Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Orange Citrus Chicken greatness

For several reasons, Wes and I have been diligently working on not eating out and cooking at home. I was kind of scared about this at first, but then I found this Taste of Home cookbook at WalMart called Simple and Delicious and fell in love with cooking! Now, I'm not that "come up with my own recipe" type cook yet. But, I can read! So I can follow pretty much any recipe that I come across! 

I've learned several things throughout our 3ish months of cooking at home (for the most part). 

1. No matter how many different ways I cook or flavor pork chops, I just don't like them. I've tried over and over!
2. The back part of my oven cooks things way faster than the front part of my oven. 
3. There is a difference between the cheap cookie sheets and the more expensive cookie sheets.
4. Wes doesn't trust any meat in leftovers except for chicken. ???
5. Making your own salad is ten times better than buying the salad in a bag.
6. If you share your recipes, people will share with you. (hint hint...)
7. I'm not good at trying to cut a recipe in half to feed just the two of us. I seem to cut some parts of the recipe in half but not others. who knows...
8. Fresh garlic and pre-minced garlic in a jar cook at much different rates... I keep burning the pre-minced kind.
9. Sometimes nothing is better than a really good baked potato.
10. And cooking crescent rolls to go along with the meal makes anything taste good.

So I'm always looking for new recipes, well, really always wanting people to recommend recipes that they have really enjoyed. So please feel free to pass some along! I have a whole little folder on my gmail account for them (amandam dot blog at gmail dot com). 

One of my all time favorite recipes is from my sweet friend Rachel. It's an orange citrus chicken recipe that she has come up with by combining some of her favorite orange chicken recipes. You will LOVE it! So, I'm cooking this tonight if all goes as planned. My mouth is watering already...

Ingredients: 

- 3-5 chicken breasts (however many you need to feed your family)
- olive oil
- 1 tbs butter
- 1 tbs minced garlic 
- 3 cups of orange juice
- 3/4 cup of brown sugar
- 1 tbs of balsamic vinegar
- ginger spice

Do you have those ingredients? Ok, here's what to do next, from the chef herself...

1. Cut 4-5 chicken breasts (1/2 frozen they are easier to cut) at a diaganal angle so they cuts are very thin (kind of like pei wei chicken would be) and about one inch wide apeice. 

2. Heat a little olive oil in a skillet and add in one tablespoon of butter ( I use the heart smart kind). 

3. Add in garlic (you can use fresh, but i keep a jar of minced garlic in my fridge and I probably addded one tablespoon of minced garlic and sauteed it in the butter)

4. Then saute the chicken until it is all yummy and golden brown around the edges. THen take out the chicken and put on a plate to the side. (It took me about 8-9 minutes to get the chicken nice and "dry" and sauteed)

5. Add in about 3 cups of orange juice into the same skillet you have been using. Then add about 3/4 of a cup of brown sugar to the mix (never said this was all light weight or anything ...ha!). 

6. Add about a tablespoon of balsalmic vinegar, and a GOOD sprinkle of ginger spice ( you can again use fresh, but our ghetto athens walmart doesn't carry it)

7. Bring to a boil. Add the chicken you have already cooked into the mixture and let it boil at a low pace until the sauce becomes thicker and more like a marinade. I let mine boil prob about 8-10 minutes. You will know when it has begun caramalizing and looking good.

8. I heated up two bags of uncle ben's instant rice and served the orange chicken over a bed of rice.

9. For a side, I did fresh snapped green beans (boiled in water with a little garlic salt until tender).


You will not be disappointed! (I hope!) It is super yummy and doesn't take that long. 

Now... feel free to post, comment, or email me some deliciously great recipes of your own! and... maybe skip the ones that involve pork :)

7 comments:

Ashley said...

I am super excited about this recipe! We love to try new things around here! Yea!

I have another blog where I post recipes. It's fullbellycleanhome.blogspot.com

I am doing a preschool series right now, but there are several other recipes on there that I love and are super easy. And no pork chops. :)

My all time favorite cookbook is Body for Life. All of the recipes are for 2 people!! Go find one and I promise you and your family will love it.

Back to our visit conversation, I will talk to Mike and see what he says. I am going to guess weekends are best since we have work and Blair is in school now, but you never know!

Jennifer said...

I agree about the pork chops. The only way I like them is if they are thick and grilled outside with some lemon pepper on them. Oh, and look at my blog and click on "Menu" under the labels. Pretty much everything I have tried new is good and I try to put links so I can go back and remember the recipe. The best one is Poppy Seed Chicken. I guarantee that Eli will love it!

Unknown said...

Okay, I know what you are saying about pork chops... but have you ever tried apricot glazed pork chops? My family LOVES them (pork chops are so cheap... it's hard not to keep trying stuff). Get some onions and garlic (pre-minced or not) going in some olive oil... sautee for a few minutes. Add those super thin porkchops and cook till just almost done... Add about half of a container of apricot jam and let simmer for a few more minutes. I usually serve them with sweet potato fries or ... crescent rolls would work too! Don't give up on the other white meat until you have given that a try.

Amanda said...

Whitney- I have to say that I have never tried apricot glazed pork chops; only apricot glazed chicken that I made last week. But, I did make apple ginger pork chops (that you might LOVE actually) and they were just ok. Wes and I don't like apricots, but we gave it a try with chicken... it was just ok. But, that was due to the apricots.

I mean, I don't know what is wrong with me! haha.. maybe I should give them one more try :)

Kelli said...

I made these tonight and they are yummy!

Pumpkin Muffins/Cupcakes

1 box mix of Spice Cake Mix
1 can pumpkin
3/4 cups water

Mix together. Put in cupcake cups. Bake at 350 til done.

Eat as muffins, or add cream cheese frosting and eat as cupcakes. Yum!

Amanda said...

YUM! Thanks Kel! I'm putting into my recipe folder right now!!

Ashley said...

Here is a link to the book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Eating-Life-Bill-Phillips/dp/0972018417/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256586309&sr=8-2

And what do your weekends look like in November? We are not opposed to coming up on a Sunday! :)