Mess of a Stir Fry!!

All day I was looking forward to getting off work because I was going home to try a brand new recipe!! I am trying to do as many recipes from my Weight Watchers Cookbook as well as from the Comfort Food Fix book because I want more and more healthy recipes to become regular recipes!!

I ended up having to go by the grocery store when I got off work so we kind of ate later than normal, but this recipe was worth the time it took to make it!!

You need quite a few ingredients actually: 

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons cornstarch

4 teaspoons canola oil

1lb skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch strips

1 red bell pepper, cut into strips

4 scallions, cut into 1-1/2 inch lengths

1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger (I used ground ginger)

3 garlic cloves, minced (I used garlic powder)

1/2 cup reduced sodium chicken broth

1/4 cup orange juice

3 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce

1 orange, peeled and sectioned

2 cups hot cooked brown rice

 

 First step, combine your cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl. Stir until you get a creamy texture, than set aside.

Then slice up your chicken. Essentially cut them into strips like you would for a stir fry!

Turn up the heat on your stove and place a wok or deep pan on top of the burner. Pour your canola oil into the pan and let it heat a little bit. Toss in your chicken and cook them up just like you would a stir fry.

While your chicken is cooking take this time to slice up your bell peppers and scallions (a.k.a green onions). The next time I make this dish I will definitely be doing prep work the night before as it does take some time.

Once your chicken is cooked set it aside in a bowl, but keep it close by to your pan. DO NOT REMOVE YOUR PAN FROM THE HEAT!!

Toss your broccoli florets and red pepper slices into your frying pan. Cook it like a stir fry for a couple minutes, then place a lid over the top and let it cook for 4 minutes, or until your broccoli is tender.

In those four minutes you are waiting around you can A. start washing dishes or B. get your rice going. I'm a huge fan of the Boil in a Bag rices (props to my friend Laura for telling me about these) so I just need to get it to boil. 

You can also take this time to peel and section your orange. And then just set those aside on a plate and remember to wash your hands! If you are like me then you rub your eyes a lot at night and the sting from the orange is so not worth it, especially when you have contacts in!

After the 4 minutes or up, or for me it was closer to 6 because we don't have a lid that's big enough for our pan. Toss in your scallions, ginger, and garlic powder. Now we both absolutely LOVE ginger so I added a BUNCH of that!! You can never go wrong with more ginger!!

Stir fry that for about 1 minute. While that's cooking for a minute take this time to quickly re stir your cornstarch mixture. Mix together your orange juice, remaining water (1/4 cup) and your soy sauce. Dump the liquid mixture, the corn starch and your chicken back in the pan with your veggies. 

Keep this on the stove top just long enough for the sauce to bubble and thicken.

Be prepared for a strong aroma to fill up your kitchen! It's pretty amazing!! And just look at that mixture...can you say YUM?!?!?

Right before you are ready to serve this dish toss in your oranges and just let it warm up a little bit.

If you are following watchers go ahead and load your plate up with 1-1/2 cups of the chicken/veggie mixture and 1/2 cup of your brown rice. Seriously this is so much for food for only 8 POINTS!! Serious - it's only 8 POINTS for ALL THAT FOOD!!!! Crazy right? And super cool fact - it's so filling I didn't even finish that whole plate!!

This meal was so good and so worth the work! I mean look at that, how can you not think it's worth it?

The oranges are such an odd item to put in this stir fry, in my opinion but it really adds quite a bit of flavor. It really balances well with everything else! And I love soy sauce and ginger so I knew with those two flavors this recipe would be a winner, but seriously the orange caught me off guard with how well it went with everything else!!

I highly recommend every one try this recipe. Chuck cleaned his plate and he is definitely not on weight watchers. And it's really such a filling and low point dinner. I am still amazed it's only 8 points. 8 points!!!!!!!!!!! I know you weight watcher peeps are going WOW SERIOUSLY!!! Yes seriously!!

TRY IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!