Orange Chicken

Panda Express is one our favorite places to go for a family culinary treat. The only thing we ever order is Orange Chicken. This recipe is not a Panda clone,it is a bit more sweet and a touch spicier, but has no mystery ingredients.

Orange Chicken

Ingredients:

5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces

Sauce
3 3/4 cups water
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup rice vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 Tablespoons orange zest
2 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ginger
3-4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1/4 cup green onion, chopped
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Chicken
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

oil for frying

1/3 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup water

Directions:

Pour water, orange juice, lemon juice, vinegar and soy sauce into a sauce pan heat on medium-high.
Stir in orange zest, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, onion and red pepper flakes.
Bring to a boil.
Remove from heat and cool about 15 minutes.
Put cut up chicken in a gallon size resealable plastic bag, add a 1 - 2 cups cooled sauce. Reserve remaining sauce.
Refrigerate at least 2 hours, overnight recommended.
Mix the flour, salt and pepper together, put in a large bowl.
Lift chicken out of sauce with a slotted spoon and add to flour mix, coat thoroughly.
Discard the marinade.
Fry chicken until golden
Place fried chicken into a baking dish and bake at 325 about 20 minutes until really crispy and thoroughly cooked (optional step)
Mix cornstarch and water together
Add cornstarch mixture to remaining sauce and heat until thick and bubbly.
Add chicken and simmer on low, for about 5 minutes.

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Tips and Hints

• Easy tip for coating chicken: Put the flour in either a zip-lock bag or bowl with a tight fitting lid. Put the chicken in the container and shake.


• If you like more mild food cut the amount of red pepper flakes used.

Chunky Bean Dip

Several years ago I went through a healthy eating kick. I diligently searched and made only "healthy" low-fat foods. As you can tell by my recipes I am over that phase. There are only a few hold-overs from those days and they are so yummy my kids don't realize they are one of those "good for you" foods. This is one of the best and it disappears almost instantly.

Chunky Bean Dip

Ingredients:
Beans
4 cups dry pinto beans
1 whole potato
2 large onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 can (8 ounce) tomato sauce
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 Tablespoon salt

Dip
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon Cholula or other red pepper sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy or Southwest Chipolte seasoning
1/4 cup fresh chili (hot) peppers, chopped
1/4 cup fresh onion, chopped
1/4 cup fresh tomato, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lime juice
1/4 teaspoon Hot Shot (equal parts black and cayenne pepper, you can mix your own)
Directions:

Sort and rinse beans at least twice.
Cover with a lot of water and soak overnight.
Pour off the water and rinse well.
Place beans in a large pot and cover with water
Scrub potato clean and add, whole, to the beans and water
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 1 1/2 hours until beans are tender.
Add the remaining ingredients for the beans and simmer another 35-45 minutes to blend flavors.
Remove potato and discard.

Place 2 cups of beans in a flat bottomed bowl and mash with a potato masher.
Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
You can serve immediately or wait a while for flavors to blend.

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Tips and Hints

• Pouring off the rinse water and cooking with the potato are both methods to decrease flatulence. The potato absorbs the gas.



• You will have extra beans use them for something else or freeze them.



• If you like mild food use fewer peppers, or peppers of a more mild nature such as Anaheim, also remove the seeds and membranes, since that is where a lot of the heat is contained.



• If you love it hot, hot, hot use spicier peppers like jalapenos and serranos if you are really adventurous try a habanero.



• Another way to turn up the heat is to leave the seeds in.



• I use two or three different types of peppers per batch.



• I never make just a single batch of this, it goes too quickly. I use up all the cooked beans



• You can use canned beans, but the flavor will not be as rich.


• If you like your dip smoother, you can process the completed dip in a food processor or blender.