Homemade Cashew Chicken

So after having an excruiting week of recovery because I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth yanked in one day... and my mouth is small... and the roots were developed...
so really I am STILL recovering.. it's awful.
I still can't open my mouth much, eat ANYTHING that I can't drink/slurp/melt into my mouth, and have to ice and medicate regular..
My husband and I are actually pretty sure they fractured my jaw... haha
sooo I may be in for an even longer recovery..

anyways..
I figured... why not torture myself more right?
All I've had is bland soup, mashed potatoes, and ice cream for 5 days..
but let's day dream about the most delicious meal I've made in ages
that I made last week.
I figure if it brings some happiness to my friends/readers... why not?

So I originally got this little recipe idea off of pinterest which led me to this blog .
I changed it up a bit and made it my own
here it is..

Ingredients:
For stir fry sauce:

• 3 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon peanut oil
For Cashew Chicken:
• 3 chicken breasts, diced
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 small onion, diced... almost minced
• 1 cup (5-6 caps) mushrooms, diced super tiny
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1/2 cup cashews (I just dumped them out of the can into the pan.. you can chop if you'd like)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

For stir fry sauce:
1. Mix all ingredients making sure to dissolve brown sugar. Set aside.
   
For Cashew Chicken:
2. Heat canola oil in pan over medium to medium high heat. Add diced chicken and brown. Remove chicken from oil. Add onions, garlic. mushrooms and 2 teaspoons soy sauce to pan; brown. When onions and garlic are brown and tender, add stir fry sauce, browned chicken, and cashews. Saute mixture for a few minutes and remove from heat. 

This is after it was almost gone

 I served this delicious little beauty with rice and lettuce for lettuce wraps. If you have a rice maker put the rice on before you start chopping and cooking the chicken so that it's done by the time you finish.

We were almost finished eating here haha.

We ate it "family" style so to speak with the meat in a big bowl, the rice in a big bowl, and a pile of lettuce leaves. I really liked it and even better hubby loved it! And even sweet Kaylee, my 2 year old, liked the meat A LOT. I felt like it needed just an extra little kick so I put a tiny bit of sweet red chili sauce on it and it was PERFECT.

 Like I said, we really liked them.. they were delicious as lettuce wraps with the rice and chicken together. You could use any rice or grain really and it would still be tasty.. or even just serve it up over veggies or something. My only complaint is that I didn't make more. I will probably double this recipe next time so we have leftovers for lunches!

xo, amanda