Today I want to write about a small problem I have with my local grocery store and I want to think I am not the only person that faces this. When you have a demanding toddler, you find little ways in your day to be efficient. I take my own grocery bags to the store. Yes, it reduces the demand for plastic but my main motivation is I can manage to get myself from the car to the house in one trip with large bags of groceries over each shoulder and a toddler on my back. And once I’m in the house, the unpacking should be a breeze because all my cold things are logically placed in my thermal bags and not the plain cloth ones.
That would be the case if the grocery store people didn’t try to sabotage it for me.
I make a real effort to order my items on the conveyor belt so they will be logical to bag. First I lay the bags on the belt. Then, I put heavy cold items in front so they can be put in the bottom of the thermal bags. Then, lighter or fragile cold items. Then any cans or bottles (these are few and far in between now that we are Paleo) and then other light items that can go on top. To me, I couldn’t have made the grocery store people’s jobs any easier (I even weigh and print out labels for produce).
Still, every single time, they manage to ignore this thoughtful prep work I have done and I end up with a bag that has tomatoes on the bottom and some giant squashes and cans of coconut milk on top of them. Or one bag full of heavy sweet potatoes, meat and almond milk and another bag with just bags of veggie sticks and baby snacks so I look like a lopsided peg-legged sailor when I carry them on my shoulders.
Not cool.
Grocery store adventure complete for the day, I decided to make this restaurant favorite – Ginger Scallion Beef. This is my Paleo and Gluten-Free version that is quick and easy as well as healthy and delicious.
We start with some quality grass-fed steaks. I have NY strips today and sliced them up nice and thin. Marinate the beef slices in the marinade for at least 30 minutes (best if overnight).
Mix together the sauce ingredients and set aside.
Cut up your scallion/green onion and ginger slices.
Over high heat, fry the beef slices until almost cooked. You can choose your favorite oil (olive oil or coconut oil).
Set the beef aside and fry up the ginger and scallion quickly.
Add sauce to the pan and cook until it is thick and bubbly.
Add beef back to the pan and stir until all the pieces are covered in sauce.
Now enjoy – Just like the restaurant dish but without soy, corn starch, refined sugar and MSG!
You’ll need:
- 1.5-2lb grass fed beef (a cut like sirloin, NY strip), cut into thin slices
- 5 stalks of green onion/scallion, chopped
- 15 thin slices of ginger
- fat of your choice – enough olive oil or coconut oil to cover bottom of pan for shallow frying
For Marinade:
- 1 TBSP coconut aminos
- 1 TBSP tapioca flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 TBSP cold water
For Sauce:
- 3 TBSP coconut aminos
- 1 TBSP raw honey
- 1 TBSP cooking wine
- 1 TBSP balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp tapioca flour
- 1 tsp salt
- pinch of pepper
- Combine marinade ingredients and mix beef in marinade for at least 30 minutes
- Combine sauce ingredients and set aside
- Heat oil in a large pan and shallow fry the beef for a couple of minutes. Set beef aside
- Drain the pan except for 2 TBSP of oil
- Saute the green onion and ginger for a minute
- Add sauce and cook until sauce is thick and bubbly
- Add beef back to the pan and stir until all pieces are coated in sauce.
