I'm going to blame the lady in the food court handing samples for my latest obsession with chinese food! Nothing else can really explain it, so why not share all my Asian experiments with you!

Chinese dishes are usually very easy and quick to make, which is right up my alley. Not to mention I tend to have a lot of the ingredients I use for my sauces on hand all the time, so that could also be a culprit. But anywho, I think this one is my favorite dish so far, it's so citrusy and delicious and ridiculously easy!!

So without further ado, let's get to it..

As with my other chinese recipes, I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into chunks

For a slightly crunchy coating like the orange chicken in the food court, I dipped the chicken pieces in a cornstarch and egg white mixture

I then fried them in batches for about 5 minutes or so and set them aside to get started on the sauce

I'm pretty lazy so I literally squeezed my orange right into the pan (I'm sure OJ from the store works too) and then dumped everything else in

Then to thicken it up I added a bit of cornstarch mixed with water and let that boil for a minute or two 

  Once it was nice and sticky, I added my chicken to the pan and tossed to coat all the pieces

And as a last touch, I sprinkled a little more orange zest on top, because I mean...it's orange chicken, it should scream orange! In all, this maybe took 30 minutes, including making my soon to be famous fried rice that I served with it, but you could do steamed rice and broccoli to save on calories.

Orange Chicken

Serves 2 

Prep: 10 minutes

Cook: 20 minutes 

3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 C vegetable oil

2 egg whites

1 T cornstarch

Orange sauce

Juice of one large orange (~1/3-1/2 C)

2 T soy sauce

1 T honey

1 T brown sugar

1 T rice wine vinegar (or white vinegar)

1/2 T cornstarch dissolved in water

2 t crushed red pepper

1 t minced garlic

1 t sesame oil

~1-2 t grated ginger 

Zest of orange (save some for topping) 

Directions

1. Heat vegetable oil in a pan over med-high heat

2. Cut chicken thighs into bite size chunks

3. In a bowl, whip together 1 T cornstarch and egg whites

4. Dip chicken into egg mixture then fry in batches until all chicken is browned and cooked through. Set aside on paper towel to drain

5. In a pan, add all sauce ingredients, except cornstarch, boil one to two minutes then slowly add cornstarch until thickened

6. Add chicken to sauce and toss to coat

7. Top with additional orange zest

Asian chicken chinese easy fast food food fried rice MYOTO orange recipes takeout

9:16 PM

I originally made this sauce for my Krabby Patty recipe but it can be used on any seafood or on a burger or even as dipping sauce for chicken tenders, onion rings or any other fried and/or crunchy goodness! This "recipe" is one of my I-didn't-measure-anything-and-added-stuff-as-I-went recipes so definitely experiment with it and tweak it to your tastes!

I used ketchup, creamy horseradish, mayo (rare occasion), deli mustard, minced garlic, black pepper, cayenne pepper, onion powder, a little sugar and like a squeeze of lemon juice. Dumped all that in my mini chopper (you could also use a blender) and blended until smooth

You can find tons of recipes for remoulade sauces online if you want a more structured recipe but I tried to use equal parts of all the the "liquid" stuff, maybe 1 T but a bit more ketchup, roughly 1 t garlic, and like 1/4 t or less of the spices and sugar.

It came together really quickly and was the perfect sweet heat addition to my krabby patties! I'll definitely be making it again to dip fried fish and shrimp in!

diy easy fast food healthy homemade quick recipe remoulade sauce

12:09 PM

This recipe was inspired by the upcoming start of football season because what's a game without something hot and salty to snack on?

This is a super simple recipe with only a handful of ingredients and a short cook time. So to get started you need some baked potatoes, about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of cheese, some bacon bits, sour cream and green onions. Because I had some open, I used nacho cheese in this recipe but shredded cheese works just as well

Just like my stuffed potatoes recipe, bake (or microwave) your potatoes, cut them in half and scoop out the insides leaving a thin layer inside so they hold their shape

Pour (or sprinkle) your cheese evenly into each half

Sprinkle your bacon over the cheese and stick them in the oven until the edges of the potatoes start to brown and the cheese is hot all the way through

Once they're done top with sour cream and chopped onions and enjoy!

I paired my skins with wings and steamed broccoli to add some greenery to my plate but they're great alone too! With this recipe you're sure to be ready for some football!! WHODAT! ;)

Potato Skins

Serves 2

3 potatoes, baked

3-4 strips of bacon, chopped 

1/2-2/3 cup cheese

Sour cream

Green onion, chopped

Directions 

1. Set oven to broil - hi. Cut potatoes in half and scoop out insides, leaving a thin layer

2. Pour cheese into potato halves and sprinkle with bacon.

3. Place in lower half of oven and broil until potato edged brown and cheese is heated through

4. Top with a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle with green onions

bacon cheap cheese easy fast Featured food football Potato skins potatoes recipe sides

3:04 PM

Feast in 5 minutes!

I haven't done a post on just a side and technically this could be a main dish but for the purpose of this post it'll be a side only =)!

Like most of the recipes I make this one is one of those "whatever I had on hand" type deals so this actual batch was a two bean, one pea salad. I normally use garbanzo beans, black beans and edamames but you can use whatever your favorite beans are. This time I only had garbanzo and black beans in the cabine so I used one can of each, drained and rinsed

The veggies are also, of course, interchangeable as well. I tend to stick with sweet peppers, cucumbers and broccoli but I didn't have any broccoli in the fridge so I substituted it with some of my own home grown sugar snap peas, fresh from my garden!! 

As far as measurements, I used about 15-16 peas that I broke into pieces, roughly half a cucumber and 5 mini sweet peppers

Next I added my "secret ingredient", about 1/2 a pack of dry buttermilk ranch dressing (you can use more or less for taste) and enough apple cider vinegar to get everything covered a bit

Then mix everything up and eat! You can eat this room temp or cold, but the longer it sits in the fridge the better the flavor! Also if you like it a bit creamier you can add mayo with the seasoning and vinegar, I usually only add mayo when I'm making pasta salad but do what you like best. I also went back and added some cilantro because I had a bunch in the fridge, you can toss just about anything in this salad and it'd be awesome! 

Try it as a main dish with a baked potato for a meatless Monday dinner, or serve it as a healthy side with burgers! 

black beans chickpeas easy edamame fast food garbanzo beans healthy salad sides veggie

2:18 PM

I'm always looking for ways to save money, especially on food because that's one thing I know I don't have the option not to buy. So as of late I've been raiding my freezer for any and every usable item. Last night, I stumbled upon a bag of drumsticks, which I'm sure was left by our former 'roommates' because the only chicken I buy is boneless skinless breasts and the occasional pack of wings. I'm not really a drumstick person so I decided google recipe ideas using drumsticks while they defrosted. I came across multiple posts and recipes for shredded chicken which was something I hadn't made in a while, plus it reminded me of my beloved pulled pork sandwiches so "pulled chicken" sandwiches it was!

I started by boiling the drumsticks with enough water to cover them, it took about 20 minutes.

*note: I added onions, carrots, parsley and a little salt and pepper to my water to make a nice broth that I could use for other dishes but you don't have to do that.

Once my chicken was cooked, I pulled it off the bones, burning my fingers along the way because I was too hun...impatient to wait for it to cool

Then I put the chicken back in the pot along with a little of the broth and set it on medium heat

Next I added one of my favorite BBQ sauces, Sweet Baby Ray's, a little brown sugar, dijon mustard, hot pepper sauce and Tony's....I just like to spruce stuff up but you can just use BBQ or throw your own extras in if you want.

Mixed everything up, let it heat throughout and it was good to go!

______________________________________________________________________

For 4 servings (sandwiches), I used:

5 chicken drumsticks

8 slices of bread

3 C water

1/2 C BBQ sauce

1-2 T dijon mustard

1 T brown sugar

1-2 T hot pepper sauce

Tony's to taste

Directions

1. Place chicken and water in pot and boil for 20 minutes or until done

2. Once cooked, set drumsticks on a plate to cool before shredding. Remove broth to store or toss and place back on stove over med heat

3. Add chicken back to pot along with BBQ sauce, mustard, sugar, seasoning and hot pepper sauce. Stir to combine and heat throughout

4. Spoon chicken on bread (toasted is best!) and enjoy. I like to add pickles to mine, delicious!

**If you're going to keep your broth, let it cool before storing in fridge or freezer.

BBQ chicken easy Featured food sandwich

2:42 PM