Easy Weeknight Meals - Korean Bowls

• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper (or 1/2 tsp crushed red-pepper flakes) *omit if preferred
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon avocado or sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1 pound ground beef
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced or 1 heaping tsp of dried chives
• 1/4 teaspoon sesame seeds

1. In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, red pepper and ginger.
2. Heat avocado oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add ground beef and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks; drain excess fat.
3. Stir in soy sauce mixture and green onions until well combined, allowing to simmer until heated through, about 2 minutes.
4. Serve immediately over white rice.  

We love this sweet and savory and dish and hope you will too! Some quick and easy adjustments you can make:

• Switch out white rice with brown rice or riced cauliflower
• Switch out soy sauce for coconut aminos or tamari
• Switch out ground beef for ground turkey if you prefer
• Switch out brown sugar for coconut sugar if you prefer
• Ground ginger is great, but add the fresh kind if you have it to amp up flavor! (or try Trader Joe's frozen ginger cubes)
• Sesame oil gives this dish a toasty flavor, but don't stress if you don't have it!

You can even serve with a raw veggie plate or fresh fruit for a complete meal.  Cucumbers add a freshness as a quick side. While we are suggesting this for an easy weeknight meal, it's just as easy to add this as a fun weekend dish. You can incorporate dumplings or eggrolls for a heartier meal. And you can even make it fun by including chopsticks! We even have a fun hack for little hands to enjoy it as well! 

For the chopsticks hack:

Supplies needed: chopsticks, rubber bands, and paper

Step 1: Secure chopsticks with rubber band at the top (flat ends together)

Step 2: Fold a 8.5" x 11" paper in half lengthwise, and then in half again lengthwise.

Step 3: Roll up paper in approximately a 1" roll width

Step 4: Place paper roll in between chopsticks near the top

Step 5: Secure roll in place with another rubber band around chopsticks. This creates a spring-like action to help small hands hold and use a set of chopsticks during the meal. 

Tag us on social media if you make this recipe! We love seeing our community doing the faithful work of motherhood- tending our homes, feeding our families, and loving our people.