Learning Some Stir-Fry Basics

For whatever reason, stir-fry is something that Steve and I never attempted or had an interest in making before this year, and not because we don't love Chinese food. And you'd think I'd be comfortable with it, since it's something that my parents made for dinner a lot growing up, in their red electric wok that I still remember with surprising clarity. I also have memories of avoiding snow peas on my plate and gunning for extra water chestnuts, which is absolutely something I would still do today.

But regardless of why we'd neglected it up to this point, the recurring appearance of bok choy and baby bok choy in our CSA this year sort of demanded that we take a stab at it. It seems like the obvious choice for bok choy, doesn't it? Back in the spring we made this simple Bok Choy Chicken dish, and it was fine. It just felt very, um, utilitarian. "We have chicken. We have bok choy. Let us cook them, together." By contrast, this more recent favorite of ours, even though it's full of veggies and lean chicken, is indulgent. I suppose we have those yummy noodles to thank for that.

Pan-Fried Noodles with Chicken on The Woks of Life

Used From Our CSA (Week 18)
red bell pepper
bok choy
onion
chicken breast

Guess what!? This concoction was made with some of our frozen chicken stock from earlier this year. Victory moment!

Thoughts on the Recipe

• Someday we'll be savvy enough to throw something like this together without needing to reference a recipe, but for now it made for a really helpful guide. We did go somewhat off-message to throw in some extra veggies (listed above), as well as a can of sliced water chestnuts, because yum.
• It's a very preparation-heavy dish, but as the recipe states, once you get underway with cooking, things really do come together quickly. We definitely benefited from having two sets of hands in the kitchen for this meal: Steve did all the cooking, and I helped with prep and did some dishes during that time. By the time it was ready to eat, almost all of the dishes were done (my favorite thing).
• Finally, let me state for the record that this makes a ton of food, which is lucky, because the leftovers are so good (also my favorite thing). 

Are there any stir-fry experts out there? Share your tips & wisdom in the comments!

If You Only Try One Spaghetti Squash Recipe...

Steve & I did a happy dance when we found out we were getting a spaghetti squash in our Week 15 box (along with another fall tease: apples!). We definitely already had something in mind for it, which brings me to the title of this post: if you only ever try one spaghetti squash recipe, it needs to be this one.

Stupid Easy Paleo Spaghetti Squash & Meatballs on PaleoPot

Of course, that's easy for me to say, because this is really the only thing we've ever made with spaghetti squash. It's not a very informed directive. But this slow cooker dish is both one of our favorite fall meals and seriously the easiest thing to pull together. And then there's the added bonus of the slow cooker, because what's better than being at work and knowing that dinner is going to be ready and waiting for you when you get home?

Okay, so this might not be the most appetizing looking meal out there, but trust me: your taste buds will not know the difference. This is straight-up, low carb comfort food!

Used From Our CSA (Week 15)
spaghetti squash
garlic

Thoughts on the Recipe

• If you work full-time like Steve & I do, this is one of those slow cooker recipes that I used to find terribly inconvenient for a weekday, because it only cooks for 5-6 hours. Pretty unhelpful if you're not going to be around at 1 pm to flip on your crock pot. Enter this $7 dinner-saver: an outlet timer! Pure genius, right? Maybe this is self-evident to everyone but me, but finding this suggestion online some time ago opened up a whole new world of weeknight slow cooker meals to us, since before that we were limited to recipes with an 8+ hour cooking time. It has become such a staple for us that we just store it inside of the clean crock pot, so it's always on hand when we need it.
  
• Pay attention to the funny business regarding the amount of sausage the recipe calls for. The ingredients list calls for 1 lb., but as the instructions admit, you're only going to be able to fit about 1/2 lb. into the pot. No need to run out for a whole pound, if you already have a half-pound on hand in your freezer (speaking from experience, here).  

Even though I clearly swear by this dish, I really hope that we get a few more of these squash in coming CSA weeks, because I am starting to feel an itch to try something different next time around. Here are three dishes, all some variation of stuffed spaghetti squash, that have caught my eye over the past few weeks:

left: Lasagna-Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

top-right: Sausage, Kale, & Spaghetti Squash Boats

bottom-right: Tex-Mex Baked Spaghetti Squash

What about you: do you have a favorite go-to dish for spaghetti squash?