Wok Star Eleanor Hoh

Be a Wok Star!

Diets

Amazing Ways and Places Wok Stars Use Their Wok Star Kits!

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I LOVE all the amazing ways and places Wok Stars use their WOK STAR KITS! Being a Wok Star encompasses more than just cooking, it’s about creating memories and helping people become less reliant on recipes and most importantly, creating a fun way to cook and eat healthier. If you treat cooking like a ‘Healthy Hobby” instead of a “diet”, then it’ll be something you WANT to do rather than HAVE to do, right?

I’m so happy Wok Stars and I continue to be in touch and keep up with their successes. These are only some of hundreds of fabulous comments I get from Wok Stars. If you’re a Wok Star, do email me.

My WOK STAR KIT and gas stove is a traveling kitchen, you can cook anywhere…

READY TO BE A WOK STAR?

Amazing WAYS Wok Stars use their Wok Star Kits…

YOU’VE PUT THE FUN BACK INTO COOKING!
Dr. Eric, OBGYN. “Wok so much…can’t tell you enough how much you have changed my eating habits and inspired so much enjoyment for cooking. :)”  He now finds cooking a relaxing time to decompress after work.

EASY & HEALTHY FOR TEENAGERS!
Chris B, software engineer. We definitely like the wok the more we use it. 4 of us cook, we throw whatever we want into the wok and stir it up for 1 dish. Takes 5 mins to make lunch or dinner. Trying to make it easier for teenagers instead of the typical unhealthy diet. He’s even gifted my WOK STAR KIT to a couple who loved his style of cooking so much.  

WOK WILL TRAVEL!
Henri A, designer & event planner.  “This handy dandy cast iron wok has its own suitcase and I never leave home without it! Camping…Beach…Hiking…or let me cook for you at your house!…It is the single most important piece for cooking for me! Thank you Eleanor for introducing me and for giving me the simplest and most impactful way to make flavorful memories! I am a Wok Star!” 

READY TO BE A WOK STAR!

Amazing PLACES Wok Stars use their Wok Star Kits…

COOKING WHILE RVing
Alex M, Photographer, transforms vintage trucks, furniture and leather into amazing man caves and beverage trucks. “Just because you’re RVing, doesn’t mean you can’t cook a badass meal!” 

CAMPING IN PARKS
Stefan, trainer & digital guru. He and his wife went camping and cooked in their WOK STAR KIT in parks.

MOUNTAINS, NO PROBLEM
Stephanie P, my ex-class assistant, Cruise Guide for Alaska environment & bicycling. She was such an enthusiastic WOK STAR, always eager to cook anywhere. This was taken in Sierra Nevada mountains. 

READY TO BE A WOK STAR?

Eat Dinner at Lunch…

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Here’s a Chinese New Year Resolution you might consider…eating your main meal at lunch, and eat lighter at night!

This makes total sense and has so many positive health benefits from everything I’ve read. No matter what diet you’re on, you could benefit from eating your main meal at lunch.

As they say, Eat like a King for breakfast, a prince at lunch and pauper for dinner. Another says, Big Lunch, Small Dinner Plan.

1. Eating the main meal during lunch gives us more time to digest instead of going to bed with a full tummy.

2. For a blogger like myself, it gives me more time to videotape.

3. Lunchtime provides more natural light to videotape.

4. I’m not rushing home from my evening walk and feeling pressure with time constraints to prep and cook.

Anyone doing this? Share in comments if this swap works out better for your digestion or other reason?

Ha, ha, we’ve had pescatarian for last 3 days, not intentionally but just happened.

The usual stir fry process: hot wok, add oil (avocado or grape seed), add garlic & ginger. Cook vegetables first, take out, then use same steps for protein.

Vegetables were Baby Yu Choy or Choy Sum, the name I grew up calling them. Had some snow pea tips and cubed a baby Bella. This is the size between a bell pepper and mini sweet pepper.

Wild caught shrimp were so delicious and tasted of the ocean vs farm raised, what a difference.

Salmon skin came out juicy, golden and crispy, yay. Both were fried in my cast iron wok and Iwatani gas stove setup with just a sprinkle of Celtic sea salt. If you want crispy anything, dry off well with paper towels before frying.

I’ll keep you posted of our results.

Easy Dinner Fix For Family Diets

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With all the endless diets nowadays, it’s tricky to fix dinner when your family is split between Low Carb, Keto, Paleo, Atkins, South Beach, Vegetarian, Vegan, the list is endless. On top of diets, throw food allergies like gluten intolerance in the mix and you’re at your wits’ end how to make dinner the whole family can enjoy? Is this a familiar scene with your family? I’d love to hear your “workarounds” in comment below. 

WSJ Family Fight over carbs
In a recent Wall Street Journal article, The Family Dinner Is Now A Battle Over Carbohydrate Preferences, I was overjoyed to read the mom makes stir fry twice a week and of course triggered me to post this blog. I don’t know if the writer is a Dietitian but his suggestions of dinner with chopped salad with meat or eggs for The Low Carb Diet sounds so boring, no wonder folks can’t stay on their diets! 

I’ll start by saying every diet agrees more veggies and a smaller portion of meat with good fats, right? Well, Asians have eaten that way for decades so wok cooking is ideal! 

When our mom cooked, a typical family dinner consists of Stir Fried Veggies, Stir Fried Meat with Veggies, Soup and rice.  Carbs are sides unless it’s fried rice or a fried noodle dish. 

My simple dinner at home with my sister and her hubby! See noodles at the top of the table?

So, here’s my workaround for families with multi-diets…
Try my cooking process of stir frying veggies and meat separately.

  • Matt show off stir frying Chinese Broccoli!
  • Caitlin stir fry shrimp!

If there’s a vegan or vegetarian, it’s easy to just leave out the meat and cook up some tofu and still share the veggies! You can choose your own carbs and here’s a delicious low carb, Curry Quinoa which everyone will LOVE.

  • Mapo Tofu, easy substitute to meat!
  • You’ll love this Curry Quinoa.

Wok cooking is so adaptable to any diet! 

I encourage you to invite your kids and partners or friends to chop veggies and stir fry with you.  It’s a perfect way to spend family time together, and dinner will be ready in no time!  

I’ve said this many times, my fondest childhood memories are cooking with my mom and sisters and sitting down to dinner at our big round rosewood dining table with a lazy Susan. I am reminded of our times together every time I cook and I LOVE IT.