You can put a quick and healthy stir fry dinner together in no time. If you are having friends over for dinner after work you can do much better than take-out. Stir fry is a quick, fun, easy and impressive way to make a tasty meal. All it takes is a little planning ahead and an easy recipe. Shop for groceries the day before your dinner or on your lunch hour.

Your Menu

-Spinach salad
-Schezuan style shredded marinaded beef
-shredded carrots mixed with whole string beans
-white rice*
-Ice cream or sorbet
-Coffee or Tea

What to have or buy for your menu:

_1 bag of spinach for salad
_1 bottle of seseme dressing for spinach
_1 or 2 bags of shredded carrots
_2 packs frozen whole string beans
_2-1/2 or 3 lb fillet steak
_Soy Sauce
_Hoisin Sauce*
_Hot pepper flakes
_Whole garlic
_Olive oil
_Sherry wine
_*Rice (see below)
_Butter
_Vanilla ice cream or lemon sorbet
_Tea or coffee

Schezuan Style Shredded Marinaded Beef

2-1/2 or 3 lbs fillet steak (very thinly sliced)*
2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 oz. soy sauce
1/2 tspn hot pepper flakes
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp dry sherry
A couple of teaspoons of hoisin sauce (optional)

In bowl, mix garlic, soy sauce, hot pepper flakes, olive oil and dry sherry to make marinade for steak. Marinade steak at least 4 hours.

Tips and hints
*Freezing this steak slightly will make it easier to make thin slices.
*Put your meat in marinade before you leave for work, it will be wonderfully tender, flavorful and ready to cook when you return home. Turn once before you leave the house in the morning.
*Hoisin sauce is a 'sweetish' sauce and glaze
*If you have to buy rice, buy short grain rice. It is cooked the same way long grain is. It is somewhat sticky and the grains stay together. This is the rice most used in Chinese cooking.

Meal preparation

The steak:
Stir fry steak in a hot wok or large hot skillet. Heat either utensil to highest degree but not smoking. Quickly toss beef in and stir until desired doneness. Add hoisin sauce to add additional flavor and a shiny glaze to your cooked steak. Toss before serving.

The Veggies:
Steam the the shreddedcarrots and whole string beans in microwave or separate pots until tender,then tosss together.

The Salad:
Tear spinach and mix in 1 tablespoon soy sauce with sesame dressing or use regular Italian ready-made dressing.

After Dinner:
Serve tea or coffee with a small dish of ice cream or sorbet
You may want to serve Sherry wine as an after dinner drink.