing it.  And that is something that’s hard to find, because you cannot force anybody to be accountable, or force anybody to open up and be honest to share what’s in the bottom of their hearts.

I put that Bible verse here because their quiet spirit is there and that is what draw me to them.  Amanda and Lucy’s personality are quite different, and yet they share one common ground, our God, our Lord of our lives.  And His care is clearly manifested in their lives in very unique ways.  And I am so thankful to be surrounded by such women!

Because Amanda just had a baby, it was just Lucy and I walked together and had coffee last week.  As I shared some issues and struggles that I am experiencing, she was so eager to pray for me.   It is wonderful to have friends like that and amazing to know and see Lord’s care for me through them.

What a kind God we serve!  He not only saved me from the bondage of sins, but also continues to bless me with wonderful friendship with such great friends and extends His care for me!  I am forever indebted to Him!

Well, then when I got back from weekly Saturday run/walk and coffee, this is what I had.  Bacon, Jalapeno peppers, and sweet bell pepper omelette  with slices of avocado!

Now, Amanda is at home with Maggie.  And I just cannot wait for her to be able to join Lucy and I to run together soon again!

1 cup strongly brewed hot black tea ( keep it piping hot!)

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 chopped dried apricots

2 tbsp canola oil –>  olive oil

2 cloves of garlic –>  Put 4

1 large yellow onion –> used 2!

2 tsp ground tumeric

2 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp cayene pepper

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground fenugreek

1/2 tsp funnel seeds

Kosher salt to taste

2 tbsp malt or apple cider vinegar

8 oz ground beef and 8 oz ground lamb –> had used just ground beef

How exciting is this!?  And how would you pass on the meat loaf recipe that includes all these ingredients?!  I found this recipe for Bobotie, South African Curry Meat loaf, in SAVEUR.  Once again, I found another whole30 friendly and DELICIOUS and flavorful recipe.  Methods is pretty interesting.  You prepare a raisin and apricot infused black tea as part of ingredients.  When I saw this recipe, I just had to try it.  Plus, I love any recipes that involves tumeric, cumin and coriander! And cooking this meat loaf made our kitchen smell so wonderful.   It was so fun and exciting to cook this meat loaf.  And the best part was that it was so delicious.  Flavor of curry came through and sweetness from raisin and apricots were so well matched with spices.  And crunch from the sliced almonds were so perfect, and it makes some crunch noise when you try to cut through the crust of almond on the surface.  It was SO good.  And here is how to make it…..

Bobotie

( straight from SAVEUR)

Ingredients –>  See above

Methods

Heat oven to 350°. Combine tea, raisins, and apricots in a bowl; let sit for 30 minutes. Drain, and reserve ⅓ cup soaking liquid; set both aside. Heat oil in a 12″ skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and onion; cook until lightly caramelized, about 8 minutes. Add turmeric, coriander, cayenne, cumin, fenugreek, pepper, fennel, and salt; cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add reserved soaked fruit and soaking liquid and vinegar; cook until almost all liquid evaporates, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl; add beef and lamb, and mix until evenly combined. Transfer meat mixture to a foil-lined baking sheet, and shape into an 8″ × 4″ loaf; press almonds over top of meat loaf, and bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the meat loaf reads 160°, about 40 minutes.

And the second meat loaf.

This recipe was adapted from my good friend’s ( yes, Jacque… you probably know by now!) blog, Whole Family.  One night I made a spontaneous visit to her home.  I just showed up without much warming and she welcomed me.  And great friend that she is, she served me a slice of her wonderful and comforting meat loaf.  In the middle of the night, we were chatting, talking about our lives, cracking silly jokes and had this wonderful meat loaf.  I could just sit there and eat this all night!  Great friend, fun chat and wonderful food.  What can we ask for more?

Her recipe has this simple but yummy “frosting” on the meat loaf.  She spreads tomato paste on top and bakes her meat loaf.  And it is so sweet and so tasty.  Well, when I made meat loaf, I tweaked some.  First, I added some sweet flavor to tomato paste to make it more friendly for my husband who really does not like tomato at all.  And second, I added some parsley, italian seasoning, sauteed onion ( this, she was actually going to add it, but she was out of onion!), some dash of cumin, and nutmeg.

Simple Meat Loaf – Adapted from Whole Family

( I am copying ingredients and steps word to word from her site, and added what and how I tweaked)

Ingredients

1 pound of grass-fed ground beef

1/4 cup almond flour

1 egg

1/2 tbsp marjoram

1/2 tbsp garlic powder

2 tbsp minced garlic (can you tell I like garlic?)  –>  omitted and added extra 1/2 tbsp garlic powder

1 stem’s worth of fresh rosemary, diced up

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Salt and Pepper

1 12 oz can of tomato paste

MY ADDITION

2 tsp italian seasoning

dash dash of cumin

dash of nutmeg

handfull of parsley chopped

1 onion chopped and sauteed with ghee

6 oz canned tomato sauce

1/8 cup raisins

dash of cinnamon

Methods

1. Preheat oven at 375 degrees
2. In a sauce pan, pour tomato paste, tomato sauce, raisins and dash of cinnamon.  Bring to a boil and let it simmer for 15 min or until the volume reduce to half.  Set aside.
3. In a bowl, combine ground beef, eggs, almond flour, parsley, sauteed onion, and spices.  Mix with your hand.
4. On a baking sheet, place parchment paper or aluminum foil.  On a sheet, make the meat loaf mixture into a shape of your choice.  About an inch thick.
5. Coat the meat loaf with the tomato sauce.
6. Pop it in the oven and let it cook for about 40 min or until its cooked through.
7. Serve….

And the flavor?  It was SO delicious.  It was warm, very well seasoned, and the tomato paste was sweet and slightly spicy.  It was so perfect.  And to top it off, it was juicy…. just to think about this meat loaf makes me hungry and water my mouth!  Thank you, Jacque, for an awesome recipe!

So here are my meat loaves two ways!   They were both perfect for packing up for lunch!

And this recipe, may not surprise you, was an accidental one and was made when I was feeling desperate because I simply did not know what to pack up for lunch for my husband and I the following day.  Then I remembered that I had my “emergency shrimp stash” in the freezer and some vegetable.  Naturally, I thought simple stir fry would be good enough.  But lo and behold!  This dish turned out to be the best, the BEST, stir fry I ever made!  Shrimp was juicy, vegetable had good crunch, alot of flavor were blend well and so delicious!  Here is how to cook it

Shrimp and Ginger Stir Fry with Broccoli

Ingredients

1.2 lb shrimp

1/4 cabbage sliced

1 head of broccoli

1 tbsp graded ginger

3 cloves of garlic minced

2 stalks of celery chopped

1 sweet red pepper sliced

cooking oil of your choice ( prefer coconut or olive oil)

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp white pepper

salt to adjust the flavor to your liking

3 tbsp coconut aminos

1/4 cup home made chicken stock

1 tsp pepper flakes ( optional )

Sesame seeds to garnish ( optional)

2 stalks of scallion chopped

NOTE:  You can also add bamboo shoots, onion, shiitake mushrooms, bocchoi….eat

Methods

1. heat the cooking oil on the skillet and add ginger and garlic.  Cook quickly for just less than a minute until it releases aroma
2. Add vegetables (except for broccoli) and cook until they are all wilted.  For about 5-8 minutes.  Set aside.
3. Add additional oil.   Add broccoli and cook until they are slightly browned on edges.
4. Add chicken stock and cook until broccoli absorbs liquid.
5. Add shrimp and cook until they become pinkish white.  About 3 minutes.
6. Add back all the other vegetables, and stir well.
7. Add all the other condiments and coat vegetables and shrimp well.
8. Sprinkle chopped scallion and toss the stir fry well.  Adjust the flavor with white pepper, salt and or coconut aminos.
9. Serve on the plate and garnish with sesame seeds.
10. Enjoy!

With the ingredients listed here, it yielded about 4 servings.  We were able to have some for dinner and pack it up for our lunch.  It travels well well and it is exciting to open this lunch and see good looking and delicious sea food stir fry!  My husband loved it!

The hardest part was the 30 thrusters!  It did not sound all too hard, but it turned out to be the hardest workout!  And it definitely challenged my strength, stamina and endurance.  Phew!  it felt great to finish all the workout!

And the day of endurance… today was that day.  From the early morning to till this morning, my day never stopped!  I was especially busy because I had to literally cook 4 different meals two of which were dinners for my husband to take to the hospital today and tomorrow.  Because my husband works night shifts now and I am at clinic two days a week, there are few days that I have to cook for several meals and pack them up to go for both my husband and I.   Staying on track with Whole30 is quite a commitment on days like this!  But is it worth it?  Of course it is!  And here are what I made today!

Italian sausage and cabbage hash

Shrimp and Ginger Stir Fry with Broccoli

Pulled Pork and Citrus Dressing with Sweet Bell Pepper and Onion with avocado and Spicy Sweet Potato Fries on the side

Tonight, I have sent my husband with the Shrimp and Ginger Stir Fry with Broccoli. And pulled pork with citrus dressing is packed and ready for tomorrow!

I will be sure to post the recipes.   Citrus dressing was adapted from my good friend, Jacque’s, site.

Phew what a day it was!  Started with awesome crossfit, all the chores and errands, and then all these cooking.  I am all tired and beat now.  but was it all these hustle?  Certainly yes!

]]> http://ieatloveandrun2.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/day-23-day-of-endurance/feed/ 0 DSCF1535-1 Brie WOD Jan 23 Lunch Shrimp and Ginger DSCF1528-1 DSCF1535-1 http://ieatloveandrun2.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/day-23-the-best-mayo-and-beyond/ http://ieatloveandrun2.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/day-23-the-best-mayo-and-beyond/#comments Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:19:27 +0000 Brie http://ieatloveandrun2.wordpress.com/?p=1786 Read more]]>

On day 23, I am so glad to share that I finally made the best paleo/hunter-gatherer/whole9 friendy mayo!  Finally! I have tried some recipes from different sites and cook books, but I finally made the one that actually hits my spot.  I have even made mint and cumin sauce to serve salmon and it was excellent!  Without farther adieu…. here is the recipe.  I hope you will like it.  If not, tweak it!

Simple and Easy My Home Made  Mayo

Ingredients

1 egg ( room temperature)

1 cup of extra light olive oil

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp ground mustard seed

dash of white pepper  and salt to your liking

Methgods

Put juice, egg,  mustard, and vinegar in the blender.  Blend well until is opaque and creamy.

As the blender mixes the mixture, Slowly, VERY slowly, pour olive oil.  BE PATIENT!

Adjust the flavor with salt and WHITE pepper to your liking.

Store in the container/jar

It is perfectly tangy, salty, and creamy.  I am so thrilled that I finally made the mayo that I actually like!

And, this is what I did with the mayo….

Last night, with the new mayo, I made Mint and Cumin Cream to serve with the salmon as well as a dipping sauce for the spicy sweet potato fries!  It was so refreshing with mint, spicy with cumin, and lime just made it perfect for the fish.   And its creaminess was so perfect with spicy sweet potato fries!   It was SO delicious!  My husband loved it too!

Mint and Cumin Cream Sauce

Ingredients

1/4 cup home made mayo

1 tbsp chopped mint

dash of cumin

juice of 1/4 lime

salt and pepper to taste

Methods

Really, all you have to do is to mix them up well with hand or in the food processor.

And this Djej Besla – Chicken and Onion Tagine- is the one that I cooked for DAY18 dinner.  When I saw the ingredients includes tons of garlic, cumin, turmeric, green olives, saffron, cilantro  and LEMON!  I could not pass on this recipe.  I just had to make it!

Djej Besla – Chicken and Onion Tagine

From SAVEUR

Ingredients

1 tbsp kosher salt and more to taste

6 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

2 tsp, coumin seeds, crushed

1 tsp. paprika

1tsp. ground rurmeric

5 tbsp. olive oil

4 skinless bone-in chicken thoughs –>  I used bone-in skin-on and worked beautifully

4 skinless bone-in chicken drumsticks –> used skin on

1 tsp.  crushed saffron threads

4 medium yellow onions, cut into 12 wedges

Freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste

1 lemon, thinly sliced

1 1/2 cups pitted green olives

1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro

NOTE:  you add 1 cu of water, but I added some extra home made chicken stock.

( recipe suggests to serve it over white rice.  But of course, we did not need it, want it, and this dish was perfect without it!)

Methods

1.  Make a spice paste: using the flat side of your knife, chop and mash the garlic and make garlic paste.  Mix in cumin, paprika, and turmeric.  In a large bowl, add spice paste, chicken and 3 tbsp of olive oil to coat chicken with paste well.  Keep them frigirated for about 4 hours.

2.  Heat remaining oil on the skillet on medium high heat.  Cook chicken until both surface is golden brown.  About 10 min.  Set them aside.  Add onion, saffron and salt and cook for 15 min.  Return chicken in a skillet with a cup of water ( and some chicken stock) with lemon slices.  Bring to a boil and then let them simmer with rid on.  Let it cook for about 40 min.

4.  Serve with chopped cilantro and olives.

And the taste?  So warm, spicy, slightly sweet and salty and juicy and all goodness!  It was easy to prep and cook, and taste was divine.  This recipe become one of my absolute favorite dish without any doubt!  And of course, this is such a perfect dish to pack up for lunch.  I am sure I will be making this dish soon again!

Just as I promised for the recipe, I am back to share some tasty recipe!  Here is what I cooked up on Day16 for dinner and Day17 lunch bag!

This recipe was an accidental success.  On the way to Baton Rouge to attend Whole9 workshop, I flipped through one of my friend’s new cook book Well Fed and found this recipe for stir fry.  It looked so delicious and wanted to try it.  But I did not have paper and pen handy and ended up just trying to just remember general idea of what’s in the ingredient.  Plus, I added extra veggies and tweaked it alot.  I cannot recall what recipe is called… but I am sure it sounds more sophisticated than mine and taste great!  Anyways, what being said… here it the recipe.

Beef Broccoli and Red Onion Stir Fry with Chinese Five Spice

Ingredients

1lb beef ( strip or cube)

1 medium red onion sliced

1 head of broccoli

1 tbsp graded ginger

3 cloves of garlic minced

3 stalks of green onion

Salt and pepper

(for sauce)

1 tsp Chinese five spice

2 tsp sesame seeds

squeezed orange juice ( used 1/2 orange)

3 tbsp sesame oil

3-5 tbsp coconut aminos

salt and pepper

Methods

1. Put all the sauce ingredients in the bowl or a jar.  Shake or mix them well.
2. Sprinkle salt and pepper on beef liberally
3. on a skillet pour cooking oil of your choice and bring to high heat.  Put chopped garlic and ginger.  Cook until its aromatic.
4. Add beef on the skillet and cook for 6 -8 minute or until they are cooked ( really up to the size you cut them )  Set them aside.
5.  Add sliced onion and cook for few minutes.
6.  Add broccoli and cook until they achieved consistency of your liking.  ( or you can steam broccoli and then add )
7. Add the beef back on the skillet.  Pour over the sauce mixture and let it cook for few minutes.
8. Serve warm and garnish with sprinkles of sesame seeds!

This yields quite a bit and such perfect meal to cook for the lunch as well.  It’s easy to cook and travels well.  It is warm, tasty, and texture of all the beef and veggies are so perfect!  Flavor from sesame oil comes through and fragrance from the Chinese Five Spice was so warm and perfect.  My perfect part is wilted onion and broccoli soaking up all the flavor from the sauce!  It is so good!!!

What I had on the place ( in the picture) with the stir fry is my little “burger” of grilled bell pepper, home made italian sausage, slice of avocado on a slice of grilled egg plant.  I know it is such a strange combination to have with stir fry and random, but it was so good anyways!  we loved it!