Orange Chicken and Rice

Look at this little man. He rides his bike without training wheels. He sleeps all night in his own bed. He gets himself dressed in the morning. He is going to be starting preschool in two months and riding the school bus.

How does five years go by so fast? Its like I blinked and all the sudden he was a toddler. Then I turned around and hes now a full grown boy! Can someone please teach me how to freeze time? Please? Otherwise if I blink again my Peanut will be 5...then Walnut will be 8! Lord help me!





Orange Chicken and Rice

1 1/2 pounds chicken tenders
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 cups cooked brown rice
3 green onions, diced

Sauce:
1 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup honey
zest from 1 orange
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon corn starch, mixed with 3 tablespoons water

Heat canola oil in a skillet over medium high. If tenders are too thick, slice in the middle lengthwise. Brown chicken in skillet until cooked through all the way and nice brown coloring on each side. Dice chicken into bite size chunks.

In a medium sauce pan, combine all the sauce ingredients and cook over medium-high heat until sauce thickens...about 10 minutes. Be sure to stir often.

To serve, spoon a large scoop of rice onto a plate and top with chicken and sauce and chopped green onions. Add sliced almonds if desired.

Enjoy!

Coconut Chicken Strips with Honey Citrus Dip

Coconut Chicken Strips with Honey Citrus Dip

2 pounds chicken tenders
1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1 egg
1/2 can of condensed milk
1/2 cup of orange juice
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Season chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix orange juice, condensed milk, and a beaten egg until your wet mixture is well combined. In another bowl, mix coconut and panko crumbs.

Dip and fully coat each tender in the egg mixture first and then the panko/coconut mix. Place coated tenders on a baking sheet sprayed heavily with Pam.

Bake chicken 35-40 minutes, turning half way through so that chicken browns nicely on both sides. Serve with Honey Citrus dipping sauce.

Honey Citrus Dipping Sauce
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup orange marmalade
In a small bowl, mix the honey and marmalade. Heat in microwave for one minute.

Homemade Chicken Nuggets and Oven Fries

My kids don't always eat everything that I make for dinner. For instance, you'd never see them putting down a big plate of Steak with Melon Relish or Chicken Marsala. And you'd never ever see them wolfing down a Pesto Chicken Foccacia Sandwich! So, sometimes I make two dinners. Like for instance today I had Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps (recipe coming soon!) and the kids had this...Homemade Chicken Nuggets and Oven Fries! Oh, they smelled excellent, too. I really wish I wasn't banning carbohydrates today. The kiddos gobbled them all up anyway, so there wasn't any left for me.

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

3 large chicken breasts
1 cup mozzerella cheese
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 tsp Lawry's Seasoning Salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 dash cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon Parsley Flakes
1 cup panko bread crumbs (or crushed Rice Chex for gluten free)

Boil chicken breasts for about 30 minutes until they are completely cooked through. When they are done, cut the breasts into large chuncks and place in a food processer. Pulse 3-4 times until chicken is broken up and slightly chunky. Then add cheese, egg, and seasonings. Pulse until all ingredients are throughly mixed and it forms a paste almost.

Place panko crumbs or cereal into a bowl with any desired seasonings.

Scoop out a heaping tablespoon and roll into a ball, then flatten ball to about 3/4" thick to form a nugget. Press both sides of nugget into the Panko/cereal and place on a baking sheet. Repeat until all chicken is gone.

Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes, turning nuggets after 15 minutes. Both sides of nuggets should be golden brown.

Oven Fries

4 potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
Freshly Cracked Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Dill

Skin potatoes and cut into fries about 3/4" x 3/4". I usually get about 12 fries from each potato when I cut them. Place potatoes in a large bowl that has a lid and add oil, salt, pepper and dill. Put on lid and shake until all potatoes are coated. Spray a non-stick pan with cooking spray (I've found even through potatoes are covered in oil they still stick so the cooking spray helps a lot when flipping them!) Place potatoes in a single layer on sheet and bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes, flipping potatoes over after 15 minutes for even browning. Fries are done when they are tender.

*Note that the fries and the nuggets have the exact baking temps and times so you can get it all done on one pan at the same time!

Enjoy!!

Chicken Marsala

Does this look like the face of a mischievous devil-in-training? See her little horns there hiding under all that curly hair? It is true...my little Peanut is being corrupted, drug into the world of color crayons and markers and walls. Yes, my friends, markers on my walls. In her room, the closets, on the furniture. Who you ask is the ring leader of this fiasco? It is none other then...

My Walnut of course. He's the ring leader. He puts ideas in Peanut's head so that when the wrath of Mommy comes he looks at me with those big blue eyes and says "I didn't do it, Peanut did!" Then I have to investigate to find out what really happened because I know that most of the time my little Angel wouldn't be able to come up with this stuff on her own. And Walnut knows how to lie. I've caught him several times. Where do they learn to lie like that? Are we born with a natural instinct to lie and it comes out around age 4? Is there an innocent and easy little lie that is the gate way lie and once they realize they got away with it they grow from there? Will I ever get my questions answered so I can intercept Peanuts first lie so she doesn't learn how?

So, days like these I pack my little nuts up and ship them to Grandmas so I can scrub/scour/clean/sanitize whatever they happened to have gotten into on that particular day. Then, I make myself something so delisous for dinner that all the stress from my devils-in-training melts away.

Chicken Marsala

4 Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breasts
Salt and Pepper
1/2 cup flour
4 Tbls Butter
16 ounces Fresh Mushrooms
2-3 cloves Garlic
1 cup Marsala Wine
1 cup Chicken Broth
1/2 cup Heavy Cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper on both sides. Place flour on a plate and dredge chicken breasts through flour to make a thin coating on each breast.

Heat and 1/4" oil in skillet over medium high and place chicken breasts in hot oil. Fry each piece for about 4-5 minutes on each side until breasts are golden brown. Remove chicken from fry pan and place on a tin foil lined baking sheet and place in oven for about 20 minutes until breasts are done all the way through.

Meanwhile, pour off excess grease from skillet and add butter. Once melted add mushrooms and garlic and lightly salt and pepper. Saute mushrooms for about 5 minutes until brown and soft. Add in marsala wine, chicken broth and heavy cream. Make sure to scrape all the bits off the bottom of the pan with the spatuala while stirring. Allow to reduce by about 1/3, about 5 minutes.

Pour mushroom sauce over chicken and serve with mashed potatoes, rice or noodles.

Enjoy!