This has been an incredibly exciting last two weeks or so with some tangible changes on the horizon. I have a kick butt group fitness class schedule and will be doing a whole lot of teaching in the coming weeks and months. I can't wait. I also finally registered for my NASM-CPT course! I have been intending to do this for a solid two years at least and finally was inspired to just pull the trigger and start. The timing won't really get much better and I'm ready to press forward with achieving this goal. More on all of this jazz in another post but for now, I wanted to share a few new go-to recipes for weeknight (or any night really) meals. I say weeknight because the ingredients are simple, prep is quick, and the flavor is big so you get the satisfaction of a dish in regards to flavor that you think took longer to make but really it was on the table in no time.
In order to stay satisfied and reduce cravings, we like big, bold flavors. We're a little less meat and potatoes and more like, we're craving Thai and Indian. When done correctly, these can be incredibly satisfying meals full of veggies and lots of yummy seasonings. Often they are one pot or one pan meals. Problem is, I've found they tend to be ingredient heavy and not always with ingredients that go the distance in your pantry. I've had to become smart about finding ways to use up ingredients on multiple recipes since some of them tend to be a little bit on the pricey side. Today, I want to share two recipes that use some basic Asian flavor profiles, are recipes that are familiar, simple ingredients, and quick to make. We love seafood and stir fry's but if they aren't prepared with clean eating in mind it's not necessarily the best choice. For example, I used to fall back on packaged stir fry sauces but decided to develop my own. After perusing a few recipes to make a clean eating stir fry sauce from scratch, I realized I had most of the elements being recommended and just started experimenting with different proportions with the ingredients I had and came up with a great sauce for a beef stir fry. I also let my ingredients like sesame oil and rice vinegar go the distance as concocted a sauce for a salmon, brown rice, and avocado bowl.
Clean Eating Beef Stir Fry
1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 tablespoon local honey
1 table spoon low sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 lb beef cut into strips (my Publix supermarket prepackages beef strips for stir fry but you can easily cut your own of have the butcher counter do it for you)
1 bag of frozen stir fry veggies (I use a broccoli stir fry blend that also has water chestnuts, carrot, and onion)
1 cup Brown Rice (I use boil in a bag or steam in a bag brown rice for extra quick prep...you can also use quinoa!)
Whisk the first 8 ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet (coconut oil works nicely) and brown the beef draining any excess fat if needed. Add the veggies and cook until warmed through. Pour the sauce over the beef and veggies mixture and allow sauce to simmer, stirring occasionally, for approximately 5 minutes until the sauce thickens and reduced slightly. In the meantime prepare rice. Serve approximately 1/2 to one cup of beef stir fry over 1/2 cup brown rice.
Salmon, Brown Rice, and Avocado Bowls
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons rice vinegar, plus an additional teaspoon of rice vinegar to toss with rice
1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
2 small wild caught fresh or frozen salmon fillets
1 cup brown rice
1 avocado cut into slices
Whisk first 4 ingredients in a bowl and set aside. In a non-stick pan, cook fish until done. While fish is cooking heat rice. When rice is done, toss with 1 teaspoon of rice vinegar. In a bowl, serve a piece of salmon over rice and garnish with half of an avocado per bowl. Divide the dressing evenly and pour over each bowl.
Serve both of these dishes with a side of edamame (I use steam in a bag) garnished with a teaspoon of sea salt if desired.
