Bring the bright and lively flavor of sweet oranges together with warm, exotic Chinese five spice powder in this quick and delicious stir fry recipe. Again, I found myself with random veggies sitting in the fridge and no specific recipe to make. Stir fry is pretty much the answer to the question of “what can I make with all this stuff?” You can use whatever vegetables you’d like in this recipe, and even tofu or tempeh if you have that too. You could add thinly sliced peppers, bamboo shoots, watercress, edamame, maybe even baby bok choy. Serve with plain brown rice or noodle of your choice, like udon noodles or flat rice noodles.

Ingredients 
Mixed vegetables (about 4-5 cups, use whatever you like). Today I used…
1 cup chopped green cabbage
2 cups broccoli florets
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup whole white mushrooms
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
Green onion for garnish
2 tbsp vegetable oil or extra light-tasting olive oil

Sauce Ingredients
1 cup orange juice
1 tsp Chinese five spice powder
2 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp lower sodium soy sauce (or tamari)
1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 tbsp agave nectar (or honey)

Make
If you are making rice or noodles, start these now. My rice cooker takes about 25 minutes to make brown rice, which is a little longer than is needed to have it done at the same time as the vegetables and sauce. Start the rice about 10 minutes before everything else. If making noodles, just cook those first and set aside.

Chop all vegetables to your liking. Heat the oil in a large skillet on high heat (this about about an 8 or 9 on my stove top). Add the onion and sautee until it browns. Add the rest of the vegetables and sautee on medium high heat until broccoli is just done and carrots are crisp but cooked. Remove from burner and now work on the sauce.

Combine all sauce ingredients in a small pot and mix in cornstarch when all ingredients are still cold. Cornstarch will not mix unless the liquid is cold, otherwise it will be lumpy if you try to mix it when the liquid is hot. Simmer on medium heat until desired thickness is reached (about 5 minutes).

Pour sauce over vegetables and stir to coat. Serve with rice or noodles.

Makes 3-4 servings.