Orange Chicken, the Healthy-ish Way!

As I mentioned earlier, I'm a fan of Chinese food. Not a fan of the side effects, obviously. However, I've been building my arsenal of homemade Chinese recipes. Thought I would share the delicious Orange Chicken I made yesterday. Once of my co-workers shared the recipe, and I tweaked it, but of course!!!

Orange Chicken

1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup rice vinegar (or white vinegar)
Juice from 1/2 orange
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp chopped green onion, AKA scallions
3/4 tsp fresh grated ginger root
4 cloves garlic, minced
Orange zest from one medium sized orange
Olive oil
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
4 boneless chicken breasts
3 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp water

Toss the water, vinegar, orange juice, lemon juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, green onion, garlic, ginger and orange zest into a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and allow to cool.

Put flour and salt into a ziploc bag. I like to add a smidge of garlic powder too. Clean up the chicken, and cut into cubes. Toss chicken into bag, seal, and throw it around to coat the pieces.

Add olive oil to a large saute pan over medium high heat. I don't measure my olive oil- just use enough so the pan is coated. Put half of the chicken in the pan, brown on all sides, and once it is cooked through move to plate. Repeat with the rest of the chicken.

OK this part is important- put your 2 tbsp water and 3 tbsp cornstarch in a small bowl and stir well. If you teach preschool, resist the urge to add more cornstarch and play with the goop. Bring your sauce back to a boil over medium high heat. Once it's boiling stir in the cornstarch mixture and reduce to medium low heat, simmering. Stir occasionally until it's thickened, about five minutes. Toss in your chicken and let it chillax on low for about four minutes- really, just until the chicken has re-warmed. Eat over rice, or noodles, or straight out of the pan, if you're famished already.

I love it, the kids love it, my parents love it- a winning dish. Leftovers taste even better!!!!!

Crab Ran-yummmmmmy

Chinese food is delicious. It also causes my fingers and feet to swell like a nine month pregnant woman in a sauna. The salt! It's brutal. It's also too expensive, and typically works like a freaking laxative. I've mastered the at home, healthier versions of my favorites, like honey garlic chicken, lo mein, and fried rice (mine is way yummier FYI). Finally though, I have struck on crab rangoon genius. It's not gummy, not deep fried greasy, and so freaking good!!!

Crab Rangoon

Package of wonton wrappers
Block of cream cheese (I actually usually use two blocks- I love scallions and usually use three so I feel like I need more cream cheese in the bowl- if you do use two, double the soy sauce, worcestershire (or oyster) and use 3 tsp. of sugar as opposed to two)
Can of crab meat- the cheapie ones are fine!
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp worcestershire sauce (or oyster sauce)
4 cloves fresh garlic, minced
2 scallions, finely chopped
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp celery salt
Cooking spray, like Pam

Preheat the oven to 350. Most recipes say 425 but it's just too hot! The got all black on the corners way before the center was warm. Tried 375- still too burn-y. 350 works much better.

Filling: Combine all the ingredients except the wonton wrappers and cooking spray in a bowl. I use my hands sometimes, but a fork does the trick.

Spray a baking sheet with the Pam. Work with just two or three wonton wrappers at a time, as they get really dried out. I moisten a paper towel to lay over the ones I am not yet working with. Put a teaspoon (the eating kind of teaspoon, not the measuring kind!) in the center of your wonton. Use your finger to moisten the edges with water. I just keep a small bowl of water next to me. Fold over into a triangle and press down the sides, sealing as well as you can. I like to then fold over the corners so they look like little envelopes- less chance of burning!! Place on baking sheet and spritz top with Pam. Continue until your filling is gone- I get about 24. Bake until golden brown and drool worthy- mine take about 9-11 minutes.

These are delicious- but aren't the almost sweet, gummy ones you get a Chinese take away places. If you like that flavor, add a teaspoon of sugar to the mixture. However, the garlic adds a lovely spice to these, and they are well loved by adults AND my picky a** kids!!!! Calorically, the wonton wrappers have 18 calories each, the seasonings none, the spray, none. The crab is low cal- so it's really just the cream cheese- and you can use one of those fancy Greek yogurt cream cheeses, or the reduced fat ones. Either way, you're not destroying your day of healthy(ish) eating!

On standardized testing and other acts of ridiculousness...

I am sure many of you will read this post and think I have lost my marbles. That I have clearly opened my mouth and inserted my foot fully, all the way to the ankle, in it. Well, tough cookies. I am a TEACHER. What I do is TEACH. I don't prepare kids for a test. Nope. Sorry. Not me. I TEACH CHILDREN. It's MCAS week here in the fine old state of MA, which is all fine and dandy. I encourage my kiddos to do their best, but inside I really want to tell them to use the bubbles to draw pictures. I will never say that, because, frankly, I enjoy having a job. Let me preface this further discussion by saying that I teach children that are all on IEP's. For some reason or another, they require specially designed instruction in order to access the curriculum. Wahoo!!!! Recognition that not all learners do it the same way! As a parent, I feel like this is common sense- my two boys don't learn things the same way, and they are genetically related. Why on earth would I expect totally non-identical, non-cloned humans to be any different? That's just the way we teach them, obviously. MCAS is a fine little test administered by the state- it is meant to ensure that students earning a diploma have reached a certain level of competence. OK, fine. However, I'm a smart gal. I have a master's degree, and a bachelors, from some damn good schools. I graduated from high school- and amazingly, I didn't have a bubble test tell me I was worthy of graduation. Oddly enough, they relied on my TEACHERS to determine my abilities. You know, those people you entrust your children to for thirteen years? The people qualified and trained to foster academic excellence? Yup, amazingly, if you fulfilled course requirements, earned your credits, and didn't have overdue library books, you got to GRADUATE!!!! Crazy, ain't it??? Now we need these fancy schmancy tests to tell teachers, parents, and students, whether they "earn" a diploma. Can I just, at the risk of sounding both crass and judgmental, call BULLSHIT? The trust that was once placed in public education is severely waning- by both the government and families- if we need a one size fits all test to determine ability, it is essentially saying that there is no trust in educators, administrators, curriculum specialists, and the like- they CERTAINLY can't determine whether or not children have acquired the necessary knowledge- let's have this test do it. How sad that we are at that point. SAT's and GRE's and MCAT's and LSAT's are different in my eyes- people choose to take these tests, because it helps them achieve their goals. I get that. I encourage them. I am one of them- and am so lucky that I am actually good at all that bubbling. I take some sick pleasure in filling the bubbles fully and with varying shades of number two pencil. Even so, as an educator, I am incredibly thankful that I do work with an outstanding group of students- and that their value and knowledge amounts to so much more in my eyes, than a score. Yes, my students take MCAS. Some pass, some fail. For my curriculum planning, even the failures aren't that helpful. Sure, it could tell me that student X can't use semicolons appropriately- but I ALREADY KNEW THAT. See, I'm working with my kids, every day. I know what they can do and not do. I know if student Y can't multiply, or student Z can't formulate strong topic sentences. I know because I am involved. I know because I care. I know because I don't expect every learner to be the same. Truly great teacher know this, and use their creativity and chutzpah to help their students succeed, and learn those skills. I work with some absolutely amazing teachers- their ability to help kids learn floors me- and I am thankful every single day that I get to work with them. That said, I'm scared out of my mind. I have two kids. They are little. Like, way little. I don't want them to even think about MCAS or PARCC. I want them to enjoy learning, and explore the world with their teachers. I don't want to be sending in notes of encouragement on MCAS day, at the suggestion of the school. I want them to actually LEARN. To be excited about what each day will bring.

And to never, ever, need a freaking number two pencil. My boys are so much more than a test.

I'm Irish, damnit! I SWEAR!!!

Look at me go. Two posts in one day! Today I learned that I am 1/4 Irish, so I feel that it is my duty, as an Irish lass, to share a recipe for corned beef sliders. You know, since five million of them don't already exist. That said, here it is.

Corned Beef

Slab O'Raw corned beef

2 onions, chopped into hunks

4 carrots, chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped

2 bottles of good beer (I know- this alone might cause my Irish Card to expire)

3 tsp pickling spice

1 tbsp dill

4 tbsp mustard

Whisk the beer and the mustard together. Toss the veggies in the crockpot. Throw slab o'raw corned beef in. Sprinkle pickling spice and dill over beef. Top with beer/mustard mix. Cook on low for approximately two hours per pound. Mine was 3 pounds, and was fine after five hours- keep an eye on it. Eat. Sing "Oh Danny Boy" while doing an Irish jig. If you are tone deaf, make sliders with horseradish jicama slaw. 

Slaw

Bag of shredded cabbage/slaw mix (you can chop your own too- make sure to get some carrots in there

Small onion, chopped finely

Jicama, shredded or chopped finely

1 cup (approximately) apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp celery seed

1 tbsp dill 

2 tsp ground mustard seed OR 2 tbsp mustard

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup mayonnaise (or more or less- it's a taste thing)

Prepared horseradish (I prefer the white- I'm not giving an amount because it's really up to your taste!)

Whisk together the wet ingredients and the seasonings. Add sugar, whisk some more. Taste. Too creamy or sweet? Add a smidge more apple cider vinegar. Too tart? Add a smidge more sugar. Repeat until you like it. Add a small amount of horseradish at a time, whisking and tasting. When it's super yummy, toss in your onion, cabbage, and jicama. Coat well and refrigerate for at least three hours. You can eat it right away, but the flavors need some time to come together for optimal results. 

Shove corned beef and slaw into little rolls- or big rolls. I don't judge. Eat. Dance jig. Repeat.

Happy Healthy Chicken Nuggets

OK, it's been FOREVER since I posted. Forgive me- it's still winter here in Massachusetts and as a result everything sucks. My dirty floors suck. My folded laundry waiting to be put away sucks. My cranky children aching for outside time kind of suck (I can never say my kids suck- they are wonderful and lovely and I adore them). However, the kitchen wars wage on- still cooking, and baking, and creating. I made these yum yum nuggets the other night, in a big batch, and have frozen them for school lunches- even though I currently only have ONE child who tolerates the sight of chicken. They are messy but easy to make!

Happy Healthy Nuggies

5 chicken breasts, trimmed of fat and cubed (on the chicken- I buy club packs and do this to all fifteen chicken breasts- and freeze them in three batches- that way I can just pull one to make Chinese food, etc. If you do this, thaw thoroughly)
2 cups flour
2 cups seasoned breadcrumbs
5 eggs
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper (if you like it- I do not!!!)
2 tbsp mustard
1 tsp onion powder

You need three bowls- one with the flour, salt, garlic powder, and onion powder. Blend. The second bowl is your five eggs and the mustard. Whisk well. The third bowl has your seasoned breadcrumbs. Make sure you have a baking sheet ready with racks. I use cookie cooling racks on just a baking sheet. Coat with cooking spray. Chicken goes into the flour- coat thoroughly. Drop in the egg, coating fully. Then to the breadcrumbs- get them nice and covered- then pop them onto the rack/pan thingamajig. Repeat. It's messy. Not hard though! After your chicken is all done and on the rack, spray with cooking spray on all sides- just rotate them a bit and make sure they've gotten spritzed. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 14-17 minutes. Mine were rather large so it took us 18 minutes. To check for doneness, I pulled the largest one off and cut into it. No pink? Happy chicken.

If you are going to freeze these, allow them to cool completely before packaging for the freezer.

They are so stinking good. I use them for chicken and waffles (with maple mustard) and just regular nuggets with "cheput" AKA ketchup. The DON'T work, however, in a sauteed recipe, like honey garlic chicken. The breading falls off and gets yucky.

You can also use Panko breadcrumbs, but they need to be seasoned well- try paprika, garlic, oregano, curry- anything your heart desires. You can also make these completely organic by using organic ingredients, obvi.

Maple Mustard Dipping Sauce

1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup mustard (yellow works fine- I use a mix of yellow and brown)
 2 tsp vinegar (I like the apple cider personally)

Whisk it all together. It's yummy. To reheat, DON'T microwave. I do mine in the toaster oven for about 10 minutes (if frozen), but you can use an oven too.