Today we got up, got ready as quickly as we could, and explored town attempting to find some yard sales.

Sadly we didn't find anything we were actually looking for. The only find we found (ha) was a Seward trunk. Not sure what we're going to use it for yet, but it's in great condition and was a whopping seven dollars. Too good to pass up.

As we drove around we just happened to be looking at all the "For Sale" signs in the decent neighborhoods of starter-homes. All of a sudden the small town we're currently living in went from being a "temporary thing" to "this could be home" in my mind.

I grew up in a family that always moved. I'm not sure I could truly be called a "small town girl" when I was young, but then again we really didn't live in any big cities. We always seemed to live near something. A good piece away that we could drive and have a day out, but it was close enough that we didn't all go insane with cabin fever.

I loved the way I grew up. Every two to three years I'd get that "itch" to move. That's how it was. We started off moving with my dad's ministry, and ended up following that call into the military life. The military seemed like such a fit, since the people who were a part of it understood that we didn't have the traditional home with four walls and a roof. Home truly was where the heart was.

When we first moved to North Carolina I was bitter. The bitterness was still hung over from when we moved from New Jersey to Indiana. I mean, I felt like we were going from something wonderful near NYC to hick-ville, and that feeling worsened when we actually moved to the South.

I was constantly preaching about how I couldn't wait to get out of here. I couldn't wait to go to college somewhere up North or out West. I couldn't wait to escape this ridiculous place full of people who hadn't ventured far from home. I was ready to pack up, leave, and never return.

Then I met Clark. Then I fell in love with Clark. Then Clark and I got married.

All of a sudden, the South didn't seem so bad.

When we lived in Boone my dad kept telling me we'd miss it. We'd miss our college town. We'd miss knowing our way around. We'd miss the mountain air. We'd miss it.

I laughed at him.

I told my dad I wouldn't miss Boone. Boone didn't have much, after all. Boone was full of college kids just looking for a "good time". I wasn't a typical college kid, after all. We had gotten married young. We were moving forward. We were about to have a baby. There's no way I'd miss it.

Now I laugh at myself.

As many of you read in Cindy's guest post, "home" doesn't have the traditional meaning to us. It's not necessarily a "house", but a feeling. As moving as Cindy's words were, and even though they brought me to tears... I can't help but wonder if that's how I really feel.

When we were driving around our small town today, I wondered if my feelings were those of "settling". The idea that I could live here. I could get used to knowing everyone. Get used to many people checking in on me, Michael, and future kids if Clark has another accident. Get used to driving through the same downtown to to go somewhere. Get used to having to plan a trip to Target or a decent mall. Get used to all the festivals, the summer activities, the tourists, the wilderness... get used to it all.

Is wanting to stay in this small town I've scoffed at so much "settling", or are those feelings my true desires coming to the forefront?

I'm not entirely sure of the answer.

As we get closer to Clark's college graduation, I try to talk more and more about our plans. It's always the same.

"Where ever I [Clark] can get the most decent job, the closest thing to what I want to do, that's where we'll go."

I always want more. Always push for the unknown. I mean, really, we don't know. We could end up anywhere between California and here. There are infinite possibilities of where Clark could be hired to go. It's all about finding where he wants to go.

It's all about following where God is leading us.

My mind has constantly changed when it comes to where we (aka I) want to live. When Clark first thought he wanted to be in the military, I thought it fitting. We loved to move for the most part, and we had both grown up in that environment. It would work.

Then when he changed his mind, mine wandered. When I was young I used to want to live on a farm with lots of land and very few people around. Having to drive my children to a school far away or even homeschooling didn't phase me at that time.

Now?

Now we've had to endure winters where we couldn't get anywhere and I realize that may not be what I want. I'm prone to cabin fever, after all.

Then my dreams moved to wanting to be in a city. Wanting to live somewhere that I'd have to walk or ride a bike to get wherever it was I was going. To live somewhere that cars were almost fickle.

I was a small town girl with big city dreams.
(March 2010, on the ferry to NYC from Stanton Island)

Now?

Now I think I'm just a small town girl.


(June 2012, White Squirrel Festival)

Maybe it's settling. Maybe it is fear of not having a place to call home. Maybe it is the idea that I didn't grow up with the same four walls and roof, so maybe I want my children to have what seems like a luxury to me.

I will follow where we are lead. If we are lead to Colorado, we'll go to Colorado. If we're called to Maine, we'll go to Maine. Anywhere we are needed, that's where we'll go. But I think at this point I have learned that I will always have a special place in my heart for the High Country of North Carolina.

Normally I do Michael's monthly updates. And for a while there were blogs about his sleeping, his eating, and so forth. But lately it feels like he's developing so quickly I barely have a second to write something before something else happens.

So, even though he's going to be 10 MONTHS OLD in a matter of days (well, eight days), I thought I'd go ahead and share some things in hopes that I'll still have some to share come next week.

It seems we've hit another wall when it comes to Michael's sleeping. For a while we had nap time down to a schedule (finally). Two and a half hours after he woke up, Michael would take what I call a "power nap". It'd be less than an hour. Even if it was fifty-five minutes, it was still less than an hour. Then in the afternoon he'd take a true nap, anywhere from an hour to two and a half hours long.

Then we hit a wall.

All of a sudden Michael was sleeping in until 9am, napping at random times (and by that I mean three to four 30 minute naps here and there), and not going to bed until 9pm or even ten o'clock at night, no matter what we did.

I don't know why I'm speaking in the past tense, because that's how it is now.

Maybe it's because he's more active. I mean, he's pulling himself up. He's cruising some of our furniture. Attempting to climb over/through furniture.


He's even taking a couple of naps in his crib... which could be causing part of the problem. Who knows. All of a sudden, we've hit another point of sleep regression.

Let me tell you, it's taking a toll on mommy and daddy as well.

Michael is also eating "real people food". His new favorite thing? Tuna. Good grief he loves tuna. Put it on his tray in front of him and he'll be a happy camper... until it's gone.
Oh, and he gets it all over himself.

His next favorite thing? Strawberries.

Maybe summertime makes us all crave fresh fruit, berries especially. But if Michael won't eat anything else you offer him, he will eat strawberries (even over tuna).

He also loves "combinations". Avocado + sweet potatoes. Peach + carrots. Mango + carrots. Sweet potato + applesauce. Basically he'll eat anything as long as you mix it with something sweet.

Last but not least, Michael loves to be outside. Half of the time he won't go down for a nap until we've been outside. He loves his stroller now. He loves the pool. He loves sitting in the grass. He loves the park. He loves it all. Even when it's 90 outside... he loves it.

About two weeks ago my friend Serena flew into town. She lives in Michigan, and I've happened to know her for almost my entire life. No joke. We met in Kindergarten. Even with all my moving around throughout the years, we've managed to stay in touch and be ridiculously close friends.

Before she flew in, I gave her a few choices of recipes I wanted to try out, and she responded with what sounded the best. Unfortunately, while she was here, she actually had some stomach bacteria and really wasn't able to eat much.

But before we figured out what was actually wrong with her, she did manage to eat some of this... and I'm thankful. Because I must say, this was satisfying and positively delicious.

Did I mention it's Vegetarian friendly? Change the egg noodles to something else and I'm pretty sure it'd be vegan-friendly as well!


Ingredients:

Sauce
- 7 tbsp light soy sauce
- 3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/4 tsp curry
- 2 tsp ginger
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tsp cornstarch

- 1 bag of egg noodles, precooked (however much you want)

Stir-Fry
- 2 tsp canola oil
- 1/2 C thinly sliced scallions (I sliced them into strips)
- 1 C shiitake mushrooms, sliced
- 1 C shredded carrots
- 1.25 C shredded cabbage or mix (see picture)
- 8oz can of bean sprouts


Directions:

- Stir all sauce ingredients together in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until thickened(about three minutes). Set aside.

- Use a wok or large skillet to cook the stir-fry. Set it over medium-high heat, and once it's hot add the two tsp of canola oil and swirl to coat.
- Add the bean sprouts, the mushrooms,

the cabbage,

the scallions,

and carrots. Saute for about three minutes, or until the veggies begin to soften.

- Add the cooked egg noodles and the sauce, tossing to combine.

- Cook for about one minute to let the sauce seep in, then serve.


Inspiration for this recipe came from: Can you stay for dinner?

I wanted to make something healthy and sweet. Perhaps Michael's obsession with sweet potatoes finally got to me, because I decided to make muffins out of one.

Clark said they literally taste like if you get a "sweet potato with all the fixin's."

If you want to make these even healthier, you don't have to put the sugar mix on top. Just eat them without it. I imagine they'll taste just as good, and you'll feel even less guilty for eating one (or two... or three...).

Ingredients:

Muffin:
- 1.5 C Whole Wheat Flour
- 1 C all-purpose, unbleached flour
- 1.25 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/3 C buttermilk
- 1/3 C skim milk
- 1 cooked, and mashed, sweet potato (from 1 baked potato)
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 C unsweetened applesauce
- 1/3 C brown sugar
- 2 eggs

Topping:
- 1/4 cup raw sugar
- 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- pinch of ground nutmeg

Directions:

- Preheat your oven to 350. Line or spray your muffin tray.
* If you're using paper liners, go ahead and spray them! These will stick if you don't.*
- In a smaller bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside.
- Whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, applesauce, buttermilk, milk, and vanilla.
- Add the sweet potato to the wet mixture and mix thoroughly with a hand mixer or kitchen aid.


- Add the flour mixture in thirds until well mixed-- but do not "over" mix it. You want it to be a little "chunky".
- Use 1/4 C to fill your muffin tins.
*If you are using a large muffin tray (that only holds six) as pictured, use 1/3 to 1/2 C to fill them.*


- Mix the topping ingredients together and sprinkle on the top of the muffins (before cooking).




*I did not use anything, such as an egg white or butter, to make the topping stick and it still did a wonderful job. If it makes you feel better to do so, though, be my guest!*

- Cook for 20 to 24 minutes. Remove from pan and let them cool.
*If you are making the larger muffins, start with a 35 minute minimum and then move up. I believe I ended up cooking mine for around 42 minutes or so.*




Perfect for breakfast, a snack, or to serve to guests with coffee/tea at any stage of the day! Enjoy!

This recipe was adapted from: The Noble Pig.

(2008)

When I was in high school, my teachers always told me that college was the best time of their lives. I heard the same from my mom. Being a college student offered you a world of opportunity and a life to really enjoy. It was the time of life that you got to focus on yourself, before stepping into the big-bad-world and having to deal with everyone else.

It wasn't exactly that way for Clark and me.

Not saying that it wasn't four of the greatest years of my life. Simply saying that we had to really work at balancing being teens/early twenties young adults with our marriage. What you learn when you get married is that marriage isn't easy. What you learn when you get married young is that marriage is extraordinarily difficult.

In the fall of 2009, I was a busy-body. I was in a sorority, I was working, I was taking classes I loved, I was an intern for the school paper, I was married, and I was loving life. Balancing everything seemed to give me a healthy load of stress. To me, there are two types of stress: good and bad. I was in the good.

Clark really wasn't.

It's not that he wasn't enjoying life, it's that Clark was struggling with his search. He had withdrawn from the four year college and started a degree with a community college. Then he decided that he wanted to move away from that and pursue another four year degree online. He was thinking of doing the Marine Corps as an officer. He wanted to be a pilot.

I was supportive.

I knew Clark needed to find whatever it was he was looking for. As long as he didn't stray from me and our commitment, I knew we would be ok.

However, because Clark was struggling, I had to give him more time. I had to reorganize, re-prioritize, and sometimes (a lot of the time) sacrifice things I wanted to do with friends or for school, and instead do things/spend time with him.

Many people didn't understand. I mean, 18-22 year olds aren't exactly the most mature people yet. Some of my sorority sisters barely acknowledged me simply because they all assumed I was no fun. When we went through "big-little" interviews, I got, "Oh, you're the married one!" Apparently that meant I was an old fart.

It was the same for other things outside of the sorority, too.

I missed our first date function for the sorority, homecoming, because Clark had gotten me tickets to see Michael Buble for our one year anniversary. I was beyond excited for the concert, but no one else seemed to be excited for me. It was a bigger deal that I was missing homecoming than it was for me to be going to see Michael Buble with my husband in celebration of one year of marriage.

It made me feel like I was in high school, sometimes. Like going to the school dance was more important than anything.

Over all, I'd say I did a good job. I learned what my priorities really were, as a student and a wife. Even if I made some poor decisions in the moment, I don't regret learning the "hard" way whatsoever.

Sunday morning. What better way to relax and enjoy it than to make a special breakfast?

This is not a quiche. No crust like a quiche, which I think makes it healthier than a quiche. This is the "light" version, too. Perhaps closer to the holidays I'll post the full-fledged-calorie-filled version.

Ingredients:

- 6 eggs
- 2 C milk (skim, if possible)
- salt & pepper
- 3 C croutons (flavor of your choice-- keep in mind it does affect the flavor of the casserole)
- 1 package of bacon, cooked and crumbled

Directions:

- Preheat the oven to 350. Spray a 9 x 13 pan.
*Use the time that the oven is preheating to cook your bacon if you have not done so already!*
- Line the pan with your croutons.
*You can use a whole bag of croutons to line the entire bottom, therefore giving the casserole a more "crust-like" bottom. I was limited as to how many croutons I had, but usually I use more than pictured.*


- Whisk together the eggs, milk, and salt & pepper. Pour this mixture into the pan.
*I didn't with this one, but you can add shredded cheese before adding the bacon. This makes it extra tasty! Another thing I like to add is red pepper, even mushrooms or onion if who you're serving it to likes those types of things! Mix those in with the eggs if you add them.*

- Sprinkle the bacon on top.

- Cook for 45 to 55 minutes (until browning a little on top).



Serve warm and enjoy!

Sorry for a break in posts. We had somewhat of an emergency, or what my husband likes to call it: an adventure.

I wasn't sure how to title this one. I sat here for who knows how long just trying to think of something quirky/ intelligent. Sadly, "The First Fall" is all I could truly come up with that made complete sense.

So, normally I don't really blog about what my husband does. Considering he's in school at the moment and isn't technically doing it for a living yet, I just stick to talking about him as a student. Even though he is clearly working towards what he wants to do, and his job at the moment is in his field (just not completely full time)... but anyway!

Wednesday was one of his days off. So, naturally, he planned a trip to go climbing. Since his climbing partner came our way last time, it was Clark's turn to venture a little farther from home. About two hours or so away, and not in cell phone reception until he got out of the forrest.

As always, Clark wasn't heading home on time. I've come to understand that when he tells me a time, I should add anywhere from thirty minutes to four hours on it. Yes, that's a large window of time, but that's the way it is. When I was flying back from Kansas he made the oh-so-smart decision to go climbing before he came and picked me up. Naturally he was an hour and a half late and Michael and I had to wait in the USO.

But I digress...

So, 7:30pm (Wednesday night) rolls around and we had said that if I didn't hear from him by 8pm that I should be worried. When we say that, the goal is usually for him to be home by that time, but that really never happens.

I went ahead and texted him and waited. Not getting a response, I automatically assumed the usual, which is, "Something didn't go as planned."

It's never been serious. Usually they didn't allot enough time or the hike in was difficult or something minor happens. Of course, last time a boulder almost took out his climbing partner.

This time was Clark's turn.

Clark fell. There's no way to explain it because I wasn't there and his pictures don't really capture what he was trying to explain to me. Apparently he had to go over some sort of ledge, had a good hold and enough grit under his shoes... but he slipped. His feet gave out on him, and he was in an awkward position as it was, and he fell.

Clark fell. On his face. I got the, "I'm lucky I was wearing a helmet," quote. That wasn't very comforting.

So, when I finally got a phone call I was told that he fell, he was fine, but they were heading to the ER to make sure he didn't need stitches.

I got goosebumps.

Here it is exactly 8pm and he's a good hour and a half away. There was no way I could get Michael into the car as a happy camper (since he was still awake at that point) and drive to get Clark if needed. I was already stressing.

So they get to the ER and I get a text from his climbing partner who had then been appointed as the messenger because, wouldn't you know, Clark needed stitches and they had already given him morphine for the pain.

All this time I'm trying to get a hold of someone, realizing that we really have no one close, save our babysitter, who could come watch Michael in order for me to go pick my husband up.

His climbing partner offered to take him to his home, but I knew that Clark was not going to want to have this opportunity to meet the family and such. He would want to be home. And I knew for a fact he was already hurting because I wasn't there with him.

God intervened and lead me to a good friend who always seems to be there when we need him. He was able to get Clark (who wasn't finished until around 11pm) and drive him home for me.

14 stitches, a clean CT scan, a McDonald's stop, a Walgreens stop (pain meds), and five hours (after I had heard from him) later, Clark was home.

I must admit my pity had left me and I was more angry. I held back the best I could (since I got to vent with a good friend for almost three hours) and, after a little time, "babied" him for a good 24 hours.

Now, be warned, pictures are next. There is a "before" picture, aka no stitches or anything. This is what my husband does. What he's going to do.

God bless wives of professional climbers.

Before Stitches, Day #1


Day #1, When I first saw him


Day #2, Taking it easy


Day #4, Starting to heal


Needless to say, he's going to have one wicked scar.

If you got my Father's Day post, you know that's when I made these! The great thing about this recipe, too, is you don't need yeast! I woke up Father's Day morning and realized I didn't have any breakfast plans and found myself worried. You can't start a special day off without something special, right? Well, Clark's favorite breakfast has always been cinnamon rolls. We used to by a thing of Pillsbury ones and he'd seriously sit down and eat the whole thing (back during our first two years of marriage, anyway).

So, I got online and googled, and thanks to Iowa Girl Eats, I was able to make some for Clark!

The recipe I'm posting is modified from the one I actually made. However, all I really did was reduce the sugar. That is one thing about the original recipe: they are beyond sweet/ rich.

Ingredients:

Filling:

- 1/2 C Brown Sugar
- 1/4 C Sugar
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 2 Tbsp butter, melted

- Use a fork and mix together the sugars, cinnamon, and salt. Add the melted butter to the mix and mash until as well blended as possible (pictured above).

Dough:

- 2 1/2 C all purpose, unbleached flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 C buttermilk
- 5 tbsp butter, melted
- 1 tbsp butter, melted (separate from the 5)

Icing:

- 1/3 C cream cheese, softened
- 4 tbsp buttermilk
- 1 C powdered sugar

Directions:

- Preheat your oven to 425 and prepare a pan with cooking spray. Pictured is a 9" round pan, but these would do well in a rectangular or square pan as well.
- Mix together your flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt for your dough. Add the buttermilk next, whisking together.
- Pour in the five tbsp of butter and mix until well combined (but not "overly" combined).


- Next kneed the dough with your hands until it comes together in an ovular shape, then cut it in half.


- Take one half and place it on a prepared, floured surface. Roll it with a rolling pin until it's a little larger than a piece of paper. Take half of your prepared filling and press into the dough with a spatula, spoon, fork, or utensil of your choosing.


- Roll the dough,trim the ends, and cut into rolls (however large you may want them).




- Place in the pan with the middle facing up, and repeat the process with the other half of the dough.


- Brush the rolls with your separate one tbsp of butter and bake for fifteen minutes or until golden brown on top.


- For the icing, simply take a fork and mash the cream cheese the best you can, then "whisk" in the buttermilk and sugar.


-Add the icing to the buns while they're in the pan if you want the icing to drip through and down the sides. If not, remove the buns from the pan and put a small portion of icing on the very top and spread the best you can (to reduce how much icing you'll be eating).


- Enjoy with a cup of tea, coffee, or whatever suits you best!

If you don't follow me on Twitter or don't pay attention to my tweets on the right hand side of the site, let me start this off by informing you that I skipped my cake decorating class Monday night.

Yes. The third class out of six total and I played hooky.

I just didn't feel like going. After a week with a friend staying with us, an exhausting Father's Day, and a house that looked like a tornado went through it-- I skipped. I stayed home, cleaned, cooked, and spent time with Michael and Clark.

I was responsible. I e-mailed the teacher, told her I wasn't going to be there, and asked for a list of what we did in class so I could practice before next week. Even in a class that I am clearly wasting money on by not going to, I wanted to be courteous and let the teacher know.

So today when Michael was taking a nap that I was hoping would be two hours long like the past two days, I ate my lunch and then set up my royal icing and prepared to learn from our book how to make primroses and daffodils.

Yeah, right.

My icing was so hard (which tends to be the way with royal icing) that my hand felt like it was going to fall off simply trying to squeeze the icing through the tip at the end of the bag. It also didn't help that I didn't start practicing until minute 45 of what I thought would be two hours of free time, but Michael decided to wake up at 60 minutes precisely.

Anyway.

Here I am with a flower tip trying to be extra careful to make my first primrose, but the stupid frosting won't even come out of the tip. So, either I had to add water to make the frosting a little less stiff, or just had to wait for it to warm up a bit and therefore it would make it easier.

Right then my bag sprung a hole because I was trying to use my fingers, rather than my palm, to push the frosting to where I needed it.

As I was moving the frosting from the one bag to another, I looked up and saw the book Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier sitting on my bookshelf (very small bookshelf). I thought, I really need to reread that. It is such a good book.

Then it hit me.

Cake decorating was stressing me out. Learning how to make flowers wasn't exciting, really. I thought it would be. But it wasn't. It was stressful. I had to tell myself to relax my shoulders, to not worry about anything else, to just focus on the frosting.

And no matter how many times I told myself, my shoulders would tense back up and I'd be thinking about the laundry, or a new recipe, or a book I wanted to read, or a post to put up.

I realized that I just don't like cake decorating.

I realized I don't have the patience for cake decorating.

I realized I don't have the "flare" for cake decorating.

I am a different sort of artist. As much as I want to be, I've never been good at using pencils, pens, paints, and so forth. I suppose I can now add frosting to that list.

I am grateful I figured it out. I honestly haven't decided if I'm going back to class or not. I'm not sure I want to continue to invest time, energy, and money into something I already know I'm probably not going to continue doing.

Don't get me wrong. I've learned some valuable stuff in the class already. But the thing is, I just don't see myself spending an entire day decorating a cake for someone's birthday or special occasion. I'd much rather pay someone who enjoys doing it to do it for me. Is that awful?

Within this small epiphany, I've been making my way through the movie Sylvia about Sylvia Plath. It came out in 2003 and as depressing as it is, it's a beautiful film. And there are parts of it that I've completely connected with.

For example it shows Sylvia (Gwyneth Paltrow) baking when she can't think of anything to write.

That is totally me.

It made me think that I've been throwing myself into my cooking so much lately because I just don't have the creative outlet in my writing at the moment. That doesn't mean I've lost it... it just means that I'm taking turns and I'll get back to writing when I really find a "subject", as she puts it in the movie. I don't seem to have a subject I'm truly passionate about.

When I do, I know I'll return to my writing with full force.

So, although in Practice Makes "Perfect" I seemed to think that spending time with cake decorating would make me love it, I've discovered that's just not how I work. Either I love something or I don't. And Cake Decorating seems to fall in the "don't" category. That may change in years to come... but for now... I'll stick to not knowing how to precisely make a rose or write correctly on a cake.

Having company over can sometimes be stressful. I usually go with easy things to cook, like chili, enchiladas, tacos, spaghetti. Those all seem to be crowd pleasers that you can never go wrong with.

The last time, however, Clark insisted that we have something different.

So, I made this... and I must say... it went over incredibly well.

Ingredients:

- 2tbsp Sunflower oil
- 1 lb beef tenderloin, sliced (I got the prepared stuff from the grocery store)
- 1 red onion, sliced
- 1 zucchini, sliced diagonally
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 1 C beansprouts
- 8 oz can bamboo shoots, drained
- 1/2 C Cashews

Sauce:
- 4 tbsp cooking sherry
- 4 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp tomato paste


Directions:

- Heat the sunflower oil in a wok or large pan over medium heat.
*Make sure to prepare your onion, bell pepper, zucchini, and sauce ahead of time!*
- Add the beef and onion and stir-fry for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the onion begins to soften and the meat begins to brown.
- Add your prepared bell pepper and zucchini. Stir-fry for another five minutes or so.




- Add the bean sprouts and bamboo shoots and let them cook for another 2 to 3, then sprinkle the cashews over the stir-fry.


- Last, but not least, add your sauce and let it bubble for 2 to 3 minutes to until it starts to thicken.




Serve immediately.


This dish goes great with brown rice!



This recipe was adapted from Simply Quick & Easy.