Name: Spiced Yam and Vegetable Stir Fry
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: 1 tbsp coconut oil ((or oil of choice)); 1/8 cup onion (chopped); 1 tsp ginger (or 1/2 teaspoon ground (adjust amounts for your own personal likes)); 1 clove garlic (peeled and minced); 1 yam ((sweet potato or 2 small Asian Sweet potatoes)); salt and pepper (to taste); 2-3 tbsp water; 1 cup broccoli (cut to bite sized pieces); 1/2 cup red bell pepper (chopped); 1/2 cup yellow bell pepper; 1/3 cup tomato (cherry); 1/2 tsp cumin; 1/2 tsp cinnamon (dried ground)

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Spiced Yam and Vegetable Stir Fry is made with rainbow fresh garden veggies is the perfect way to replenish your body as it is full of vitamins, nutrients and it takes less than 15 minutes from wok to table.

Spiced yam and vegetable stir fry is simply delicious!

I just love the combination of the naturally sweet yams, cumin, ginger, cinnamon and assorted vegetables tossed in with a touch of coconut oil in a wok. Sometimes, life is just beyond busy. We hardly have time to take care of ourselves more than even thinking about a meal to put on the table. That is exactly why you need this less than 15 minutes easy a delicious vegan, paleo friendly, cardiac friendly and gluten-free meal in your recipe rotation.

Be Good to your Spleen

Too many cold salads, smoothies and iced drinks are very hard on your body. I know you would think that is exactly what you need when it is hot outside, but think again. Did you know that in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in order to maintain a healthy metabolism one should eat and drink foods that are close temperature with their own body's temperature? Spiced Yam and Vegetable Stir Fry is a very nourishing meal with warming spiced. Please read how to Feed Your Spleen; Nourish Your Body to learn the how behind this and great menu plan ideas.

It is not uncommon at restaurants in Hong Kong to sit down and be served a nice "warm" glass of water on a hot summer day. Really!!! It is even common to stir fry your romaine lettuce instead of eating it cold.

Do you have cold or warm disposition?

This concept may sound strange at first, but it really does make a lot of sense. Keeping all of this Chinese medicine stuff as simple as possible, essentially there are cold people (people who have excess cold in their bodies) and warm people (people who have excess of heat in their bodies).

Spiced Yam and Vegetable Stir Fry Recipe is a very balanced dish.

Yams or sweet potatoes are considered neutral
Broccoli is considered cooling
Tomatoes are cooling
Spices like ginger and cinnamon are warming.

Usually, you will fall into one of their varying categories. I have never met a person yet, who had perfectly balanced disposition. Whether or not your body is of cold constitution or of warm constitution, excessive amounts of cold food (cold to the touch) and icy drinks can cause many problems. Be good to your body and eat warm and nourishing foods that are easy to digest.

Keeping Balance in your Body

When the body intakes food it needs to adjust the temperature in the stomach for the correct enzymes to work to digest our food into energy that our body can use. In people who are of cold constitution (More Yin), drinking and eating excessive cold causes a cascade of issues including stomach bloating and intestinal issues.

In people who are warm constitution (More Yang), the body can quickly get the stomach to warm temperature to help with digestion but the problem is that once the stomach temperature is elevated and it stays high and this can cause an overactive stomach to be hungry all the time, gain weight, have a dry mouth, etc. Introducing the Five Energies of Food is a great way to learn about what foods are considered cool or warm and in between.

Warming and Nourishing Stir Fry

As we are all trying to eat right, take good care of our health and getting a little bit older with each passing year, I am looking for holistic care and going back to the basics. Today's gently Spiced Yams and vegetable stir fry is a great way to eat your veggies perfectly cooked and warm. (Maybe on another day we can talk about food and spices and whether or not they fall into the cold category, neutral category or warming category) However, today spices in this recipe, do fall into the warm category so add the spices to taste and adjust for your own needs.

Spiced Yam and Vegetable Stir Fry is a perfectly adaptable recipe for what I call, "Clean out the refrigerator veggie drawer day". Use the vegetables you have in your crisper. Feel free to exchange the yams (sweet potatoes) with Asian sweet potatoes, I just used what I had in my crisper.

Order of Cooking Operations

The only word of advise that I can share with you is to cook the vegetables in order of how physically hard they are. It is really simple. I start out with a little coconut oil in the pan, just because I like it but use any cooking oil you prefer, and add the aromatics.

Next I add the chopped yams (sweet potatoes) as these are the hardest vegetable that needs to be cooked and I just add a couple of tablespoons of water and put on a lid and steam the yams in the wok. Then, I take the lid off and throw in the vegetables in order of harness such and stir fry them with the spices and you are done like dinner. It is that easy!!! You do not even need to make rice as it has filling sweet potatoes.