Day 3, Week 1

I felt fantastic yesterday! Really great! I noticed my energy level was way up. I think I can attribute that to my slight but significant shift in diet, my workouts finally becoming more regular and routine, and a really good night's sleep the night before. I had no processed sugar/sweet things at all yesterday! Breakfast was oatmeal again with peaches on top (will miss my fruit in week 3, I am already lamenting). Lunch was at the Grape Leaf buffet with our staff before the faculty meeting. I had a pita with hummus, rice, some Greek-chicken meat on its own, and a salad. I do think the salad had too much dressing and the rice/pita were probably the wrong kind of wheat--but that's not what I'm changing right now, so I just enjoyed it! Haha! Crowning Achievement: I did NOT have the bakalava that comes with the buffet, that is absolutely divine, and that everyone else had! Jewel in the Crown: I had water, not soda! Again, I'm not a big soda drinker, but my pitfall is restaurants--so this was a good, conscious decision. Yay me! For dinner, I made Beef and Broccoli stir fry from the I Quit Sugar website. I made rice for the kids to eat it with, but I didn't have any. To the recipe below, I added baby bok choy and red and yellow peppers; I did not use coriander. Mostly because I don't even know what that is. :p  I didn't have any fresh ginger, but I did use ground ginger. I used soy sauce, not tamari. I had a feeling that it would be a bland recipe, and was so incredibly tempted to use the bottled teriaki sauce on it that I had in the cupboard. I forced myself to look at the ingredients, and the first ingredient was High Fructose Corn Syrup--so instead of throwing it on the stir fry, I threw it in the trash. However, it was indeed bland...so my question to all three or four of my readers is this: what do YOU use in your stir fry to make it delicious? I don't know if its a palate thing--maybe I just need to get used to it? I have to think, though, that there are some people who just know how to rock a stir fry. I will definitely keep this recipe, with the idea of tweaking it until we find perfection.

Beef + Broccoli Stir Fry

• coconut oil, butter or ghee, for frying
• 18oz
   minced beef
• 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
• 2 heads broccoli
• 2.72 us fl oz
   soy sauce or tamari sauce
• 1 bunch coriander, chopped
• dried or fresh chilli, to taste, optional
• 1.36 us fl oz
   finely shredded ginger, optional
• 1 handful chopped roasted cashews, optional

Preheat a large wok or frying pan on a very high heat. Add a few tablespoons oil and stir fry the beef. While the beef is browning, finely slice the broccoli stems and chop the heads into bight sized trees. Add garlic (and chilli and/or ginger, if using) to the beef and continue to cook until well browned. Add broccoli and a few tablespoons water and cover the pan. Continue to cook on a high heat with the lid on, stirring every 2 minutes until the broccoli is bright green and tender but still a tiny bit crunchy. If it starts to burn, add a little more water. Stir in sauce. Taste and season and serve with chopped coriander and cashew nuts on top.

This Beef + Broccoli Stir-fry is a quick, healthy and cheap meal to whip up after work and is perfect to keep for leftovers the next day!

- See more at: http://www.iquitsugar.com/recipe/beef-broccoli-stir-fry/#sthash.gSDKrSnH.dpuf