Ideal Protein Stir-Fry

This February my husband and I decided to try out the ideal protein diet. It's basically a very restricted paleo diet, created for weight loss. I will be eating this diet on the weekends and for dinner on the weekdays with my husband to support him, and I'm super excited about it!

Today I tried out our first dinner: IP Stir-Fry. To make this low-carb, low-sugar meal for two you will need:

• 1.5 cups cauliflower
• .5 cups green pepper
• .5 cups mushroom
• 1 pound of boneless, skinless chicken chopped into chunks
• garlic to taste (I chopped mine)
• fresh ginger (minced, I used a 1/8 teaspoon)
• soy sauce 
• hot sauce
• .5 cups of kale and spinach mix
• Tiny splash of olive oil

Pulse your cauliflower in a food processor until it's about the size of large grains of rice. You only use the "florets" of the cauliflower when doing this, not the core or the leaves--but the head like pieces. If you are like me and don't have a food processor (something I plan on remedying soon...I honestly asked my husband for one for valentines day!) you can cut it as small as possible and then pulverize it with a hammer, you know, the kind of hammer used for food. Or smoosh it with a potato-masher. I tried both after unsuccessfully attempting to use my blender and got it really close to the size I was going for. (NOTE: do not use a blender. It does not work...) Put the cauliflower in a bowl and set it to the side. We'll use it later.

Now, cook your chicken in a frying pan with the olive oil and one tablespoon of soy sauce. I also add a tiny bit of water to make sure the chicken does not stick to the pan. When it's basically done, add your green peper, minced ginger and garlic to the mix. Cook this for about 5-8 min, adding more water if needed because you don't want it to stick to a dry pan. (You just want a tiny bit of water, barley enough to cover the bottom of the pan.)

At this point I added my kale, another tablespoon of soy sauce, a tablespoon of hot sauce, stirred the mixture, and cooked for another 2-3 min until my kale was, well, shrunk. I added my mushrooms, spinach and the cauliflower last, because I like my mushrooms barely cooked and the cauliflower cooks quickly. I drizzled them with some more hot sauce, then brought it to a boil, covered it, and simmered for 6 minutes, checking to make sure nothing was burning.

This was sooooooo good! I was afraid this diet would be full of salad after salad--but, fortunately, there are a ton of dishes you can create out of even a limited vegetable list, and they are all yummy.