Chicken & Bok Choy Stir-Fry

I have several food goals for 2013. One is to eat healthier in general (like just about everyone else in the world)! Another is to cook better fish dishes. And another is to expand our rotation of vegetables. Shake things up a bit. Expand our horizons. Personally, I'm rather excited about this. The rest of my family ... less so.

So, I have to choose my recipes carefully. If I'm going to try to get a new veg past their skeptical noses, it needs to be part of something rather delicious. This recipe, which I adapted from one I came across is Everyday Food magazine, did the trick!

First, slice 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts into thin strips. Coat them in 1/4 cup of cornstarch.

In a small bowl, mix 1/2 cup soy sauce, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar and 4 teaspoons brown sugar.

Mince 4 garlic cloves. Grate a cube of ginger about the size of a golf ball. Finely dice one jalapeno pepper.

Heat about 3-4 tablespoons of canola oil in a saute pan or wok. Quickly cook the garlic and ginger for only about 1 minute. Add the chicken and stir frequently until the chicken starts to brown. Keep cooking for about 5 minutes, until it's pretty much done.

You have a few choices here. I added a bag of Jr. Bok Choy. These are cute, little bite sized bok choy, and my kids are much more likely to eat the baby version of any vegetable. But you could easily use regular bok choy, and just slice it up. Either way, make sure you wash it really, really well. It's full of dirt - or at least, my bag was.

I put the lid over the whole thing so the steam could help to wilt the bok choy.

Continue to cook and stir for another 5-6 minutes. You want the bok choy to be on the tender side ... keep sticking a fork into the white part until they have softened a bit.

Toss the sauce mixture and the jalapeno in and cook until it thickens. This should take only a minute or two.

Give everything a good stir and serve over rice. It's got just a smidge of heat (so if you are totally heat averse, eliminate the jalapeno). Even my picky child ate it and decided that bok choy wasn't the worst vegetable in the world - which is actually a resounding endorsement coming from her. The other two kids gobbled it up! Success!

Enjoy!!