Panda Express Orange Chicken

I don't think I've ever come across a copycat recipe that was as close to the original as this one... OMG it was almost better I think! And look how pretty this is!!!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. chicken breast meat
• 1 egg white
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 4 cups vegetable oil to be used for frying
• 1 cup cornstarch

Orange Sauce

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/8 cup vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon grated orange peel
• 2 tablespoons chopped scallion

Directions:

1. Cut chicken breast into 1/2-inch cubes, set aside.
2. To make marinade – combine egg white, salt and sugar in a bowl and stir vigorously until ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Add chicken cubes to marinade and stir to coat well.
3. To make orange sauce – combine water, ketchup, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, 4 teaspoons cornstarch and sesame oil; stir and set aside. Place a pot over high heat. When pot is hot, add the 2tablespoons vegetable oil and heat. Add orange peel and scallion and stir for about 20 seconds, taking care not to burn the orange peel.
4. Pour combined sauce ingredients into the pot and cook, stirring frequently, until sauce has thickened, about 12-15 minutes.
5. Preheat 4 cups oil to 350-375°F. Meanwhile, put marinated chicken in the plastic baggie drain well and set aside. Add fried chicken to pot with heated orange sauce, stir for about 30 seconds, and then serve immediately. containing the cornstarch. Shake chicken well for about 20 seconds or until chicken is covered with cornstarch. Shake off all excess cornstarch and fry chicken in hot oil until golden brown, approximately 2 1/2 minutes. Remove chicken from oil with a slotted spoon,
6. Serve with steamed rice.

It's a little bit of a time consuming recipe but it turned out excellent! The only thing I would change for next time is that I like mine a little more spicy so I think I'd throw in some red pepper flakes or something to give it a little kick - otherwise, it's absolutely perfect!

 

Happy Birthday Adam!!!

Oh my!... my man turned the big 3-0 on Wednesday!!! 

In honor of him I thought it might be time to post a recipe. It really has been a while since I posted one! I know I've been a horrible blogger since Landon was born and I haven't updated nearly enough!!! I can only do so much one-handed typing though (he's asleep in my arms right now!) But anyway, one of Adam's favorite restaurants is the Outback Steakhouse however since we are broke (whats new?) and I remembered we had this gem collecting dust under our counter, I thought I'd give it a go!!! :)

Great American Steakhouse Onion Machine

Now, I have to say, we've tried this thing before... it sucked. We could never get the coatings in the instruction book to work and it always turned out like crap. However this time... it turned out AWESOME!!! 

If you don't have access to the onion machine (I imagine not since I could only find it for sale anymore on ebay?!) Here's instructions from Allrecipes.com to hand slice it:

***To slice onion: slice 1 inch off of the top and bottom of the onion and remove the papery skin. Use a thin knife to cut a 1 inch diameter core out of the middle of the onion. Now use a very sharp, large knife to slice the onion several times down the center to create 'petals': First slice through the center of the onion to about three-fourths of the way down. Turn the onion 90 degrees and slice it again in an X across the first slice. Keep slicing the sections in half, very carefully until the onion has been cut 16 times. Do not cut down to the bottom of the onion. (The last 8 slices will be difficult, be careful).*** 

Ok so... once you have your onion sliced you need to soak it in ice water root side up for 1 hour. I guess this helps separate the petals and makes them nice and full which helps to coat the onion better. 

While its soaking you can prepare the dry mixture which all we did was just take a bunch of flour along with random spices (Johnnys, pizza seasoning, garlic powder, onion salt, paprika, ground mustard...etc... whatever you have on hand that sounds good). Throw it all in a bag large enough to fit your onion.

The wet coating you'll need is Tempura. Mix it according to the package instructions (I did notice this works best if you leave it a little thick... so use a little less water than instructed). 

After an hour, remove your onion from the ice water and shake dry. Coat with your tempura mixture making sure to get down in between all the petals. Move onion to your bag of dry coatings (this got messy for us!) And shake it... shake it baby shake it!!! :) Remove onion and place it on a plate. Again separate the petals and make sure that the dry coating got down into all the crevices! 

I forgot to mention you need a pretty good size deep fryer (or I guess a large pot would work too but have fun with that?!). We heated oil to about 375 degrees and cooked our onion till she was golden brown!!! 

Look at this beauty... oh it was good!!!

OH! I almost forgot... the sauce! I found a few different variations of the ingredients online for this. I have to be honest, we kind of make-shifted?! Here's the ingredients we used, however, the measurements are questionable so I'm not including them :)

• Mayo
• Ketchup
• Chili Sauce
• Cheyenne pepper

One last recipe that I attempted was the Outback Steakhouse Bread... it didn't turn out :( BUT - I have to admit that I was in a hurry cause Landon was starting to get fussy. You just can't rush making bread!!! Adam ate a lot of it anyway so maybe it wasn't THAT bad but it was not picture worthy! I'm going to try it again when I have more time :) If it comes out better I'll post it.

Alright folks that's all for now... my arm is asleep from holding Landon this whole time and I need to shower! CHEERS!!!

Olive Garden Chicken Castellina

I don't know why I don't make this more often... oh wait... probably because it's REALLY super gooey and yummy and I'm sure it can't be healthy. But man, is it OH.SO.GOOD! It's also no longer on the Olive Garden menu - they won't even make it special order... boo. So I googled and found that while they don't offer it anymore, they do give the recipe right on their website!!! I've had the recipe for some time now just in case it falls off their website... here's their credit...

So my sister was in town this weekend and while she HATES mushrooms, I decided we'd make it anyway - she picked them out :)

While it I thought it would do NOTHING for my blood sugar numbers, suprisingly, we made this along with a huge salad and some garlic bread (which I only had 1 small piece of) and my numbers turned out fine... so I had leftovers for lunch the next day :)

We ate it so fast that I didn't have time to take a picture... oops! Next time :) Enjoy!

Ingredients
Chicken Ingredients:
1/4 tsp Salt
1 oz Cornstarch
--
2 oz Sun-dried tomatoes, diced
1 Tbsp Fresh rosemary, chopped
3 oz Butter, cubed
1/2 tsp Salt
2 oz Grated Parmesan
12 oz Milk
1 1/2 lb(s) Cooked pasta
--
8 1/2 oz Can sliced artichokes, drained
2 oz White wine
Fresh parsley, chopped
12 oz Heavy cream
1 1/2 lb(s) Skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut in 1 to 1-1/2-inch pieces
2 oz Pancetta (or bacon), diced
1/4 tsp Pepper
3 oz Mushrooms, sliced
6 oz Flour
1/4 tsp Pepper
--
Sauce Ingredients:
3 oz Smoked Gouda, chopped
1 1/2 oz Olive oil
1 tsp Garlic, chopped

Procedures
Sauce Preparation
- In a 3-qt sauce pan or large pot, sauté pancetta (or bacon) over medium/high heat until crisp and golden (not dark)
- Lower heat, add butter and melt
- Add garlic and sun-dried tomatoes
- Sauté for approximately one minute stirring frequently (do not brown)
- Whisk in cream, milk and cornstarch. Raise heat to medium/high
- Whisk in Parmesan and Gouda
- Once cheese melts, add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil stirring continuously
- Remove from heat and let stand uncovered


Chicken Preparation
- Mix flour with salt and pepper
- Coat chicken in seasoned flour, shake off excess flour
- Heat olive oil in large sauté pan
- Add chicken in a single layer and cook until golden brown on both sides (it should take approximately seven minutes). Using a meat thermometer, make sure the internal temperature of the thickest piece of chicken reaches 165 degrees
- Begin pasta in a separate pot according to package directions
- Add wine to chicken in pan (caution: there will be a low flame in pan). Toss gently until wine is evaporated
- Once reduced, add sauce and bring to a boil on medium/high heat
- Place 6 oz of cooked pasta on each plate
- Evenly distribute chicken and sauce over pasta
- Garnish with chopped parsley