Savvy Eats - Featured Friday

Happy Friday everyone! Another week towards Spring is the way I see it! Or Another week of sleepless nights here in our home. Another week of not knowing what is going through my three and a half year old’s head these days!! On a more positive note, another week until I can feel the sunshine on my face and replace my boots with flip flops. Let’s go the positive route seeing as I need that these days. As I sit and type when I should be napping. Nope I don’t nap. Weeeeellll, I did nap twice last week, that’s how tired I am.

However, Julie needs my 100% attention right now! Julie is the blogger over at Savvy Eats. Where she writes a little about everything. I love that the most about blogs I find these days, getting a little bit of everything while visiting a new blog is one of my favorite things to discover! She has a section on Gardening! Gosh I hope I get to start a garden of our own this year. Last year I was at the end of my pregnancy and the last thing I wanted to do was garden, however my daughter loves being in the garden with her grandfather and I’d love to see if it’s something her and I could start together. I for one want my own herbs at least, then maybe within a few years we can go bigger! So I’m pretty excited that Julie has a few posts that will help me in this department. Like How to Grow a Herb Container Garden, I love the idea of being able to bring the pots in when the temperatures dip in the Fall. Planning Your Garden Space is another good one because obviously choosing the right spot is key in gardening.

Julie doesn’t stop at just Gardening or Food folks, she’s also got some great DYI Home Projects. Like How to Make the Most of Your Kitchen Space, I was just thinking this last night actually. My new present for myself arrived. My new food processor. It’s HUGE, a lot bigger than I thought it was, I assumed I was going to have to move something or put something away because I don’t have a lot of counter space, but we always find a way don’t we Julie!! She’s got some great idea’s! I have about 5 more years that I have to make this kitchen work before I can get the kitchen of my dreams. Another favorite of mine is Julie’s section called Brain Food 101. Here she teaches us how to store anything and everything! How awesome is that! For example whenever I buy a fresh herb, which isn’t often because by the time I use it once or twice the rest has died and it’s a waste of money (hence why I want to grow my own) but on the occasion that I do buy a bunch of fresh basil or cilantro I run to look up how to store it so I can at least keep it fresh as long as possible. Julie explains how to stores Basil here.

I got so excited talking about all the things on Julie’s site that I forgot to tell you a little about her, I did meet her through the #SundaySupper group. She lives in Upstate New York with her husband and two doggies. She has an undergraduate degree in Biological Systems Engineering–Food and Bioprocessing however she believes that everyone should persue their passions and do what truly makes them happy. So with that she focuses her energy on recipe development and food writing, including writing about the science behind food. Sounds like my dream job if you ask me, and don’t even get me going on the photograph of these gorgeous dishes she creates. So what did I make??? Are you dying to know?? Well I searched and searched her Recipes, again I always end up focusing on something my family would enjoy, or a breakfast item to make for my daughter or even a snack or appetizer for my husband and I. Her Cocktail section enticed me that’s for sure. However I had Spring on my mind this week…..fresh vegetables and warmer weather! So that led me to her Spring Steak Stir-Fry.

I’m not just saying this because it’s a feature, but this is one of the best stir fry’s I’ve ever had!! My husband thought it was the best I ever made and even my daughter ate it! As picky as she is, even if I have to separate the food because I know she wouldn’t eat it if I hadn’t!

Here are a few things I did differently, and I didn’t go off the path too much keep in mind. When I make any stir fry I’m not a fan of my veggies being crunchy. I like a tad bit of a crunch, but not much. So I prepped my veggies and steamed them for about 3 minutes in my steamer before adding them to the dish. I also used shaved steak which I’ve never done before, It was a great decision!! I also didn’t have fish sauce so I omitted that, I also didn’t realize I was out of rice wine so I looked up substitutes and decided to use the white wine vinegar to water ratio. My favorite ah ha moment was when I realized I was out of rice wine (I thought my dish was destroyed!) I saw I had a bottle of ginger & garlic marinade in the fridge, so I used that in place of the fish sauce! Genius! Not only did it taste so yummy it made my house smell amazing!! Don’t mind my daughters dish.