Stir fry - Learn it, Love it, Eat it!

This post is dedicated to (in my opinion) the easiest, best dinner concoction ever, so get familiar with this tern and cooking action if you want easy / delicious food at home.  If you are cooking solo, or for others it can be a great, well-rounded, yummy meal any night.  Stir fry's by definition are:  To quickly fry small pieces of food in a large pan over very high heat while constantly and briskly stirring the food, requires a minimum amount of fat and results in food that is crisply tender according to http://www.epicurious.com.

As the definition states it is a quick way to produce big taste. Other great things about stir fry is you can change what goes into it every time so that you don't get bored eating the same thing each time.  Shir fry should have the same basic ingredients: vegetables, meat, seasoning and optional carbohydrate or sauce.

Below are some recipes for healthy/ filling and yummy stir-frys:

chicken sausage, pepper & onion from my day 4 blog click here

Turkey, broccoli, cauliflower, mushroom, onion, and brown rice:
 - sliced turkey breast (chopped into pieces)
 - chopped cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms & onions or other veg combo you might like better <-- i know a lot of people are not mushroom fans
 - salt, pepper, basil, oregano, garlic to taste, can also use soy sauce if you like that... comes down to personal taste preferences
 - instant brown rice - i like the trader joes ones that come in single serve packets you can heat for a minute or two in the microwave, I think uncle ben's makes something similar as well. 

Cook all the veggies, seasoning and meat first and get them crisp, then add the heated brown rice and cook about another minute or two and you have your meal in about 10- 15 min :)  see last nights below:

Chicken w/ mixed veggies:
  - I like chicken breast so I usually am preferential to that, but any chicken meat will do.  You can also get  pre-cooked frozen chicken, or if you are vegetarian I like the faux-chicken patties from morning star and boca burger 
 - mixed chopped vegetables.  you can buy pre-chopped veggies at any whole foods / trader joes/ or frozen ones I think at any super market.  Some of the frozen ones can come in yummy sauces already, but you have to careful because they can also often be high in sodium so just check the package first if that is a concern of yours.

directions - heat a pan with cooking spray and/ or olive oil.  cook the chicken so that it browns and set aside.  then cook the veggies and re add the chicken back in once the veggies are cooked.  If you have enough pan you can cook separately  if your chicken becomes dry, i suggest adding some chicken broth (this will help add/ keep some favor as well as keep food from sticking to bottom without adding more oil).

To add a carb to this meal, I usually like to chomp on crackers or pretzels while cooking and/or have some chocolate for dessert so I usually will not add pasta or rice to this dish.

*Side Note: Remember meals should be well rounded and the RDA (recommended dietary allowance) for carbs is that they should be about 60% of your diet for most healthy people.   This is just an tangential point if you are concerned about balanced meals.

If you have any specific questions about the above recipes please let me know or if you have some of your own you would like me to try/ post I am would love the suggestions!!  Happy eating :)