Hello all! You guys are part of an assignment for my current course. You see, each class at Hawthorn comes with a recipe of the course. We are often asked to prepare the recipe, write about our experiences, as an assignment, and share it with someone else…THAT’S YOU! First, I’ll give you the ingredients and instructions, then you’ll find my assignment, which includes my experiences preparing this dish.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

Prep time: 5-10 minutes Cook time: 2 minutes Total: 12 minutes

• 4 to 6 heads baby bok choy (about 1 pound)
• 11/2 tablespoons brown rice vinegar
• 11/2 tablespoons tamari 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1/2 teaspoon maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• Pinch of red pepper flakes
• 2 medium cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
• 2 scallions, both white and green parts, sliced
• Squeeze of fresh lime juice 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

1.  Trim the bases off the bok choy heads.
2. Separate the bok choy into individual leaves and cut crosswise into bite-size pieces, keeping the stems and leaves separate.
3. Combine the vinegar, tamari, mirin, maple syrup, and toasted sesame oil in a bowl, set aside.
4.  Stir-frying is very fast, so have everything ready to go.
5.  Preheat a wok or sauté pan over high heat, add the sesame oil, and swirl to glaze the pan.
6.  Add the bok choy stems, red pepper flakes, garlic, ginger, and scallions. Stir-fry for 30 seconds.
7.  Add the sauce mixture and cook until thickened, about 1 minute. Add the bok choy leaves and continue to cook another 30 seconds, until the bok choy is just wilted.
8.  Transfer the bok choy to a serving bowl, add a squeeze of lime, and sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Serve immediately.

Below, you’ll find my assignment, word for word, as I turned it in, just today. The recipe, baby bok choy with sesame and ginger, is delightful, delicious, incredibly healthy and super easy to make. It comes from the cookbook One Bite at a Time by Rebecca Katz. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Let me know your thoughts!

One Bite at a Time by: Rebecca Katz

The assignment

I began this activity with a trip to the local grocery store to purchase ingredients, since I only had garlic, maple syrup and ginger. The recipe called for four to six heads of baby bok choy, which was not available at the store, so I purchased one head of regular bok choy instead (Katz, 2008). I was concerned about finding the remaining ingredients and was unable to find brown rice vinegar, so I replaced it with regular rice vinegar. The remaining ingredients were easily obtained in the Asian food section.

After returning home, I reread the recipe, organized the ingredients, then washed and chopped the vegetables. While preparing the ingredients, I began heating the wok on high heat. The recipe advises to have all ingredients ready, since the recipe comes together in a matter of minutes. Once everything was ready, I moved all ingredients next to the stove, and began. After adding the sesame oil into the wok, the vegetables and sauce cooked in approximately 2 minutes. The recipe took 10 minutes from start to finish, including the vegetable preparation.

While I have eaten bok choy in restaurants, this was the first time I cooked it in my home. I am not familiar with bok choy, and was apprehensive about preparing this dish. However, the  entire recipe came together very easily. Chopping the vegetables was the most difficult part. This recipe was delightful, and packed with flavor. The stems reminded me of celery, while the leaves were reminiscent of kale or collard greens. I will be sharing this recipe, the ingredients, instructions and my experiences on my blog. I thoroughly enjoyed the recipe and am hopeful my blog followers will enjoy it as well.

Until next time, namaste my friends!

Author: Tamara Hoerner

Welcome to The Purple Almond Wellness I’m Tamara Hoerner, MHNE, wellness educator and founder of Purple Almond Wellness. I work with middle-age individuals to help support brain health and develop whole body wellness, in order to improve the quality of their mid-life years. Heart and Alzheimer’s diseases run in my family and I struggled with weight loss, so I strive to help others with similar conditions. Using only nutrition, I rid my body of seasonal allergies, Psoriatic Arthritis and migraines, as well as cured my insomnia. I know what it takes to use food as medicine, especially in middle age. As a wellness educator and Summa Cum Laude graduate of Hawthorn University, I develop personalized nutrition plans and wellness education sessions, to help clients. For me, the name Purple Almond symbolizes “Good, nutritious, whole food bringing light and life to the body, awakening the inherent healing mechanisms within.” I'm all about getting back to the basics, good old fashioned traditional organic, whole food, the kind your great-grandmother used to eat. You'll find no processed foods here. Just good food to heal your whole body. I also believe a healthy body isn't just about food. Stress plays a large part in the physical health of our body. I, therefore, believe in using anything that relieves stress and heals the body, including: mediation, yoga, music, laughter, inspiration and helping others. You'll find all these included in my blog as well. View all posts by Tamara Hoerner