Mouth Watering Chicken Stir-Fry in Less Than 25 Minutes

One of the staple meals for people who are eating healthy is chicken, mainly grilled chicken. As a fitness boot camp instructor, I hear ladies talk often about the healthy choices they are making with food. And when I say "talk," I mean complain. Ha! I'm just kidding. They don't always complain about it. But it can be a difficult transition, and finding healthy alternatives can get tiresome and old. We have cooked a lot of chicken in this house, and it came to the point when my husband finally said, "I don't want anymore boring grilled chicken." He had had enough. So, I have been trying to find new ways to prepare it and one of my favorites is in a mouth-watering stir-fry. It's so simple and it's ready pretty quickly, so it's another easy one to throw together on those weeknights when you get home from work and have a ravenous family waiting on you.
Oh, and I don't have a lot of pictures with this one. In fact, it's just the finished product. I know most people who blog about food have pictures to accompany each step of the preparation, but I just get too wrapped up in the cooking - I want to get it finished and eat! And I always feel the need, when I blog about food, to add the disclaimer that I am not a professional cook, nor did I go to culinary school. I'm just a working mom looking for tasty and healthy meals for my family.

Here are some things to keep in mind: Instead of using a can of corn, you can easily just chop the kernels off of two large cobs of corn. I actually prefer it that way, but I took the easy way out the other night and used canned corn. If you struggle with your sodium intake, you may want to consider leaving out the artichoke hearts. Instead, squeeze the juice of a lemon into the dish while it's cooking. It adds a lovely citrus element to it. Finally, usually I mince up a couple of cloves of garlic for this dish and add them while the chicken is cooking at the beginning, but this particular recipe utilizes garlic powder. You do whatever floats your boat.

You'll need the following:
Approximately 1 pound of chicken tenderloins, cubed
2 medium zucchini, chopped
1 medium yellow squash, chopped
1 12 oz can of sweet corn, drained and rinsed
(You can also just cut the kernels off of 2 cobs of corn.)
1 12 oz can of artichoke hearts
1/2 cup of halved golden sunburst tomatoes
1/2 cup of halved cherub tomatoes
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. dried basil
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1/8 c. grated Romano cheese
2 tbsp. of olive oil

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil and then add the chicken and let it cook for a few minutes on each side. I usually chop the squash and zucchini while the chicken is cooking. After the chicken has cooked for several minutes, push it to the outsides of the skillet, creating a hole in the center and add in the squash and zucchini. Allow that to cook for several minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure it's not sticking. While that is cooking, go ahead and drain and rinse your corn and artichoke hearts and have them ready to go. Then, begin chopping your tomatoes. Add the artichoke and corn to the skillet and stir it well. Let that cook for a few minutes and then add the tomatoes. Let it cook for several minutes more while you add the seasoning and mix it well. Top it off with the Romano cheese.

That's it! You have a healthy and filling meal. Serve it with a salad, if you like. We actually braised some purple cabbage to go along with it, and it made for a wonderfully colorful meal. This makes approximately four servings and the nutritional information below is for one serving. Feel free to leave your comments and any adjustments you may have made with the recipe below.

Chicken Stir-Fry Nutritional Info:
Calories: 332.5
Total Fat: 9.7 g
Saturated Fat: 1.7 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Cholesterol: 68.1 mg
Sodium: 1006.5 mg
Total Carbs: 34.7 g
Dietary Fibers: 7.5 g
Sugars: 13.5 g
Protein: 32 g
Great source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium and Iron