Teriyaki Chicken Stir Fry

From: Salt and Lavendar

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• Pepper to taste
• 3 Tbsp cornstarch 
• 3 Tbsp olive oil, divided
• 1/2 medium onion
• 2 cups broccoli florets 
• 1/2 red bell pepper

Sauce:

• 1/2 cup chicken broth 
• 3 Tbsp mirin
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp rice vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 2 cloves minced garlic 

1. Prep the ingredients before you start cooking. Once the recipe is started, it goes quickly. Cut the veggies into bite-size pieces so they cook at a similar rate.

2. Add the sauce ingredients to a medium bowl and whisk everything together.

3. Cut the chicken into one-inch pieces and add them to a bowl. Sprinkle the pieces with the garlic powder and some pepper. Stir to combine. Add the cornstarch and stir until the chicken is coated.

4. In a deep skillet, over medium-high heat, add 2 tbsp of the oil. Let the pan heat up for a few minutes.

5. Add the chicken pieces, shaking off the excess cornstarch prior to adding them to the pan. Cook for 4 minutes and then flip and cook another 3 to 4 minutes or so. Chicken should be browned and cooked through. For the second batch (there should be enough chicken to need to do 2+ batches), I add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan. Transfer each batch of the chicken to a plate once it's done.

6. If the pan is dry, add a small splash of olive oil, and then add the onions. Cook for 1 minute, stirring a few times.

7. Add in the broccoli and peppers, and cook for 3 minutes, stirring often. Veggies should be tender-crisp. Give it a little longer if you want them softer.

8. Add the chicken back to the pan and stir in the sauce. ( Whisk it again quickly prior to pouring it in.) Let it bubble until thickened, stirring constantly so everything is coated. Take the pan off the heat and serve immediately.

Verdict:

Thumbs up! Oh my gosh, the flavor on this was ON POINT. The whole family really enjoyed it!

What I did differently (or would do in the future):

I cooked about 2lbs of chicken because I knew just two chicken breasts wouldn't be enough for us. And I left some out of the sauce so people could do half and half. I should have used more broccoli - all of us love broccoli so much that we went through that really quickly. I left out the bell pepper because I'm the only one who enjoys it, but I cooked my onions separately, so in hindsight, I should have just done the bell pepper separately as well. I used coconut aminos instead of soy sauce. 

Please note - it does say once the recipe is started, it goes quickly, and that's semi-true. It took me about an hour and 15 minutes to make this from start to finish, but that's most likely because of how much chicken I was cooking! If I was only cooking for two, it would probably have gone much faster.

We added rice and it went together perfectly!

Chicken Honey Stir-Fry

From: An old index card

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken breast
3/4 cup orange juice
1/3 cup honey
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp ginger
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 carrots, some broccoli
hot rice

Cut chicken into thin strips. In a small bowl, mix orange juice, honey, soy sauce, cornstarch and ginger. Heat oil over medium heat in skillet. Add vegetables and cook for 3 minutes. Remove vegetables. Add a little more oil if necessary. Add meat and cook until it's not pink anymore. Add the vegetables and the sauce mixture. Cook until thick. Serve over rice.

Verdict:
Thumbs up! Yes, I ate the entire recipe by myself. No shame. This was totally delicious. The only change I made was I used one tablespoon of soy sauce instead of three. Sometimes I feel soy sauce is overwhelming. This was a really fast recipe that was filling and delicious. I will definitely be making this again. 

Sweet and Sour Venison Stir-Fry

From: One Pot cookbook

Ingredients: 
12 oz venison steak
1 bunch of scallions
1 red bell pepper
3 1/2 oz snow peas
3 1/2 oz baby corn cobs
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
1-inch piece fresh gingerroot, finely chopped
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
2 Tbsp dry sherry
2 tsp clear honey
8 oz canned pineapple pieces, drained
1/4 cup bean sprouts
freshly cooked rice, to serve

Trim any fat from the venison and cut into thin strips. Cut the scallions into 1-inch pieces. Halve and seed the red bell pepper and cut into 1-inch pieces. Trim the snow peas and baby corn.

Heat the oil in a preheated wok or skillet over high heat. Add the venison, garlic, and gingerroot and stir-fry for 5 minutes. Add the scallions, red bell pepper, snow peas, and baby corn cobs, then stir in the soy sauce, vinegar, sherry and honey. Stir-fry for an additional 5 minutes.

Carefully stir in the pineapple pieces and bean sprouts and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes to heat through. Serve with freshly cooked rice and extra soy sauce for dipping.

Verdict:
Thumbs up! I love stir-fry and I've done a sweet and sour before that I didn't love. I really liked this one although I did vary the recipe a bit on the veggies. I used onions instead of scallions, no baby corn cobs (didn't have any at home), ginger powder instead of gingerroot, I left out the sherry, and I didn't add bean sprouts. But the sauce was so yummy and I loved the other flavors as well! I'll be making this one again.

Sweet and Sour Stir-Fry

From: Light Cooking Cookbook

Ingredients:
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 can (8 oz) sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 cup red bell pepper strips
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 can (8 oz) pineapple chunks packed in juice, undrained
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 tsp Equal or 6 packets Equal or 1/4 cup Equal Spoonful
1 package (6 oz) frozen pea pods

Heat oil in wok or skillet. Add chicken; cook until chicken is no longer pink, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove and set aside. Add water chestnuts, pepper and onion to wok; cook until vegetables are tender, 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly.
Combine cornstarch, soy sauce and vinegar in small bowl; stir to dissolve cornstarch. Add pineapple with juice, ginger and salt. Add to vegetable mixture; cook until sauce thickens, 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in Equal.
Add pea pods and chicken; cook until pea pods and chicken are heated through, 2 to 3 minutes.

What I did differently from the recipe:
I only used about 1/2 lb of chicken. I omitted the water chestnuts because I didn't have them on hand. I used about 1/3 cup of sugar instead of the Equal. I used fresh peas from our local food co-op instead of the frozen variety.

What I'll do differently next time:
Nothing.

Verdict:
Thumbs up! I have made a variety of sweet and sour chicken before that I loved but Stephen didn't. Also, I didn't like having green peppers in it. I really liked this recipe, with the red pepper instead and the crunch of the pea pods. I don't really remember the taste of the other recipe but this was definitely delicious. I served it over rice because I just have to have rice with stir-fry.

Sweet and Sour Stir-Fry

Ingredients:
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 can (8 oz) sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 cup red bell pepper strips
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 can (8 oz) pineapple chunks packed in juice, undrained
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 tsp Equal or 6 packets Equal or 1/4 cup Equal Spoonful
1 package (6 oz) frozen pea pods

Heat oil in wok or skillet. Add chicken; cook until chicken is no longer pink, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove and set aside. Add water chestnuts, pepper and onion to wok; cook until vegetables are tender, 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Combine cornstarch, soy sauce and vinegar in small bowl; stir to dissolve cornstarch. Add pineapple with juice, ginger and salt. Add to vegetable mixture; cook until sauce thickens, 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in Equal. Add pea pods and chicken; cook until pea pods and chicken are heated through, 2 to 3 minutes.

Broccoli and Beef Stir-Fry

From: Great American Brand Name Recipes Cookbook

Ingredients:
boneless tender beef steak (about 1/2 lb or so)
1 Tbsp cornstarch
4 Tbsp soy sauce, divided
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp minced fresh ginger root
1 cloved minced garlic
1 lb broccoli
1 1/4 cups water
4 tsp cornstarch
3 Tbsp vegetable oil, divided
1 onion, chunked
hot cooked rice

Cut beef across grain into thin slices. Combine 1 Tbsp each cornstarch and soy sauce with sugar, ginger and garlic in small bowl; stir in beef. Let stand 15 minutes. Meanwhile, chop broccoli if necessary. Combine water, 4 tsp cornstarch and remaining 3 Tbsp soy sauce; set aside. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in hot wok or large skillet over high heat. Add beef and stir-fry 1 minute; remove.

Heat remaining 2 Tbsp oil in same pan. Add broccoli and onion; stir-fry 4 minutes. Stir in beef and soy sauce mixture. Cook and stir until mixture boils and thickens. Serve immediately over rice.

What I did differently from the recipe:
I made ours with not just broccoli, but also carrots, red peppers and green peppers. I actually did onions and some peppers separately in some soy sauce mixture because Stephen doesn't like onions but I love them. Also, when I do stir-fry I always do the same thing to my beef - I cut it, spread it on the cutting board, pour over it salt, pepper, garlic salt, onion powder, and Italian seasoning (or other spices if I'm feeling creative), then I flip the pieces and sprinkle all of those on the other side. I mix it really well, and then for this recipe I "hand-breaded" it in the cornstarch/soy sauce/garlic/ginger mix. It really coated the beef and was very thick. Yum! I threw the carrots and peppers in at the same time as the broccoli. I also cooked everything much longer than the recipe called for.

What I'll do differently next time:
A combination of the above, probably.

Verdict:
Thumbs up! We eat a lot of stir-fry and this is the first time I've added peppers - the green ones came in our food co-op last week and the red were on clearance a couple of weeks ago. Stephen definitely crinkled his nose at the smell of the peppers cooking but to his credit he ate them. He said they were delicious and I thought so too! I was surprised that the flavor was not really intense of this dish though. I left out a little soy sauce because it seemed like a lot to me, but I ended up dashing my serving with honey terikayi marinade and it was awesome.

Printable version:

Ingredients:
boneless tender beef steak (about 1/2 lb or so)
1 Tbsp cornstarch
4 Tbsp soy sauce, divided
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp minced fresh ginger root
1 cloved minced garlic
1 lb broccoli
1 1/4 cups water
4 tsp cornstarch
3 Tbsp vegetable oil, divided
1 onion, chunked
hot cooked rice

Cut beef across grain into thin slices. Combine 1 Tbsp each cornstarch and soy sauce with sugar, ginger and garlic in small bowl; stir in beef. Let stand 15 minutes. Meanwhile, chop broccoli if necessary. Combine water, 4 tsp cornstarch and remaining 3 Tbsp soy sauce; set aside. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in hot wok or large skillet over high heat. Add beef and stir-fry 1 minute; remove.
Heat remaining 2 Tbsp oil in same pan. Add broccoli and onion; stir-fry 4 minutes. Stir in beef and soy sauce mixture. Cook and stir until mixture boils and thickens. Serve immediately over rice.

Beef and Broccoli

I did a lot of things differently from how this recipe specified them to be done. I'll make side notes in italics for parts of this recipe.

Ingredients:
1 cup white rice
2 cloves garlic, crushed (I used 2 cloves minced)
1 Tbsp fresh ginger (I used 1 Tbsp ground ginger; we love the flavor)
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 lb flank steak, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced across the grain (I used one pound of venison stew)
1/2 cup chicken broth
3 Tbsp dry sherry (I used 3 Tbsp orange juice)
1 tsp sugar
3 tsp sesame oil (I used 1 tsp sesame oil, 2 tsp vegetable oil as we don't like the flavor of sesame oil that much)
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp cold water
1 1/2 lbs broccoli (I used two 9-oz packages of frozen broccoli)

Prepare rice as label directs. In a medium bowl, combine garlic, ginger, and 1 Tbsp soy sauce. Add beef; toss gently to coat. Set aside.

In small bowl, combine broth, sherry, sugar, 1 tsp sesame oil, and remaining soy sauce. In another small bowl, combine cornstarch and water.

Cut broccoli florets into 1 1/2-inch pieces. Trim and peel broccoli stems; cut into 1/4-inch-thick diagonal slices. (I didn't do this step because I used frozen broccoli florets instead. Yay timesaver!) In skillet, heat 1/2 inch water to boiling on medium-high. Add broccoli. Cook 3 minutes or until tender-crisp; drain and set aside. Wipe skillet dry. In same skillet, heat remaining 2 tsp sesame oil on medium-high until hot. Add half of beef mixture; cook 1 to 2 minutes or until beef just loses its pink color throughout; stirring. Transfer beef to plate; cover with foil to keep warm. Repeat with remaining beef mixture. (With just one pound of meat I easily cooked it all at one time rather than splitting it up.) Add broth mixture to skillet; heat to boiling. Add cornstarch mixture and return to boiling; cook 1 minute or until sauce thickens slightly; stirring. Add broccoli; heat through. Remove from heat and stir in beef. Serve over rice.

What I did differently from the recipe:
You can see I changed several things just to tweak it. At the end I also put the venison back in with the broccoli and sauce just so everything would be mixed together.

What I'll do differently next time:
Same things.

Verdict:
Thumbs up!! We were gobbling this up. It was really good and very easy to make. Had a good flavor but not too much of any one thing. Definitely a keeper!

Printable version:

Ingredients:
1 cup white rice
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp fresh ginger
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 lb flank steak, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced across the grain
1/2 cup chicken broth
3 Tbsp dry sherry
1 tsp sugar
3 tsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp cold water
1 1/2 lbs broccoli

Prepare rice as label directs. In medium bowl, combine garlic, ginger, and 1 Tbsp soy sauce. Add beef; toss gently to coat. Set aside. In small bowl, combine broth, sherry, sugar, 1 tsp sesame oil, and remaining soy sauce. In another small bowl, combine cornstarch and water. Cut broccoli florets into 1 1/2-inch pieces. Trim and peel broccoli stems; cut into 1/4-inch-thick diagonal slices. In skillet, heat 1/2 inch water to boiling on medium-high. Add broccoli. Cook 3 minutes or until tender-crisp; drain and set aside. Wipe skillet dry. In same skillet, heat remaining 2 tsp sesame oil on medium-high until hot. Add half of beef mixture; cook 1 to 2 minutes or until beef just loses its pink color throughout; stirring. Transfer beef to plate; cover with foil to keep warm. Repeat with remaining beef mixture. Add broth mixture to skillet; heat to boiling. Add cornstarch mixture and return to boiling; cook 1 minute or until sauce thickens slightly; stirring. Add broccoli; heat through. Remove from heat and stir in beef. Serve over rice.

Thai Beef and Noodles

Ingredients:
2 pkg (4.4 oz each) Thai sesame noodles
12 oz boneless sirloin steak, cut in thin strips
1 bag (16 oz) California stir fry vegetables

Cook noodles as package directs. Remove from heat; cover. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large nonstick skillet. Season beef with 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper. Add half to skillet and, turning once, cook 2 minutes until browned. Remove to a bowl with a slotted spoon. Cook remaining beef; add to bowl.

Add 1/2 cup water and vegetables to skillet. Cover and cook 4 minutes until crisp-tender. Remove from heat.

Add beef and noodles, toss to mix.

What I did differently from the recipe:
Everything. Seriously, I would love to know how this recipe is supposed to taste. I've made it for years, but only as a guide for the recipe I actually end up making. I omit noodles and make rice instead. Instead of sirloin steak, I use whatever is in the clearance bin at the grocery store. For example, today I was able to get boneless beef tips on sale for $1.68. Cha-ching! And California style vegetables were only $1.28, so this was a great cheap-o meal! When I spice the beef, I use one to five of the following ingredients (depending on my mood I mix and match): salt, pepper, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, and onion powder. SO tasty!!

What I'll do differently next time:
The same thing I do every time!

Verdict:
Thumbs up! This is such a simple recipe but Stephen says our house smells as good as Mt. Fuji (Japanese restaurant) when this is cooked. It's great as leftovers too.

$$:
This can be a really cheap meal if you get the meat on sale. Try different cuts of meat - they'll probably all taste similar but you can almost always get beef tips or western grillers for less than $2. Happy hunting!

Beef Noodle Bowl

Ingredients:
8 oz linguine
3 cups broccoli florets
3 carrots
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 lb beef sirloin steak, cut into strips
1/4 cup Italian dressing
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1 tsp ground ginger

Cook pasta according to package.

While pasta cooks, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet. Add meat; cook until browned on all sides, stirring occasionally.

Add broccoli and carrots to the pasta for just the last couple of minutes of cooking time. Drain.

Stir dressing, teriyaki sauce and ginger into beef; cook until sauce thickens, stirring occasionally.

Mix pasta and beef mixture in a large serving bowl.

What I did differently from the recipe:

I doubt I used 8 oz of linguine, although I didn't measure, and it was still probably just a tad too much. I added more carrots because we really love veggies. I only used an 1/8 cup teriyaki sauce because Stephen doesn't like the taste and I know it can be an overwhelming flavor. He still thought it was a strong taste, even though I added a couple of extra squirts of Italian at the end of cooking just to finish it off.

What I'll do differently next time:

I'd use less pasta and more vegetables and beef. I'd also probably use even less teriyaki sauce if I made this again.

Verdict: Neutral. It was okay, but I have much better stir-fry recipes that I make that we both prefer. I won't be making this one again, but it was good for a one-time attempt. The Italian dressing definitely added a little zest that I liked, but the recipe overall just didn't impress us.