Semi-Homemade Orange Chicken

When considering what to make for dinner, sometimes we need something tasty, but don't necessarily want to go through the effort involved. Luckily, Chinese Orange Chicken can be done with a store-bought shortcut - store-bought heat-and-eat chicken tenders paired with homemade orange caramel sauce. 

Luckily, the local grocer had chicken tenders packages 2 x $10, so we grabbed two packages of 5 tenders, and froze the leftovers. I prepped the purple potatoes and broccoli, arranged the tenders on a quarter-sheet, and got to work on the orange caramel sauce.

The oranges had their zest peeled off using a sharp peeler, juiced, then chopped garlic and finely grated ginger root were portioned out. Dark brown sugar is portioned out, then the cooking begins.

Fry the orange zest in a little high-temperature-tolerant oil like canola until it gets dark and somewhat crispy, then toss in the garlic and ginger, and almost immediately the brown sugar so the garlic and ginger don't brown too much. As the sugar starts to melt, toss in the orange juice and combine with everything else. 

Allow the sauce to caramelize and reduce, but you can always thicken it with a cornstarch slurry too, so you can use leftover sauce for other things... ;-) 

Saturday Casbah Chicken Thighs

We went shopping a little earlier than usual, grabbed some chicken thighs, broccoli, and brussels sprouts, and got to cooking. I was thinking about doing the chicken Moroccan-style in the tagine, but after watching some of the Saturday cooking shows, I was craving chicken with crispy skin! 

I trimmed the thighs of excess skin and fat, and seasoned with salt and "Casbah" spice blend from Aroma, and roasted in a 425F oven, on a rack over a half-sheet pan. The brussels sprouts were sliced in half and likewise roasted in the hot oven, and the broccoli was steamed and anointed with grated parmesan cheese.

Yummy comfort food, somewhat healthy, on a winter day. I really liked this Casbah spice - very flavourful and not "hot and spicy" so we both could enjoy! 

Saturday Pub Burgers

Hoping for a low impact weekend, I remembered that we had pub burgers in the freezer from a sale at the Jewels this summer. I thawed them this afternoon, and grabbed green beans and yellow squash from the grocer today.

The burgers were spiced with McCormick Hamburger Seasoning, and pan fried.  The beans we boiled the beans and flavoured with butter and herbes de Provence, and the yellow squash we sliced, and breaded with flour and pan fried.

Tasty burgers with either provolone or extra sharp cheddar, with green beans and pan fried yellow squash slices, a good dinner for a busy weekend day! 

Roasted Chicken Thighs with Polenta

Starting the new year on a healthier note, the chicken was seasoned with Goya Sazon con Azafran, and served with garlicky polenta, roasted Brussels sprouts, and roasted cauliflower seasoned with Goya Culantro y Azafran.

The seasonings were flavorful without being too powerful, bit I think next time I make polenta I will add some grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. As it was, it needed "something"....