Pacific Rim Stir-Fry

This recipe is adapted from Better Homes and Gardens "Easy Everyday Cooking" - a great book.

We like this recipe because it's delicious, it uses up whatever vegetables we have in the fridge, and there is no added sugar in this stir fry recipe.

Ingredients:
3oz rice sticks.vermicelli (substitute with quinoa, rice or couscous)
12 oz chicken or beef strips
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons snipped fresh basil or 2 teaspoons crushed dried basil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon chile oil or 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (or anything with some heat)
1/2 teaspoon ground tumeric (good for you, but not sure how necessary for flavour)
1 tablespoon cooking oil
4 cups of cut up vegetables (ie carrots, broccoli, peppers)
1/4 cup cashew halves or peanuts

Directions:
Cook your noodles/rice/quinoa etc while you're making the stir fry

For sauce, in a small bowl combine chicken broth, basil, soy sauce, cornstarch, chile oil/ crushed red pepper and tumeric; set aside.

Add cooking oil to a wok or 12-inch skillet. Preheat over medium-high heat (add more oil if necessary during cooking). Stir fry firm vegetables (ie carrots) for 2-3 min. Add remaining softer vegetables and stir fry for another few minutes until veggies are crisp-tender. Remove from wok. Add chicken to wok. stir-fry for 2-3 min or until no longer pink inside. Push from center of wok.

Stir sauce. Add to center of wok. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Return cooked vegetables to wok. Stir all ingredients together to coat. Cook and stir until everything is heated through.

Serve immediately over rice/noodles/quinoa. Top with cashews or peanuts. Makes 4 servings.

Nutritional information per serving: 309 calories, 17g protein, 32 g carbohydrate (when made with rice noodles), 13g fat, 41 mg cholesterol, 749mg sodium