Back to Basics

One of my biggest food struggles is my inability to throw dinner together.  Now, I've made a wild boar ragu with homemade pasta followed by vanilla bean panna cotta and a strawberry blasamic sauce.  That was no problem, it had a very precise recipe to follow.  But just cooking up a couple of chicken breasts?  Terrifying!

Last night I modified an idea of my Mom's into something healthy and quite delicious.  She frequently uses the Lawry's Lemon Pepper marinade with chicken and veggies in a sort of stir-fry.  I found the marinade at the store but quickly dismissed it when I saw that high fructose corn syrup was the third ingredient.  I won't get into a debate over whether or not HFCS is evil, but if I can find a comparable product with better ingredients, I'll use that instead.  Thankfully just a few inches over I found Newman's Own Lemon Pepper marinade.  And for ten cents less!  Yay!


I got home with the marinade, chicken breasts, and a crapload of veggies.  Oh, and no idea how to execute my idea.  Whoops.  I cut up the breasts into small strips and let them marinate in the fridge with about 1/4 cup of the sauce.  Then I waited for Rich to get home and help me with the rest!  That's not true, while he was on his way home I chopped up the veggies. 

He dug out the wok and watched while I fumbled through cooking the chicken.  In the small strips it cooked up really fast.  Then we threw in the veg and let that cook a bit longer, I like my onions caramelized a bit.  IN the end we ended up with three chicken breasts and a ton of veggies.  Rich then informed me that he didn't like lemony food.  Oops.  He was a trooper and ate it anyway, and went for seconds.  But it probably won't be in our repertoire.  Next time maybe I'll try the sesame ginger instead. :)  It was cheap, easy, filling, and healthy so I'll find a way to make him like it!

Lemon Pepper (or not) chicken & veggie stir-fry
Three chicken breasts (or however many you want really) cut into stir-fry strips
1/4 cup marinade of choice (can add more at the end depending on taste)
2 medium onions (I used vidalias, cut in thin crescents)
1 orange pepper, cut to taste
1 red pepper, cut to taste
Handful of asparagus spears, cut into about 1 1/2 inch pieces
(Really just whatever veggies tickle your fancy, it's pretty forgiving.  I might add some diced garlic next time as well.  Because everything is better with garlic.)
Salt
Oil

Toss the cut up chicken in the marinade at let sit in fridge at least 30 minutes.

Heat the oil in the wok or large pan until shimmering.  Toss the chicken, sauce and all, in the wok until mostly cooked through.  This only takes a couple of minutes.  Set chicken to side.

Add a bit more oil if needed, heat again, and toss in veggies.  Sprinkle the veg with a pinch or two of salt.  Keep the pan moving to avoid burning.  Cook veggies until heated through and then to desired crispiness.  We had a LOT of veg and I like mine on the softer side so this took a while. 

Finally, add the chicken back to the veggie mixture and toss until cooked through.  This is a good time to add a bit more marinade if you want more sauce/flavor.

Serving options include fajita style, over rice, or just in a bowl like we did.

Enjoy!