Katie Workman is the Editor in Chief and Chief Marketing Officer of Cookstr.com , a website devoted to great, tested recipes from chefs and cookbook authors, so she knows her way around the kitchen.

OK, so we got home at 6:30 on Sunday night, a bunch of misc. ingredients in the fridge, and my younger son, Charlie, says, “can we make a stir-fry?”  I am such a cooking nerd that the mere prospect of one of my kids suggesting a meal, and asking to participate in the preparation, kicks me into high gear.  So, stir-fry we did.  And here’s the thing: for the first time I let my 6 year old use a big sharp major knife, and cut up all the chicken.  I hung out by his side the whole time, and figured out a way to make it a lot less likely that he would lose a part of a finger.  I let him use a real knife, but instead, of holding the chicken with his hand, I had him hold it steady with a fork, kind of like when they learn to cut their own food at the table, but in this case it was prep cutting.  Told him he must NEVER let his eyes move away from the knife.  And by god, that child cut one pound of chicken breasts into small bite-sized pieces.  Very proud of himself, he was.  Not to mention his mother.

Here’s what we did.  Now, if you were to use any half of these ingredients., you would still have a great stir-fry - we just happened to have a bunch of veggies ready to go.  If you’ve never made a stir-fry, the first time is scary, two is interesting, three is getting confident, after that you’re on your way.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound dried spaghetti (linguine, vermicelli, whatever long noodles you have around)
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste or 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 2 tablespoon rice wine or white vinegar, or lemon juice
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
• 1/2 cup chopped carrots
• 1 1/2 cups broccoli florets
• 1 bell pepper, slivered up
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Salt it, and cook up the noodles according to package directions.  Drain, and hold to one side while you start up the stir-fry.

In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce, cornstarch, tomato paste, vinegar or lemon juice and chicken broth.

Heat a wok or big old pan over high heat.  Heat 1 tablespoon oil over high heat.  Saute half of the chicken, with a bit of salt, until the outside turns white, 1-2 minutes.  Turn it into a bowl, add another tablespoon of oil into the pan, add the rest of the chicken, salt a bit, and stir-fry.  Add it to the other chicken.

Heat the last tablespoon of oil over high heat, add the ginger and garlic, then add all the veggies, and stir-fry for two minutes, stirring briskly until everything gets a tiny bit tender.  Add the chicken back in, and the sauce (give it a stir before pouring it in).  In about 2-3 minutes the sauce will thicken (that’s the cornstarch) and everything will be getting ready to go.  Add in the sesame oil. Then add in the noodles (if they get clumped together, give them a rinse with hot water first).  when everything is blended and hot, you’re done.  Serve it up.  My husband likes extra soy sauce, but he would pour soy sauce on his English muffin if I let him.