Cashew Chicken

Scott has been on earlies this week for what seems like the first time in ages. Therefore, he's actually been home at a decent time to eat with us...motivating me to actually cook a little this week.

I tried a new recipe from my Bolar cookbook last night (page 94 for you ladies who have it)...a super easy and tasty cashew chicken meal. All the boys loved it (except Adam who doesn't like anything these days unless it's his idea to eat it).

-2 boneless/skinless chicken breasts (I used 4 breasts instead)
-cornstarch
-olive oil
-5 T white wine vinegar (I used red wine vinegar because that's all I had on hand)
-5 T soy sauce
-5 T sugar
-1 cup green onions, chopped
-2 cups mushrooms, sliced
-1 cup cashews
-ginger
-minced garlic
-red cayenne pepper flakes
-sesame seeds

Cut up chicken into bit size pieces (this is done more easily when chicken is still slightly frozen) and coat with cornstarch. Place about 4-5 tablespoons of olive oil in a wok or large skillet and brown chicken. When brown, place chicken on a plate with a paper towel to drain and set aside. In a bowl, mix vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar. Add a little olive oil to wok and then add sauce. Add green onions and mushrooms and saute and stir for about 2 minutes. Add chicken and stir so that chicken is coated with the sauce. Add ginger, minced garlic, pepper flakes, and sesame seeds (I added about 1 clove of garlic and a few healthly shakes of all the rest....not quite as much of the pepper flakes). Stir in cashews. Simmer for a few minutes. Serve with rice.

This time I omitted the red pepper flakes and only dashed some on top of the adults plates...I didn't want to make the dish too spicy for the kids.

I served this with some crunchy chow mein noodles for topping and fortune cookies for dessert.

From the kitchen of Alison Pardee.