Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

I wasn't planning to blog this, (which is why I only have 1 picture, but this was too good and simple not to share) I am always nervous about making a stir fry because I think the meat is usually tough. Today I went to Publix and ask the butcher for a piece of grass-fed "greenwise" organic beef sirloin. I brought the meat home and sliced it in half-lengthwise then cut the meat against the grain into very thin slices. This was key to very tender beef in the stir fry tonight! It has taken many times but I am sure this helps, when the meat slices are too large they are just tough and chewy which don't make for good eats.

Ingredients:
1 lb sirloin steak (preferably grass fed, hormone free), sliced thin
1 t cornstarch
3 T soy sauce (I use Tamari, gluten free)
1 T canola oil
1-2 cups fresh broccoli florets
1 cup carrots, sliced thin
1 small onion, sliced thin
4 cloves garlic, sliced thin
1-2 t honey (local if possible)

Sauce:
3 T Soy sauce (GF)
2 t cornstarch
2 t brown sugar
2 T water

Directions:
Whisk 3 T of soy sauce and 1 t of cornstarch in a large bowl, add sliced beef and gently toss to combine.  Whisk the ingredients for the sauce together and set aside. Heat a wok to high, add the canola oil once hot, add beef, discard marinade. Cook beef for 3-4 minutes then remove from heat and set aside. To the hot wok add the broccoli, carrots, onions, and garlic and stir fry for 3-4 minutes, adding the sauce in the last minute. Finally add the beef back to the wok stir to combine. Lightly drizzle honey over the top. Serve over brown rice.

Asian Sesame Chicken Salad

This a a great dinner or lunch salad. I made it a few weeks ago and it was too good not to share. Nothing crazy out of the ordinary just really good! I use the dressing from Trader Joe's and usually mix it with a little soy sauce because it's a little too sweet for me. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
4 cups romaine, chopped
4 cups cole slaw mix
1 cup edamame
1 cup sliced red bell pepper
1 cup sliced cucumbers
1/4 of red onion, sliced
1 lb grilled chicken breast
Asian Style Vinaigrette (amount to taste)
1/4 cup crunchy Chinese noodles

Directions:

Marinate the chicken in a bag with the Asian Vinaigrette for at least 30 minutes but could be as long as 8 hours. I use one from Trader Joe's that I like. Arrange the lettuce and vegetables in a large salad bowl, lettuce, cabbage, bell pepper, edamame, cucumbers  and top with onion slices. Grill or saute the chicken then slice and add to the top of the salad. Toss with 4 tablespoons of dressing then top with crunchy Chinese noodles.

Weight Watcher Friends: This salad serves 4 and has 5 Points Plus before you add the dressing. 

This Week's Menu

Finally the original intent of this blog comes to fruition! When I first started this blog the point was to share my weekly menus with those who wanted some healthy recipe ideas to feed their family for the week. I am a total planner! I find that when I plan ahead for the week I am more successful in so many ways. I spend less money at the grocery store, because I know exactly what I need and what I'm going to make each night so I don't make multiple trips to the store during the week. I eat healthier because I plan healthy meals and I can plan my day and even lunches because I know what I'm going to make each night. I look at my calendar and plan accordingly, for example this week my son is in a basketball tournament on Monday and Thursday  my daughter also has dance on Monday and I teach a 4pm yoga class, there is no way I am going to be able to make a healthy dinner that night if I don't plan ahead! I had to make meals that I can make ahead of time or in the crock pot because I am not going to have much time for prepping.

I typically get the paper on Sunday mornings and while having breakfast and coffee with my family on I ask for everyone's input on what they want for dinner during the week I plan my menu and my big Sunday grocery shop. This also helps during meals times when my kids try to complain about what we are having I can remind them that they each made suggestions on Sunday so to zip their mouths up if they have something negative to say. Ha!

Now that I am working and have less time to plan and prepare meals I am feeling grateful  that I have so many recipes on this blog to pull from. This morning my daughter and I went through recipes on my blog and picked out what we wanted to eat this week.

Today I am heading to the store. I am going to buy all the ingredients we need for the week! Fingers crossed that I get it all. I am leaving my kids home with my hubby so I can focus when I am there!

Weekly Menu (Just click on the meal name and it will take you to the recipe link)

Sunday: Brunswick Stew

Today is Super Bowl Sunday, we are still depressed since the Falcons didn't make it so we aren't planning anything big for tonight, just a bowl of sweet southern comfort to ease our pain.

Monday: BBQ Pork in the Crock Pot

We will have these sliders with left over Brunswick stew and I will whip up some quick slaw!

Tuesday: Skillet Lasagna

We have swim lessons at 4:50pm on Tuesdays so I need something quick this busy weeknight! This is so easy, lasagna in 30 minutes...sign me up!! Sever with a quick salad for the perfect meal!

Wednesday: Sweet and Sour Pork

This is a total family favorite. I usually serve this with edamame in the shells my kids love those!

Thursday: Mediterranean Chicken 

This is one of my favorite dinners ever! Can't wait for Thursday night!

Enjoy and have a great week!
Cheers!

Bang Bang Shrimp (my way)

I have posted another remake of a Bonefish Grill dish on here before, Lily's Chicken. It is really good and gets a lot of action on this site. I also really like the Bang Bang Shrimp at Bonefish Grill but I hate the way I feel after I eat fried food, ugh! (note the emphasis on the worked after because I actually feel quite good while I am eating fried food). After researching several remakes of this dish online and tried a few the one this is closet to is Gina's from Skinnytase, love her site! But I made a few changes of my own.  This is so super yummy!! You can make it as an app, a salad, or a main course, but just go make it, I promise you won't be sorry!


Ingredients:
1 lb fresh shrimp, peeled & devained
1 1/2 t cornstarch
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 t canola oil
2 cups bib/butter lettuce
4 scallions/green onions, chopped

Sauce:
1 1/2 T Mayonnaise
2 T Sweet Thai Chili Sauce

Directions:
Toss shrimp in cornstarch, salt and pepper. Heat wok over high heat add oil then toss shrimp in and cook until done. Plate the lettuce, add the shrimp and top with green onions. Use the sauce to dip. (Really, does it get any easier than that?)

 

 

 

 

Weight Watcher Friends: Serves 4 and is 5 points plus per serving. It really is super yummy, if you use a low fat mayo you could probably save points but I hate low fat stuff, I'd rather eat good and count the points!

 

Pork Wraps

As soon as I mentioned making these my husband said YES! He loved this dinner and at the end said "wow babe, this is award winning" which I must say is a pretty big deal. So I figured I better share this little gem of a recipe. If you have never had Savoy cabbage before it is a little chewier than regular green cabbage. I love the flavor and the texture is fine in the mix however for the wraps I feel like regular green cabbage would be best. However, we like to try new things in this house so so we ate it up with no problem, but for next time I will use the savoy in the mix and regular for the wraps.

Ingredients:
1 head Savoy cabbage
1 lb pork tenderloin
1 t sesame oil
1 t canola oil
2 T soy sauce (I always use Tamari, Gluten Free)
2 T Sweet Thai Chili Sauce
1 t corn starch
1/2 cup matchstick carrots
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced

Directions:
Remove the outer leaves of the cabbage (about 8 for the wraps) and dice the rest of the head of the cabbage. Set aside along with the diced onions, carrots and garlic. Slice the pork into 1/4 inch pieces and toss with 1 teaspoon of cornstarch . Heat wok over high heat add 1 teaspoon sesame oil and 1 teaspoon of canola oil, once hot add the pork, allow the meat to brown on one side before moving it around the wok about 1 minute. Then toss around and allow the pork to cook through. Mix the soy sauce and the sweet Thai chili sauce together and add to the pork. Allow to soak into the pork and simmer for about 2 minutes. Move to a plate and cover to keep warm. Next add the remaining teaspoon of canola oil to the wok, once hot, add the onion and carrots. After about 1-2 minutes add the garlic and the cabbage, toss to combine with the onions and carrots. Finally add the pork back to the wok and toss to combine. Place about 1/3 cup into each of the cabbage leaves and serve. We used some of the sweet Thai chili sauce to dip. These were great!

Really is a beautiful vegetable

Pull 6-8 leaves off  to reserve for the wraps

Diced up the rest

I cut about 8-10 baby carrots into sticks, and had 1/4 of a red onion in my fridge so I used both

1 whole pork tenderloin

Chop it up, I really hate cutting raw meat, but it was worth it for this recipe

Once it's all cooked serve in cabbage cups!

Weight Watcher Friends: This recipe serves 6 and each serving is 4 points.

Nam Sod

This recipe is from my cousin, Rusty, he's a great cook. He made this up at our farm last year and everyone loved it! My husband has asked me to make it about 15 times, I finally called up my cousin to get the recipe. It was great! Enjoy!!!

Ingredients:
1 lb fresh lean ground pork
2 T fish sauce
3 limes, juice & zest
2 T garlic, minced
2 T fresh ginger, minced
5 green onions/scallions, chopped
3 T Cilantro, chopped
5-7 small dried Thai chili peppers
1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts
1 head of cabbage
1/2 bag broccoli slaw*

Directions:
Brown the pork making sure to cook through. Once the pork is cooked, add the garlic and ginger, cook for about 1 minute then remove from heat. Add the remaining ingredients, fish sauce, lime, zest, green onions, peppers, cilantro and peanuts.  The Thai peppers can either have the seeds included or removed depending on the amount of heat you like, I served this to my kids so I removed the seeds. Quarter the cabbage head & separate sections. Use the cabbage slices as a wrap and enjoy together.

If you have never used ginger, peel it then chop, it is a root so it is very fibrous 

 Fish sauce does not smell great (imagine that) and is very salty so do not add any additional salt.

Thai chili peppers

Mine were full of seeds so I had to remove most of them.

Brown the pork

*the broccoli slaw is not a typical part of this recipe, I just had it on hand and threw it in when I added the garlic and ginger.

This dish is tangy, delicious and unique mix of flavors.

Clean the cabbage leaves and tear them to cup sizes.

Fill the cups with the pork mixture and enjoy!

 Weight Watcher Friends: this recipe serves 5 and each serving is 1 cup and has 4 points per cup. 

Pork Lo Mein

Last weekend my mom and aunt took me and my cousins for a weekend in New York City, we stayed on Lexington Ave on the east side of Manhattan. We had a blast!! It was an amazing trip filled with family, laughs, good food, shopping, shows, more amazing food, and oh did I say shopping?? Really the meals we had were out of this world! We ate at Buddakan, Lure, Tipsy Parsons, had drinks at the roof top bar at the Gavensvoort Hotel, shopped in great little markets. My friend Niki, said it best when she called it a real 'ladycation". We are such lucky girls to have such amazing, giving moms who treat us to adventures like this or like this.

On the street of New York

"The Girls" Peggy, Dana, Ellen, Alli and me at Lure

Walking through Grady Market, look at the beautiful produce, it was dreamy for me!

Me and my mom at Buddakan

I always try to re-create meals I eat out and taking on this meal is HUGE! Buddakan was probably one of the best restaurants I have ever eaten at in my life, the food was amazing, interesting, beautiful and unique. We ordered several things from the menu, Dim Sum, appetizers, main courses and desserts. Everything was out of this world good! We all loved this Pork Lo Mein dish, it was surprisingly simple but full of great flavors, the menu description said Pork Lo Mein with pickled cucumbers which we thought sounded weird but we all agreed it was one of the best things we ordered. So here is my attempt at the recreation...

Ingredients:
1 package rice noodles, cooked
1 lb ground pork (lean)
5-6 scallions chopped
1/2 cup snow peas, ends removed
1/2 cup  broccolini (broccoli  rabe or florets)
1 T ginger, minced
1 T garlic, minced
1/3 cup of a good quality sweet pickle
5 T soy sauce, separated (I use Tamari, Gluten Free)
2 T Asian Vinaigrette, (I use Trader Joe's)
2 T honey
2 t sesame oil, separated
1 T canola oil

Directions:
Heat 1 tablespoon of canola oil over high heat, then add the ground pork, using a spoon to break up the pork into small pieces, next add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce to the pork, cook until very done and crumbly. Once done, remove from pan and set aside. While the pork is cooking whisk together 2 T soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 2 tablespoons of honey and the Asian Vinaigrette.  Heat the sesame oil in a wok then add the broccolini, ginger and garlic and toss together for 2-3 minutes, next add the snow peas and scallions, cook for one minute. Finally add the sauce, stir to combine then add the rice noodles and ground pork. Stir together and top with the fresh pickled cucumbers and serve immediately.

Now I will say, the dish at Buddakan did not have as many veggies, but I needed more...

Crumbled pork with soy sauce, cooked with soy sauce

Stir-fry the veggies

This is the Asain Vinaigrette I use, it makes a great marinade for Salmon!

Cooked rice noodles, always rinse them with cold water as soon as you drain them or they will be sticky!

Combine, noodles, veggies, pork and sauce and toss, then top with....

My mom makes these fresh pickled cucumbers, if you make this dish... please use a good quality, not your typical store brand, it really makes a difference, just trust me!

I used the pickled cucumbers and sweet onions, it adds a surprising sweetness and a crunch, Yum!

 Even though it wasn't exactly the same as what we had it was very close and very good!

Weight Watcher Friends: This meal only has 8 points plus per serving. The recipe makes 6 servings.