Sweet & Spicy Chicken Stir Fry

Stir fry is one of my "innocent" guilty pleasures... I absolutely love a good stir fry for dinner, and I usually have a hard time not going back for a second heaping serving of it. Luckily, it's relatively healthy by comparison since it's chock full of vegetables, brown rice, and lean meat; hence where the "innocent" part of the guilty pleasure comes into factor. Normally, stir fry is Chris's specialty, but last night I decided to try my hand at it again so that we could eat dinner a little earlier. Here is a sneak peek of the goodness that is to come....



We had a TON of already chopped veggies left from Aly's birthday party on Sunday, so the preparation for this meal was half over before I even started. Technically, we still had other leftovers to use up from the party, but I didn't think my taste buds would tolerate another round with hamburgers and pasta salad, delicious as they may be. Needless to say, I was eager for an opportunity to still use up some of the leftovers without having to suffer through the same meal for a third night in a row. Two consecutive nights is usually my leftover limit, especially when I packed it for lunch, too.  The leftovers from this stir fry, however, I was excited to have to take and eat for my lunch today. It was just as delicious the second time around!
Anyways, as much as I am sure you love hearing about my eating habits and a play-by-play breakdown of our meals, I will get to the main point of this post.  :) Here is a list of what you will need to make this delicious and nutritious dinner:

For the sauce:
-5 tbsp. reduced-sodium soy sauce
-2 tbsp. peanut butter
-2 tbsp. rice vinegar
-2 tbsp. sweet chili sauce
-1 tbsp. honey
-1 tsp. garlic powder
-1 tsp. ground ginger

For the vegetables:
-Olive oil for the pan
-1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped onion, depending on how much you like onion
-1 cup chopped carrots
-1/2 cup chopped celery
-1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
-1/2 cup broccoli florets
-1 can water chestnuts, drained and chopped into smaller pieces
-Juice of 1/2 of a lemon
-Salt/pepper for seasoning

-1 lb chicken, cooked however you like and then shredded
-Brown rice, for serving

Cook and shred your chicken, then set it aside. (I like to poach mine-it keeps it really moist and is great for shredding.)

If you are not lucky enough to have vegetables already chopped up like I was yesterday, the next step I would recommend is getting your vegetables prepped. Cut them however you like them, but it is nice, not only for cooking times but also for appearance, to keep them somewhat the same shape and size as much as possible. As a side note, the amounts of vegetables for this recipe is easily adaptable and interchangeable. There is no magic number that makes the recipe either a success or a failure, so pick whichever vegetables are your favorites and use them in whatever proportions you would like. :)

Once they are chopped and ready to go, heat a large skillet over medium heat and add your olive oil to the pan. Once the oil is heated, add your onions to the pan. I like to cook these slightly longer than the rest of the vegetables to make sure that there is no harsh bite to them. After about five minutes or so, add in your carrots. Let these cook with the onion for about three more minutes, then add in the celery, the red bell pepper, and the water chestnuts. Squeeze lemon juice over all of the vegetables in the pan, then sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste. Saute all of these vegetables together for another three minutes.

While the vegetables are cooking, start preparing your rice according to the package instructions and then make your sauce. This sauce was one of those infamous kitchen experimentations that ended up turning out really well! I actually really enjoyed the sauce a lot- much better than the bottled stuff! Whisk together the soy sauce, peanut butter, rice vinegar, sweet chili sauce, honey, garlic powder and ground ginger. Taste the sauce before you add it- this is another part that can be easily adapted to your particular tastes. Add more chili sauce if you like more heat, more honey if you like more sweet. (Check that rhyme out! Ha!)

Once the sauce is to your liking, add it to the pan with the vegetables, along with the shredded chicken and broccoli. Stir well to evenly coat the vegetables and the meat. At this point, you will want to reduce your heat to low and cover the skillet with a lid. This will help steam the broccoli since it did not have as long of a cooking time as the other veggies. If you like mushy broccoli, you can add it in when you add the celery, bell pepper, and water chestnuts. I like the broccoli to still have a bite to it, which is why I add it at the end. Once the broccoli has turned bright green, you know it is done.

Remove from the heat and spoon over prepared brown rice. Enjoy!

One of the things I love most about this recipe is that it offers so many different layers of flavor. You have savory, sweet, and spicy, and each one shines through in every single bite. As already mentioned before, this stir fry makes for great leftovers! It is also very nutritious and well-balanced, so indulge a little and have seconds. Stir fry is one of my guilty pleasures, and might I add one of the few that are savory in nature rather than sweet, what are some of yours???