Easy Sweet and Sour Veggie Stir Fry

Last night for dinner I needed vegetables, I needed tasty and I needed it quick. I decided to do a stir fry but needed a tasty, clean sauce to go with it. I've moved away from using a lot of store bought sauces because I just like to make them from scratch and I can avoid unwanted additives. I googled "sweet and sour sauce" and realized that it was extremely simple to make. I even had all the ingredients on hand already. Fewww.

I was very pleased with how this dish turned out. As I was bathing Jackson, however, I heard my hubby shout from the bottom floor, "Hey, there's no meat in this thing!" Yes, that was the point my love.

Feel free to add whatever meat you would like, but I certainly didn't miss it. Keep this quick recipe on hand for a busy holiday night when you need something tasty and healthy, just like I did.

Easy Sweet and Sour Veggie Stir Fry

(over grain of choice)

2-3 cups of cooked whole grain (like quinoa, brown rice or barley) to serve on the bottom of your stir fry

1/2 large onion, cut into thin wedges

2 carrots, cut into diagnal wedges

1 cup chopped, fresh green beans

4 large bok choy leaves, stalks cut into half moons and leaves shredded

4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

Healthy, high heat oil - like grapeseed or canola

1 green onion, chopped

Sweet and Sour Sauce - Taken from About.com

1/3 cup rice vinegar

4 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 Tablespoon organic ketchup

1 teaspoon low sodium soy sauce

2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed in 4 teaspoons of water

Directions

1. (Prepare your grain before beginning with the veggies.)
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Pour in about 1 tablespoon of oil. Add onion, carrots, green beans, and bok choy stalks and cook, stirring frequently for about 6 minutes. 
3. Meanwhile, mix rice vinegar, brown sugar, ketchup, and soy sauce together in a small bowl. Pout it into a small pot and heat over medium to medium high heat (I used a really small pot so I didn't need to take the temperature up high). In a seperate bowl or cup, stir the corn starch into the water and set aside. 
4. Add bok choy and garlic to skillet and continue stirring occasionally to cook evenly. Bok choy will wilt quickly.
5. When sauce ingredients have come to a gentle boil, pour in the corn stach/water mixture and stir to combine. In about 1 minute, the sauce will thicken up.
6. Pour sauce over veggies in skillet and stir to combine. Serve veggies over cooked whole grain. Garnish with green onion pieces.

Makes 3 1/2 - 4 cups of veggies

*Note: I also added steamed, cubed sweet potato to my veggie mix. I had them cooking in bamboo steamer baskets for about 20 minutes. 

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