Kung Pao Chicken Tacos..#recipesfromtheheart

Today we are joining together to help raise awareness for Heart Disease. Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic lost her Mom to heart disease when her mother was 47, and Kim was 15. Each year on the day her Mom passed she shares stories and photos of her Mom. This year she joined forces with Jen of Juanita's Cocina, whose life was also touched by heart disease when her Stepfather had a heart attack. Jen's Stepfather is alive and well more than a decade later, and for that, Jen is thankful every day. The ladies got in touch with other bloggers to ask them to share their own stories about how heart disease has touched their lives. So today we share stories and recipes from our hearts to yours, in memory and honor of Momzie, Kim's Mom. We hope you will share your stories with us today as well.

Like Kim, I too lost a parent, my father, to heart disease when I was 15. I like to think that with advances in medicine, he would have had a much better chance of surviving today. Recently, I was told that I had really high cholesterol levels. I realized then, that no matter what kind of advances there have been in medicine, the best chance for avoiding heart disease was going to have to come from myself. So, when Kim asked if I would be interested in being part of her effort to raise awareness for heart disease I did not hesitate to say yes.

I've been modifying my eating habits for several weeks now, but it took awhile for me to really get serious about it. In fact, it was last October that I told my doctor I was intent on dropping some pounds and getting my cholesterol back down to normal levels....of course I had to get through the holidays first. The Cooking Light magazine that I picked up right after my doctor's appointment sat on my nightstand gathering dust. Until now. Holy cow, there are some great recipes in there! I chose my favorite one to share with you today, but I did make some minor changes.

Kung Pao Chicken Tacos (slightly adapted from Cooking Light magazine)

Ingredients:

1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1/2" pieces

3 tablespoons lower sodium soy sauce, divided

1/4 cup plus 1 1/2 teaspoons corn starch, divided

2 tablespoons canola oil

3 tablespoons lightly salted dry roasted peanut, coarsely chopped

2 stalks celery, diagonally sliced

1 large clove garlic, minced

1 1/2 tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons sesame oil

2 teaspoons Sriracha sauce (or chile paste)

1 large garlic clove, minced

8 (6") corn tortillas

2-3 green onions, sliced

1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

Place the chicken in a large zip-lock plastic bag. Add one tablespoon soy sauce and 1/4 cup corn starch; shake the bag well to coat the chicken.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the canola oil, swirling to coat. Add the chicken and saute for 6 minutes, or until done. About 2 minutes before the chicken is done, add the peanuts and the celery to the pan.

While the chicken is cooking, whisk together the remaining soy sauce, 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch, honey, rice vinegar, Sriracha sauce, and garlic. Add to the pan, stirring to coat the chicken and cook for an additional minute.

Heat the tortillas under a broiler, turning after about two minutes, until the tortillas are lightly blistered. Place two tortillas on each of 4 plates; divide the chicken mixture among the tortillas. Top with the green onions and the bell peppers.