Sometimes my dinners aren’t what was originally planned.  The other night I was going to make the chicken and mushrooms in cream sauce that my kids all love, but while I was browning the chicken I remembered I’d used the last of the cream to make scones the day before. So, mid cooking I needed to change course.  I had brown rice in my rice cooker.  I had the mushrooms all cut.  I’d pulled out a zucchini… so what direction should I go?  I went Asian style stir-fry.  I added sesame oil, fish sauce and soy sauce to the chicken once browned and set that aside.  I cut up a small broccoli crown, remaining half a head of cabbage, and the kid’s carrot sticks left over from their snacks.  My husband came home from work and helped by chopping garlic, grating fresh ginger and thawing/shelling edamame (soybeans).  Boy, at the speed of light he can mince that garlic into tiny pieces— I couldn’t even imagine doing.  I threw in some frozen red, yellow and green peppers.  And voila, a delicious meal that was not what we planned, but was so healthy and delicious. 

You can do this with whatever vegetables you have on hand that seem to go together.  I purchased the Cascadian Farms organic frozen peppers and edamame because they are handy and also great in stir-fries.  Not every vegetable freezes well, but some are fine and they actually retain their nutritional value plus you won’t worry about unwanted additives (the linings from cans or pesticides) this way.

Chicken, Mushroom, Vegetable Stir Fry

5-6 boneless chicken thighs (or 2 breasts), cut into 2 inch pieces

3 Tbsp tamari soy sauce

1 Tbsp fish sauce

2 tsp sesame oil

1 quart shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1/2 quart white mushrooms, sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp fresh ginger grated

1-2 carrots, chopped

1 small broccoli crown, cut into small pieces

1 organic zucchini, cut in half lengthwise then sliced

1/4-1/2 small cabbage head, chopped

handful organic edamame, shelled

handful organic peppers (multicolored), sliced

canola, sunflower or peanut oil

Brown chicken in 2 tsp oil over med-high heat.  Add soy, fish sauce and sesame oil.  Set aside. Add another 2 tsp oil and sauté mushrooms.  Add garlic and ginger, stirring well for two minutes then add broccoli and carrots.  Keep stirring for another two minutes then add zucchini, peppers, cabbage, edamame, chicken in soy mixture.  Stir occasionally until vegetables are tender.  Check seasoning and add more soy or sesame as needed.

Serve over brown rice or rice noodles.

My kids all loved this and ate their entire meal without fuss.  Ok, well, my middle son saw it and said he wasn’t going to eat it and didn’t want it before my eldest and younger sons told him that it was delicious.  It was.  I was the lucky one who ate the leftovers (it was enough to feed all five of us with one remaining bowl for next day’s lunch).  My middle son was the first one of the kids to finish. 

It didn’t matter that it wasn’t what I planned. It was healthy, tasty, easy and the kids ate it.