Moo Shu Chicken and Vegetables

Another big hit. This one is fast and easy. The original recipe called for just vegetables, which is good because we do like vegetables, even the picky one loves vegetables. But I added some chicken anyway. It was excellent. I had some fresh peas and threw those in, too!

I cheated with the rice, no surprises there, and picked up some fried rice from the takeout place. I love takeout.

Moo Shu Chicken and Vegetables
Source: EatingWell - September/October 2008
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/moo_shu_vegetables.html
adapted by There's Always Thyme to Cook
Printable Recipe

4 thin-sliced boneless, skinless chicken cutlets cut in small pieces
3 teaspoons toasted sesame oil, divided
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 12-ounce bag shredded mixed vegetables like broccoli slaw
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

chopped scallions
whole wheat tortilla's
Sriracha sauce

Heat 1 teaspoon sesame oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken; cook, stirring occasionally, until done. Remove to a plate. Add the eggs to the pan, stirring gently, until just set, about 3 minutes. Remove to the plate with the chicken.

Wipe out the pan and heat the remaining 2 teaspoons oil over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic and cook, stirring, until softened and fragrant, 1 minute. Add shredded vegetables, soy sauce and vinegar. Stir to combine. Keep cooking until the vegetables are just tender, about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the reserved eggs, chicken, peas and hoisin; cook, stirring and breaking up the scrambled eggs, until heated through, another 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Serve with warm whole-wheat tortillas, Asian hot sauce and extra hoisin. Warm the tortilla's for about 30 seconds in the microwave, if using. 





Joining 

Beth at Beth Fish Reads for her fun Weekend Cooking Party. Every weekend. It's open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share! Go on over and see some fun posts.
 

and

 Mosaic Monday  at the Little Red House. 

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Stir-Fried Honey-Ginger Chicken

Short post because this was really easy, really good and I didn't screw it up at all. ha! 

We all loved it! And leftovers were great the next day.

Anything goes. Used Martha Stewart's recipe as a guideline and added whatever was in the frig. Broccoli, snow peas, bell peppers. Threw in some roasted cashews, and called it a great dinner! I cheated and got some frozen egg rolls and some potstickers from Trader Joe's. They are excellent if you have a Trader Joe's in your area!

 

Stir-Fried Honey-Ginger Chicken
Source: Martha Stewart Recipes
adapted by There's Always Thyme to Cook
Printable Recipe

1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken
breasts or thighs, sliced into 1/4-inch strips
1/4 cup minced peeled fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 red, orange, or yellow bell peppers (ribs and seeds removed), thinly sliced
2 cups broccoli florets, steamed
1 cup snow peas
1/2 cup roasted cashews
Cooked rice, for serving

In a small bowl, stir together honey, vinegar, and soy sauce. Heat a large skillet or wok over high until hot. Add 1 tablespoon oil to coat skillet. Add chicken and stir fry until opaque but not cooked through, about 3 minutes; and add 1 tablespoon oil, ginger, and garlic to skillet and stir until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add vegetables and stir fry another 2 -3 minutes. Add soy mixture and bring to a boil. Stir until sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through, about 3 minutes. Add cashews and stir to combine and heat the cashews through. Serve over rice.

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Orange Chicken

All I have to say about this one is that we loved it and it was really easy! Great recipe from my friend, Linda Dahlianut at gardenbuddies! I added broccoli to the recipe and some sliced clementines. This one is a keeper! Thanks, Linda!

Orange Chicken
Source: Linda (dahlianut) from gardenbuddies
adapted There's Always Thyme To Cook
Printable Recipe

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
about 3 tablespoons oil (for sauteing)

Orange Sauce:
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
a few slices of clementines, or any orange you like
1 cup brown sugar (not packed)
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger root
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons chopped green onions
red pepper flakes (more or less to taste)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup water
1 package fresh broccoli florets, steamed in microwave oven

In a large saucepan combine the water, lemon juice, orange juice, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. Blend well over medium heat for a few minutes. Stir in brown sugar, orange zest, ginger garlic, and onion. Bring to a boil. Combine 2 tablespoons of cornstarch with 1/4 cup of water and mix thoroughly. Slowly stir cornstarch mixture into sauce, bring sauce back to a boil, stir until it thickens. Reduce heat to low and keep sauce warm. If sauce too thick, add a little orange juice to thin it out.

Combine flour, salt, and pepper. Dip chicken in flour mixture to coat. I pour it all in a ziploc bag and shake it to coat the chicken. Then shake the excess flour off before adding pieces to the pan. Saute chicken in a skillet or wok, until browned. 

Add the broccoli to the pan. Pour sauce over the chicken and broccoli, and simmer for at least ten minutes, until chicken is completely cooked! Serve over rice.

Joining Mary's Mosaic Monday. For more mosaic's stop by the Little Red House!

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Lightening up General Tso!

Cooking up a storm lately! The spring weather must be giving me some extra energy or something. Tomorrow it's back to ordering in, it's been enough of a streak for now! I think stir fry is one of the easiest meals to make for dinner. So I tried looking for something new. We always have Chicken with Cashews. So I went looking for something a little different. Found this one at Martha Stewart. It was very good. but next time I'd use a lot less sugar! and maybe a little less pepper, almost took out Grandma, LOL!

Lighter General Tso's Chicken
Source: Everyday Food – October, 2008
Printable Recipe
(adapted)

1 1/4 cups long-grain brown rice
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 pound snow peas, trimmed and halved crosswise
4 garlic cloves, sliced (I used 3 minced cloves)
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated and peeled
3 tablespoons light-brown sugar (next time I'd cut it to 1or 2 T)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
2 large egg whites
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Cook rice according to package instructions. In a bowl, stir together 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 1/2 cup cold water until smooth. Add snow peas, garlic, ginger, sugar, soy sauce, and red-pepper flakes; toss to combine, and set aside.

In another bowl, whisk together egg whites, 3 tablespoons cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add chicken, and toss to coat.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Lift half the chicken from egg-white mixture (shaking off excess), and add to skillet. Cook, turning occasionally, until golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate; repeat with remaining oil and chicken, and add the rest of the cooked chicken and any juices, along with the snow-pea mixture to skillet. Toss to coat. Cook until snow peas are tender and sauce has thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Serve with rice.

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Sweet and Sour Chicken

Today was a rainy, dreary kind of day. The rain is supposed to turn to snow. Maybe. Maybe not. We shall see. Definitely in lazy mode tonight and didn't feel like takeout, but didn't feel like preparing a huge feast either. Sweet and Sour Chicken worked out well. Ten minutes to brown rice using the Success method. Ok, so it's not really a method, it's a product! Success boil-in-bag brown rice. We like it! Ten minutes in the microwave. Less if you like crunchy rice. They call it fool-proof. Obviously they never heard about me! but somehow I made it perfect this time. Dinner ready in less than 30 minutes. The only change to this one was to add broccoli florets. If you don't like fruit with your chicken, leave out the pineapple. Another keeper!

Sweet and Sour Chicken
Source: Better Homes and Gardens
Printable Recipe

3/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
4 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 clove garlic, minced
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
1 medium red sweet pepper, cut into bite-size strips (1 cup)
4 teaspoons cooking oil
1 cup fresh pea pods, tips and stems removed
12 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 8-ounce can pineapple chunks (juice-pack), drained
3 cups hot cooked brown rice

For sauce, in a small bowl stir together chicken broth, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch, and garlic; set aside.

In a large nonstick skillet cook and stir carrots and sweet pepper in 3 teaspoons of the hot oil over medium-high heat for 3 minutes. Add pea pods. Cook and stir about 1 minute more or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Remove from skillet; set aside.

Add remaining 1 teaspoon oil to skillet. Add chicken to skillet. Cook and stir for 3 to 4 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Push chicken from center of skillet. Stir sauce; add to center of skillet. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Add vegetable mixture and pineapple chunks; heat through. Serve with hot cooked brown rice.

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Vegetable Garden Stir Fry

Chicken with Cashews is a really flavorful recipe by itself, but when you have young kids you might add vegetables and whatever, hoping they'll at least try, and maybe even like them. So my kids tried and ended up liking them. They turned out to be pretty easy going when it came to vegetables. Fish and dairy, another story, but we're working on it.

I took this really excellent recipe from Good Morning America, and this time I added water chestnuts, broccoli, spinach, mushrooms, carrots, and snow peas to whatever else was listed in the recipe. Bok Choy and baby corns are also good in it. It's turned out to be pretty much a vegetable garden stir fry, you can really put whatever you like in, use whatever nuts you like. I make it much more saucy!

Chicken with Cashews
Good Morning America (Charlie Gibson)
Printable Recipe

4 tablespoons wine vinegar
4 tablespoons soy sauce
4 teaspoons sugar
14 ounces raw boneless skinned chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons oil
3 green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2-1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon minced or grated fresh ginger OR 1/2 teaspoon dried
LOTS OF CASHEWS
4 cups cooked rice

Mix together vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar, set aside.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet or wok. Toss chicken pieces in cornstarch, then stir fry them 5-7 minutes until cooked.

Remove from pan and add onion, garlic, red pepper, and ginger. Stir fry 15 seconds.

Add vinegar mixture, cashews, chicken, stirring to coat chicken, about 2 minutes. Serve over rice.

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