Orange Chicken

Last week my daughter said something really hurtful. She told me that school lunch was better than sack lunch. Ouch. I asked why. She said that the orange chicken she had for lunch that day was way better than a ham and cheese sandwich. I totally agree that *really good* orange chicken is "way better" than a ham and cheese sandwich. But still . . . cafeteria food had my child singing praises? I had to do something and quick! Allrecipes.com to the rescue! Tons of rave reviews? check. Ingredients I already have? check. End result super yummy AND everyone agreed that it is way better than the stuff the school passes off as orange chicken? check. I am pretty much a cooking rock star now in the eyes of a 6 year old. Make this and be the hero of the day in your house too!

here's the link to the original recipe off Allrecipes.com.

Ingredients

• Sauce:
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons chopped green onion
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 
  
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water
• 
  
• Chicken:
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

1. Pour 1 1/2 cups water, orange juice, lemon juice, rice vinegar, and soy sauce into a saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Stir in the orange zest, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, chopped onion, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat, and cool 10 to 15 minutes.
2. Place the chicken pieces into a resealable plastic bag. When contents of saucepan have cooled, pour 1 cup of sauce into bag. Reserve the remaining sauce. Seal the bag, and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
3. In another resealable plastic bag, mix the flour, salt, and pepper. Add the marinated chicken pieces, seal the bag, and shake to coat.
4. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Place chicken into the skillet, and brown on both sides. Drain on a plate lined with paper towels, and cover with aluminum foil.
5. Wipe out the skillet, and add the sauce. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Mix together the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water; stir into the sauce. Add pepper flakes. Reduce heat to medium low, add the chicken pieces, and simmer, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

* my notes.
#1- Don't like the time consuming (and icky) task of cutting raw chicken into bite sized pieces? Me neither. Which is why I kindly asked the meat counter to do it when I purchased the chicken. Score for me.
#2- Lets talk spicy. If you want MUCHO spicy, add 1 tsp of red pepper flakes to the chicken marinade and add another 1 tsp to the orange sauce at the end (step 5 in the instructions.) If you want semi-spicy, just add anywhere from 1/4 - 1 tsp of the flakes just to the sauce. And if you want a very mild, sweet orangey chicken, omit the flakes all together. I like to add about 1/2 tsp flakes to the sauce at the end. My kids like it better that way.