Super Fast Beef Stir-Fry

My husband was STARVING and had only a few minutes between jobs to eat. I had nothing prepared. As a matter of fact, all I had were some spurious leftover fragments, an old roast beef hump that I had to cook soon, and some bottles of witch hazel and salicylic acid wash in the fridge (not to eat! for medicinal purposes!) What to do what to do???

I threw a few things together, voila! He liked it so much, I made it again the next day.

It’s so easy and uses simple ingredients that I really can’t claim any ownership of this recipe. It’s new to me, though. And the gang likes it. It used up a bunch of old food in the fridge, too. AND it’s SOOOOO easy!!! I am gloating a little, hee hee.

Super Fast Beef Stir-Fry
serves 4

Approximately 1-2 pounds of beef, sliced thinly
3 Tablespoons olive oil
3 Tablespoons water
1/2 red pepper, sliced
1 white onion, diced (make sure it’s a WHITE onion, not a yellow, or it will be too tough and bitter)
1 1/2 cups chopped kale (bite-sized)
1/4 cup Ken’s Teriyaki marinade/sauce

I used an old hump of roast beef, and sliced it into strips. The meat came out very well. Slice it thinly.

Grab a large skillet and heat up the olive oil. Add the beef and onion. Saute quickly. Add water if the oil dries up. Once the beef and onions are *almost* past the medium-rare stage, throw in the red pepper and kale and teriyaki sauce. Turn up the heat and saute until the kale and pepper just start to get limp.

You’re done! Serve with a little bit of rice, or on a bed of fresh kale. Yum.

Chicken and Shrimp Pasta Dish- EASY

Whenever I read the word “shrimp” in a recipe, my eyes glaze over and I pass along. I love shrimp-don’t get me wrong- but all the recipes that call for it are usually complicated uber-gourmet dishes that take 5-6 hours to make and 5-6 minutes to eat. NOT. FUN. I don’t like cooking *that* much, thank you.

But I have actually located a recipe WITH shrimp that is pretty durn good! And it’s easy! I make this from time to time. I found the recipe again after unpacking our storage boxes (we’d stored books in boxes during the house renovation). I’m going to make it later this week. It’s a very satisfying yet light meal. If the husband likes it enough, he may send flowers. You don’t have anything to lose…

Chicken and Shrimp Pasta Dish
serves 6

3-4 chicken breasts, boned and cut into large cubes
1 pound shrimp (you can use the pre-cooked frozen kind to make this super-fast to make- make sure it’s thawed first)
7 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup olive oil
6-7 garlic cloves (add more or less, depending on your preference)
2 Tablespoons FRESH basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Creole seasoning, if desired (add more if you like it)

Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the oil. At low heat, add the garlic, basil, salt, and Creole seasoning. Toss in the chicken and the shrimp. Cook for about 15 to 20 minutes, until the meats are cooked through.

Serve with cooked angel hair spaghetti or thin spaghetti. Yum.

Another quick fix is to use leftover cooked chicken with the thawed pre-cooked shrimp. It’s a wonderful meal. My family loves it (even the kids).

Would Someone Please Explain Foodbuzz??

I joined Foodbuzz eons ago. I have since tried to understand how on earth the thing works, but have been unable to figure it out. What the heck does it do? Is it just a cooking kiosk, a site where people toss up links to their food blogs? Is it a voting site, where people vote on your blog or recipe and you somehow make it to the front page?

I’d heard that you could earn a little money from the site… but I haven’t been able to really figure out how it all works. It seems confusing. I admit, I am an impatient gal– if I can’t figure it out relatively quickly (about the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee), then I either move along, or ask for help. ?? So I’m asking for Foodbuzz career advice here. I want to earn some $$…. but how do you do it? If I have to submit recipes and have them voted on…. sheesh, I’d probably lose money. :S My recipes are not anything near gourmet or desirable They are plain old, quick and easy family meals. We’re talking serious homespun here.

?? Is there any room in Foodbuzz for a plain Jane cook like me?

On My Bookshelf: The Seven Pillars of Health

The kids and I have started reading this book. It’s the Seven Pillars of Health, by Dr. Donald Colbert. The kids are reading it and doing workbooks based on it as part of their Health curriculum. It’s a really neat book!

We’ve only gotten through the first “Pillar,” water. The book is set up on a 50-day schedule, but we are taking it slower and will finish the course in about 25 weeks. The chapter on water is very interesting, I have always had an interest in such things all my life, so I like the additional studies and new developments that are presented in the book.

For example, did you know that many brands of bottled water are merely jugs of tap water from another source. Onec bottled water company even gets its water from the Detroit River! And the plastic jugs that water is stored in is the most toxic form of plastic? the plastic compounds slowly leach into the water, causing more harm than good!

Our bodies need alkaline water, but most of the water in our water supply is highly acidic. Acidic water (and foods) force our body to work very hard to detoxify the acids. People with highly acidic bodies have health problems such as arthritis, other inflammations, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue. We don’t need more pharmaceutical drugs to help us! We need good water, good nutrition, and calcium supplements and stuff!

By the way, did you know that the water supply is filled with the traces of pharmaceuticals that people take? The water treatment plant chemicals are unable to filter these drugs out…. so you are drinking those traces of drugs when you drink municipal tap water, too.

It’s an eye-opening book. And it shows how EASY it is to change our habits for good health. I’ll post more about it as we continue the course. But from what I have seen so far, I can highly recommend it!

Learning About Healthy Eating

Since The Hubs has been working evenings recently, we haven’t been cooking as much as usual. The kids and i are happy to “scrounge” for dinners, and I prefer to eat light in the evenings anyway. Judging by the reactions of most women, it seems that the only reason we cook dinner is for the men. Most women I know or read about dislike cooking dinner. It’s the end of a very long day, and the cooking is another huge chore, and the cleanup is another. I also do not like eating so heavily. It seems that women, sans men, are very content to have a bowl of cereal or a sandwich, than cook a big meal in the evening. What do you do? If you didn’t have to cook dinner, would you do it anyway? Do you like to eat that late in the day?

I think people in other countries have it better organized– their biggest meal is in the afternoon, followed by a light repose. The evening is cheese, fruits, wine– food that is easily digestible and easy to assemble.

The LAST thing I want to dump in my gullet four hours before bed is pot roast and potatoes.

So while I’m not doing much cooking, I am learning about healthier eating. I’ll have more on that later I’ve mentioned the benefits of eating raw foods (or, at the very least, eating mainly vegetables). Raw foods reduce your body’s acidic level. Cooked food contains enzymes that your body must work very hard to remove. Raw foods have been heralded as a cure-all for many things, from improving joints and blood pressure to replacing acne treatments and glasses. I don’t know about all those. I DO know that it is marvelously healthy, and that I hear nothing but glowing reports from people who had once been sick and are now better.

While we have definitely increased the raw foods in our diet, we do still eat a lot of the traditional American diet: grains and red meat. Sheesh, no wonder Americans are fat and have health problems! That food pyramid is a joke.

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