Bacon Cabbage Stir-Fry

It's throwback Thursday so I'm going to throw it way back to an extremely simple two-ingredient dish tied to my roots.

Being Hmong, most people in this country aren't even familiar with who we are, let alone the types of food that are really associated to our culture. Because we are an ethnic minority group and do not have a country of our own, many of the dishes we eat are influenced by the countries and people nearby. My family is from Laos, so growing up we ate many Lao and Thao meals, which are full of multiple exotic ingredients and spices that I still love and crave.

However, when thinking of the truly Hmong kitchen, I believe there could be one word to describe it – simple. Most dishes consist of no more than three ingredients that are lightly flavored with salt, if even. Boiled chicken in lemongrass, boiled cabbage, boiled pork with greens (my fave!), boiled zucchini – do you see a pattern here? I will definitely add one of these boiled dishes to this blog eventually, but today’s recipe is for another favorite - bacon and cabbage stir-fry.

I’m not sure whether this stir-fry was something that was made back in Southeast Asia or whether it was put together here in the U.S., but either way, it is simple and delicious. When you need a quick lunch or dinner, whip this up in a matter of minutes and toss it over some brown rice for a healthy delicious meal. This can be made with green or purple cabbage. Baby boy has decided lately, to my dismay, that he does not like green vegetables, so I thought I’d switch it up with purple cabbage. I usually use green cabbage. He gobbled it right up! Why wouldn’t he – who doesn’t love bacon?

Sweet Potato Pancakes

Yesterday morning I still had a sweet potato left over from last week's grocery trip that went unused and hubby was feeling like having pancakes so I made these sweet potato pancakes.

This is my second time making these and everyone loved them including baby boy who seems to be becoming a pickier eater which does not make this mommy happy!

Unlike the almond meal pancakes that I posted earlier that have a grainy texture, these sweet potato pancakes are more smooth and traditional pancake-like. You can eat them alone, with syrup or with fresh fruit. We topped them with blueberries and syrup yesterday and they tasted so good.

This will definitely be a recipe we continually refer to. What is your favorite type of pancake?

Flourless Chocolate Chip Blondies

When I heard about using beans as the base of clean brownies and bars I was a bit skeptical. I’m not a huge bean person in general and I just couldn’t imagine how beans could transform into something so delicious and decadent. I am however, a HUGE brownie, bars and desserts in general person!

Thankfully I didn’t listen to my skeptical side and I’m glad I didn’t because these garbanzo bean/chickpea chocolate chip blondies came out UH-MAZE-ING. It definitely felt like magic when I pulled these out of the oven and tasted them for the first time.

I’ve made these twice now - once without the egg in the batter and once with the egg. Skip the egg if you want a thicker fudge-like bar. Keep the egg if you like your blondies more cake-like. I personally liked it with egg because it was less dense and the batter was much easier to handle.

These are awesome by themselves and taste even better with some nice cream on top! They were also approved by the entire family and will definitely satisfy your sweet tooth!

Meal Prep: Zucchini Egg Muffins

I'm not a big meal prepper because I love variety. However, hubby stays home with baby boy so it's sometimes hard for him to get a homemade meal on the table during the day, so I'll prep these zucchini egg muffins.

They're so easy and full of nutrition. Baby boy loves them. He won't eat eggs by themselves but he gobbles these right up. It's also nice that these are a whole meal all in one little muffin. We usually give baby boy 1 1/2 to 2 of these at a time.

They're not just for kids though - hubby and I love them too. They're great for a quick  and healthy on-the-go breakfast or lunch.

These can be made in batches and kept in the freezer for weeks. Just take them out and reheat in the microwave or re-bake in the toaster oven. You can get creative with the seasonings, veggies and protein you put in these as well.

Before heading into the oven to bake

FREE Downloadable Workout Calendar for May with Links

Am I the only one who cannot believe that it is really May already? We're almost half way through this year! Whether you've been on your health and fitness journey for years, or just months like me, or if you're just getting started, kudos to you.

Since February I have been creating a workout calendar with the workouts I plan to do each day for the month. In the beginning I wasn't doing this and I'd spend too much time in the mornings deciding what workout I would do. Planning ahead saves me so much time and during those mornings where I don't feel like working out, I just click on the link to my video(s) for the day and my mind doesn't need to be completely turned on.

I like variety so each day of the week is a different workout sometimes targeting certain areas of the body. I usually repeat the same workout on the same day of each week. In some cases the workout carried over from my previous month so I only have it scheduled for two weeks of the current month. I do my workouts in the morning, so this only allows me 30 minutes on the weekdays. I still workout in the morning on the weekends, but am able to put in an hour or more. One Sunday of each month is dedicated to staying in bed and snuggling with my loves. I just started doing this in April because I realized that when I started on this journey I was always waking up before them and I really missed waking up with them.

Please keep in mind that this is my personal workout calendar. I am on month 5 of my journey so these workouts are intermediate level. Many of them will have modifications for beginners, but if you're interested in a purely beginner's workout calendar please let me know and I'd be happy to put together a calendar with the workouts I did at the beginning of this year.

Click here for May's calendar. Each workout listed is linked to its video on YouTube - all you have to do is click on the name of the workout. Note that there are two workouts for Saturday.

I'm happy to answer any questions. Feel free to comment below or email me at sybliss@gmail.com.