Clean Out the Fridge Stir Fry sums up the dinner we had tonight. Truly, I wanted to make reservations. It has been a long, hard week, I am worn out and it is payday. Four reasons to go out to dinner.

Alas, our debt snowball calls, hubby is getting new gla$$es tomorrow, I have a bunch of odds and ends veggies to use up AND I am at the lowest weight I have been at in years and years and years. Eating out would kill all of that, by degrees. Plus, Clean Out the Fridge Stir Fry is a great Anti-Inflammatory Diet, Paleo/Primal meal....for pennies, since you have to use the stuff up anyway!

So, with a little ingenuity and chopping, we had Clean Out the Fridge Stir Fry. Gluten, casein, grain and chemical free, this low carb, GAPS friendly, paleo, primal (without the worldview) stir fry ROCKED! It was better than just about anything we could have had eating out - and it was using up stuff that needed using up, so decidedly green.

Do I get a gold medal yet!

Just kidding! Really, I love sharing these little mini-triumphs with you. Let's face it, we ALL have these days where we just want to be served. And that is precisely what blows our budgets!

So, how about the BASIC recipe, so you can create your very own Clean Out the Fridge Stir Fry?

Thinking through ingredients:

• Survey the fridge and figure out what needs to be cooked, veggie wise, NOW.
• What leftover meats can you throw in, or do you need to thaw something out?
• Do you have fresh garlic or ginger, any type of onion?
• Canned or fresh coconut milk?
• GF Tamari or Soy Sauce, fish sauce, curry mixes?
• What sort of Oriental spices do you have in the cupboard?

Begin to think of those as your BASE ingredients. Decide which way you want to head, a straight soy ginger sauce, or more of a creamy coconut milk curry, or perhaps a simple lemon grass infused dish.

Tonight, we headed into a Slightly Spicy Habanero Ginger Soy Pork

• a package of sliced pork, marinating in a soy/ginger base that I had frozen last month
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
• 1 piece fresh ginger, minced, about the 2 inches long (this is double what I normally put - but it is Feb and good for immunity)
• 2 cups mushrooms
• 2 cups broccoli
• 1 1/2 cups carrots
• 3 "Ancient Bells" which are long, red bell peppers
• 8-10 cups spinach
• EVOO

Start by sauteeing the onion in a drizzle of EVOO in a huge skillet or wok. Meanwhile, be chopping veggies furiously! When the onion begins to get tender, add minced garlic and ginger, quickly moving around them around so they do not burn. Dump the marinating meat into the skillet and stir the whole thing to meld flavors. Let cook and go back to chopping veggies if you don't have them all prepared already!

Add carrots, and saute.

Then when the meat is almost done, add broccoli, mushrooms and bell peppers. Add sauce of the day, and stir well.

Add spinach and then top with a lid and let the spinach quickly steam. Remove lid, stir well, and serve over Cauliflower Rice.

Sauce (Tonights Clean Out the Fridge Stir Fry Sauce is a better term!)

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/8 cup of coconut milk

1 teaspoon garlic

8 drops liquid stevia (or a tablespoon of brown sugar)

Cauliflower Rice

Sometimes, a family just wants rice! To see the photo tutorial - go to the recipe here

So simple, it totally made the Stir-Fry zing!

• 1 head cauliflower, rinsed and cut into florets
• 2 cups boiling water
• sea salt to taste

Put water into a large saucepan and set to boiling. Meanwhile, thoroughly clean the cauliflower, then cut into florets. Cauliflower is such a cool vegetable, it is fun to cut it in half and think of the human brain!

Throw the florets into briskly boiling water and cook with lid on, steaming until tender.

Take half of the steamed cauliflower and put it in your food processor. Pulse until it resembles rice. Remove and put in a covered bowl. Repeat with the next half of cauliflower. Lightly salt, if desired and serve!

We saved the boiling water and made a simple Egg Drop Soup out of it and it was extra good! Why? It was full of all of the delicious nutrition from the cauliflower!

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