Soy Vay!- a quick and easy Chicken Stir-fry recipe

Why hello...

It's been a while, hasn't it? The past month (and a half-ish) has been quite busy, as I'm sure it has been for everyone; filled with holiday festivities, family adventures, and for me, a new job! The new job is GREAT! I am really enjoying getting to know my co-workers, meeting community partners and volunteers, and learning about all the awesome work we to do empower folks to grow their own food!

I've been getting back on track to meeting some of my personal sustainability goals including buying a lot from the winter Farmer's Markets that our organization manages, shopping at our local Food Co-op, and also putting up some of the local produce I buy. Since chicken stir-fry is a weekly classic dish around my house, I've sliced and blanched about 6 pints of carrots and green peppers, which should get us through another 12 weeks of stir-fry once a week. On that note, since this is one of the dishes I cook that frequently gets requested, I'll share. It's simple, healthy, & easy- three re-occurring themes of my (limited) cooking repertoire:

Arika's Chicken Stir-Fry

Ingredients:
1 cup of Soy Vay's Very Very Teriyaki or Island Teriyaki
1 cup water
3 chicken breasts
1 cup sliced bell peppers (green, red or orange all work great!)
1 cup of diced carrots
1 small yellow onion, diced (or you can use green onions/scallions too)
2 teaspoons powered ginger
2 teaspoons powered curry (optional)


Start off by adding the Soy Vay and the water to a large fry pan. The water is important because a) it makes the dish more of a saucy one (rather than dry), and b) it thins out the Soy Vay so your dinner-eaters are not dying of a sodium overdose. If you don't have Soy Vay specifically, just combine some soy and teriyaki sauces, and then mince a few cloves garlic and add it as well. 

Put the stove heat on medium heat, and add in the carrots and peppers (unless you've blanched them before-hand, in which case they might not need to go in right away). 

After 5 minutes, add in the chicken breasts, onion, and spices. Cook for about 20 minutes on medium, or until chicken is cooked-through and tender. I try to have a batch of basmati rice going concurrently, so I can serve everything at the same time!

Again, it's pretty simple, there are few ingredients, and it is delicious! It might be a little high on sodium, but overall, Soy Vay products are all natural. The Island Teriyaki is the lower sodium of the two, if you're looking for lower-sodium options.

Enjoy! I know I will :)

First day

of my new job! :) I'll check in later!

Time to make a change

... to a new job!! I have accepted a job with Growing Hope in Ypsilanti. I really enjoy the volunteers and my co-workers at my current job, and I will truly miss them. I plan to continue to be involved as a volunteer so I won't be saying "goodbye", just "see you soon!".

Truthfully though, I am beyond excited to be starting this new position at Growing Hope. Growing Hope is a local nonprofit, whose mission is to help people improve their lives and communities through gardening and healthy food access. Could that be more up my alley?!

Check out their website here:

http://www.growinghope.net/

I'll be working as the Outreach and Volunteerism Manager. Here are the reasons why I'm so so excited for this position:

• Major dream accomplishment- I can WALK/BIKE to work! Their offices are within walking distance of my house and I estimate cutting off about 6,000-8,000 miles of driving per year!
• The mission and work of the organization- to be working in the community that I live in, helping to teach people and connect them to local, healthy food? If I could have dreamed up a complete fantasy job, this would be pretty much it :)
• The staff- there are only 3 full-time staff, including me, and 2 part timers, along with some Americorp Vistas- definitely a smaller staff than what I'm used to. There's also a great, supportive Board of Directors. I got to meet most everyone this weekend and everyone was so welcoming that I felt right at home!
• I'm looking forward to building more connections in my community, rather than working just outside the city. The work I do will directly make a positive impact on the city of Ypsilanti, and I love Ypsi so much that this is a thrilling idea!
• This will be a chance for me to grow my professional skills, and to strengthen my personal dedication to my community. I also will be able to help others to work on the very things I am working on personally- buying more local food, growing more of my own food, supporting local farmers and vendors.

This is a huge HUGE step in a positive direction. I can't wait to get started- I have so much to share, to learn, and to develop!

Sharing my skills

On November 13th I will be leaping into the fun, crazy world of micro-enterprising, with a booth at Art in the Park, an Indie Art event in my neighborhood! My friend Jen and I are sharing a booth, and are hoping to share our homemade goods with the community and get a positive response. What might I be selling at this Art Fair, you ask?

I will be selling some of my canned goods, including Cran-apple sauce, Baked apples, and maybe some canned peaches as well. I also enjoy knitting and I'm a pretty solid hat knitter, so I'll be bringing some hats and scarves with me! My friend Jen will be selling her beautiful photo prints, as well as some paintings she did.

Since neither of us have done this kind of thing before, we're kind of diving in and hoping for the best. I'm not expecting to make any kind of living or decent amount of money off of knitted scarves and canned fruits, but I enjoy doing these things anyway, and sharing my skills and things I make with others. Preparing for the event has been a helpful lesson in coordinator of media exposure: I made a new email address specifically for my crafty side, now dubbed Happy Home. I re-vamped my blog title and banner (as you can see above) so it reflects the title of my small, small businesss. I also ordered some business cards for Happy Home off of http://www.vistaprint.com/ which has some great deals if you're willing to use a template. I made a facebook page for my new business. That way, if people like the items I have to offer, they can check me out on facebook, email me, be directed to my blog, etc. all from my business card. I also made a website specific to Happy Home, where folks can buy stuff online if they'd like, and linked it to my blog.

Whew!!

This is a small venture, but I'm looking forward to it! It feels good to know that I am capable of making functional, beautiful things with my own hands- things that people might want to have!