This is my go to Easy Wok Dinner that I make frequently! Wok Stars, I know you get excited to show off your new found wok skills to friends, however, don’t pressure yourself with a big party on your first attempt. It takes the fun out of it and you’ll get put off. Take baby steps and you’ll reap HUGE flavor and rewards!
Nah, better to do a simple stir fry bok choy with just a dash of tamari, sherry and squirt of lime and grill a whole fillet of salmon sprinkled with Earthy Delight’s Moroccan Spice Rub. There’s enough grilled salmon leftover for the hubby and my lunch for the next day, how handy is that?! Other great meats for grilling are skirt steak, pork chops, chicken thighs, limitless. Vegetarians can grill a whole slab of tofu or tempeh.
Keep it SIMPLE and enjoy the journey, you don’t need recipes for weeknight cooking! Try it, you’ll love it and everyone will love you…
weeknightdinner
Easy Skirt Steak Stir Fry
The Chinese horoscope says Year of the Snake will be a roller coaster year, but for me 2013 started off with a NICE BIG BANG! Everything is flowing smoothly and seamlessly. Three little new words will be my new focus for Year of the Snake: Simplify, Eliminate and Delegate (SED.) These can apply to everything you do in life starting with cooking!
When cooking during weeknights, stick to simple one-dish dinners like this Beef Stir Fry so you can enjoy with family or friends or even on your own! This simple beef stir fry can be made in less than half an hour. Flap Steak or Skirt Steak are reasonably priced and good cuts for stir frying, there’s a little marbling to keep it succulent. ‘Marinade’ your thinly sliced steak with squirt, squeeze, shake of TSPC. No sauce, otherwise you’ll want rice or a starchy carb to mop it up. This simple beef stir fry can be made in less than half an hour. You can substitute with a variety of other meats like chicken, pork, lamb, shrimp or tofu and swap the veggies but use this same technique, you can’t go wrong and you’ll be able to build ‘hundreds’ of yummy weeknight dinners.
Watch out for a Chinese New Year Feast post, I’ll be having a second Feast this Sunday so I can celebrate with my sister and more friends. Happy Year of the Snake everyone, hope your year will bring you luck, good health and wealth.
Ingredients:
1 lb. Skirt Steak marinaded in TSPC
2 cloves garlic
thumb size ginger, shredded
1 medium size ripe tomato cut into wedges
2 scallions, sliced diagonally
handful of cilantro, roughly chopped
Tea Seed Oil for frying
Marinade:
TSPC: T=tamari, S=sherry, P=pepper, C=cornstarch
1/4 tsp. of Sambal Olek
Practice the following stir fry technique and you’ll succeed everytime:
1. Heat your cast iron wok till you see first wisp of smoke.
(Do NOT use teflon nonstick for stir frying, it can’t handle high heat and you’ll damage the material).
Add 3 swirls of oil, quickly add garlic and ginger so they don’t burn and turn bitter. Add beef and spread out in one layer so they all get some heat.
2. Flip the steak as soon as you see color turning! This doesn’t take long, otherwise you’ll overcook and becomes chewy.
3. Add wedges of tomatoes and swish around with beef till a bit wilted. Last, top with scallions and cilantro right before plating. Viola!
My dad was born in year of the snake! If you’re a snake, see if you share his characteristics!
Some celebrity Snakes: Audrey Hepburn, Jacqueline Kennedy, Oprah Winfrey; John F. Kennedy, Chris Rock, Marlon Brando
Snake traits: Acute, aware, charming, cunning, elegant, mysterious, passionate, proud, serene, and vain.
Best match: Ox, rooster. Avoid: tiger, pig
Forecast:
career: self improvement to make great achievements at work
wealth: financial fortune will come second half year
relationship: married folks prevent extra marital affairs, singles will meet loving ones.
health: control your emotions in case of unexpected hurt
Ancient Chinese wisdom says a Snake in the house is a good omen because it means that your family will not starve. People born in the Year of the Snake are keen and cunning, quite intelligent and wise. They are great mediators and good at doing business. Therefore, you should have good luck if you were born in the Year of the Snake.
This is a year of water Snake, and all things will be possible. Saving money and being thrifty should be your top priorities. Delusion and deception are common in the year of water Snake. Stay alert! To gain the greatest benefits from this year, you must control spending and use your talents wisely. If you are planning to get married or to begin a business partnership, be sure to thoroughly investigate the other person’s finances and background before you legalize the alliance.
Here’s more.
5 Tips to Jumpstart Your New Year Resolutions
Happy New Year! Every year, we start with a clean slate to stay slim and trim. These 5 Tips to Jumpstart Your New Year Resolutions will help you whether you want a healthy approach to dieting or just easy ways to cook up fast tasty weeknight dinners!
Here’s how to do it…
Shake up your routine so you never know what to expect and you won’t get bored! Above all, treat your dinner as if it’s the last meal you’ll ever have on a desert island! What would you want them to be? A few ingredients and you can’t go wrong.
Chuck out using recipes this year and try a new way to tackle weeknight dinners that will make you a Star or a “Wok Star” if you have my Kit! Even if you don’t have a wok, try frying in a skillet or pot as long as it’s not non-stick!
- Buy just 2-3 different fresh & seasonal veggies and 2 kinds of protein on a Sunday. Buying a week’s worth is overwhelming plus makes your trip longer & stressful. I can be in and out of store in 15 minutes or less.
- Make ingredients work in a variety of ways: stir fry one dinner, soup for another, stew for yet another, par boil & have with salad dressing, steam.
- Save time by cooking up a week’s worth of quinoa instead of starchy rice/pasta and notice your energy soar. To prevent spoilage, store quinoa in containers and freeze, take out night before.
- Stock 5 basic seasonings that instantly make your cooking taste GOOD! Wok Stars use these same seasonings in Hispanic, Italian, Korean, Spanish. I call it TSPC: tamari (Japanese soy sauce, get San-J Intl. without MSG and gluten free), sherry (get medium drinking not cooking sherry), pepper (white pepper to change it up), cornstarch (for marinading your protein and thicken sauces)and of course, chili sauce (Huy Fong garlic chili sauce or sambal olek.) I used these seasonings in salad dressing as well.
- Stock these fresh ingredients: scallions, cilantro, fresh limes, garlic, ginger. Other goodies to have on hand: Miso paste, dried shitake or oyster mushrooms.
I’m working on more Tips and Techniques, so subscribe to my free newsletter in right side bar to get the latest updates!
I’ll leave you with a useful post, “How do I come up with a dish?” I think once you get this, you’ll be on your way to cooking without recipes, yay!
