I was called out to work again yesterday afternoon. I’m so glad I started dinner right after breakfast. I juiced two oranges and tossed a pound and a half of stew beef in it to marinate while scrambling the eggs and making toast. One of the kids warmed up leftovers for lunch while I got ready for work.

Note: This foodstyle is tough on refrigerator space. I need to look into buying a second-hand fridge for the garage in which to store jars of stuff!

When I got back from work, I stirred together a sauce of beef stock, soy sauce, fresh shredded ginger and garlic, a quick drizzle of sorghum, and some rice vinegar. I put more rice vinegar, soy sauce, honey, ginger and garlic in a small jar with some toasted sesame oil and flax oil to shake up for salad dressing. I broke up a pound of rice noodles into one-inch lengths (I couldn’t find buckwheat noodles at the store, how strange!) and put water on for them to cook. Then I raided the fridge for veggies. I chopped up a head of Napa cabbage and a bunch of green onions and put them in a salad bowl. I sliced two carrots on the diagonal, and made bite-sized pieces of red bell pepper, green onions and asparagus. I stirred three tablespoons each of arrowroot and water together in a small dish and heated up my deep skillet. The noodles were done now, so I drained them and put them in a hot skillet with some coconut oil to get crispy. When they were done, I drained them and tossed them with the salad. I started the noodle cooking water back up for more rice noodles, these to be served under the stir fry.

When the skillet got screaming hot, I added some coconut oil and a small bit of olive oil. First in was the meat. I patted it dry from the marinade first so it would brown and not just stew. After it was browned on all sides, I added the carrots. I continued tossing and cooking those, and in about three minutes, added the green onions and bell pepper. More tossing and stirring. I turned the fire down a tad and added a little more oil before adding the asparagus. Then I remembered the leftover cooked broccoli in the fridge and tossed that in as well. It was just a couple minutes before the veggies were soft and the meat was done, so I added the soy sauce/beef stock sauce and let it cook down for just a minute or two before adding the arrowroot mixture to thicken it all up. The pot went right on the table with cooked noodles, salad and dressing.

We aren’t eating a lot of spaghetti anymore. A pot of spaghetti and a jar of sauce used to be a meal for us. It was homemade fast food that I’d make at least one meal a week. I became concerned when I saw how much pasta it took to fill a kid up, and the short time it kept them filled. More research into the effect of carb loading on blood sugar levels was very instructive!

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