Somehow, at 30 years old, I already have high cholesterol. Considering my family history of heart disease—my great-grandfather had his first heart attack before 30—I recently decided to change what I eat. I’m no medical expert, but my understanding is that you can reduce your cholesterol by eating less saturated fat. Saturated fat is the kind of fat that’s solid at room temperature, and it’s found in most meats, but not much in poultry. So, I’ve been eating a lot of chicken.

When I was younger, I never really learned how to cook, but if you want to eat healthy, often that means cooking your own food. I’ve recently been learning how to cook chicken stir fry. Here’s an example recipe—simple but tasty.

Ingredients

• 2 Chicken breasts, sliced into strips
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 green bell pepper, sliced
• 1 ear of corn, shucked
• ½ head broccoli
• ½ head cauliflower
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 cup white mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup snow peas
• 1 cup edamame (optional)
• 1 large tomato, diced
• 2 green onions, sliced
• Cooked rice (90g uncooked rice per serving is a good portion)

Instructions

1. Get your rice cooking. Rinse it a few times to get rid of excess starch, then drain the water. Add water at a 1:1 ratio by weight, then add a bit more (20-30g, about 1 fl. oz). Cover the rice and put it to a boil on the stove before turning the heat down to low. It’ll be done in about 10–12 minutes
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken strips, seasoning with salt, pepper, and garlic.
3. While the chicken cooks, prep the vegetables. To shuck the corn, stand the cob on end and slice off the kernels with a chef’s knife. Or, just use canned corn. When you slice the green onions, separate the white part from the green part.
4. When the chicken’s almost done, add the vegetables, except for the tomato and the green part of the green onions, and sauté until the vegetables are tender.
5. Add the diced tomato and cook until heated through. Top it off with the rest of the green onion as a garnish.

Serve over rice. And that’s that!

For someone like me who never learned to cook well when I was younger, this dish is an easy win. It’s a simple dish that works with whatever vegetables you’ve got in your fridge. For a more interesting flavor, you can also prepare a sauce to go with the stir-fry. For example, here are a few.

• For a more Asian flair, I sometimes make it with a soy-based sauce, which is a combination of one part soy sauce, one part white or rice vinegar, black pepper, and sugar to taste.
• You can make a honey garlic sauce quite easily to go with it, as well. Instead of adding sugar to the sauce above, you can add a tbsp or two of honey along with more minced garlic or garlic powder.
• You could also do lemon juice with olive oil, garlic, and parsley. This would make it more of a Mediterranean dish.

Even without any sauces, this dish really shines for me. it has a great fresh flavor with a sweetness from the corn. If you’ve got a sweet tooth, you can even julienne carrots for greater natural sweetness.