Paleo Cabbage Garlic Fried Rice

Tonight I made a Paleo Cabbage Garlic Fried Rice for dinner. I modified the recipe from Pinch of Yum's Skinny Garlic Fried Rice recipe. It was really tasty but I wish I had some grass-fed ground beef on hand to add in the mix.

It's funny, I notice whenever I am on my own for dinner, my cooking kind of goes out the window. I eat fairly healthy like 85-90% of the time. But once I have to cook for myself, I tend to opt for that 10%. I eat non-healthy foods or it turns into a hodgepodge of random foods. For example, last night I had some carrots, dried nuts and dried fruit, couple of marshmallows and ramen noodles. Then vegged out and watched several Pokemon episodes on Netflix.

Man, good times. I remember in like 6th grade I would rush to get home so I could watch Pokemon the animated series. I would spend a couple of hours parked in front of the TV. Though I remember getting yelled at for watching too much TV. Now as an adult, it's kind of funny that I barely watch TV. I will watch a show now or then or hang out with my family socially by watching TV. But it kind of lost it's charm on me. If you miss an episode with a TV show it's hard to catch up unless you record it and when I was in college, it always felt like a waste of time (unless I was sick). I could do other things more productive than spend 2 hours parked in front of the television.

Guess I am a post TV addict now gone cold turkey. Lols. I always got a soft spot though for the TV shows I watched when I was little and also Disney movies. (P.s. The Lion King is the best Disney movie out there. Aladdin was good and Frozen is absolutely fantastic but I mean come on, Mufasta died! Pretty epic children's movie!)

Anyways, I digress. I think my lack of creating a gourmet foodie dish for myself is out of laziness and lack of motivation. I enjoy planning out and preparing what I am going to make for the weeks most often I chose/find unique recipes or recipes that have something I have never done before. Which makes it a lot of fun. I'm creating yet learning at the same time. But when I have nothing planned out and need to figure out what to cook for myself, it's way easier to reach for the instant and unhealthy food (pizza, ramen noodles, pasta).

It's also really hard to cook for one person. Not impossible, just difficult. Sometimes I found vegetables would go bad faster because I couldn't keep up and eat all of it in time. But when I'm cooking for 2 or more people, I feel more motivated. Like my boyfriend had high cholesterol when he was a kid and some of his family members have diabetes. It provides me an extra boost of motivation to not only make sure I am making healthier choices in my lifestyle, but also helping him do the same for his. It feels good that we are both bettering our health together.

Alright, let's get to it!

Paleo Cabbage Garlic Fried Rice

4 Cups Shredded Cabbage

3 Tbsp. Coconut Oil
1 Cup of chopped up Carrots

1/2 Yellow Onion, diced

4 Garlic gloves

1/2 Cup. Baby Bella Mushrooms

1 Tbsp. Red Boat Fish Sauce

Optional: 1 one inch piece of ginger, grated or minced

1-2 Limes (to squeeze on top at the end)

First, I took 1 Tbsp. of Coconut oil and heated in a large skillet. 

Then I chopped up the onion and garlic and sauteed until it was soft. (If you add ginger, you'll want to put it in the skillet as well.)

Next, we shredded 1 large cabbage. Then added the shredded cabbage to the skillet.  

Chopped up some carrots.

Added some nice Broccoli Slaw to the mix too.

Measure it out!

Washed and cut up the mushrooms.

Progression. You pretty much throw it all in the skillet until the vegetables soften just a bit. I like them just a tiny bit crunchy.

Then add some Paleo fish sauce. Or regular fish sauce. Or heck, you can do soy sauce. Whatever your fancy!

My one and only sous chef helping me out. :) <3

Ta-da! Finished Paleo Cabbage Garlic Fried Rice! Squeeze some lime juice on top and it's good to go!

Skinny Garlic Fried Rice Recipe here

I actually stumbled upon Lindsay's blog (Pinch of Yum).  She has a bunch of recipes that look great and can be modified to become paleo. Another thing I found interesting was that Lindsay and her husband went and lived in thePhilippines for a whole year. They went out to help the Children Center of Cebu. I still need to explore her blog a bit more, but I find it awesome that she is a full-time blogger and has a passion for food and helping others. 

Emma