Orange Chicken

This is one of my favorite recipes it takes maybe 20-30 minuets to make, and most of that is the actual cutting up and initial cooking of the chicken itself. Now I know that Orange Chicken is breaded and I will include the breading at the end of this post, but I personally do not use it. I tried to the first two times I made it and we wound up eating more breading than chicken! Anyway, I prefer to just put the sauce directly onto my chicken and my family and friends agree it is better that way. So lets scrub our hands and get cooking!

Ingredients:

• 2lbs of boneless chicken breast. (obviously more if you're cooking for more people)
• Sesame cooking oil or Olive oil (Sesame oil is pricey and really only for more traditional flavoring. Regular olive oil is what I use)
• Rice wine (This too is pricy, and you do not need a lot of it, this will last over the next several times you make this meal. Also, Rice Wine Vinagre is NOT the same thing, do not try to use it trust me I learned that the hard way. You may have to ask a store employee where this is becasue it's in a different location in every store)
• Dried red pepper flakes
• Green onion
• Ginger
• Minced garlic (you can use the pre chopped stuff in a jar if you like or fresh it's up to you as long as it's not dried you want it moist and seemingly fresh :) )
• Soysauce

Alright so lets start to dig in. Go on and pre heat your cooking pan on low and add in a little olive oil just to get it going. It can heat up slowly while you're cutting up the chicken. All you need to do is cut the chicken up into bite sized pieces, small and quick to cook through. Once it's all cut up, toss it in the pan, turn the heat up and saute the chicken till all the pieces are cooked through. If you're unsure, cut open one of the bigger pieces and see if all the pink is gone or not. 

While it's cooking, you can rinse the green onion and use a scissors to cut it up into small pieces. You'll be able to get everything else set up and ready for the next part too.

Once it's all cooked through, put the chicken into a bowl and clean the pan out. Add more olive oil get it medium hot again and add the olive oil once more. Now the fun starts! All of this is to taste there are very few exact measurements here on out.

1. You want to put a good deal of powdered ginger into the pan estimated 2-3 teaspoons
2. Add in roughly 1 teaspoon of the minced ginger and use your spatula to mix it together really well. It'll only take about 15 second before it starts to burn down so mix it quick.
3. Sprinkle in about a handful of red pepper flakes and another handful of the cut up green onion. Mix it all together. It's going to start smelling really good right about now. And this is the trickiest part next.
4. Pour in exactly 1 tablespoon of Rice win... any more and you have to try and counter it's taste...which is really gross in when too much is present.
5. Add in a splash or two of soy sauce
6. Slowly mix it all together in the pan, and  as you do this pour in about 1/4 cup water a VERY little at a time mixing it all together. The goal here is to let it all cook down, you may have to add more ginger to the mix to help thicken it. I personally like a lot of the ginger and that's the main flavor in my Orange Chicken.
7. When the yummie sauce is nice and thick, go on and add in the chicken once more. Push it all over and around, making sure every piece is covered. Once it is all covered in the sauce, and hot again, it's ready to serve!

HELPFUL SUGGESTION!!!: If you're cooking for more people I like to add the chicken little by little, get a small amount covered thickly, place it in a new bowl, make more sauce and coat more chicken. I personally do not mind doing this as it assures all the chicken is coated thickly with lots of flavor. And really it doesn't take any longer than if you were to do it all at once. :)

GREAT MEAL IDEA!!!: Feel like Asian food? Serve this dish up with some rice which is nice and filling, and a big glass of cold milk and you've got a GREAT filling meal.

LEFTOVERS!!!: I have always been in the habit of cooking a ton of food even when I'm not cooking for a lot of people. The Orange Chicken I just "made" is a WONDERFUL leftover! In my opinion, it probably taste better as a next day or two left over, cold from the refrigerator! Mouth watering in my opinion!

Who will like this:

• Children: The pieces are fun and bite sized. They can't really taste the onions or garlic if made correctly and it's not spicy, the pepper just adds flavor! It's small, colorful, and a new way to get them interested in chicken!
• Adults: Adults who are new to Asian food but want to try something will enjoy this. There is no intimidation at all. It's something they're totally familiar with with ingredients they have eaten their whole life! It's a great way to introduce you, your family, or anyone to Asian food!
• Anyone who already enjoys Asian food or even new foods, in general will like this. It's a great twist, a totally new way to serve a classic dish!

Alright as promised here is the things you'll need for breading the chicken if you so choose to do so :)

Ingredients:

• Egg
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive oil
• Cornstarch
• Flour

Before cooking the chicken, put the cut up chicken into a bowl. In a separate bowl mix the egg, a dash of salt, pepper and a tablespoon of olive oil. Add in 1/2 cup of cornstarch and a 1/4 cup of flour. Go through the rest of the recipe as is above, except when you're mixing the chicken and sauce, add in a little water to the four and cornstarch mixture, about 1/4 of a cup should work, then slowly mix it in with the sauce and the chicken so it all thickens and breads up and gets covered in sauce. And that's how you bread the chicken :)

That's it for my AWESOMESAUCE Orange Chicken! I hope you all enjoy it! Let me know how it turned out for you or any suggestions you've got!

~Alex~

About the ads on the blog

I just wanted to tell you a little more about the page here... mostly I wanted to explain the ads all over the page. I want to apologize, I know they're annoying and I tried my best to make sure they were at least relevant to what I do and discuss here as well as tried to make them as little annoying as possible.

I placed these ads because I don't make a lot of money. I'm lucky if I get $250 at the end of two weeks and usually it's completely gone with two days due to bills, gas and food. My boyfriend is out of work, the job market here sucks. He's been out of work since January and feels so useless even though he continues to search hard for work. I've been looking for a second job and have also been failing. I do what I can to provide for us. I've tried to save us some money by applying for food stamps this last week, we'll see how that goes...probably going to try and apply for rent assistance too.

The ad's can help us bring in a little more money, I'm hoping at least enough to pay for gas each month or maybe the phone or the net bill. I don't know to put it towards yet, but anything they help bring in really does help us in general. I'm not asking you to click the links, I'm not trying to give you a sob story either. I just know that the ads can turn people off and away I've been there before myself. But I just wanted you, the readers, to know why they are there in the first place.

Again I apologize they are there, I know exactly how it is, all I ask is that you please be patient and bare with me and continue to read Simple Cooking despite them.

Thank you all for your time. Now I'll go a head and post another little something for you! <3

~Bananas & OJ~

Hello I decided I'd give you a really fun treat to get us kicked off. This is a dessert that I learned while working as a dietary aide in a kitchen. It is so quick and easy and can be served right away or let to sit for more flavor!

Ingredients:

• Bananas
• Orange Juice

Alright so first off remember the way you like your bananas is how you should buy them. This is a chilled snack so they'll stay good no matter how ripe they are, for the most part. Alright now for the steps!

1. Peel the bananas.
2. Slice the bananas the round way so you get a whole bunch of little fruity coins piled up on your counter. (the thickness of the coin is completely at your discretion.)
3. Take the orange juice and pour it into a bowl. (make sure the OJ hasn't been sitting out. we don't want warm OJ)
4. Scoop the chopped bananas into the bowl of OJ and gently mix making sure the banana coins are all soaking well in the OJ.
5. Place in the refrigerator until ready to serve. 

Step five is optional, but a little note on it for you. The longer the bananas soak in the OJ the better the flavors mix together. 

FUN SUGGESTION!!!: When you serve up, small serving bowls or cups are great! That way you can dish up the juice as well and everyone have a fun drink to go along with the rest of the treat!

Who will like this: 

• Children: Kids love fun snacks like this. Its a great twist on something that's great for them, and it's a nice cool treat in the summer in place of ice cream and soda.
• Elderly: The elderly who may have a more difficult time chewing harder foods especially may like this. It's a nice soft dessert for them that isn't too cold for any sensitive teeth or mouths.
• Just about anyone will enjoy this treat no matter that age. You can even put then in fancy little serving dishes and serve them to a dinner party, perhaps as an appetizer?

Thanks for reading! 

~Alex~

Hello and Welcome!!!

I wanted to take the time of making this first post to introduce myself and thank you for taking the time to read what I have to share with the world.

My name is Alex and I love to cook. I've worked very hard in my still young life to learn from my family and friends the secrets to their cooking. I have actively sought out new things to try, and though I am no professional I know that I have something to offer this incredibly busy world. Food. Dinners, desserts, snacks, perhaps even a fun beverage here and there. I grew up in a home were the food you cook portrays the love you have for the people closest to your heart. It was a very food is love sort of home and one I hope to have when i have my own family. Until then I will continue to cook for my family and friends, as well as share my meals with you all here as Simple Cooking.

The goal of this blog is simple. I want to share nice simple meals with you all. Some might take little time, or others just might be incredibly simple as far as ingredients goes. Other times we might get a little complex and bake something big and fun. By that time I hope to have turned Simple Cooking into a part time video blog so I can show you everything step by step. We're not quit to that point just now but it is my next goal at this point.

As of right now I am aiming to get one meal or dish posted per week. there may be more, or less depending. I might toss up a quick 5 minuet snack between bigger dishes to to tide you all over.

I love feedback, I ask you all to please, please leave me comments. Let me know what you think of a dish. Or leave suggestions for something you'd like to see on here. If you're looking for a recipe that you just can't find, let me know. Maybe you you have a food allergy and want to see an alternate way of cooking a meal to exclude the allergy. ANYTHING! I love comments so please, by all means let me know your thoughts, questions, or anything else you'd like to say! I love to chat it you want to just have a conversation!

Anyway, that's about it as far as Simple Cooking goes and what we're all about here. Thank you so much for taking the time to check us out and please keep coming back for new recipes, and other fun food stuffs! Thank you and remember, you are an amazing person who can change a life with just a little bit of love and effort.

I love you all!
~Alex~