Fabulous Chicken Vegetable Stir-fry

In other breaking news, it's still snowing here in Minnesota. And the flakes are a never-ending bane of my existence. In the midst of the house hunt, we ended up looked at a few nice places in Arizona and California. As much as I love my four seasons, I really did consider it, as this is getting really old. 

 I want to switch to white wine. I want to jog outside away from the over crowded and smelly gym.  I don't want to be sopping wet and almost die every time I go to work over the huge bridge. It's really  not a lot to ask, is it mother nature?


Anywho, I've been having a lot of fun in the kitchen these past few days, and have a bunch of new recipes to share with you lovelies out there in cyber space. There are a few foods I could live off of forever if I had too, and I make and consume them often.  Here's a list, in no particular order:
- Sushi
- Blood Orange Gelato
-Nutella

- Ginger cookies

- Sweet Potato Chips

- my homemade egg rolls
- All Chinese foods that aren't grossly salty

 Going off my last two favorites from above, I made a veritable Chinese feast for us and some pals the other day, and we almost should have invited the neighbors up because I made so much. I guess I'll never get over cooking food in huge proportions from my culinary days. Oh well, leftovers are good, right?

Fabulous Chicken Vegetable Stir-fry

• -2 T soy sauce
• 2 T rice vinegar
• 2 T oyster sauce
• 1 T cornstarch
• 1 T toasted sesame oil
• 2 T Canola Oil
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken , cut into 1/2-inch strips
• 3 T minced peeled fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1 bunch broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces
• - 1 cup julienne carrots
• -2 stalks chopped celery
• -1 cup chopped mushrooms
• -1 medium onion
• - 1 medium red pepper
• -1 cup snap peas
• - 1 can water chesnuts ( 1/2 cup)
• *Serve with Brown Rice

Directions

-Whisk together soy sauce, vinegar, oyster sauce, cornstarch, and sesame oil. In a wok or large skillet, heat vegetable oil over high. Add chicken and cook until browned, 10 minutes. Add ginger, garlic, scallions, and broccoli and cook, stirring frequently, until broccoli is bright green, 3 minutes. Add the remaining veggies and 1/4 cup water, scraping up browned bits with a wooden spoon. Stir in soy sauce mixture and cook, stirring, until thickened, 1 minute. Serve warm with rice.

The homemade sauce on this dish is rich, pungent and flavorful. Often Stir-fry's are salty as hell and the vegetables are soggy remnants of what they ought to be, which is so unappetizing. Fresh veggies cooked until slightly crisp really make this dish get something special. It's worth it to invest in some oyster sauce and seasame oil, especially if you like to experiment with Oriental dishes. The flavors are unique and well worth a few extra bucks to make your food really amazing.

You can use any variety of vegetables you like. We like all veggies, so I just put everything I can think of and have on hand in it.I served this with a refreshing Moscato and home made egg rolls. My guests begged for doggie bags, and I was glad I'd made plenty for us all to have leftovers!