Chicken Stir-Fry

This continues to be a flexible and economical meal as well as a family favorite. While my family does eat beef, we prefer chicken for stir-fry meals. I usually buy chicken breasts when they are on sale, then bag them in 2 or 3 before I put them in the freezer. Now that there are not so many of us at home, I can probably use only one chicken breast for this meal; however, when more kids were at home, I could make a meal for 8, with 4 large eaters, with only 2-3 chicken breasts.

This meal can be expanded easily by adding more carrots or broccoli or adding other vegetables of your choice. I just find that the carrots and broccoli are bulkier than some other vegetables.

I have tried other juices and my family prefers apple.Yesterday I forgot to add the soy sauce to the sauce and even for my sweet tooth, it was TOO sweet. Although this sauce only uses a small amount of soy sauce, it balances the sweet apple juice.

One day I was out of cornstarch so I mixed the apple juice with a 1/4 cup flour until the flour was "dissolved" and it worked fine.

Chicken Stir Fry

1 Tablespoon oil
2 cups small broccoli flowerets
6 green onions
¼ cup gingerroot—cut into 1” toothpick size pieces (kind of julienned)

Stir fry and remove.

1 pound chicken breast cut into bite size pieces

Stir fry, add sauce. When sauce is thick, add vegetables and mix well. Serve over hot rice.

Sauce:

1 Tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon dry mustard
2/3 cup chicken broth
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons apple juice

Stir fry 3 medium zucchini shredded—about 4 cups—for 1 ½ minutes then arrange on a serving platter. Top with chicken mixture.

What I Do: I use 1-2 chicken breasts and add quite a few carrots when I stir fry the vegetables. Start the carrots first because they take the longest to cook. We prefer the gingerroot grated and added to the sauce. We like this sauce, it is very light and kind of glazes the chicken and vegetables, sometimes I omit the mustard. We like zucchini, yellow squash, cauliflower, green peppers, red peppers, and other vegetables added to this; although cauliflower is not our favorite. I often omit some of the other vegetables, but my family has decided that stir-fry MUST have broccoli and carrots. I sometimes use yellow or white onions instead of the green onions, although I prefer the green onions. I always serve this over rice, allowing 1-2 cups of rice per person.

Pasta Primavera

Some of my sons are very large eaters. One of them says that he loves it when we have pasta because he gets full then! I like pasta with meat sauce, but sometimes I feel in the mood for something different.

I really like pasta Alfredo, but find that it is so rich that I really can only eat it as a side dish. I was snooping around to find another sauce to use with pasta and I found this one. It is easy, inexpensive, and fills up my sons. :) Budget Tip: Buy the cream cheese when it is on sale and freeze it. When you are ready to make this recipe, just take it out of the freezer to thaw and the sauce is not affected by the change that sometimes occurs in cream cheese when it is frozen.

Serve topped with parmesan or romano cheese. I grew up using parmesan cheese, but a few years ago I found a romano cheese that I just love. The flavor is a little different than the parmesan.

Pasta Primavera

1 - 8 ounce package cream cheese (best if softenend, but not essential)
1 + cup of fresh vegetables (eg: carrots, brocolli, zucchini, mushrooms)
1-2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon oil; olive, corn, or vegetable
1 - 2 cups milk
1 pound pasta
grated parmesan or romano cheese


Put on a large pot of water to boil for the pasta. We usually use thin speghetti for this meal. Meanwhile, place cream cheese and 1 cup of milk on low heat to melt the cream cheese. It is not necessary to stir constantly, but be sure to keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn.

Depending on how many vegetables you are using and how fast you can prepare them, you can do the vegetable preparation while the cream cheese is melting or have them already prepared before you start the sauce.

Saute the garlic and vegetables in 1 Tablespoon oil for a few minutes until just tender crisp, like you would for stir fry vegetables. Set the vegetables aside.

Cook the pasta as directed on the package; be sure not to over cook it or it will be mushy. Drain and serve with sauce.

When the cream cheese has "melted" completely, you can add milk a little at a time until until the sauce is the consistency you would like. I like it to be like thick cream. Add the vegetables, mix well and serve over hot pasta.

This amount serves 2-4, depending on how much the people being served eat.


What I Do: I always use brocolli and carrots and other vegetables as I have on hand or feel like. I break the brocolli into very small flowerettes and I usually slice the carrots into matchsticks to vary the texture and size of vegetables. When I use zucchini I usually slice it in rounds. I usually dish up the pasta into the pasta bowls and serve a large spoon of sauce on each bowl of pasta. Top with parmesan or romano (my preference) cheese. My sons who are large eaters can eat this whole amount in one sitting; therefore, I normally at least double this. I like to use the most vegetables that the rest of the family will tolerate which is probably closer to 2 cups per 8 ounces of cream cheese and 1 1/2 - 2 cups milk.