Melissa’s Cozy Teacup

We just finished up home group for this evening. I’m tired, but happy. We are so blessed to have such a great group! How refreshing to be with people who are in love with being in love and who enjoy being married. The Lord brought back my friend safely from Spain where she has been on a mission trip.  The ‘new’ couple are mixing into the group well. They are fun and have a great sense of humor.

Are you building relationships? it is so very, very important that you start. Invite people over for dinner, a bbq, anything, just start building relationship with those around you. That’s how they did it in the early church. Church was your neighbor’s house, not a warehouse crammed full of people who don’t know that the person they are standing next to and lifting their hands with during worship, lives two doors down on the same street. Let’s get to know one another. It’s fun!

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I made beef bowls for dinner last night…and the night before. We had some left over steak so I thought I would experiment. Tech Hubby loves Yashinora beef bowls. Well, we don’t have anything like that here where I live, so, when you live in  a restaurant challenged city, you get creative.

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Honteri Sweet Seasoning,  Soy Sauce, Sesame seeds,  Sesame oil, Sushi Vinegar, Coconut oil, and chili flakes. Also used but may or may not be pictures, 3 cloves of garlic, 1/2 a white onion, 1 whole green pepper (both sliced thin),  1 sheet of sea weed, 1 gigantic portabella mushroom-peeled. Sticky rice.

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Follow the directions on the sticky rice bag for cooking. If you live at high altitude where there is almost no moisture (like I do) add an extra cup of water. When sticky rice is done cooking, stir into it,  3 tablespoons of Sushi Vinegar. You’re going to do the other prep and cooking while the rice is cooking. This is what it looks like when it’s done cooking. Even if the bag says it’s pre-washed, still wash the rice and let it soak in cold water for 1/2 an hour.

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Cut your onion and bell pepper into thin slices.

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Add them to a pre-heated pan with deep sides. that is coconut oil. The only time I don’t use coconut oil is when I’m making pancakes, then I use butter. If I use any other oil but coconut oil, I can actually feel my butt getting bigger. You don’t want to use too much oil because we’ll be adding the slices of steak to this and they have their own fat. Use about 2-3 tablespoons. Build your confidence. Learn how to ‘eyeball’ your measurements.

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I like to wait to add my garlic until the onions and peppers have cooked down a bit to avoid burning the garlic.

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While the onions,peppers and garlic are melding, I peel and cut my portabella into thin slices. As well as the steak.

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The steak slices were added in first, cooked for a few minutes, then the mushroom slices. To this I added; the soy sauce, sesame oil, Honteri,  and the chili flakes. These flavors balance each other out and give the dish a sweet hot slightly salty flavor.About a table spoon each of the soy, sesame oil and Honteri a bit less of the sesame oil. Add chili flakes as to how hot you want your food.

By now the sticky rice has been done cooking as is on the ‘warm’ setting of the rice cooker waiting for me. I remove it from the rice cooker(you do not want to add vinegar to metal containers) place it into a glass bowl, add my 3 TBS of Sushi vinegar and stir it  into the rice along with a tablespoon of sesame seeds. When that is all encorporated, I then crumble up a sheet of sea weed into the rice and stir it all up.Plate it and drizzle more soy sauce and sesame seeds over it all and enjoy!