Orange Chicken

This week, as well as last, has been a bit crazy with lots of activities and goings on. I’ll give you the menu as I have it written, but I don’t think we’ll get most of the meals in this week.

Tuesday – Pasta W/ Meat Sauce – I have about 8 billion 3/4 used boxes and bags of pasta. You would think I would learn to just buy the same kind of pasta so I can easily make the unused portions, but that would be far too simple.

Wednesday – We are planning a little afternoon trip to Legoland tomorrow so we will either still be there at dinner time or on our way home in which case we’ll probably pick something up.

Thursday – I have a going away dinner for a friend who is moving across the country. I have pizza on the menu, but in lieu of making it from scratch, I’ll suggest Ryan orders it from somewhere.

Friday – Orange Chicken – I love this chicken so much, but I’m trying to figure out a way to being a little more efficient when making it. It’s a little time consuming, but it’s so good, it’s worth it.

Saturday – Ham & Cheese Turnovers – These are really good and the kids love them. You really can’t go wrong. Ham – good. Cheese – good. Bread – gooood.

Sunday – Gnocchi W/ Sage Butter – I haven’t made this for years and I kind of did my own improvisation of it. I tried to grow a little container garden and the sage was the only thing that actually produced anything. I kind of fried the leaves in butter and they were delicious. They get nice and crispy. I may try doing that again instead of using the dried sage like the recipe calls for.

I was looking for a recipe for dinner a few weeks ago. I didn’t know what I wanted to make, but I did know that I didn’t want to go to the store so it had to be something I could make with what I had on hand. Little did I know that I would find a recipe for one of the best things I have ever made. Ever. Seriously…ever.

I love orange chicken. It’s usually the only thing I get when I order Chinese food. To call the orange chicken I get at Panda Express, Chinese, would probably be a bit of a stretch, but it’s delicious, so I forgive the lack of authenticity.

I came across the recipe on The Art Of Doing Stuff about a month ago. Karen, the author at The Art Of Doing Stuff, came across this recipe at The Noshery. Karen seems to share my love of orange chicken and she is really funny, therefore, I assumed I could trust her suggestion that I make this chicken. Yeah, if you’re funny and like the same food as me, that is all I need to form a trusting bond with you.

I’m going to go ahead and tell you to not change a damn thing in this recipe. It’s absolutely perfect and it is so much better than any orange chicken that I have ever gotten at Panda Express. You can try and convince yourself that you will make it healthier, but please, just eat it this way once. That will be all the convincing you will need to not try to make this any other way. As long as you don’t eat it everyday, you’ll be fine.

The only liberty that I’m going to allow you is whether you make white or brown rice. I don’t remember what color of rice I cooked – it doesn’t matter because I didn’t want to waste my precious stomach space with rice when I can be filling it with the delicious orange chicken.

Enjoy your dinner.