Chicken Stir Fry

Here is the latest of the cute kids in my life eating spaghetti for the first time...this is Abigail, my Goddaughter/niece.  Well, she isn't really my niece, but close enough...her dad (my cousin) is practically my brother!!

I laugh out loud every time I see it!  Can't wait to see her this weekend!!!

So, a couple weeks ago my Mom sent out the menu for our annual coast trip and Sunday night is stir fry/Chinese food night...which we won't be there for.  She put in on Sunday because she knows Barry doesn't like Chinese food and she was looking out for him...what about her pregnant daughter who loves Chinese food?!?!  Ever since then I have had stir fry on the brain...my mom's is fantastic!  So I called her to get the recipe and planned to make it this week, hoping Barry wouldn't notice I was making Chinese food for dinner...and guess what???  He liked it!  At least he said he did...

My mom doesn't really have a recipe, she just knows how to make it, so I did my best to keep track of what I was doing so I could write it down.  This is a great "clean out your fridge" recipe because you can add whatever veggies you like/have around...even left overs.  Here is what I used this time:

1 pound chicken tenders or breasts

Low sodium soy sauce for marinade (about 1/2 cup - 1 cup probably)

1.5 tbsp olive oil

1 cup baby carrots, diced

1/2 small onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced

1/2 cup sugar snap peas

3/4 cup zucchini (I had them already cooked leftover in the fridge)

1.5-2 cups low sodium/low fat chicken broth

1/2 cup cold water

1.5 tablespoons cornstarch

Start by marinating chicken in soy sauce.  I did it for about 30 minutes or so.

Cut chicken into bite sized pieces and place into large skillet.  I just dumped the soy sauce that I was using as marinade (because I didn't have any more) but you could probably should put fresh soy sauce into the pan with the chicken and olive oil.  

Saute until chicken is cooked through, no longer pink.

Remove chicken from skillet, add carrots (and other slow cooking veggies - i.e. broccoli, cauliflower - if you have any) to skillet.

Saute until they begin to soften then add the rest of the veggies, except already cooked leftovers.

Once veggies are cooked to desired tenderness, add chicken back to skillet.

Add chicken broth to mixture.  I used about 1.5 - 2 cups.  You don't want to fully cover the chicken and veggies, but about half way up is good.  Add leftover/already cooked veggies at this point if you have any.

Mix water and cornstarch together in separate bowl. 

Once broth is boiling, add cornstarch mixture to pan, stirring into broth as you pour.  The chicken broth will thicken pretty quickly.

And that's it!  Serve over whole wheat rice, or not if you are going low carb!  

My mom always adds some of those crunchy Chinese noodles, which makes it better, but I didn't have any.

This is a much better alternative to Chinese take out that is loaded with sodium and often times fat!

ENJOY!