So being a big planner like myself, I love LOVE to meal plan! I pride myself on usually (USUALLY) having a pretty good idea of what we are going to eat each week, so I can get all my shopping done, have all my meat thawed out, etc. Tonight I was super excited to make one of our favorites, orange chicken! But as I was finishing up cooking, I realized I had nothing on the side. Luckily I had a half a head of cabbage in the fridge (leftovers from Monday's dinner...which I've yet to post about, but trust me it's WORTH IT!!) and was able to throw something together VERY quickly!!
Orange Chicken
Sauce:
-1 1/2 cups water
-2 tablespoons orange juice
-1/4 cup lemon juice
-1/3 cup rice vinegar
-2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
-1 tablespoon grated orange zest
-1 cup packed brown sugar
-1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
-1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
-2 tablespoons chopped green onion
-1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
-3 tablespoons cornstarch
-2 tablespoons water
Chicken:
-2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
-1 cup all-purpose flour
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1/4 teaspoon pepper
-3 tablespoons olive oil
-Pour 1 1/2 cups water, orange juice, lemon juice, rice vinegar, and soy sauce into a saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Stir in the orange zest, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, chopped onion, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat.
-In a resealable plastic bag, mix the flour, salt, and pepper. Add the chicken pieces, seal the bag, and shake to coat.
-Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Place chicken into the skillet, and brown on both sides. Drain on a plate lined with paper towels, and cover with aluminum foil.
-Wipe out the skillet, and add the sauce. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Mix together the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water; stir into the sauce. Reduce heat to medium low, add the chicken pieces, and simmer, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve over rice.
I like to throw a bunch of broccoli in when I make this, I would do that after the chicken has cooked. That adds a healthy bit in there!!
So like I was saying, the sauce was simmering, the rice was almost done cooking (oh my lord brown rice takes for EVER to cook...as in almost a half hour!) and I just couldn't help but notice that dinner seemed very bleak! I started thinking about cabbage ramen salad (asian coleslaw, I'm sure everyone reading this has had a variation of this salad at least once). I grabbed the half head of cabbage and started shredding it up. After I dumped that in a bowl, I racked my brain for all ingredients that sounded like they would go....and this is what I came up with!
Carli's Simple Asian Salad
-1/2 head of cabbage
-1/2 cup shredded carrots
-1/2 cup diced red onion
-1 bunch (about a handful I used, but I really love it!) cilantro, chopped up
-1/2 sliced and toasted almonds
Dressing:
-3/4 cup oil (canola, olive, whatever will do)
-1/4 cup rice vinegar (which I used all of for dinner, so cider vinegar did the trick)
-1 tbsp sugar
-1/2 tsp ginger
-1/2 tsp garlic powder
-salt and pepper to taste
I used ginger and garlic powder, but obviously fresh ginger root and chopped fresh garlic would be optimal for this recipe!
Place all ingredients in a large bowl. In separate bowl (measuring cup works great for this!) mix dressing. Pour over salad and voila! (This could be made ahead as well, just not TOO far ahead so the cabbage doesn't get soggy!)
Let me know if you try this and what you think! Also, let me know if there are any delicious recipes you are dying to know, I want to get as much feedback on this as I can!!
