Stir Fried Chicken and Vegetables with a Spicy Sweet Sauce and a Grain of Salt

We have stir fry quite often it seems. It's healthy, very adaptable to what's in your fridge, and oh yes, it tastes so good.  After my husband had his single bypass, we thought that we could never eat Chinese Food again, because of the sodium content.  As we have discovered, that pitching the salt shaker and  cooking with herbs and spices, the food tastes so much better and flavorful, than BHS, Before Heart Surgery!  Now, I'm not going to say that it is easier to cook with less sodium, and make everything from scratch,  because you have to read every label, even mustard has sodium, but is definitely worth it in the long run for the health benefits., and the food definitely tastes better, in my opinion. You did get to skip whole aisles in the grocery store, because you're not buying any prepared foods or mixes, that way you control the amount of sodium that you want in your food.

  The RDA, Recommended Daily Amount of sodium is 2300 mg of sodium, about 1 tsp.  for the average adult.  If you are over 51 , and have hypertension, diabetes or kidney disease, RDA is now 1500mg of sodium, or 3/4 tsp salt. You might say that you're young, so you can eat anything that you want. Unhealthy habits will take their toll on you eventually. Or if there is a history of heart disease in your family.  Both of my boys inherited their father's heart disease in their late 20's!!!  One has high cholesterol, and the other has high blood pressure.  Of course, it's everything in moderation, when dealing with a low sodium, , low fat diet.  We do not eat fast food anymore, and before we would only eat Subway, so now we don't even eat that any more. There are been articles on the web recently about the excessive amounts of sodium in the restaurant entrees, OMG!!  Some of the amounts are two days RDA of sodium in one meal.

The stir fry pictured above has greatly reduced sodium.  I made the Spicy Sweet sauce with  mango salsa, which had  low sodium 190 mg/ 2 tbsp, reduced sodium Teriyaki sauce, which has 320 mg/Tbsp, white wine, low sodium chicken broth from Trader Joe's, and thickened with cornstarch, plus the spices and herbs.   I subbed the Teriyaki sauce for the low sodium soy sauce, because Teriyaki sauce has 320 mg/tbsp, where the low sodium Soy Sauce has 575 mg/1 tbsp.  Because I made this during the blizzard of 2011, the only fresh veggies I had was a zucchini. I did have a bag of frozen stir fry veggies from super Target with 25 mg of sodium/ 3/4 cup, and then I added my sliced zucchini.  If you can it's better to buy the plain vegetables, and make your own sauces, for stir fry, or anything else for that matter.  Just look at sodium content of the frozen prepared foods in the freezer, and your jaw will drop. You can reduce your sodium content by taking baby steps at first, just subbing out a few ingredients, or one meal.  As you progress it will get easy to watch the sodium.

Stir Fried Chicken with Spicy Sweet Sauce 4 servings

1 lb of chicken breasts, diced in small pieces

1-2 cloves of garlic minced

1 small onion, diced

2 Tbsp.canola or peanut oil

1 bag Frozen Stir Vegetables, or any fresh vegtables of your choice, mushrooms, broccoli, water chestnuts, Baby Bok Choy, etc.

1small zucchini, sliced

Red pepper flakes(optional)

Sunny Singapore seasoning  ( a mix  of East and West spices)

Spicy Sweet Sauce

2 Tbsp. mango salsa, or any salsa of your choice

1 Tbsp  low sodium Teriyaki sauce

1/4 c, low sodium chicken stock(I use Trader Joe's)

Splash of white wine

1 Tbsp of cornstarch

1/4 c cold water

What to Do

Heat wok or large skillet on high.  Add olive oil, garlic, and onion for 2-3 min.  Add diced chicken, stirring until lightly brown and cooked through.  Remove from pan and set aside in bowl.  Add stir veggies, fresh and frozen, and cook until crisp, 3-4 min. then, add chicken back to pan with veggies,  seasonings Add all of sauce ingredients, except cornstarch and water, to wok, and heat over medium heat Stir well.  Mix cornstarch into cold water and mix well.  Stir into wok and heat until sauce is thickened.  Serve immediately over rice.  Enjoy!