Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Tasty AND Healthy!

I often like to hit up our town library for new cookbooks to try. One of my favorites that I've found there is called Saving Dinner by Leanne Ely. The book is geared toward busy working moms and is organized by season and then by week. The idea is to get a healthy, easy to prepare dinner on the table for your family every night of the week, all year long. Each chapter includes enough main dishes for a week, along with a shopping list, and suggested side dishes. While I am not exactly in the targeted demographic, I have found some interesting new recipes in this book.

This cashew chicken recipe isn't exactly authentic, but the sauce is really tasty (if not a bit too sweet for some). It's also really versatile - you can really throw in any veggies you like.

Cashew Chicken
Recipe courtesy of Saving Dinner by Leanne Ely


Ingredients...

  • ¾ cup orange juice
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • ¼ cup soy sauce
  • 1 T cornstarch
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • 2 T vegetable oil, divided
  • 4 green onions, chopped
  • 2 large carrots, sliced
  • 1 celery stalk, sliced
  • **I also added some chopped bok choy and sugar snap peas
  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch strips
  • 1 cup cashews
Directions...

In a bowl, combine juice, honey, soy sauce, cornstarch, and seasonings.

In a wok or large skillet, heat 1 T oil until it begins to smoke. Stir-fry vegetables for several minutes until the onions become fragrant. Set aside and keep warm.

In the same skillet, heat another tablespoon of oil until smoking and stir-fry chicken strips until browned and tender.

Add cooked vegetables, cashews, and sauce mixture. Continue cooking until sauce bubbles and thickens.

**I served over brown rice.

1 comment:

What's Cookin Chicago said...

Looks great and this serves as a great reminder that I have bok choy I need to use up ASAP before it hits the garbage! :)