It seems like my reading list lately is made up entirely of a kind of self-help books; books urging me to live a more fearless, creative, authentic life (although I do note that Kindle categorizes most of these books under “Professional & Technical” not self-help). Clearly, I’m searching for something; I just can’t articulate exactly what it is for which I’m searching. An interesting conundrum.
Today after school, the kids got up from their checkers game (yeah, I know, my kids sat down, unprompted and started to play checkers – I thought I was in an alternate universe when I realized what was going on – crazy!) and joined me in the kitchen. They both wanted to help make dinner.
And so, with my favourite 40’s era jazz playing softly in the background, the three of us chopped, minced, and diced. It was a moment of pure magical happiness.
And that’s when I started to understand what all these authors of all these books have been talking about; when we do what we love (in this case, hanging out in kitchen, cooking, taking care of the ones that I love) and when we go about it in a way that is rooted in kindness and goodness, the magic will follow.
And so, my wish for you . . .”don’t let anyone dull your sparkle”. Do what you love, do it with kindness (even in the face of people who doubt you or what it is you’re doing), and let the magic follow.
And if nothing else . . . try making this dish for dinner. The Husband and I think it’s pretty magical. Although, truth be told, it’s far better the next day for lunch. It’s pretty much a simplified version of this recipe from Paleomg.com. I reserve some of the cooked pork and serve that plain pork to the kids. We usually serve this over quinoa (that I cook in bone broth) and have it with a side of broccoli. I do also often add peas right into the sauce as it’s cooking. Oh, and this totally works with chicken breasts or thighs too!
Creamy Spicy Coconut Pork
Ingredients
2 pork tenderloins cut into 1″ slices and then cubed
1/2 an onion, diced
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup tapioca starch or flour if you’re not worried about gluten
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut aminos or soy sauce
1 can of full fat coconut milk
coconut oil for the pan
sirracha to taste
Directions
- Put 1-2 tbs of coconut oil in a large shallow pan and heat on medium heat. Once the oil has melted, add in the pork and cook until the pork is cooked through. Remove the pork from the pan and drain any accumulated liquid from the pan.
- Put another 1 tbs of coconut oil into the pan and once it has melted, add in the onion and garlic. Cook, stirring until the onion is translucent.
- Add in the can of coconut milk, honey and coconut aminos. Use a whisk and stir until everything has melted and is well combined. At this point, add in the tapioca flour or regular flour and whisk again. As you whisk, the sauce will get thicker. Once you have a achieved a thickness in the sauce that you like, remove the pan from the heat, add in the pork, and stir again to fully coat the pork in the sauce.
