We ate a ton of vegetables this weekend, some fresh from our garden which led to lots of colorful dishes. I have said this before but I LOVE when our vegetables are full grown and we can go outside and pick and eat them right away.
We started with a Jillian inspired stir fry to go with our 30 Day Shred Challenge. We substituted peas for asparagus as an attempt to use what was on hand. It was a pretty easy recipe once you got everything chopped up. (Recipe below)
We chopped ahead of time and then cooked later! A great time saver.
My biggest piece of advice with these recipes is to watch the serving size. I guess that is a good tip in general! 
Then we moved on to my oil and vinegar phase! I started with our cucumbers from our garden and made this yummy cucumber salad.
I used 2 chopped cucumbers, 2 plum tomatoes, 1 white onion, 1/2 bell pepper, 2 tablespoons of dill, 2 tablespoons of parsley, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and equal parts vinegar and olive oil (about 1/4 cup). Just mix together and you are good to go! I am excited to eat this for lunch today.
Then I moved on to phase 2 of my oil and vinegar cooking spree with another Jillian recipe. This was a green bean salad w/ chicken or shrimp. We kept out the protein and served it with grilled pork chops for dinner on Sunday.
We have pole beans growing in our backyard this summer but they aren’t ready yet so I substituted the frozen organic version from Trader Joes. I think you could easily come up with your own version using equal parts oil and vinegar, garlic, salt, pepper and then whatever veggies you wanted to throw in. I think onion would be great in this too, but then again I love onion on everything!
I am convinced you can mix anything with oil and vinegar now! Especially in the summer when I cold salad will do the trick! What other veggie inspired dishes do you create in the summer?
I hope that you have enjoyed these Jillian recipes. This is the last set of full recipes I am going to post, but I will show lots of great pictures and keep you posted on what we are eating with our reviews. I don’t want to re-type the entire book and feel she deserves some credit without me copying the entire thing online! I have gone through almost half of it and LOVE it! I hope you do too.
Chicken Stir Fry w/asparagas, red pepper and spinach Recipe
Ingredients
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon plue 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 1/2 teaspoons honey
1/2 teaspoon minced red or green chiles (skipped and used hot sauce)
1 lb of boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 tablespoon low-sodium tamari
1 1/2 tablespoon virgin coconut oil (didn’t have so used olive oil)
2 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon ginger
1/2 red onion sliced
2 large bell peppers
8 ounces of asparagas
2/3 low sodium chicken broth
5 cups packed spinach
Brown Rice (skipped)
2 tablespoons sesame oil
Directions
Whisk together 1 tablespoon of the vinegar, 1 tablespoon of the sesame oil, the lime juice, 1/2 teaspoon of the honey and the chiles. Add the chicken, cover and refridgerate for 30 minutes, up to 4 hours.
Whisk together the tamari with the remaining 1 tablespoon vinegar, remaining 2 teaspoons sesame oil and the remaining 1 teaspoon honey to make the stir-fry sauce.
When ready, drain the marinated chicken and discard the marinade.
Heat the wok or skillet over high heat for about 20 seconds. When hot, add the coconut oil. When the oil is melted add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring until fragrant about 10 seconds. Add the onion and cook, stirring until slightly softened about 30 seconds. Add the chicken and stir for 30 seconds. Add the peppers and asparagas and stir until coated about 1 minute. Add the chicken broth and cover the pan. Cook 3-4 minutes. Add the spinach and stir-fry sauce and toss well. Remove from heat.
Divide amoung 4 plates and sprinkle sesame seeds on top and serve.
Nutrition
Calories: 388.4
Fat: 12.4
Carbs: 35.6
Sodium: 274.9
Does not include rice nutritional analysis.
Tags: 30 Day Shred, Colorful, Vegetables
