shock and awe

On my menu plan for these week I had tonight slotted as Sesame chicken w/brown rice and veggies. Yep, that's right; I said veggies. Here's the thing: Vegetables and I haven't ever really been friends. At least not close friends. We're working on our relationship right now. My favorite vegetable would have to be the cucumber. So refreshing and crispy-crunchy. Mmmm (note the address of this blog).

I'm picky, to say the least. In the last few years I've had good luck with stir fries and eating some bite sized veggie pieces in there. Granted the veggies I tend to stick with are all ones I dig, but I've experimented with the random broccoli tree and carrot with decent luck (read: I haven't spit it out, gagged, or ignored the poor little veggie). It wasn't something I'd say I enjoyed, but was tolerable. That is, until tonight.

Tonight I made a concoction loosely based on a recipe from WW. I didn't have any ginger, dry sherry or maple syrup on hand, so I simply omitted those ingredients. It was more like chicken fried rice with sesame seeds sprinkled on top.

Here's what I did:
As the brown rice was a cookin' I coated the chicken and started sauteing. After getting that going I minced some garlic and tossed it into a little EVOO in a low-heat pan and then removed after about 4 or 5 minutes. In the same pan I tossed in some peeled carrots, then some frozen peas, very small cut broccoli "trees", and diced red peppers (I forgot to add in the green onion til the end) and a few dashes of sesame oil. After that was cooking on med-high to high heat for about 15 min. (total guess on time) I tossed in the cooked brown rice and the garlic and mixed it all around. Then I added in my chicken and sprinkled on the sesame seeds and some low-sodium soy sauce.


The VERDICT: As if you couldn't guess, this one was yummy. It had lots and lots of flavor and wasn't overly asian spice tasting or really greasy and heavy. I wanted to go back for seconds, but because it was nearly 8pm by the time I ate I decided to refrain. Besides I'll be excited to eat the leftovers at work tomorrow. I'd say one of the main reasons the veggies in this dish were yummy were the flavors they were married with and also the fact that I kept the veggies in very small pieces.


Tomorrow night I'll be sharing a meal with friends. We're having pork roast, stuffing, green beans and some other goodness.

What's yummy from your kitchen?