Ginger Stir Fry

I have been cooking more lately, but I haven't had a chance to write up the recipes until now. Last week I felt like a change from our usual ground turkey stir fry. And I thought if it was more saucy there would be a chance Tommy would actually eat the rice too. And I was right! So far this is the only stir fry recipe I've made that Tommy enjoyed. He ate all of the turkey and rice and tried the veggies. It's really good as is or with more chili garlic sauce to give it a kick.

Ginger Stir Fry

20 oz ground turkey
3 bell peppers, sliced into matchsticks
12 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 Tbsp oil, divided
2 Tbsp coconut aminos
1 Tbsp + 2 tsp gluten free soy sauce
1 Tbsp potato starch
1 tsp chili garlic sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Serve over white rice (I make 2 cups of dry rice)

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the chicken broth, coconut aminos, potato starch, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, sesame oil, fish sauce and ground ginger. 
2. Cook the ground turkey in a large non-stick skillet or a dutch oven sized pot over medium heat. When the turkey is almost cooked through, add 2 teaspoons of soy sauce. 
3. Place the cooked turkey in a large bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of oil. Saute the bell peppers until tender. Add the peppers to the large bowl.
4. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the pan. Saute the mushrooms for a few minutes until they are just tender and beginning to brown. 
5. Add the turkey and bell peppers back to the pan. Pour the sauce over the top. Stir until well combined and everything is warm. Serve over steamed rice.

Saucing It Up and Whole30 Steak Stir Fry

Today was a sauce making day. I made ketchup, salsa and a stir fry sauce. I'm glad my food processor is still hanging in there even though it has multiple cracks. 

I made The Clothes Make the Girl's Kickass Ketchup. I followed her recipe exactly except that I omitted the mustard. I used 1/8 tsp cloves and allspice.

I also made the Food Network's Ree Drummond's Restaurant-Style Salsa, minus the sugar. It isn't as good as my friend Eleanor's salsa, but it is tasty, easy and makes a large batch. I was getting tired of just having hot sauce on my eggs in the morning. This salsa will be a delicious change. 

We have a lot of leftover steak from making fajitas this weekend and my FAVORITE use for leftover steak is Steak Stir Fry. Before Whole30 I would make a stir fry sauce with hoisin sauce, ketchup and some other ingredients. But hoisin sauce is definitely off the plan and the kind I buy locally isn't Tommy safe anyway. So I created a new stir fry sauce that is Whole30 and Tommy safe. And instead of rice we'll be having the stir fry with spiralized sweet potatoes. This sauce turned out really good (if I do say so myself). It's sort of sour, a little sweet and has a little spice. And it's super easy.  The flavors worked really well with the steak and sweet potatoes. Yum. 

If you haven't gotten the message, I'm loving my Paderno Spiralizer. It's such an easy way to make veggie noodles and hash browns too. If you don't have a spiralizer, you could always serve this stir fry over rice, millet or quinoa.

Stir Fry Sauce

1/2 cup Kickass Ketchup
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tsp coconut aminos
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp tamarind paste
1/4 tsp granulated garlic (garlic powder)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp ground ginger

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Stir until smooth.

Steak Stir Fry with Sweet Potato Noodles

2 sweet potatoes
2 cups cooked and sliced steak
8 oz can sliced bamboo shoots, drained
4 large cremini mushrooms, sliced
3 Tbsp oil, divided
1 recipe Stir Fry Sauce

Cooking the Sweet Potato Noodles
1. Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a dutch oven sized pot over medium heat.
2. Peel the sweet potatoes and chop a little off one of the short ends to make it flat.
3. Firmly press the sweet potato into place on the spiralizer, with the small spiral cutting blade.
4. Cut the sweet potato into spiral noodles. Repeat with the other sweet potato.
5. Add the sweet potatoes to the pot. Cook until crisp tender, carefully stirring the sweet potatoes so they cook evenly.

Preparing the Rest
1. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
2. Add the mushrooms and saute until browned.
3. Add the steak and bamboo shoots. Saute for a couple minutes until warmed. 
4. Add the stir fry sauce and heat thoroughly, stirring continuously.
5. Pour the contents of the skillet into the noodle pot. Carefully stir together.

Trust Me Stir Fry

This is my FAVORITE stir fry and one of our all time favorite dinners. Last night Ben said, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but it really is better with the tofu." This dish is based off of a dish my college boyfriend's mother makes. I've changed it a bit, but overall it still resembles her dish. I don't know what it's called in Chinese. I call it Trust Me Stir fry because it doesn't have a lot of ingredients, and the ingredients it does have may not be your favorite. But when you combine them they are DELICIOUS! Trust me, you will love this dinner, even if you don't like green peppers or tofu. 

Every adult that I've made this for has really liked it. Tommy's the only kid that's tried it, so no guarantee your kids will like this. Tommy ate the turkey and a piece of the tofu. He didn't like the green peppers, but since he's just a toddler he gets a pass. =) I'm hoping that in the near future he'll come to realize how amazing this dinner is. 

You can make it without the tofu, but it really adds a great texture and smokey flavor. If you can find it I highly recommend it. Locally I find it at Winco. One of the tricks to getting green pepper haters to like this dish is to thinly slice and slowly cook the peppers. Once the peppers are almost cooked, add soy sauce and continue cooking until they've absorbed the soy sauce flavor and are soft. But be careful not to burn them! Once you add the soy sauce stir the dish often or the soy sauce will burn. 

Ben and I ate it with white rice. We've had it with cooked millet before, but the millet flavor overpowered the dish. If you can't or don't eat rice (like Tommy), I would recommend just having the stir fry by itself.

Trust Me Stir Fry

Makes 5 Servings

1 lb ground turkey
4 poblano peppers (sometimes labeled pasilla peppers), sliced into matchsticks
2 green bell peppers, sliced into matchsticks
1/4 cup gluten free soy sauce, divided
1 Tbsp canola oil
7.4 oz package smoked tofu, sliced into matchsticks
Chili garlic sauce to taste

1. Brown and crumble the turkey in a very large nonstick skillet or dutch oven sized pot over medium high heat. When the turkey is almost cooked, add 1 Tbsp of the soy sauce.
2. Remove the cooked turkey and set aside. Add the oil to the pan and reduce the heat to a little under medium. Add all the peppers. When the peppers are mostly cooked, add 2 Tbsp soy sauce. Stir frequently after you add the soy sauce to prevent burning. 
3. When the peppers are soft, add in the tofu and the final 1 Tbsp soy sauce. Cook until the tofu is warm.
4. Add in the cooked turkey and stir well to combine. Serve with chili garlic sauce to taste.

Nutritional Info (From My Fitness Pal, this is just for the stir fry)
Calories: 251
Fat: 14 g
Fiber: 5 g
Sugar: 2 g
Sodium: 982 mg
Protein: 25 g

Poblano Pepper Vent (Turkey Pepper Stir Fry with Cooked Millet)

One of my favorite go-to meals is turkey pepper stir fry. It’s easy to prepare and doesn't have many ingredients. We usually eat this several times a month.

For some reason all the grocery stores here label poblano peppers as “pasilla peppers.” I have no idea how this trend started. Pasilla peppers are dried chilaca peppers. Poblano peppers are fresh, and even in the dried form they’re called ancho chiles. The other day a cashier apologized to me because now instead of saying "pasilla peppers", the poblanos ring in as something completely different. I told her that's ok, pasilla peppers was incorrect too. She looked at me like I was a nutcase. 

This is a pasilla pepper. 

This is a poblano pepper. 

We love this stir fry over white rice, but since Tommy’s allergic to rice, he gets the stir fry over cooked millet. Cooked millet tastes a lot like brown rice. It has sort of a nutty flavor and lots of fiber. I think the flavor is kind of overpowering for the stir fry, but it's a good substitute if you don't want to have rice or are looking for something to get your intestines flowing. And it's cheaper than quinoa.

If you've never heard of millet before, don't worry, I hadn't either. It's an ancient gluten free grain that's now mostly eaten by livestock and people in Africa. And Tommy.

Turkey Pepper Stir Fry

20 oz ground turkey
2 large heads of broccoli, or 3 small ones

2 green bell peppers, thinly sliced

2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced

2 poblano peppers, thinly sliced

3 tablespoons soy sauce, divided

Chili garlic sauce (optional)

1. Steam the broccoli in a large skillet. When the broccoli is cooked, transfer it to a large bowl.

2. Add the ground turkey to the pan. Cook over medium-high heat. When the turkey is almost cooked, add one tablespoon of soy sauce. When the turkey is cooked, add it to the large bowl.

3. Add one tablespoon of canola oil and turn the heat to medium. Add all the peppers. Cook until softened but not browned. When the peppers are almost done, add one tablespoon of soy sauce.

4. Add the broccoli and turkey back into the pan, add one more tablespoon of soy sauce and stir. Cook until the turkey and broccoli are warmed.

5. Serve over white rice or millet with chili garlic sauce.

Cooked Millet

½ cup hulled millet

2 cups water

1. Add the millet to a medium saucepan. Run your fingers through the millet to look for little rocks.

2. Toast the millet over medium heat stirring frequently for approximately 2 minutes, or until it starts to smell toasted. Be careful not to burn the millet.

3. Add the water and cover. Raise the heat to high and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Do not open the lid and do not stir while it’s simmering.