asian salad w/ ginger tamari steak
I've come to believe there is something so sacred about cooking a meal with loved ones. It's one of my favorite things to do, for many reasons. The foremost reason being the unifying act of creating with one another. You start with this spread of ingredients—raw materials—like paint & a canvas, waiting to be made into art. You start here & you engage your hands & your senses & you follow some rules & break some others & have fun in the process. The sounds: steak sizzling, water boiling, knives chopping, music playing in the background, & laughter flitting throughout the kitchen. All our senses become engaged without restraint (if we allow it, of course).
& this is just the preparation. It's only half the gift.
The sharing of the meal offers us another round of experience: tasting & enjoying the labor of love we just created, letting it warm our hearts & nourish our bodies. I just love it. I love it all. (Minus the dishes afterwards, but who loves that?!)
I think meal-making & meal-sharing is an art & yet a very practical part of life. Practical & yet romantic art? I'll take it.
But in all honesty, cooking meals (especially quality ones) takes time. Like a lot of time. Kyle & I end up cooking 2-3 involved dinners a week. The other nights end up being leftovers, takeout with friends, or quick on-the-go meals. By the time we get home from the day's work, check in with each other, & walk the pup...we're hungry & ready to eat! So when I first heard of Green Chef, a company who delivers fresh, organic ingredients with flavorful recipes to your doorstep...I was all ears.
Not only do I value home-cooked meals—I also value knowing where the elements of the meal came from. My mom is an all organic, essential oil loving, yogi who raised me on good, wholesome food. This value has been passed on to me & thus I was impressed to discover Green Chef sources their food from sustainable suppliers which include many small family farms. Their standards include suppliers who with respect for the environment and their employees, humane treatment of animals, sustainable, natural practices, and rigorous quality standards.
In a world of inhumane & unhealthy food practices, this is remarkably rare & wonderful.
It turns out the food is as fresh & delicious as promised. We walked up to our Green Chef box waiting for us at the doorstep. Packages are always a fun surprise, but this one felt especially exciting since I had received an email from Green Chef detailing the 3 different recipes for the week (which all sounded amazing). It felt inspiring to know the box contained ingredients—prepped but not completed—for fresh, organic food creations. As a person who thrives on processes, this idea of continuing the creative work somebody else had begun felt like a collaboration of both creativity and wellness.
After unpacking the well-insulated ingredients, we decided to start with the Ginger Tamari Steak recipe. All of the items were clearly color-coded, according to the recipe color (green for this one). This made the preparation incredibly simple.
The first step was marinating & seasoning the steak so that it could take on the flavors while we chopped the veggies for the salad.
About 10 minutes later, we began to sear the steak & boil the black ramen, which I didn't even know existed before this! The whole process took around 20 minutes. We loved the idea that we were slowing down our lives to cook this meal together & yet maximizing our time because so much of the front-end work was done for us! Coming up with a dinner idea alone can take a while (for me at least). So I loved being able to implement this recipe that I wouldn't have otherwise thought of!
The last light fell behind us as we sipped our wine & savored the tasty salad, tasting the freshness in every bite. The peanut dressing was an unreal kind of good.
The candle flickered
& seconds were served
& thankfulness welled in our hearts for an organic, home-cooked meal together,
at the day’s end.