Orange Chicken

Happy Valentine's Day! We celebrated the day before since we're going to dinner with friends tonight on the actual day. We decided to try a new recipe for our tradition of cooking at home together. I just love cooking with Derrick! Makes cooking so much more fun! We had a lot to celebrate since we had just come home from our sonogram appointment and got to see that Baby is healthy and doing great! Only 7 weeks to go!

Derrick picked this recipe for Skinny Orange chicken. It's from the blog "Gimme Some Oven." I guess it is "skinny" because the chicken is sautéed instead of fried. He went out and got all the ingredients! (So sweet of him because he knows I hate grocery shopping.) We also made a previous blog recipe, Crab Rangoon, to go with it. Delicious meal! Of course we ate with chopsticks!

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

Sesame seeds, additional orange zest, and sliced green onions for topping

For orange sauce:

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup honey

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

Zest of one orange (save some for topping)

Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

Serve with brown or white rice.

To make the orange sauce, whisk all the sauce ingredients together until combined.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to skillet and sauté for 4-6 minutes until the chicken is nearly cooked through. 

Pour in the orange chicken sauce and stir to combine. Boil for 1-2 minutes until thickened. Serve right away over rice. Garnish with sesame seeds, green onions and/or orange zest.

Here I am "zesting" the orange.