Recipe: Kung Pao Chicken With Chile Soy Sauce & Peanuts!

Hello!! HAPPY Monday :D
How are you doing?! How was your weekend?! I hope your weekend was good!! Mine was pretty chill on Saturday and busy on Sunday :) It's the beginning of another week, so lets start fresh and make it as HEALTHY as possible! BRING IT ON!!

Today's post is a RECIPE :) I say (a lot...lol) that exercising and eating clean go hand-in-hand, so I'm always looking for good recipes! This baby looks delicious!! And...it's budget friendly...SCORE :D With sweet, salty, and spicy notes, this healthy dish has all the punch without excess salt and sugar. Once you start stir-frying, everything cooks quickly, so measure and chop all the ingredients before you heat the oil. To increase the heat, add up to 1 Tbsp red chile paste ;)

KUNG PAO CHICKEN WITH CHILE SOY SAUCE & PEANUTS
Serves: 4
Total time: 55 minutes

1 cup long-grain brown rice
10 oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thinly sliced
4 tsp reduced-sodium soy sauce, divided
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 tsp potato starch
1 tsp organic evaporated cane juice
Try: Wholesome! Fair Trade Organic Cane Sugar
2 Tbsp low-sodium chicken broth or water
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp red chile paste (such as sambal oelek)
1 Tbsp safflower oil, divided
6 to 8 whole dried red chiles, such as chile de arbol
2 stalks celery, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 small zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 small red bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
4 green onions, thinly sliced
3 Tbsp chopped unsalted dry-roasted peanuts

Cook rice according to package directions.

In a medium bowl, combine chicken, 1 tsp soy sauce, garlic, potato starch, and cane juice; set aside for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine remaining 3 tsp soy sauce, broth, vinegar, and chile paste; set aside.

In a large wok on medium-high, heat 1 1/2 tsp oil. Add dried chiles and stir-fry until chiles begin to brown but not burn, 45 seconds. Add chicken and stir-fry until cooked through and edges of chicken begin to turn golden, about 2 minutes. Push chicken and chiles to side of wok. Add remaining 1 1/2 tsp oil to center of wok. Add celery, zucchini, and bell pepper and stir-fry until vegetables are crisp-tender, 2 minutes. Add soy-broth mixture, toss all ingredients together and cook until sauce is thick and bubbly, about 1 minute. Add green onions; remove chiles just before serving. Serve with rice and top with peanuts.

Nutrients per serving (1 cup stir-fry and 3/4 cup rice): Calories 368. Total fat 10 g. Sat fat 1 g. Monounsaturated fat 3 g. Polyunsaturated fat 4 g. Carbs 45 g. Fiber 5 g. Sugars 5 g. Protein 23 g. Sodium 284 mg. Cholesterol 52 mg.

That's it for this post :D
Have a HEALTHY and PRODUCTIVE couple of days!
SEE YOU right back here on Wednesday!!