Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry wit Peanut Sauce

I got my new Eating Well magazine in the mail yesterday and was instantly drawn to this recipe.

While I always strive to meet a certain amount of protein each day, I'm reflecting upon my less-nutritional food choices as I struggle through the holidays. My inner child wants to make and eat a bunch of sweets, and my adult self wants to satisfy my cravings with something more substantial and satisfying.

Truth be told, I seem to fight with myself a lot lately to keep from ordering lo mein from my local Chinese take out place. I just love the stuff, but I know it's bad by the way my lips are slicked with oil after just one bite, and by the way my fingers, hands, and feet are completely swollen the next day from all that sodium.

So when I saw this recipe, it appealed to me because it has those Asian flavors that I crave, and it was pictured on top of a bed of udon noodles. But at the same time, it was a nice change of pace - beef was the protein. And I so seldom cook with beef.

The sauce looked rich, in a healthy sort of way. It has orange juice in it and peanut butter (the natural stuff, which is good because we always have it here). And to save my pudgy little fingers, I cut down on the soy sauce in the recipe and used the recommended low sodium type.

As for the noodles - I went to the wrong grocery store to get them. So instead of udon, I ended up with write rice, but that's just fine too!