Should you order teriyaki chicken from your local Chinese takeout place or should you make your own?
If you go with the takeout option, the meal will come with traditional white rice, refined sugar–sweetened sauce, fortune cookies, and very likely another dish or two that either are fried or contain noodles or other starches.
If you were to make your teriyaki chicken at home, then your meal would be served with cauliflower rice, wholesome homemade sauce, and possibly a side of vegetables or salad.
The difference between the two meals is easily a few hundred calories, and the nutritional compositions couldn’t be more different.
Then there is the disruption in your momentum that also occurs.
When you’re eating right, exercising daily, drinking plenty of water, and generally being on point with your health, those habits begin to carry themselves with the momentum of inertia. As soon as you disrupt this flow, or jump off the wagon, you’re faced with the difficult task of getting back into the swing of things.
Unfortunately, it often takes days to regain your momentum, days where precious progress is lost. And in some cases the momentum is lost for good.
So, will you make your own teriyaki chicken at home tonight, or will you order it from your local Chinese takeout place?
Note: This teriyaki sauce is quite simple to mix together and simmer while the chicken and peppers cook. Instead of soy sauce, I’ve called for coconut aminos, and instead of the sugar (or corn syrup—yuck!) in many teriyaki sauces, I’ve used some raw honey. It’s wholesome and delicious, and the kiddos can’t get enough of it.
1 cup chicken broth
⅓ cup coconut aminos
⅓ cup raw honey
2 tablespoons mirin
1 tablespoon sake
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
sea salt and black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 red bell peppers, seeded and cut into ½ inch strips
In a medium saucepan, combine the chicken broth, coconut aminos, honey, mirin, and sake. Bring the mixture to a boil, then decrease to a simmer for 20 minutes.
Pound the chicken and season with salt and pepper.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Add the chicken and cook until browned, about 8 minutes, then turn and brown the other side, about another 8 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board or plate and slice crosswise into strips.
Wipe out the skillet and add the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add the bell peppers and cook over medium-high heat until crisp- tender and lightly charred, about 3 minutes.
Add the chicken strips and the sauce to the skillet and cook over low heat for 3–5 minutes, until the sauce has thickened. Serve warm over cauliflower rice.
Calories: 343
Fat: 10g
Carbohydrates: 35g
Sodium: 496mg
Fiber: 3g
Protein: 27g
Sugar: 28g