Chicken and Vegetable Stir Fry

Today's Fit Friday recipe is about the Zone Diet.  This is really how we prefer to eat at our house.  Why?  Because the Zone Diet is all about portions and being well-rounded in your meals.  Of course it also means using minimal sugar and fats, being careful on salt and processed foods.  Where possible, I try to use simple ingredients, whole grains, and lean meats.  It might seem complicated, but it really is not.  It might also seem like it takes a while to cook this way, but it doesn't.  I have a policy in my meals - if it takes me more than an hour to get dinner on the table, it's not going there during the week.  I might make a fancy meal on the weekend, but during the week when I pressed for time and have other obligations, I make meal preparation as simple as possible.

So today's recipe, Chicken and Vegetable Stir Fry, is exactly that.  Simple, easy to prepare.  I used asparagus, mushrooms, and onion as my vegetables.  Fresh and compliment the chicken and sauces.  I like to use water chestnuts in my stir fry to mix up the textures.  If you don't like water chestnuts, it's not a deal breaker.  It still tastes great without them.  But I like variety, and crispy is a nice change up in this recipe.  One note though - for photography purposes, I used white rice.  But with a true Zone Diet recipe, you would have brown rice. Or better yet, Quinoa.

Chicken and Vegetable Stir Fry

Ingredients:

2 Tbs. canola oil
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 medium white onion, thinly sliced
8 oz. sliced white mushrooms
1 can water chestnuts, drained
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup stir fry sauce
1/4 cup oyster sauce
Brown Rice (or Quinoa)

Directions:

1. Prepare rice.  While rice is cooking, prepare stir fry.  Add oil to a wok or large skillet and preheat over medium high heat.

2. Add chicken.  Stir fry for 5 minutes or until center is no longer pink.  Remove chicken with a slotted spoon and place on plate.  Set aside.

3. Add asparagus and onion to wok and stir fry for 3 minutes.  Add mushrooms.  Stir fry for 3 more minutes.  Add water, cover, and allow vegetables to steam for an additional 3 minutes.

4. Return chicken to wok.  Add sauces and toss with vegetables and chicken to coat.  Serve immediately over rice.

Serves 4

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Asian Grilled Salmon

Fish is such a wonderful, high protein meal.  Our family loves it in all varieties.  Grilled, fried, in tacos, in sushi... And since we have family in Alaska, we have become very fond of salmon.  Did you know that Pacific Salmon is the best quality salmon you can get?  Atlantic Salmon is usually farmed.  Where Pacific Salmon is most wildly caught.  It's beautifully pink, sometimes closer to red.  And it isn't full of mercury like it's Eastern version.  Most often I have to buy it at my local fish market (for those of you in Las Vegas, check out Seafood City on Maryland) or I have even found it at Costco (and it's CHEAP there!).

This recipe is chalk full of Asian flavors - soy sauce, ginger, and garlic.  It's a wonderful compliment to this fleshy fish.  With the brown sugar and the honey in the marinade, it gives a nice caramelized char to the fish.  So while the outside gets crispy, the inside stays nice and tender and moist.  And here's a tip - if you buy it at your local fish market, usually they will remove the skin and debone it for you!  If not, you can still grill it with the skin - it comes off very easily after cooking it.

Asian Grilled Salmon

Ingredients:

3 Tbs. melted butter
3 Tbs. packed brown sugar
3 Tbs. soy sauce
3 Tbs. olive oil
3 Tbs. honey
1 Tbs. ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb. salmon

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients, except salmon, in a medium bowl.  Whisk until combined.  Pour half into a gallon size ziploc bag.  Reserve remaining.

2. Slice salmon into 4 pieces.  Place in ziploc bag and allow to marinade for 30 minutes, flipping bag once.

3. Preheat grill on medium heat.  Grease grill.

4. Place salmon pieces on hot grill and cook for 10-20 minutes, using remainder of marinade to brush over salmon 2 or 3 times during cooking.  Salmon will be cooked when it flakes easily with a fork.

Serves 4

**Important Tip: DO NOT keep any remaining marinade.  Discard to avoid salmonella poisoning.

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Turkey Meatloaf with Sesame Lime Dressing

Ingredients:

1/2 cup milk 
1/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1 1/2 lbs. ground turkey
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 Tbs. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
5 Tbs. soy sauce, divided
4 tsp. sesame oil, divided
2 Tbs. lime juice
2 Tbs. water
2 tsp. honey

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan with shortening or cooking spray.

2. Combine bread crumbs, milk, turkey, beaten egg, salt, ginger, chopped cilantro, 1 Tbs. of the soy sauce, and 2 tsp. of the sesame oil.

3. Spoon mixture into muffin pan. Place in oven and bake until cooked through, about 20-30 minutes. 

4. While meatloafs cook, combine lime juice, water, honey, remaining soy sauce, and remaining of oil in a small bowl. 

5. Remove meatloafs from pan immediately and place in a serving dish. Whisk sauce to recombine then drizzle sauce over each.

Serves 4 (Really good served with a side of steamed snow peas)

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