Victory!

You know how I try to make easy, quick to prepare meals? Yeah, not so much today. But in the end, it was worth it. Let me tell you about it...

As you can tell, my little guy Z has a pretty easy going, varied palate. He will try almost anything and will gamely eat all manner of foods that most kids his age would think were nuts. But he still has his favorites, and at the very top of his list of dinner favorites sits one singular dish..Trader Joe's Orange Chicken. He LOVES it. Really really loves it. And we used to love it too. But after we did the whole Cambiati cleanse we found that TJ's orange chicken didn't quite do it for us anymore. It tastes just a little too greasy and not quite fresh and real enough. It also is not organic (although it is hormone-free chicken). For the past few months I have dealt with this issue by only giving Z orange chicken on nights that the babysitter comes. And all the while I have been scouring the internet in search of a recipe to replace it with. Yesterday he begged me to buy it for dinner and so I finally promised that I would make it in the next few days. Well, today was the day. I found a few recipes for baked breaded chicken nuggets and a recipe for an orange sauce and combined them all to create homemade, organic orange chicken!

I am not going to lie to you and say that this was an effortless recipe to make. On the contrary, it was quite the production. All of the work was in the chicken prep, and it was all made worse by one single problem. I HATE touching raw chicken. There are really very few things that I get grossed out by, but raw chicken just rubs me the wrong way. And this involved a lot of raw chicken touching. Anyone who can suggest how I might make this recipe without having to touch it will have my eternal gratitude.

The upside of having all the work be in the chicken prep was that once I cleared that hurdle, the rest of the recipe was a breeze. And then came the moment of truth...letting Z taste it. He was THRILLED to have orange chicken for dinner, and he even recognized it as such right from the get go. We explained that this was mommy's homemade version and that was fine with him...and he dug right in. I really think I held my breath as he took his first few bites. 5 year olds can be pretty fickle and I was worried that it was going to be too different from his old standby for him. But all of a sudden he piped up and said "Mommy, you did a really good job. You orange chicken is even better than Trader Joe's." And I, in that moment, felt like I had won mother of the year :) All that raw chicken touching became instantly worthwhile.

So without further ado, I give you my hack of Trader Joe's Orange Chicken. The end result is significantly less sweet than the original, and I think I will try to work on making the taste of the sauce a little more sharp. But for a first run, not so bad.

(It tastes better than it looks, I promise!)


For the baked chicken nuggets:
2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs
1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, possibly more
4 eggs
1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat breadcrumbs
1 and 1/2 cups panko (I found whole wheat panko at Whole Foods)
1 teaspoon salt
spray oil

-Preheat the oven to 425 and put a baking rack on a cookie sheet that has been lined with foil or parchment paper. Spray the baking rack with oil.
-Trim the chicken thighs of any excess fat and cut them into cubes approximately 1 inch square.
-Place the whole wheat flour in a shallow bowl or a ziploc bag.
-In a second bowl beat the 4 eggs.
-Combine the whole wheat breadcrumbs, the panko and the salt in a third bowl (or another large ziploc bag).
-In batches, dredge the chicken first in the flour, then in the eggs and finally in the breadcrumb/panko mixture. Make sure to shake off excess from each stage before moving on to the next one.
-Place the finished nuggets on the baking rack (I had to do two consecutive batches to get them all cooked) and lightly spray them with oil. This will help them crisp up nicely.
-Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the crusts are golden.

Now the nice thing is that you could do this process and just stop here...these made mighty tasty chicken nuggets. If you were going to stop at this point I would suggest experimenting with adding some spices to the breading mixture just to add a little flavor. But if you want to go all the way, then keep following along.

Once the nuggets are all cooked, place them in a large bowl and move on to the sauce.

1 and 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 and 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger root
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced green onion
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup water

Put the water, orange juice, lemon juice, rice vinegar and soy sauce in a medium saucepan and heat it for about 5 minutes on medium heat. Add in the orange zest, brown sugar, ginger, garlic and green onion and bring to a boil. While this is coming to a boil combine the cornstarch with cold water in a small bowl or glass. Once the sauce is boiling slowly add the cornstarch mixture into the sauce, stirring constantly so that no lumps appear. Stir as the sauce thickens and then boil a few minutes longer to be sure that you aren't left with any "raw" cornstarch taste.

Now just pour the sauce over the chicken, toss, and serve.

This recipe will feed a family of 4 quite nicely and provide enough leftovers for the next day's lunchbox.

While I was making the orange chicken I also cooked up the garbanzo bean burgers that I started yesterday. The good news is that now that I have invested the time in preparing all of these yummy foods, I basically get the weekend off of cooking! This gives me time to tackle other exciting projects, like scrubbing the kitchen floor, cleaning my sweaters and reading with my boy. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend as well, and I will see you back here on Monday!