Pioneer Woman's Monday Night Stir Fry

Okay, I saw this recipe and really wanted to give it a go. As you all know, I grew up eating Chinese food nearly every day, but my mother lacked the patience to really teach me how to cook it.

But I made a new year's resolution to at least try to cook more Chinese food. And I used green onions, snow peas, and cilantro from the garden. This is the first year David has tried growing snow peas. They're doing really well, and they're so pretty... I had to take a picture of 'em all by themselves.

I admit...Chinese food isn't hard to make, but it take a while to cut up and prepare all the fresh vegetables. By the time we sat down to eat, I was starving and praying it would taste good. It did. The chicken did not have the same flavor I am accustomed to (like my mom's), but I know why. My mom marinates her chicken for several hours in soy sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch, and sake (Japanese rice wine). I will have to go down to the local Asian market for the sake--and I intend to do just that this weekend! So when I make this again, I will replace some of the soy sauce with some sake. I also made brown rice instead of white, and used a sugar substitute instead of real sugar (for the hubby).

You do not need a wok for this recipe, but a heavy skillet is necessary, and it shouldn't be the non-stick, Teflon coated type. You want the pan to get screaming hot, and you're not supposed to heat a non-stick/Teflon pan beyond medium. I have a wok, and I seldom use it--something I hope to remedy this year if I stick to my resolution.

And it is fun to eat this with chopsticks--we all use them, even the kids. But using a fork or spoon is perfectly fine :-).

The Pioneer Woman's Monday Night Stir Fry

Here is the link to the recipe on Ree's site (since her posts are much prettier than mine).

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/12/monday-night-stir-fry/

Ree says you need to have all your ingredients at hand, and she is darn right. My mom always had everything ready BEFORE she started cooking. Stir-frying food goes really, really fast, and you need all your veggies, sauces, etc. prepped and right at your fingertips.

I only took one picture during the cooking process. Like I said, stir fry cooks very fast, and I didn't want to burn anything because my gas burner was cranked up on HIGH.

Here's the finished dish!

One more just for show...

I cooked some brown rice to go with our stir-fry (David requested it b/c it's fewer points).

If you've got chopsticks, it's time to break 'em out and try this dish!

God bless your table tonight!