Cooking Right: 9 Foolproof Healthy Cooking Tips

"Stir-fry means overdone shrimp and underdone veggies."

The number-one stir-fry slipup: throwing all the ingredients, which cook at different rates, into the pan at once. Put prepped ingredients -- chopped vegetables, peeled shrimp -- in separate bowls before you turn on the stove. Cook the shrimp first, suggests Stephanie Izard, the only female winner of Top Chef to date and owner of Girl & The Goat restaurant in Chicago. Heat a teaspoon of canola oil in a pan over medium-high heat (olive oil burns at high heat, and its flavor will overpower shellfish); pat the shrimp dry and drop them in the pan. Cook over high heat for two minutes, flipping them once they turn opaque. When the shrimp are no longer translucent on both sides, remove them and cook the veggies in the same pan, starting with aromatics, like onion or fennel, for one minute; then throw in the rest and stir over medium-high heat for three to four minutes. Finally, mix soy sauce and Dijon mustard in a bowl, pour it over the veggies and add the shrimp back in for a minute or two; stir to combine the flavors.