Knock-Your-Socks-Off Orange Chicken – $1.95

I’m pretty stinkin’ excited to show you what I made for myself last night. Sometimes “healthy” can be relative, and this is not the kind of meal you should eat every day. However, it’s amazingly tasty, it will impress your in-laws without a lot of work, and is substantially less fattening than the nasty greasy crunchy orange chicken you get at your local Chinese restaurant.

Start by putting zesting and juicing an orange and putting it in a small sauce pan.

Add a tablespoon or so of soy sauce, a few cloves of minced garlic, a tablespoon or so of honey, a splash of worcestershire sauce, 1/2 teaspoon or so of ginger, a tiny bit of molasses and a few drops of liquid smoke. The last two ingredients you can skip if you want, but it really added to the flavor. Put on medium high heat until it boils and thickens. Set aside.

Cut up a piece of chicken in small bites. You can skip this part of the process if you’d like to cut a few carbs, but I suggest dredging the chicken in flour before frying. It helps the sauce stick to the chicken. Again, to cut out the calories, just saute the chicken with olive oil and it should taste just fine.

Use any veggies you want, but I needed to use up my carrots and mushrooms. Instead of just chopping the carrots, try using a peeler to get some lovely strips instead.

You don’t need too much oil in your pan for this part, but enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Don’t worry, you’ll be tossing most of this oil when you’re done. Go ahead and fry (or saute if you didn’t use flour) the chicken until golden brown. DON’T overcook them! It will only take about 3-5 minutes depending on the heat. Set the chicken aside when done.

Discard most of the oil. Add your veggies and saute on high heat for only a few minutes.

By this time your sauce should be thick and dark like this. Taste it to see if it needs anything, but know it will be salty so don’t freak out.

Once the veggies have some color on them and/or the mushrooms have started to sweat, add the cooked chicken and a spoon full of your sauce. Don’t add too much or it’ll be super salty, add little by little till the veggies and chicken are coated. Taste test before you serve!

Place on top of brown rice, OR in the previous step add cooked pasta noodles for a lo mein type dish. Serve piping hot and enjoy!

Chicken – $1.00
1 Carrot – $.10
3 Mushrooms – ~$.25
1 Orange – $.30
Sauce ingredients – ~$.10
1 Serving brown rice – $.20

1 Serving: $1.95