I love summertime and trying to figure out what to do with all of those delicious vegetables coming from the garden … or the local farmers market. I have been thinking about my mother’s stir fry for a while and how I wished I had her sauce recipe; it was so good!

I started looking for stir fry sauce recipes online, and these recipes are only two of the many recipes I want to try before I can’t get a garden-fresh squash or zucchini. Both recipes are a bit time consuming but are well worth the effort.

When I try new recipes at home, I ask my husband and kids if the recipe is a keeper, and they all agreed that both of these are keepers. We hope you think so, too. Enjoy!

Chicken and Zucchini

Stir Fry

Stir Fry

3 chicken breasts

4 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

2 small zucchini

2 small yellow squash

1 medium onion

Sauce

3/4 cup sweet chili sauce

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice wine
vinegar

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon cold water

Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces.

Heat a large, deep skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil and allow it to heat through. Add the chicken and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Cook the chicken, stirring only occasionally until the outsides are golden brown. Remove the chicken and set aside covered on a plate.

While your chicken cooks, grab 2 small zucchini and 2 yellow squash. Cut them into 1/4-inch slices. Slice the onion into 1/4-inch rings.

Add 2 more tablespoons olive oil to the pan you cooked the chicken in. Let it heat through and add the vegetables. Cook over medium high heat until crisp-tender.

While the vegetables are cooking in a small saucepan, combine 3/4 cup sweet chili sauce, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons honey, 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water. Whisk it together. Heat it on the stovetop until bubbly (it should only take a couple of minutes).

When the veggies are done cooking, add the chicken back into the pan and pour the sauce over the top. Stir to combine. Serve immediately over rice.

Garlic Beef and Veggie Stir Fry with Ramen

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

2 1/2 tablespoons mince garlic

3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 pound flank steak

3-5 tablespoons vegetable oil

8 ounces each of the following: sliced mushrooms, sliced zucchini, sliced yellow squash, snap peas, red or orange bell pepper cut into 1-inch pieces

2 packages of 3-ounce ramen noodles

2 tablespoons sesame oil

1 cup low-sodium beef broth

1 tablespoon minced ginger

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2-1 full teaspoon red pepper flakes

Green onions to sprinkle on top

In a medium sized bowl, mix together 1/4 cup of the soy sauce, hoison sauce and 1 tablespoon minced garlic. Very thinly slice the flank steak against the grain into 1/4-inch-thick strips and then into 2-inch pieces. Place the steak into the bowl with the marinade and toss well to coat each piece of meat. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Place 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet and add all of the vegetables and cook over medium high heat until crisp-tender and transfer to a bowl.

If desired, drain the marinade from meat (I didn’t). Then add 3 tablespoons of cornstarch and toss to coat each piece.

In the same skillet over med high heat add another tablespoon of oil, when oil is shimmering add half the meat and spread out into a single layer and cook without moving until the meat is seared, about 1 1/2 minutes. Continue cooking and stir the meat until lightly cooked, but still pink in spots, another 30 seconds. Transfer to plate.

Add last remaining tablespoon of oil and repeat the same steps with this batch of meat and transfer to the meat plate.

In the same skillet add the sesame oil, the remaining 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons soy sauce, beef broth and remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons of minced garlic, minced ginger, brown sugar and red pepper flakes. Stir and cook over medium heat until sauce thickens a bit and reduces by a third; it takes about 10 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 teaspoon cornstarch and 1 teaspoon cold water until smooth. Whisk into sauce.

While sauce is reducing, boil a pot of water and cook the ramen noodles for exactly 2 minutes.

Drain and rinse in cold water. Add the cooked veggies, cooked meat and drained ramen noodles into the sauce.

Toss to coat and top with chopped green onions.