Orange Chicken

You have probably had orange chicken from your local take-out but did you know you can make it at home? This dinner was wonderful! The sauce thickened just like it does when you get take-out-pretty impressive. The flavors are well balanced and will impress even the biggest foodies in your family. At first glance, the sauce calls for a lot of sugar. The good news though is that this recipe made A LOT! 2 pounds of chicken to be exact. You could certainly halve this recipe if feeding a small family and serve it up over rice with a nice salad. I kept this recipe gluten free and used tamari sauce but you can easily substitute soy sauce if you’re not gluten free. I hope you enjoy this one as much as we did. Want to know a secret? I did not deep fry this….just a few tablespoons of oil and it was still fabulous. Use coconut oil if you can…one of the healthier choices out there!! A great hair mask, too! hee hee

Ingredients

Chicken:

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into 1-1/2” cubes)
1 ½ cups all purpose flour (I used Cup4Cup to keep this gluten free)
2 eggs (beaten)
¼ teaspoon salt
Coconut Oil (for frying) (or any oil you prefer) About 3-4 Tablespoons for each batch you fry.

Orange Sauce:

1 cup water
juice from 1 orange
juice from 1/2 lemon
1/3 cup rice vinegar
3 Tablespoons Tamari (or you can use soy sauce)
zest from 1/2 an orange
1 cup light brown sugar
2 garlic cloves, grated
3 scallions, chopped

Thickener:
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 c. water

Directions

Combine flour and salt in a ziploc bag. Dip each piece of chicken into the egg and then place into the ziploc bag. I did this in 2 batches. Shake the bag to coat the chicken evenly. Meanwhile, heat the coconut oil in a skillet. Once hot, add the chicken and cook on both sides until browned well and cooked through entirely. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels to remove excess oil.
For the sauce, in a pot combine the water, orange juice, lemon juice, rice vinegar, and Tamari. Stir to combine on medium. Add the zest, brown sugar, garlic and scallions. (reserve some of the scallions for when you plate the chicken) Bring to a boil.
Stir the cornstarch and water until smooth. Add this “slurry” into the boiling sauce and cook until thick which happens pretty quickly. Place chicken on your serving platter and pour on the sauce. Top with reserved scallions.

Recipe modified from favfamilyrecipes

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Autumn Harvest Breakfast Cookies

These lightly sweetened, whole-wheat breakfast cookies are full of texture and flavor from grated carrot, raisins, pumpkin seeds, and coconut.

Over the summer I went to a blogging conference that included our hotel room – complete with surprise roommate. I mean, I knew I would have a roommate, I just didn’t know exactly who it was going to be until I got there. In my mind it was like summer camp: you’re obviously not going to have a tent to yourself, but you don’t necessarily know who you’ll be sharing with beforehand. The woman who checked me in on other other hand… she thought I was crazy (and had no problem telling me as much).

Anyway, I ended up sharing a room with Emily, who writes West of the Loop. She ended up being a total sweetheart. Plus, she brought me cookies! Not just any cookies, but cookies that were meant to be eaten for breakfast. The woman is a genius. (I felt totally rude having not shown up with a gift for her.)

I ate them happily all week long, and then kind of forgot about them until a few weeks ago when my contact at Liberté yogurt asked me if I would be interested in putting together a few more “perfect pairing” recipes.

This pairing works two ways. The yogurt brings some lightness to the cookies, which are dense and chewy and have tons of texture from mix-ins like grated carrot, pumpkin seeds, raisins, and coconut. In turn, the cookies give you something to chew and make the yogurt seem more like a “real” meal.

Liberté comes in tons of tons of great flavors (coffee? yes, please!), but my favorite one to pair these cookies with is the blackberry Méditerranée. It’s decadently creamy with big chunks of blackberries and a straight-from-the-forest feel that compliments the harvest-inspired flavor of the cookies.

Autumn Harvest Breakfast Cookies

The ingredients list for these cookies looks a little long, but it’s really just a little bit of this and a little bit of that – I stroll through the bulk bins at the local co-op and just grab a handful of whatever fruits, nuts, or seeds look food to me that day. The combination here is fanstastic, but you can definitely mix it up if you want – just use 1½ cups of mix-ins in total. Try swapping out apple or zucchini for the carrot or adding some chopped dry fig instead of the raisins. The cookies themselves are only very lightly sweetened; if you want a little more sweetness you can add the optional glaze.

Author: Lauren Keating

Serves: 18

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons apple butter
¼ cup brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1¼ cup Gold Medal® white whole wheat flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup rolled oats
¼ cup grated carrot (about 2 large carrots)
¼ cup raisins
¼ cup pepitas (green pumpkin seeds)
¼ cup shredded coconut
¼ cup dark chocolate chips

For the glaze (optional):

6 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice

Preparation

Heat oven to 350ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, apple butter, and sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
In a small bowl (or right in your measuring cup), mix the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir into the wet ingredients. Fold in the oats, then stir in the remaining ingredients. The dough will be very thick and slightly sticky.
Scoop two tablespoons of dough into a ball (it will be about the size of a donut hole) and place on the prepared baking sheet. Gently flatten to about ½-inch thick. Repeat with remaining dough.
Bake 12 minutes; let cool completely.
If desired, make a thin glaze by whisking together the powdered sugar, maple syrup, and orange juice. Drizzle over the cookies.

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Disclosure: This post was brought to you in partnership with Liberté; I was compensated for developing this recipe. Thank you for helping support the brands that keep me inspired in the kitchen.

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Ranier Cherry Almond Muffins

Yay! We’re right smack dab in the middle of the sweet spot for buying cherries. Supply is up and the price is down. I’ve never used Ranier cherries before, they’re those creamy yellow cherries from Washington; they’re usually more expensive, and harder to find. Apparently the birds like them too, and they eat a lot of the crop before it even leaves the trees. But they are affordable and in season right now, and so I grabbed a bag.

They’re a pretty combination of blush red and yellow on the outside, and pale yellow inside. They have a sweeter, lighter taste than regular cherries.

I really loaded these muffins with them, along with lots of sliced almonds. Then I added a cherry almond glaze on top just to seal the deal.

Ranier Cherry Almond Muffins
makes 12 muffins
oven to 375F
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 heaping cup chopped fresh cherries
1/2 cup sliced almonds
for the glaze
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp almond extract
cherry juice (or milk or cream) to thin
1/4 cup sliced almonds, lightly crushed

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Whisk the wet ingredients together and add to the dry, mixing just until combined.
Fold in the cherries and almonds.
Fill 12 muffin cups and bake for 25-35 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
Make the glaze by mixing the sugar with enough cherry juice, or milk, to make a spreadable glaze. Add the almond extract and the crushed almonds.
Cool the muffins on a rack, and spoon the glaze over them when they are cool.

Enjoy your weekend!

One year ago today—

Fresh Corn Soup with Chili and Lime