Hello and happy Friday! You know what I really love? Ingredient potluck dinner dates with friends. My friend Heidi and I had plans to meet up for dinner last night; we originally planned to go out, but we’ve both been eating out a lot lately, so she suggested we cook instead. Save money AND get to play with Zara while making dinner? Perfect.
Heidi and I compared the contents of our fridges via text, and decided to do an Asian stir fry. I had snap peas and frozen broccoli on hand, plus some cooked quinoa, and planned to pick up some frozen shrimp. Heidi had a yellow pepper to donate to the cause, and could also bring stuff to make a salad. Sounded good to me!
While we chatted and chopped veggies, we also enjoyed some wine. This La Crema Chardonnay is one of my absolute faves.
I threw together a quick and easy stir fry sauce before tossing everything into a wok. Here’s the recipe – it’s SO good. Way better than anything bottled.
Easy Asian Stir Fry Sauce
- 1/4 C honey
- 2 Tbsp. fish sauce*
- 1 Tbsp. lime juice (bottled or fresh)
- 2 to 3 Tbsp. chili garlic sauce (more = spicier)
*You can find this online, or in an Asian supermarket, or I picked up a bottle recently from Whole Foods.
For the stir fry itself, I threw in the sauce and frozen shrimp first until it started to get pink, then tossed in the frozen broccoli. After a couple minutes I threw in the peppers and snap peas, and once it was more or less ready I stirred in some quinoa, since I already had it cooked and ready. Brown rice would work well here, too!
Meanwhile, Heidi was preparing our salad. Spinach with strawberries and pecans and walnuts! We knew it didn’t go with the Asian theme, but whatever. It was really tasty! I threw together a simple balsamic vinaigrette dressing (olive oil + balsamic vinegar + dijon mustard + lemon juice) and it was ready to eat.
Dinner is served!
Thanks for coming over, Heidi! Great seeing you. 🙂
And now, for my weekly workout recap, per request! Since I do these on Fridays, I’ll start adding in the previous Saturday/Sunday, too.
Weekly Workout Recap:
- Saturday: 1 hour strength & conditioning morning boot camp at NOVA MMA. Love this class – have been going to it on and off for over a year. It’s part of their women’s kickboxing program.
- Sunday: 13.1 mile marathon training run with my friend Sarah. Tough but fun!
- Monday: Unplanned rest day. Normally I like swimming the morning after a long run, and I’m planning to usually have Thursday be my rest days, but when my alarm went off I was so exhausted I decided to take it early. Listen to your body, friends! 🙂
- Tuesday: 1 hour 15 min evening power yoga class at Edge Yoga. Awesome class. If you haven’t tried one of Mark’s classes there yet, do it. Worth the trip over to VA from DC, I promise.
- Wednesday: Dark & foggy early a.m. 6 mile run with Mary.
- Thursday: Lunchtime 50 minute kickboxing class @ NOVA MMA
- Friday: Casual 3.5 mile morning run. Solo, nothing to write home about, got it done even though I didn’t particularly want to. 😉
And now, back to work. I hope you all have a wonderful day and weekend!
