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On-the-Go: Dinner in No Time

With school back in full swing, your schedule is probably filling up fast. Between work, picking up the kids from school, and getting them to all of their activities, how on earth are you supposed to find the time to make a healthy dinner?

Enter – stir-fry. It’s a quick and easy solution on those nights when time is tight. Stir-frying is a cooking method often featured in Asian cuisine, but it has become very popular right here in the United States. Now you can order stir-fry in restaurants or simply buy a bag of frozen stir-fry vegetables to cook in your own kitchen. 

Check out the 5 quick steps to a quick stir-fry dinner below:

1. Heat a small amount of oil (preferably canola or grapeseed oil) in a wok or a large frying pan over high heat. Note: A wok is a round-bottom pan popular for Asian cooking. It can be used to stir fry, braise, and stew foods.
2. “Season” the pan with whatever dry herbs and seasonings you desire. A common combination is garlic, scallions, and ginger.
3. Once those become fragrant and slightly golden from cooking (usually only about a minute or so), add any diced meat and chopped vegetables that you want. Stir continuously to help everything cook through and to prevent it from burning.
4. As you finish cooking, you can add a splash of soy sauce, sesame oil, or a low-calorie sauce for some extra flavor.
5. Serve your stir-fry over some brown rice or whole grain noodles if you wish.

**In some cases, you may want to partially cook your meat and/or vegetables before throwing them into the wok to make sure they cook through.

One of the things that makes stir-fry so easy is that you can add any combination of vegetables, meat, or meat substitutes. Try to keep a bag or two of stir-fry vegetables in your freezer. Frozen vegetables have a long keep time and are great for a rainy (or busy) day. You can also just throw together any veggies that you might have around the house.

Try a combination of the vegetables below:

• Bok Choy
• Peppers
• Onions
• Carrots
• Broccoli
• Green Beans
• Cauliflower
• Mushrooms
• Water Chestnuts
• Baby Corn
• Snap Peas
• Zucchini
• Asparagus

Pick any of these lean meats or meat substitutes for your stir-fry:

• Chicken Breast
• Lean Beef
• Lean Pork
• Scallops
• Shrimp
• Tofu

You can also add some natural sweetness to your stir fry by throwing in some pineapple chunks! Get creative and dinner will be ready in no time!

Feautred Cookbook

Asian Flavors Diabetes Cookbook

by Corinne Trang

This book takes elegant, easy to prepare, and naturally healthy recipes and meals of Asian cuisine and crafts them specifically for people with diabetes. Find more than 100 recipes from all over Asia.