Pineapple Ginger Stir Fry Revised

When ever I make a stir fry I tend to get carried away with my vegetable proportions. My eyes have always been bigger than my stomach and I chop up way to many veggies which always leads to left overs. Yumm!

Two nights ago was no exception. I had chopped too much that it all couldn't fit into our large cast iron pan. Luckily Devon and I don't mind having the same thing two days in a row, I actually like it because it makes meal planning easier!

So there I was last night chopping up more vegetables and pineapple for another stir fry and I think to myself that I was out of cashews and rice. Crap. Well I just won't have cashews then and I will sub in brown rice vermicelli noodles instead! Then I got to thinking about making a sauce, something similar to last night's but different. I still had ginger and pineapple.... what else. ..? Date caramel sauce?.... Yay I think so!

I acquired this amazing sauce from my sister Ashley who had found it when she went down in the States in January. She had already eaten half of the jar and wanted it out of her house, so I was the lucky recipient. It’s a super thick, sweet, sticky sauce that is made out of just organic dates, organic caramel extract and sea salt. I have used this on top of my bananas, apples and on even on ice cream, it’s that good. This was the magical ingredient that was going to put my sauce over the top.

 

Results? Best sauce ever! Devon and I loved it. I wont lie though, I was tempted to eat the whole stir fry to myself but I am a nice person and saved some for Devon.

.

Ingredients
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 head of broccoli, chopped
1/4 head of cauliflower, chopped
5 stalks of celery, chopped
5-7 mushrooms, chopped
1/2 fresh pineapple, chopped (minus a large handful)
1 small can of baby corn (optional)
1 tbsp Better Than Bouillon broth, vegetable flavor
1/2 cup of water

 

Sauce
Large handful of pineapple
Ginger thumb sized, grated
1 tbsp Date Caramel Sauce
1 tsp soya sauce
1/2 cup of water
Salt and pepper to taste
Chop up all vegetables and fruit. Put aside a large handful of pineapple. Heat up a large frying pan on medium/high, add oil. Once melted add garlic and onions, sauté for 5 mins until browned. Add broccoli, cauliflower, celery, and sauté for 10 mins. Dissolve broth in water and add to pan. Add mushrooms, pineapple, and corn. Continue cooking until vegetables are fork tender.

With your hands squeeze the juice out of the pineapple, place all ingriedients (including the pineapple pulp) in a small sauce pan and put on medium/high heat. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, let simmer until its reduced to a thicker consistancy. Pour into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour over stir fry and serve.

*If you don't have the date caramel sauce, this version wont be as sweet*

Sauce
Large handful of pineapple
Ginger thumb sized, grated
3 large, soaked majool dates, diced
1 tbsp of you favourite sweetener (vanilla, stevia)
1 tsp soya sauce1/2 -1 cup of water
Salt and pepper to taste

In a high speed blender blend the 3 dates with the water, adding a little water, bit by bit until its running smooth then add sweetener. Try to avoid using too much water, you want it to be a paste not a liquid. With your hands squeeze the juice out of the pineapple, place all ingriedients (including the pineapple pulp) in a small sauce pan and put on medium/high heat. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, let simmer until its reduced to a thicker consistancy. Pour into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour over stir fry and serve.
Serve over rice, quinoa, or rice noodles! And Enjoy!!


Thanks for reading!
Xoxo -N

 

One Hot Salad feat. Sauteed Mushrooms, Onion and Corn on Kale and Quinoa

We just had a lot of snow here in Moose Jaw, like A LOT. So naturally, on Friday night I felt like staying in because a) it was too cold outside and b) my car was buried under a huge pile of snow. 

Devon was going to the Alice Cooper concert so I was by myself for supper, which meant I could do some experimenting.  I love mixing textures and temperatures with my food. I can eat almost anything hot or cold. I would say that Chili is my favourite food to mix temperatures with, hot chili with fresh zucchini and tomatoes on top. Or topping it with more cold quinoa is really good, becuase you can never have too much quinoa. I also love doing this with salad, yes Salad. Some people (like my husband) do not like doing so, they find the temperature differences a little weird. 

With him being out, I decided to do a warm salad. When I was at work on Friday I was thinking that I could really go for something comforting for supper that night, yet I was craving a kale salad. So my mind got to work on what would taste good for a warm salad. My first thought was sautéed mushrooms, these are one of my favorite things to eat. Back when I was a meat eater, Devon and I would sauté mushrooms and onions to put on top of our steak. These would most likely be done before the steak, so I would just stand by the stove eating them from the pan. Which meant of course there would be barely any left for supper!

So I had my first ingredient, mushrooms. Then of course I would add onions and garlic to the mix because, because to me the dish would have not been complete. But, I didn't just want those three, it need more color and I wanted to add something sweet to the mix. Corn! Perfect! I had some frozen organic in the freezer that would be a great addition to my salad. 
Next I thought, what about quinoa? It would be another hot element to the salad and would be great texture to add to the mix. Finally, I thought to top it off with zucchini, tomatoes, and sprouts and a garlic lemon dressing to finish it off. 

When I was taking the pictures of this dish I actually hadn't tried it yet and I thought to myself..."you might be taking these pictures for no reason because you don't know if its going to work out..." But let me tell you! It was one of the best salads I had ever eaten. There is the perfect balance of hot and cold in this mix as well as sweet and savory. I really hope you like it as much as I do. I told Devon that the next time I make this, he had to try it even though he was a skeptic. And surprisingly he agreed. Looks like I get to make this again sometime really soon!























One Hot Salad
Ingredients

• Kale
• Quinoa
• 1 tsp of Coconut Oil
• Mushrooms
• Corn
• Tomatoes
• Zucchini
• Sprouts

Dressing

• 1/4 cup Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
• 1 clove of Garlic, minced
• 1 Lemon, juiced

Strain and cook your quinoa, then set aside. Saute, mushrooms, onions, corn and garlic just unitl they are browned. Dice up your tomatoes and zucchini. For the dressing I always make more than I need so I can store it in the fridge for later. Just put all of the ingredients in a jar with a lid and shake until well mixed. Then layer your dish like so:

• kale
• sauteed mushrooms, corn, and onions
• quinoa
• tomatoes 
• zucchini 
• sprouts
• top it off with the dressing

There you are done! Enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

xoxo -N