A Tasty and Easy Chicken Stir Fry!
A friend at work has a garden and he is such an excellen.t gardener that he often brings in his extra vegetables, as he and his wife can't eat the quantities that he grows. On top of that, somehow his veggies are often HUGE - I tease him that they are vegetables on steroids. He brought in a zucchini yesterday that was so big that I split it with one of the other girls - and took less half half of it. I decided to make a stir fry tonight at the last minute (the last minute thing is a bad habit of mine), so the stir fry ended up with what I had on hand - the zucchini, a large chicken breast and a Roma tomato. This recipe will feed two.I didn't even use all of the zucchini - you will have to use your jugement on how much zucchini you want - and you can be creative as well and add squash, red peppers, snow peas, or broccoli, depending on what you like or have on hand.
Ingredients for Chicken, Zucchini, Tomato Stir Fry
- 1 8 oz. chicken breast
- zucchini
- 1 roma tomato
- 3 cups cooked brown rice
- 2 tbsp peanut oil (or extra virgin olive oil if allergic to peanuts)
- 1 tbsp worchestershire
- 1 tbsp Mojo marinade
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 2 cloves freshly chopped garlic
- salt and pepper to taste
 |
| You can imagine just how big this whole zucchini was. It was over a foot long and probably a little over 2 1/2" in diameter at the center! |
First I got the brown rice cooked in a rice cook per the package instructions. Easy! I sliced the chicken breast into half-dollar size pieces (when is the last time you saw a half dollar!?!) Then I also cut the zucchini and tomato into bite size chunks.
I used a large pan (clearly if you have a stir-fry wok that will work better!) and heated the peanut oil. I mixed the worchestershire, Mojo marinade and chicken broth together, and slowly added it to the peanut oil. I let it get hot again. I then added the chicken, and salt and pepper, and stirred and turned the pieces of chicken breast til it had just cooked. I used a slotted spoon to remove the chicken from the "broth" mixture and set it aside in a bowl.
 |
| Make sure that all the chicken gets bathed in the liquid so it soaks up as much of the flavor as possible. |
Next I added the zucchini and tomatoes (and any other veggies you would like) to the same pan juices and sauteed them until they were just barely cooked. I then added the chicken back into the whole mixture to heat it up again.
 |
| Almost ready to eat! |
I spooned the mixture, along with some of the juices it was cooked in, over the brown rice, and it was ready to eat. I must say it came out very good (or I wouldn't have bothered to tell you about it).
 |
| Chicken, Zucchini, Tomato Stir Fry |
Mojo Marinade - this is a Carribean born marinade typically used for grilling, made up of mainly citrus juice flavors. I bought the bottled Bahia brand at the store, but it can be easily made from scratch. The ingredients are mainly lemon, orancge , and grapfruit juices with vinegar, garlic, onion,
cilantro and other seasonings.
Health Benefits of Zucchini
Zucchini and yellow squash are also known as summer squash and are in the same family as melons and cucumbers. Their main antioxidant ingredients are the cartenoids known as lutein and zeaxanthin. Both of these are powerful in protecting the eye, particularly against macular degeneration and cataracts. Lutien also reduces inflammation in the body as well as the skin, providing anti-cancer, cardiovascular, and digestive tract benefits. Also lutien reduces inflammation due to exposure to sunlight, producing less damage to skin structure. It is high in fiber and other components that help to keep insulin levels in balance and may help protect against the onset of Type 2 diabetes. Zucchini is also high in Vitamin C. For more complete information see The World's Healthiest Foods.
Health Benefits of Tomatoes - see this post of mine for information on the health benefits of tomatoes. It also has a great recipe for a Fresh Summer Veggie Wrap.
Please check out my Healthy, Fit, Ageless Store. There are some great fitness, skincare, and general wellness items, as well as some great healthy recipe books. You may find something beneficial, or some great gift ideas.
