Thankful for Family Night and Mongolian Stir Fry

     Yes, Ru and I are off season but with our crazy schedules, it's still quite the challenge to have a meal together (especially with the kids) other than our date nights.  Yesterday was a half day for the boys, Tiera (our eldest) didn't have work and Ru was home from work around two.  Everyone was home.  This was quite the rare occasion.  Must take advantage!

     Ru was planning to make steak.  I thought it would be great to turn it into a Mongolian stir fry as all the kids love stir fry and with the variety of veggies, we could personalize each plate.  This was going to be a clean but dirty night.  It required some spirits.  Time to crack open the bottle of Slyboro Hidden Valley we got from our trip to Saratoga earlier this year.  Ru put it on ice before he and I headed to Stop and Shop for a little mommy/ daddy grocery adventure.  I know!  It sounds funny but I love grocery shopping with Ru.  It's so romantic!

     Mongolian stir fry is more fun when you use lots of veggies.  We picked up scallions, shittake mushrooms, red pepper, Napa cabbage, bean sprouts, sliced carrots, zucchini, ginger, baby corn, snow peas and water chestnuts.  I grabbed some rice milk egg nog for egg nog pancakes (Coming soon) and then it was homeward bound.

Veggies for Stir fry

I pulled out the wok and put away groceries while Ru prepped the sesame sauce for the stir fry.

Sesame Sauce

1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds (crush with mortar and pestle)
1/4 cup soy sauce (reduced sodium)
1 Tbsp. dry sherry
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 1/4 tsp. sucanat
1 clove garlic (minced)

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl; mix well.

He then proceeded to cut and slice all veggies and flank steak while I prepared the table and poured us a little cider.  With a little Adele on Pandora, we were ready to get the party started!

We called the kids down so that they could pick what they wanted in their dish.  Move over Stir Crazy!  Mr. Arietta is wokking in the kitchen!

I went with everything but instead of having a side of rice, I wrapped spoonfuls of my steak and veggies in a nice whole leaf of Romaine lettuce.  It was super yummy!  We ended the evening with a movie on the couch... nice and early so we could get up this morning for our pre-Thanksgiving workout!

I am thankful for the night I had with the hubby and the kids and the time we will have with the rest of the family today.  

Happy Thanksgiving!