Mom's Meals: Chicken Stir Fry

In my adult life, I have discovered and executed exactly one recipe. Don't worry, my friends, I have already shared this recipe with you: Chicken & Black Bean Chili. I make it all the time. So I thought "I know, I'll share the recipe on rejoyce every time I make it" that way, twice a month, I just repost the recipe, you make chili, I make chili, and we're all happy. Who doesn't like chili? I mean if you're vegan, just don't use chicken or cheese or sour cream. Win-win. (I mean the recipe sounds awful at that point, but I guess it's a win for you and for the chicken.)

Then my agent told me that it was an atrocious idea to re-post the same blog post twice a month. Ok, I obviously don't have an agent but even I knew that idea sucked. Sure, life is often same-old, same-old, but blogs are supposed to be an escape from the unavoidable monotony. Blogs are fun and exciting and constantly changing and dynamic, am I right?

So then I thought, who has recipes I could share? And that was a no-brainer: my mom. I often* call my mom and say "What should I make for dinner?" When I do this, she recites 3-4 awesome, seasonal ideas, with step-by-step guidance including a play-by-play through where I should go in the grocery store. Because grocery stores? Terrifying.

I feel some sense of duty to the world to share these recipes for all those poor unfortunate souls who don't have phone call access to this wealth of cooking knowledge - so decided to start this new series (!!) on my blog: Mom's Meals. The first meal: Chicken Stir Fry.

What you need:

Chicken Breast (as much as you want! We made 1.5lbs & had leftovers)

Vegetable Oil

Broccoli (as much as you want!)

1 can Cashews (halves and pieces) 

1 can Sliced Water Chestnuts

1 can Bamboo Shoots

1 jar Stir Fry Sauce

Serve With:

Rice

La Choy crunchy noodles

(The nice part about stir fry is you don't need specific amounts - just get what looks right! Are you obsessed with water chestnuts? Get 2 cans! Hate bamboo shoots? Don't get them! I could do this all day, but you get the idea.)

1 Cut fat off of chicken and cut chicken into small bite-size pieces.  

2 On stove top, heat skillet with vegetable oil over medium heat, add chicken and stir fry until chicken turns white/is done.  

3 While cooking chicken, steam broccoli in microwave for about five minutes, until no longer frozen. (You can also use fresh broccoli - then steam if for 3 and half or 4 mins.)**

4 When done, remove chicken with slotted spoon and place on plate.  Next, add cashew nuts*** and stir fry them until slightly browned, which does not take long.  Remove and put on plate with chicken. 

5 Add more vegetable oil to pan, and stir fry broccoli.  Next, add water chestnuts and bamboo shoots and stir fry them as well.  

6 Finally, add chicken and cashews back into the mix and top everything off with stir fry sauce.  You may not need to use the full bottle.  Mix it in well and heat until warm.

7 Enjoy! Serve with Rice and La Choy crunchy noodles, and bask in the glory of your homemade meal. You might even want to brag about it on one of your social media outlets. You deserve it.

In total, this took me about 30-45 mins to make! Not bad at all. (Stephen was helping out some too, but I'm exceptionally slow so you can probably beat my time.) AND note that you don't have to turn on the oven. YAY. Life tip #1: If you never turn on the oven, you never have to burn yourself putting things in and taking things out of the oven.

I'm aiming to post more Mom's Meals recipes about twice a month - I hope you enjoy them!

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*often = when the stars are aligned and I decide to get in touch with my domestic side and make something for dinner that isn't a reservation.
**You can also use this time to eat cashews. I always forget how good cashews are until I have a full can of JUST them. They are like the sour patch watermelon of the nut kingdom. Far superior to other (non-candied) nuts.
***If you have any left.