Orange Chicken and My Potatoes

Tonight, the first suggestion that was given to me when I posed the ever-popular question "What should we have for dinner?" was Orange Chicken.  Now in reality my youngest son meant Orange Chicken from Panda Express.   But my brain knew that I could make this recipe quick and easy so that is what I chose.   This is the same recipe in my previous post and knowing that I was going to make a post on it made it that much easier to choose.

Also while I thought what to make with it, my easy fries were a win win also.  Mostly I made this choice based on the fact that the bag of potatoes in the pantry won't last much longer.  Not because I did it before.  Also by some weird coincidence we also had green beans again. This because making a salad took more effort and just plain carrot sticks didn't sound so good tonight and I didn't want to go to the basement to find a bag of peas.  So when I opened the freezer, there they were.  Toss in a bowl and microwave.  Voila!

I know!  How on earth could I make the exact dinner twice like that without truly conscienctiously trying too.  Well I can't answer that.  So here is how dinner went.  Oldest who likes the chicken, hates green beans.  Youngest who will tolerate the green beans convinced himself the chicken was yucky because it wasn't the Orange Chicken he wanted.  Thus both boys sat there after dinner for over 1/2 and hour being made to eat their yucky food.  We aren't always this strict but tonight we were feeling more like mean parents.  Finally we let oldest eat twice as much broccoli that was left-over in the fridge but youngest still had to suffer through his chicken.  And believe me, when he thinks he doesn't like something he can chew FOREVER.  Why do kids do this??????  no matter how much you tell them that if they chew it longer they will taste it longer, they still chew forever.  Poor kids.   


Alright, onward.  I really like this chicken.  As do most of my family and honestly the first time I made it, youngest had seconds.    It is simple and yummy.   The one change I made is that I used boneless skinless chicken breasts.  I do like bone-in breast better, I think they have a better flavor but it hasn't been on sale for a while in my area.  But I think it turned out just as well and probably a little healthier because of no skin and fat trimmed off.  But I will just give you the original recipe from Food Network.

Crispy-Skinned Chicken a l'Orange

Ingredients

nocoupons

• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 skin-on bone-in chicken breast halves
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
• 4 tablespoons honey

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Liberally salt and pepper the chicken breast halves. Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat and sear the chicken, skin side only, until brown and beginning to crisp, about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the orange glaze: In a small saucepan, heat the orange juice concentrate, honey, and salt and pepper, to taste, over medium heat, and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Turn the chicken over and brush each piece with the glaze. Turn the chicken skin side up and transfer the pan to the oven. Bake until the internal temperature reaches 160 to 170 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, brushing on more glaze halfway through, about 15 minutes in total. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes on a cutting board. Remove the chicken breast from the bone and slice the meat on the bias. Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and serve.
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Now about the potatoes.

Since I made them again, only my way this time,  I figured I would take some pics to show you how I did it as explained in previous post.

I cut potatoes into wedges and place in microwavable bowl and cover mostly.  Then for my microwave it's about 5 min. on high.

Remove from microwave and put about 1 teaspoon of shortening (depending on how many potatoes you have)  This time I did half butter because I said I would try it next time.  It turned out fine but I still used a bit of shortening to help it from burning.  I don't really know if that was necessary.  Shake some salt, pepper and paprika on top then toss.

Place on baking sheet and put under broiler until crispy.  Turn or stir half way to brown the other side.

Enjoy.