I usually start getting excited about what I'm going to make for dinner around 10 AM. Today was the farmers market at the U, so I just got back from gathering goodies to make this:

chicken stir-fry with peanut sauce over rice

Servings: Makes 2 servings.

Ingredients

Stir-fry
Vegetable-oil cooking spray
6 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced
1 tsp sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
3 1/2 cups of your favorite vegetables, chopped

Peanut sauce
1 1/2 tbsp peanut butter
1 tsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar
Hot chile sauce (to taste)

Preparation
Coat a nonstick pan with cooking spray; sauté chicken over medium-high heat until cooked through. Remove from pan. Add oil and sauté garlic and ginger until garlic is golden. Add vegetables; cook until tender. Return chicken to pan; stir-fry 3 minutes.

For the sauce, whisk 1 1/2 tbsp hot (not boiling) tap water into peanut butter to blend. Add soy sauce, vinegar, and hot sauce and mix. Divide stir-fry and sauce onto 2 plates. Serve each over 3/4 cup brown rice.

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I'm substituting tofu for the chicken (mama don't handle raw meat), and for the veggies, I'm going to harvest broccoli, green onion, and zucchini from the garden. At the market, I picked up some fresh cilantro and some baby red potatoes. I need to stop at Lund's for ginger, tofu, and PB, and I'll probably pick up a red pepper while I'm there to throw into the mix.

This is gonna be yum.

Mama needs to handle raw meat...I mean...Uhh...You know what I mean. Seriously, chicken for teh win. It's not hard to cook, just do what they say there. Hell, even better...

Take your nonstick pan, put a healthy dose of butter in it, melt that down, throw in your minced garlic, red pepper and chicken. Don't forget to cover it once it's in there, your chicken will cook better that way. Anyone who tells you that it's acceptable to "saute" anything in just an oil obviously has never tasted food. Throw in your nummies with the chicken, your mouth would kiss you if it could.

If you're nervous about failing to cook the chicken all the way through what you can do is take a chicken breast and cut slice through the middle of it, thus making the chicken thinner. You'll know the chicken is cooked when it's all nice and white in the center and doesn't look rubbery. Don't be afraid to cut in to the chicken when you think it could be done.

But tofu is so delicious and earth-friendly! I eat chicken, just not all the time. I like a healthy balance.

dorajar wrote:

But tofu is so delicious and earth-friendly! I eat chicken, just not all the time. I like a healthy balance.

Earth-friendly?

Yeah. As in, it doesn't deplete the world's grain population to feed a bunch of livestock animals who provide a fraction of the calories to humans that the grains themselves would. It doesn't fill our rivers and water systems and air with pig shit and methane. It doesn't rely on massive, horrifying factory farms that are largely populated by illegal immigrants with little to no federal protection.

You know, stuff like that.

Well...You could live in Robbinsdale and raise your own chickens to eat.

praecorloth wrote:

Well...You could live in Robbinsdale and raise your own chickens to eat.

Oh, I'm a sinner and I eat chicken. Just not with every meal.

dorajar wrote:

Oh, I'm a sinner and I eat chicken. Just not with every meal.

Nnnnnnoooooooo! You're a red blooded AMERICAN! You MUST eat meat with EVERY meal! Gasp! You're not...Communist are you? Or were we on terrorist? Or was it socialist? Crap now I can't remember. You're not an ist, are you?

Balance ArtIST.

Roasted sweet potatoes are amazing. FYI. Buy a few of 'em. Peel 'em. Slice them into 1 inch thick rounds. Toss with olive oil, sea salt, pepper and some red pepper flakes. Roast at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

Amazing! And so good for you!

http://www.foodreference.com/html/sweet-pot-nutrition.html

Quote:

Sweet Potato Ranks Number One In Nutrition


According to nutritionists at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), the single most important dietary change for most people, including children, would be to replace fatty foods with foods rich in complex carbohydrates, such as sweet potatoes.

CSPI ranked the sweet potato number one in nutrition of all vegetables. With a score of 184, the sweet potato outscored the next highest vegetable by more than 100 points. Points were given for content of dietary fiber, naturally occurring sugars and complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron and calcium. Points were deducted for fat content (especially saturated fat), sodium, cholesterol, added refined sugars and caffeine. The higher the score, the more nutritious the food.

Sweet potato baked 184
Potato, baked 83
Spinach 76
Kale 55
Mixed Vegetables 52
Broccoli 52
Winter Squash, Baked 44
Brussels Sprouts 37
Cabbage, Raw 34
Green Peas 33
Carrot 30
Okra 30
Corn on the Cob 27
Tomato 27
Green Pepper 26
Cauliflower 25
Artichoke 24
Romaine Lettuce 24

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, Washington D.C. copyright 1992


The reasons the sweet potato took first place? Dietary fiber, naturally occurring sugars, complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron and calcium. The sweet potato received a score of 184; the vegetable ranked in second place was more than 100 points behind with a score of 83.

The numbers for the nutritional sweet potato speak for themselves: almost twice the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A, 42 percent of the recommendation for vitamin C, four times the RDA for beta carotene, and, when eaten with the skin, sweet potatoes have more fiber than oatmeal. All these benefits with only about 130 to 160 calories!

I think this is my new favorite side dish.

Not dissing sweet potatoes or anything, but I trust American food science about as far as I can comfortably spit a rat.

I just made baby portobellos, stuffed with roasted garlic, bread crumbs, parsley, rosemary, and trugole cheese.

*swoon*

I never thought I'd enjoy mushrooms. I'm delighted to be taking baby steps into the world of fungus. I still think shittakes are the devil, though. :-[

I'd challenge people who think they hate mushrooms to try this dish. The portobellos are earthy and warm, and the garlic and rosemary are by far the predominant flavors. Yum!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/health/nutrition/02recipehealth.html?_r=1&sq=eggplant%20parmesan%20gratin&st=cse&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&scp=1&adxnnlx=1221656506-H0JghO46KOjU4d0D04j1ZA

Tried this recipe out last night. Delicious and nutritious! And the homemade marinara can be used on pasta or pizza as well. Next time we'll make a double batch.