“All I need on a cold wintery night is a good fire and a body temperature to match.” ~Maina

Two of my favorite types of foods are Asian-style and spicy, so tonight, when the temp is dropping back into the teens we’re whipping up both. Mimi has allowed me to take the reigns in her kitchen for the night, so I played it safe on the spice level. In the past couple of years I’ve experimented with from-scratch teriyaki and red pepper flakes to spice up my stir-fry, but since we’re not in my kitchen I’m getting to play with a couple of new flavors.

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Mimi had frozen green beans, some fresh spinach, rice noodles and a can of stir-fry veggies on hand; the perfect beginnings for a speedy mealtime turnaround. Add in some fish sauce, garlic, siracha, and soy sauce, and you’re golden. The prep is almost nothing when you don’t have veggies to chop. Although I’m a proponent for ‘all fresh, all the time’, I know we all have busy lives, so let’s get cooking!

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Quick Stir Fry (prep time: 5min, total: 20min)

{stir fry sauce}

• 2 TBL water
• 1 TBL fish sauce
• 1 TBL minced garlic
• 1 tsp siracha
• 1 tsp tamarind paste
• 1 tsp black pepper sauce

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• 1 TBL sesame seed oil
• 12oz frozen green beans
• 14oz can stir fry veggies
• 1.5 cups fresh spinach

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• 8oz rice noodle

Garnish with green onion and sesame seeds

<serves 4>

Whisk together stir fry sauce in a small bowl and set aside. Heat a large pan on medium heat and add sesame seed oil. Once hot, add green beans and stir for about 3 min. Next add your stir fry veggies, and stir fry sauce, stir mixture well. Arrange spinach evenly across the entire top layer and reduce heat to low, and cover; allowing the spinach to wilt on its own (about 5 min). While you’re waiting for the veggies to finish drop the rice noodles into a pot of boiling water for 3min, drain and set aside. Uncover stir fry, toss all veggies together and garnish with sesame seeds. Top your noodles with chopped green onion, and you are ready to serve! Order up!

 

 

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Quick FYI: The fresh veggie version has green beans, baby corn, water cress, bean sprouts, onion, carrot, red bell pepper, garlic and spinach.

Coming next: Healthy ‘Super’ Smoothie!