Standing in the kitchen at 6:00 pm with a pound and a half of raw chicken is not a fun place to be when your family is hungry. That is where I found myself the other night. I was looking through my menu options, I make a month of menus to cut down on those days that I turn to ordering out or heading to a restaurant. But, even that wasn’t doing it for me. I didn’t feel inspired. Part of the problem was I wasn’t overly hungry so that I didn’t have the urge to cook and be creative.

I finally found 2 large heads of broccoli in the refrigerator and it hit me. Chicken and Broccoli with rice. Simple and my family loves Chinese food in any form.

Verdict:

This was a hit. It was simple to make, which made me happy. It tasted good, which made my family happy. I felt good about what I was feeding them – I knew exactly what was going into our Chinese food.

For my mostly gluten-free son he was happy because this meal was entirely gluten-free and he could eat the same meal we had.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs. chicken breasts, cut into 1″ cubes
• 2 large stalks of broccoli, cut into florets and tender stalks sliced thinly
• 1 Tablespoon canola oil
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• I added a handful of pea pods that I had leftover from another meal. You can add carrot sticks, chopped peppers and onions as you would like

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and garlic to pan. Cook until chicken begins to cook through.
2. Add 1 3/4 cup of the broth, the soy sauce, ginger and sugar. Cover and cook over medium heat 5 minutes, stirring twice.
3. Add broccoli to the pan. Cover and cook about 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chicken is no longer pink in center and broccoli are crisp-tender.
4. Mix cornstarch with remaining 1/4 cup broth; stir into chicken mixture. Cook, stirring frequently, until sauce is thickened.
5. Serve over rice or noodles.