What's a weekend? OH!

Ah, weekend. As in, WEEKEND. With the constant presence of The Hearing That Would Not End and no real days off since before the holidays (because honestly, let's face it: hosting family for the holidays is no break), I had completely forgotten what it is to wake up with zero obligations for the day. Too often my time not working was stretched to accommodate basic life necessities, like food. And we all know I am fairly obsessed with food. The last thing I wanted to do during The Hearing was eat crap, so I spent every spare moment prepping and fixing the healthiest food possible. We have to control what we can, yo.

This morning I woke up early, thanks to my dear HTM having a class on Saturday morning (punitive). After nuzzling the pup and leafing through half a dozen magazines that have piled up since October, I treated myself to organic eggs, bacon, and half an avocado to join my two cups of coffee (which I still sweeten with organic sugar, paleo be damned). I looked outside and it is so. damn. gorgeous. out., so I knew if I were ever going to re-connect with the park in running shoes, today was the day. Off I went, and when I came home, you KNOW what happened: I was starving.

One thing I have learned since adjusting my diet is that a good stir fry cannot be beat. 'Tis fast, as healthy as whatever I put in it, and requires all of one pot. Plus, the combinations of ingredients are endless. At this point, especially when working a bajillionty hours a week, I stir fry anywhere from one to four times a week. But never is it repetitive.

Also? Cooking for lunch? The best.

Today was pork day. I had fantastic-looking pastured ground pork from a local farm thawed in my fridge, intended for consumption the night before. Why didn't we eat it last night, you ask? We went OUT to celebrate my husband passing the entrance exam for nursing school! Nurse Brandon may yet become Radiologist/Medical Imager Brandon, but passing this exam was a HUGE win for keeping his options open, not to mention a Very Big Deal for someone who stepped foot into a school for the first time in twenty years just last summer (and for the first time ever with caring about it). So proud I could pop. We gorged ourselves on favorites at Indique Heights (note: the braised lamb shank? dreamy). We then even watched a movie like a real couple on a real Friday night (note: Moneyball? actually incredibly good). But all that added up to my needing to cook this delightful pork before heading out to two birthday celebrations.

A quick gaze through my dwindling fridge supply still provided enough to throw together a delicious, filling, pork-i-fied bowl of goodness. I had everything on hand to feed my grumbling belly in minutes. I chopped an onion and sliced a few cloves of garlic. After heating the All-Clad, I plopped in a couple of spoons of coconut oil, and once shimmering, added the onion. As that became translucent, I added a couple of handfuls of organic shredded carrots (kindly bagged for me by Trader Joe's). Once the carrots began to cook down, I added the pork and broke it up with a wooden spoon. Next I plopped in the sliced garlic, a squeeze of organic fresh ginger (kindly tubed for me by Earthbound Farms -- though I have to ignore the canola oil in it), and roughly a tablespoon each of fish sauce, coconut aminos, and cider vinegar before sprinkling in a bit of salt and more than a bit of pepper. While that cooked down, I chopped and washed a bunch of pak choi from the farmers market (in February!) in two alternating bowls of water, then threw that into the pan. More stirring about lead to this bubbly bounty of yum:

Now I am post-run, a big bowl of this goodness is in my belly, and I'm off to sing happy birthday to one of my favorite three year olds, satiated as all bloody hell.  Weekend, indeed.