Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Orange Chicken with Snow Peas



Oh my goodness is this ever GOOD!!!!!!!!! We ALL gobbled this one up with hardly ANY left overs! Which is a good thing and a bad thing.... one, I was going to use the left over rice to make the next day's lunch, and since I didn't have any leftovers, I just decide to not do that lunch... And the other reason, no extras for another lunch! Sigh... oh well... I can totally deal with that! ;)

 Brown your cut up chicken while that is browning, cook your steamer veggies and then combine:



How hard is it to find NON- steamer veggies?  Man, this isn't the first recipe that calls for frozen veggies and the only kinda I can find is the steamers...  Which is fine, but I don't want to cook them BEFORE putting them in the recipe, but oh well...  I did.  I just didn't cook them for the full 7 minutes, I just did it for 4... ;)
You can also use fresh, I will, when they aren't so expensive!  ;)


 your ORANGE JUICE!!!  YUMMO!!!!!!!!!!  :D
 Ginger, ok, I'm gonna be honest, when a recipe calls for ginger, I somewhat cringe, I don't like it.  I don't know why...  When a recipe calls for it, I put only a SMIG (is that even a word?) of what I should be putting in....  But I was a big girl this time and, whoa, what is that?  Two, I mean TWO TEASPOONS!!!!!I had faith in this recipe this time folks!  I jumped in with my 2 feet and my 2 hands!  And let me tell you what, I was not disappointed!!  This very recipe may have opened my eyes to adding the RIGHT amount of ginger to my recipes....  ok, well, maybe....
 HEAPING tablespoon of honey, yes, that is a soup spoon, aka, tablespoon in my house.  I think I learned that from my mom?  Or maybe I am just blaming her, I don't remember...  (sorry mom, I love you)
 And the good ole soy sauce!
 That's 3 HUGE cloves of garlic folks!  Go big or go home, ya gotta be able to TASTE it!!!
 Here's that lovely sauce, I know, it looks SOOOOO appetizing doesn't it?  Bur seriously, it's REALLY good!  If only it was  a scratch and sniff pic, you'd be going to make yourself some orange chicken RIGHT now!!
 Once your chicken is about cooked, add those lovely red peppers.  Again, can I say YUMMO! 
 Next add those half cooked snow peas...  Man, I sooo wish I had some right now! I made this about 2 weeks ago and so hungry for this right now at 11:30 at nite!
 Once those veggies and chicken are cooked, go ahead and put those in a plate/bowl for later...  Take that SAME pan and add your juice mixture.  I realized that my sauce wasn't going to get thick unless I added something to it, so I added some cornstarch.  In all honesty, I have NO clue just how much.  I guess start with 1 teaspoon, and see if it starts to thicken up, if not, sprinkle a bit more in and make sure you WHISK it to get rid of all those clumps!
 Ah, this is what I am looking for, it's all bubbly and getting thick, oh does it ever smell good?  Don't ya just want some right now?
 Ok, now the sauce is the thickness I want, I then go ahead and add that chicken and veggie mixture to that lovely orange sauce... Oh the smells coming to my nose, soooo good!!!
 Just look at that!  Ok, so this pic isn't the greatest because my light still isn't fixed at this point, but....
 Just look at THIS!  Serve on top of your choice of rice, mine is jasmine...



Orange Chicken


1 3/4 cup orange juice  (I used that SIMPLY ORANGE brand b/c it's the freshest I get)

2 Tsp ginger, ground

1 heaping tablespoon honey

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 lb chicken breast, cubed, boneless, skinless

1 cup snow peas, halved (buying fresh is WAY crazy out here this time of year, so I bought the frozen pgk)

1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch thin strips (I only had half of one from a different recipe, worked just fine)



1. Mix the first 5 ingredients in a bowl.

2. Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat and cook the chicken cubes for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Add the vegetables and cook an additional 2 minutes then transfer the chicken vegetable mixture to a bowl.

4. Add the sauce to the pan, bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes until reduced by half.

5. Add the chicken and vegetables back into the sauce and cook an additional minute.

6. Serve.


It really is easy!!!
I used the whole package of frozen snow peas.  You can use fresh and use as much as you like!  :D