Chicken Stir Fry with Broccoli: Yep, It's that Easy

Cate, at Sweetnicks, hosts a blogging even every week called ARF/5-a-day, or Antioxidant Rich Foods.  I love this event because it keeps me thinking "What foods are good for me, really packed?"  Especially since I'm really trying to get some of my weight off, I'm very interested in meals that pack a lot of nutrition into the fewest number of calories as possible. (Aren't we all, right?)  Stir fry is a great choice. I've said before, and it's still true, that stir fry to me is liked cooked salad: lots of veggies, a little protein, and a great sauce/dressing.

Let's take a look at some of the ingredients:

Broccoli--high in vitamins C,K, and A.  Note that vitamin K is a catalyst for clotting factors in the blood so folks who are on Coumadin or other blood thinners should be aware that varying day to day consumption of foods high in vitamin K will affect your PTT/INR (blood regulation) tests. That doesn't mean don't eat broccoli, it just means try to eat about the same amount of leafy dark green vegetables each day.  Broccoli is also fairly high in potassium, vitamins B-6 & B-12, folate, soluble fiber, manganese, magnesium, and phosphorus.

Red bell Pepper-- also high vitamins C, A, and B-6, folate, soluble fiber, and also has a fair amount of manganese, copper, and potassium.

Mushrooms--high in selenium, vitamins B-6 and B-12, copper, niacin, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, and manganese.

Stir fry with these three ingredients alone provide the daily recommended amounts of vitamins C, K, B-6, B-12, and selenium. Much tastier than swallowing a pill!

The biggest part of stir fry is prepping the ingredients. In this case I used:

Chicken breast

Broccoli

Red Pepper

Yellow onion

Button mushrooms

Water Chestnuts

There was no exact measuring. I just eyeballed while cutting up until I got what I thought would serve Gene and I for lunch.

Then I heated my wok, added a very small amount of expeller pressed canola oil, and sauteed the chicken. When it was cooked, I removed it from the pan and added the other ingredients. I like them all to be warmed through but stay pretty crunchy.  After that few minutes of cooking I added a mix of:

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 Tbsp corn starch

1 Tbsp soy sauce

A few drops of chinese hot sauce

I also added the chicken back into the wok and cooked everything for a few more minutes until the sauce thickened.

I cooked one package of ramen and split it between Gene and I and then split the stir fry between us, layering it over the ramen noodles.

Comments

[Jeff]

I adore water chestnuts!

[Kate]

I just love stir fries, Mike too. We could eat them regularly. Griffin is OK with them as long as there is meat.

That looks so great! Now I want a stir fry!

[Kristen]

Stir fries are my go to food when I need something quick, healthy and easy. This looks great!

[Kyleen]

I love stir-fry, too! You can find one of my very favourite recipes if you search on my page for the Wednesday, August 17, 2005 entry (THAI CHICKEN STIR-FRY WITH SPICY PEANUT SAUCE). It's sooooooo good! Let me know if you try it.

[sher]

I also love stir-fry dishes too. They're very flexible and food tastes great fixed that way. Your dish looks very healthy--but most important, it looks delicious!

[Glenna]

It looks like we all love stir fry! And I agree with you guys. They are quick, easy, flexible, and healthy. That's exactly what we need in a world where we're all running our butts off all the time!

[lincocin injection]

Not much on my mind lately, but that's how it is. My life's been dull these days, but such is life. I haven't been up to much recently.