Orange Chicken

I made this amazing orange chicken last night, and I just have to share. Clint and Bobby both loved it, and I will definitely be making this again. I had made a crock pot orange chicken a couple weeks ago, and it was a bit of a disappointment. I was wary to try another recipe, but this one just looked so good. I got the original recipe from pinterest, but made a few changes because I either didn't have the ingredient, or just didn't bother getting them at the store. I also made some white rice and some savory veggies to go along. I will make this again soon and add some pictures. I didn't know if I would post it or not, so I didn't take pictures while I cooked.

I recently got a double fryer (from Clint for Valentine's Day, lol). He wanted to make dinners a little easier for when I made chicken strips or boneless wings. It can also be used as a steamer, so he got it. It has been amazing. I recommend getting one just to save time. It takes up some space, but honestly, it is worth it because I'm not standing over a pan full of hot oil for 30-45 minutes cooking all the chicken. Now, it's more like 15 minutes total!

Ingredients

Chicken
2 lbs boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
1 cup bread crumbs (I used the store brand, and they were perfectly fine)
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
oil (for frying)

Orange Sauce
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup orange juice
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 1/2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon orange zest
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup water

Directions
1. Combine corn starch, salt and pepper in a bowl. Prepare another bowl with eggs, and one more with bread crumbs.

2. Dip the chicken pieces in egg mixture, corn starch, back in eggs, and then bread crumbs. Set aside.

3. Heat pan with oil to 375F, or your deep fryer to 375F. (I recommend for the deep fryer to drop the baskets first, then one at a time put the chicken pieces in so they won't stick.) Fry chicken in batches until completely cooked.

4. In a large saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups water, orange juice, vinegar, and soy sauce. Mix well over medium heat for 3 minutes. Stir in the brown sugar, orange zest, and garlic. Bring to a boil.

5. Combine 3 Tablespoons of cornstarch with remaining 1/4 cup of water and mix thoroughly. Slowly stir cornstarch mixture into sauce until it thickens. Pour sauce over breaded chicken, and serve.

Peanut-Beef Potstickers

I got this recipe out of our utilities magazine. They send one out once a month and my husband always checks out the recipes in there, and I've finally decided to make one. I highly recommend getting the round dumpling wrappers and not the square egg roll ones like the recipe calls for. I was highly annoyed they weren't coming out like the picture. Otherwise, these are pretty tasty.

Ingredients:
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chicken or beef stock
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
pinch hot pepper flakes
2 Tablespoons smooth peanut butter
8 ounces lean ground beef
1/4 cup salted blanched peanuts, finely chopped
1 green onion, finely diced
1 Tablespoon ginger root, minced
12 3-inch square egg roll wrappers (again, I recommend the round dumpling wrappers)
2 Tablespoons peanut oil
pinch salt

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, combine garlic, stock, soy sauce, sesame oil, pepper flakes and peanut butter. Microwave for 30 seconds and whisk until smooth.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together beef, peanuts, onion, ginger, salt and 3 tablespoons of the peanut butter sauce. Reserve remaining sauce for dipping.
3. Place 2 teaspoons of filling in center of egg rolls wrappers. Fold wrapper in half to enclose filling, pressing edges together to stick. Set on work surface seam side up. Repeat with remaining filling.
4. In large nonstick frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon of peanut oil over medium heat. Add half of potstickers, pinched side up, allowing space between each. Add enough water to cover them about 75%.
5. Cover pan an cook over high heat for about 6 minutes. Uncover and cook another 3 minutes. Repeat with remaining potstickers.
6. Serve warm with remaining peanut butter sauce, and some white rice.

Yummy homemade Chinese!

I found this recipe on another blog called Amber's Delectable Delights. While browsing through recipes one day, I came across this one and it seemed just as appealing to my husband as it did to me. I have made this dish 3 times since I found the recipe, it's really that good! I have made a few alterations, because I didn't have any cornstarch, and it still turns out great. The first time I made it, I only had brown rice on hand, so I did a brown fried rice, since then I've done white fried rice. They are both really good.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

-Makes 4-6 servings-

Chicken

1 pkg of boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders (they usually come in a LB to LB and a half packages)

1 cup flour

salt and pepper to taste

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 c oil

Wash, and cut up the chicken to bite size pieces. Salt and pepper the flour, then drop the chicken pieces in to coat. Once all pieces are coated, put in the eggs to get wet. Heat the oil and put the chicken in the pan. Brown both sides, but not cooked through, then place in a baking dish.

Sauce

1/4 c ketchup

3/4 c sugar

1/2 c vinegar

1 Tbl soy sauce

1 teas garlic salt

In a skillet, heat up all sauce ingredients until somewhat thickened. Pour over chicken.

Bake at 350 degrees in the oven for 30 minutes. This helps the chicken breast stay moist. Serve with rice, plain or fried.

cooking the chicken

The sauce all ready to go

Chicken ready to be sauced

Finished product!

Update to add more pictures...