Honey Chicken Stir Fry

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carrot, chicken, chicken stir fry, dinner, easy dinner, food, foodie, honey chicken, meal, quick and easy, quick dinner, red bell pepper, soy sauce, stir fry, yellow carrot, zucchini

Finally back in the kitchen! I haven’t taken a complete hiatus, but I haven’t cooked anything new over the holidays. Our lives are busy, I never feel like I get as much do as I actually want to get done. So it’s time to start prepping meals ahead of time.
I like to buy and cut/slice/dice veggies and chicken ahead of time and vacuüm seal them for later use. This is a fantastic use of a surplus of summer veggies, just vacuüm seal and freeze. Stir fries, casseroles and soup tend to be the best meals to prepare this way, as well as anything you want to put over pasta or rice. Tonight’s dinner was simple to cook, since I prepped everything ahead of time.*

Honey Chicken Stir Fry

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil, 2 Tbsp. soy sauce, 5 Tbsp. honey, 1 tsp. minced garlic, 1 tsp. minced ginger, 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, 1 orange carrot, 1 yellow carrot, 1 zucchini, 1/2 red bell pepper, green beans, steamed brown rice

Directions:
Cut, dice, slice, julienne and chop veggies anyway you like (I played around with all of these techniques, have I mentioned before that I love my crinkle cutter and julienne peeler?). Cut chicken into small pieces. Warm oil, garlic, and ginger in wok. Add soy sauce and honey and stir until dissolved. Add chicken pieces and cook until chicken is done. Add veggies and sauté until tender. Serve over hot brown rice.

*Disclaimer: I did find the yellow carrots already sliced in the freezer section, this was a score because I love love love them and can never find them in our regular produce section. That’s one root veggie I plan to grow this year.

What’s on your dinner plate?

Simple Stir Fry

Tags

dinner, food, foodie, health food, healthy eating, lunch, pasta, peppers, postaday2011, prawn, recipe, rice, sauteed vegetables, shrimp, side dishes, stir fry, supper, vegetables

Stir Fry 101
Like a curry, stir fry is so versatile and easy. It’s a perfect dinner that’s quick to prep andhealthy. With fresh vegetables more readily available, stir fry is one of my favorite Spring dinners. One pan for dinner makes clean-up easy too!

Simple Shrimp Stir Fry

1. Heat pan, then warm oil. Add seasoning.
Suggestions: vegetable oil, sesame oil, olive oil, canola oil, etc…
Suggestions: garlic, ginger, shallots, onions…

2. Add meat or protein source and cook until done.
Suggestions: beef, pork, chicken, shrimp, scallops, lobster, tofu or tempeh

3. Add veggies and cook.
Suggestions: bell peppers, baby corn, carrots, green beans, Italian beans, squash, broccoli, snow peas, water chestnuts, alfalfa sprouts, mung bean sprouts,

 4. Add sauce and stir well.
Suggestions: white wine, red wine, liquid aminos, teriyaki, brown sauce, vinaigrette

5. Toss in rice or pasta or serve over rice or pasta.
Suggestions: basmati, brown rice, angel hair, penne, couscous, barley, etc…

6. Garnish
Suggestions: sesame seeds, poppy seeds, mustard seed, parsley, cilantro…

I prepared mine with shrimp, ginger, red bell peppers, orange bell peppers, baby corn, Italian green beans, water chestnuts, carrots and white white.

What is your favorite stir fry combo? 

Chicken & Broccoli

Tags

broccoli, chicken, chicken breast, Chinese, Chinese New Year, dinner, food, foodie, New Year, postaday2011, recipe, side dishes, stir fry

Chinese New Year Continues…

Start with steamed dumplings, then move to this dish followed by Radicchio & Edamame Salad and finish off with homemade fortune cookies.

Chicken & Broccoli

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts, 1/2 a head of broccoli, 1/2 c. shredded carrots, 1/4 c. soy sauce, 1/8 c. rice vinegar,  2 Tbsp. minced onions, 1/2 Tbsp. minced garlic, 1 Tbsp. sesame oil, 1/4 tsp. fresh ginger

Directions:
Cut broccoli into florets. Bring pot of water to boil and lightly steam broccoli, set aside. Thinly cut chicken into small pieces. Heat soy sauce in wok and sauté onions and garlic. Add chicken and cook until no longer pink inside. Add oil, vinegar, and ginger and simmer. Toss broccoli and carrots into chicken and coat with sauce. Serve hot.

*Garnish with sesame seeds and serve over lo-mein noodles or steamed rice.

I use this same recipe to make Beef & Broccoli for Hubster, I just didn’t want to make two separate meals last night. I also steam my broccoli longer because I like it to be a bit on the mushy side, but most people don’t like it like that.

What are your weekend plans?

Chinese New Year

Tags

appetizers, cheese wonton, chicken stir fry, Chinese food, Chinese New Year, ethnic cooking, ethnic cuisine, Ethnic Food, fortune cookie, hot tea, main dish, recipe, shrimp rolls, spring rolls, steamed rice, stir fry

This year, Chinese New Year falls on Valentine’s Day. Enter the year of the tiger. Dressed in red, a bowl of tangerines in hand, and chopsticks next to the place setting our festivities were just beginning.

On the Eve of Chinese New Year, while Hubster took a nap, Pumpkin and I set up the festivities and prepared the food. My bamboo was intended for our centerpiece, but then I decided to proudly display the flower my Pumpkin bought me. On the menu? Cheese wontons, spring rolls, stir fry, steamed rice, hot white tea and pomegranate juice. We nibbled on chinese noodles with duck sauce and wasabi rice crackers while prepping the meal.

We planned to use my fortune cookie recipe and add sweet messages to show Hubster/Dad how much he means to me, but time was a little short. The store was of mung beans, Bok choy and snow peas, but our feast turned out just as nice. I cannot believe how much my 8y.o. actually did, I love having a sous-chef!

Cheese Wontons
Pumpkin lined my mini muffin pans with mini wonton wrappers. Then mixed together cream cheese with chopped green onions. He spooned the mixture into the muffin cups and folded the wrapper over. All I did was talk him through it and bake the wontons at 350°F for 20 minutes.

Cheese Wontons

Spring Rolls
I prepped the veggies, pumpkin rolled them and I fried them! We stuffed the spring roll wrappers with shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, shredded celery and alfalfa sprouts (they were out of mung beans). He whisked a few eggs and drizzled over the veggies, and rolled the wrappers and sealed shut with the egg. I fried them vegetable oil until they were golden brown.

Spring Rolls

Chicken Stir Fry/ Fried Rice
I poured the remaining egg mixture into my sauté pan to cook. I then removed the egg from the hot pan. I cooked thin chunks (I didn’t have the time to cut thin slices) chicken breast in the pan with stir fry sauce until done. I added baby corn, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, the remaining cabbage, carrots, celery and alfalfa sprouts to the sauté pan. I tossed the cooked egg back into the pan and sprinkled with sesame seeds and fresh grated ginger. Pumpkin decided he wanted the steamed brown rice thrown in with the stir fry, so it turned out somewhere between stir fry and fried rice.

Stir Fry/ Fried Rice

Although we didn’t have a festival of lanterns, the dragon or fireworks, our festivities brought good luck and fortune into our home.

Chinese New Year