Since I have started cooking a lot more my main goal has been to be easy and fast! If you have a toddler you understand that some days they might allow you to cook a 2 hour gourmet dinner and the next day you might get a good 15 minutes. So anything I post will recipe wise will be fairly simple and quick!!
Last night was the first time I have not enjoyed our dinner. :( In fact the orange chicken didn't turn out at all and Bryan stopped and got us some orange chicken from a chinese place by our house :) The fried rice was delicious however! I'm still going to post the recipe cause I know what went wrong.
Crockpot Orange Chicken
*3-4 boneless chicken breasts, chopped into small chunks
*1/3 cup flour
*olive oil
*1/2 Tbs salt
*1 tsp balsamic vinegar
*3 Tbs ketchup
*6oz frozen orange juice concentrate (thawed)
*4 Tbs brown sugar
1. In a bowl mix the orange juice, brown sugar, vinegar, salt and ketchup.
2. Pour the flour in a small bowl. Cover the chicken breast chunks in flour and shake off the excess.
3. Pour a small amount of olive oil in a skillet and brown the flour-covered chicken. (Here is the first place I think I slightly messed up. I think I cooked the chicken a little too long.) It does not need to be fully cooked since it is going in the crock pot.
4. After the chicken is done cooking, pour the pieces into the crock pot. Then cover the chicken with your sauce mixture and give the pot a stir.
5. Cook on low for 5-6 hours or high for 2-3
(Here was the second problem!! I followed these directions. And because it was a not feeling good, already tired of being pregnant kind of day, I only checked on the chicken once or twice. 5 hours is WAYYYYYY too long in my crockpot! This is what the chicken looked like after 3 hours
At this point I was thinking oh my goodness this is going to be delicious! And I think 3 hours was all it needed! It was completely dried up and burned by 5 hours. So if you attempt this I would suggest making sure you have extra time the first day to be able to check on it often to make sure it doesn't dry out like mine did.
Now on to the fried rice!
Fried Rice
*3 cups cooked white rice (day old or leftover rice works best)
*3 Tbs sesame oil
*1 cup frozen peas and carrots (thawed)
*1 small onion, chopped
*2 tsp minced garlic (2-3 cloves)
*2 eggs, slightly beaten
*1/4 cup soy sauce
1. On medium hight heat, heat the oil in a large skillet or wok
2. Add the peas/carrots mix, onion and garlic. Stir fry until tender
3. Lower the heat to medium low and push the mixture off to one side, then pour your eggs on the other side of the skillet and stir fry until scrambled. (I scrambled them in a separate small skillet because mine wasn't large enough to scoot everything else over. It worked just as good.)
4. Now add the rice and soy sauce. (I made my white rice yesterday morning and left it in the fridge all day and I think it worked just like cooking it the day before.)
5. Stir fry until thoroughly heated and enjoy!!!
Overall this was a quick dinner and I was able to do certain parts at different times of the day which is helpful with a certain little munchkin running around. If you happen to make the orange chicken let me know how long you cook yours in a comment!!!
On the menu tonight Pizza Casserole! One of Bryan's favorites! I'll post the recipe tomorrow!
Happy Tuesday everyone!!
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