Don’t stifle the Stir Fry

Stir Fry – LOVE it! Quick, Easy – has veggies so also considered HEALTHY in our house – and uses rice not pasta (which is better for my refined carb lovin hips).

But why oh why do we ALL think of Asian style food when we hear the term, “stir fry”?
Wildtree does have some great Asian style stir fry sauces. I LOVE using the Asian Ginger Plum or the Thai Sesame Sun Butter. Hubby prefers the Kickin Asian Stir Fry since it is more traditional. But there is so much more that we can do with stir-fry!

If you have some sort of meat (or tofu) and/or veggies and some rice try some of these other varieties of my favorite stir-fries! They are quick and easy (since the meat should be diced whether precooked or raw) and good for ya!

Italian Stir Fry:
Garlic grapeseed oil sautéed chicken (or sausage), mushrooms, onion and diced tomatoes. I usually combine the tomatoes with some hearty spaghetti blend or garlic galore prior to adding them to the stir-fry skillet. I serve this over Parmesan rice.

Mexican Stir Fry:
Jalapeno grapeseed oil sautéed chicken/beef, onion, peppers, black beans, fajita or adobo blend (I use about 1/2 TBSP). Of course I feel compelled to top mine with shredded cheese & Fiesta salsa and serve over Cilantro lime rice. But you could also just add some cilantro and a squeeze of lime as well.

Basil Pesto Stir Fry:
Basil Pesto grapeseed oil sautéed chicken/shrimp and tomatoes – add spinach the last few minutes to wilt. Also great with some toasted pine nuts. Mix with some prepared Basil Pesto blend, to taste, with rice.

The All American (Hubby’s FAVORITE)
Butter flavored grapeseed oil sautéed chicken/steak, onions and mushrooms, diced potatoes and liberally sprinkled with Rancher’s Steak Rub to taste.

Here’s another one that I enjoy straight from the Wildtree recipe search tool:

Chipotle Lime Fried Rice

INGREDIENTS:

* 2 tablespoons Wildtree European Dipping Oil - Hot Chili
* 1 small onion diced
* 1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
* 2 cups white or brown rice, cooked
* 2 teaspoons Wildtree Chipotle Lime Rub
* 3/4 cup frozen peas
* 3/4 cup pineapple cut into small chunks

PREPARATION:
Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook the onion until soft and translucent and add the mushrooms. Cook for a couple of minutes and then add the rice and seasoning. Finish by adding the pineapple and peas and cooking for 3-5 more minutes.

Calories 230; Fat 8 g; Saturated Fat 1 g; Carb 34 g; Fiber 4 g; Protein 5 g; Chol 0 mg; Sodium 190 mg


How do you enjoy your stir-fry?

Are you still cooking with Olive Oil and voiding the benefits?

If you've been wondering why I keep mentioning Grapeseed oil -- I was SHOCKed to learn last year that I was voiding all the great Olive Oil health benefits by cooking with it! I am not an olive lover either so am much happier with the more mild flavor of grapeseed oil and now am using my oils properly. Here is a great overview from Bon Appetite and an article comparing it to olive oil from ehow.

http://www.bonappetit.com/tipstools/ingredients/2008/10/grapeseed_oil

http://www.ehow.com/about_5397992_olive-vs-grape-seed-oil.html

Welcome to my kitchen where I'm wild for Wildtree!

Make October's Freezer Meals in Your Own Kitchen

For those of you who could not attend this weekend's freezer meal workshop, don't worry you can still make these 10 delicious, nutritious and easy meals for your family by purchasing the October Freezer Meal Bundle. For $115* plus shipping you'll receive 13 Wildtree products that make over 30 meals for a family of 4! You'll also receive the recipes** for the following freezer meals from this month:
Balsamic Chicken Drumsticks
Bacon Gorgonzola Burgers
Chicken Marsala
Fajitas
Turkey Chili
Orange Fusion Salmon
Marinated Strip Steak
Bayou Pork Stir Fry
Classic Shrimp Scampi
Szechwan Crockpot

And the bundle purchase also earns you Wildtree's Customer incentive of the month (2 oz. Hearty Spaghetti Blend and SO Quick & Easy Pizza dough in October 2010 OR Mulling Spices in November 2010)

Contact me today to place your order: 310 850 6443 or wildforwildtree AT gmail DOT com

*This bundle is only available when ordering directly from me -- not via the website or another WT rep. Bundle price is a $10.50 discount off the retail prices. Culinary Club members can order the bundle for their discounted list price of $100.40 plus shipping

**Recipes will arrive separately via email or mail.

New things to come!

Just talked to a director about logistics for video blog posts -- hoping to shoot some of them tomorrow.

Halloween doesn't have to be full of HFCS and Hydrogenated Oils

2 great ways to get Healthy on Halloween:


Just saw this blog post from coolmompicks.com -- what a great list of Halloween treats we can all be proud to hand out (or eat up!) Check out the list of 6 on her blog: http://www.coolmompicks.com/2010/10/6_all-natural_halloween_treats.php


And if you are an LA area local, I also just heard that Fresh Brothers pizza is offering 10% off on their Halloween day pizza deliveries if you place your order by 10/29 -- A great way to get a fresh pie -- even Gluten, Vegan or Dairy Free -- on a night when you'll be beyond busy! And make sure to get their Fresh Kids Sauce for a blend of veggies that you'll never know is there! Check out their Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/#!/FreshBrothers) for the special 10% off post!

And if you make it this Friday or Saturday to one of my Freezer Meal Workshops you'll have another 10 meals that you won't have to be scared of! All 10 meals each month are made with Wildtree products and all WT products have:
NO HFCS
NO MSG
NO Preservatives
No Additives
No Food Dyes
No Fillers
is 100% peanut free AND All-natural!
Contact me to secure your workshop space.

Easy Breezy Dinner in Minutes

My cousins came into town and the kids and I met them out for dinner. The kids had a blast hanging out with their long lost cousins from Colorado. But this of course meant my home cooked dinner plans were thrown out the window and poor hubby walked in the door hungry with no hope in sight. He pulled the chicken out of the fridge that I had planned on cooking with the WT jerk seasoning and serving cranberry spiced plantains and yams. These were both new recipes for me and I was very excited to try them. But since he took over post bath holding of the kid duties and I wasn't ready to cook up the island yumminess -- I decided to just make him a quick chicken and veggie saute instead.
1 chicken breast cubed
3 TBSP Tuscan dipping oil, divided
1/4 cup diced onions
1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
handful of baby spinach
CA Garlic Pepper, to taste

I used 1 TBSP of the oil to saute the onions then added another 1 TBSP when I added the mushrooms a few minutes later. I set those veggies aside. I added the final TBSP of oil and added the chicken and seasoned generously with the garlic pepper blend. I sauteed the chicken til almost done then added the veggies blend back in to warm up and added the spinach to wilt about 2 minutes.

Since we had potatoes on hand I had microwaved that while sauteing -- but could have easily served this over rice as well. He was very happy with the results and it literally took me 10 minutes to make the entire meal. It helps that I keep fresh sliced mushrooms and diced onions in the fridge and handy at all times.