December 28, 2011: Orange Chicken Recipe

Unlike the very popular Orange Chicken you find on the menu at many Chinese restaurants, this recipe has fewer calories and a fresher taste. It’s easy to prepare and yummy served with plain or fried rice and a side of crisply sautéed veggies.

Orange Chicken served with fried rice.

Orange Chicken

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Salt and pepper

¼ cup cornstarch

1 t. sesame oil

1 T. soy sauce

1 T. rice wine vinegar

1 T. water

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced on the diagonal

3 green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal, white and green parts separated

Sesame seeds

Vegetable oil

Orange Sauce:

1/3 cup orange juice

1 T. soy sauce

1 T. honey

1 t. ginger, finely minced

1 t. sesame oil

1 t. cornstarch

1 t. water

Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper on both sides. Cut chicken into approximately 1 1/2-inch square chunks. Toss together with cornstarch, soy sauce, vinegar and water. Refrigerate for several hours.

Prepare orange sauce by combining all ingredients in a small bowl.

Add enough oil to a wok to cover the bottom. Heat to medium high. Carefully place the chicken chunks into the oil and fry until completely cooked, turning as necessary, for a few minutes. You may have to cook two separate batches to ensure the chicken gets crispy and doesn’t overcrowd the wok. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper plate or plate lined with paper towels. Set aside.

Reduce wok heat to low. Remove all but one tablespoon of oil from the wok. Add the white parts of the sliced green onions and garlic. Saute for one minute. Add the sauce and slowly bring to a boil. When sauce has thickened, add the cooked chicken back in and heat through.

To serve, spoon chicken and sauce onto plate or over plain cooked rice. Sprinkle with green parts of sliced onion and sesame seeds.

Serves 2

November 17, 2011: Orange Sauced Pork Chops Recipe

As I shared with you earlier, I’m getting into extreme couponing and it’s changed the way I buy groceries. I now have quite a stockpile going and I keep a much keener eye out for bargains.

At our Safeway store, there are special featured $5 deals every Friday. One Friday recently it was a big bag of cutie oranges. Although they were very good and sweet, my husband and I just couldn’t eat the whole bag. Rather than see any of them go to waste, I juiced what was left and decided to use that fresh juice for the night’s meal. Here’s what I came up with.

Orange Sauced Pork Chops with Whole Grain Sesame Noodles and Baby Corn

Orange Sauced Pork Chops

4 bone-in or boneless pork chops

Garlic salt and pepper

1 T. vegetable oil

1/3 cup orange juice

¼ cup teriyaki sauce

Rinse and dry pork chops. Sprinkle both sides with garlic salt and pepper to taste. Heat oil to medium in large saucepan or electric skillet. Add pork chops and cook for about 5 minutes each side, until juices are no longer pink (total cooking time depends on how thick the chops are). Remove and set aside.

Add orange juice to hot skillet. Cook for a few minutes, until reduced by half. Add teriyaki sauce. Return chops to skillet and heat through just until warm. Serve pork chops with sauce spooned over the top.

Serves 4

September 15, 2011: Home Spa Facial and Foot Soak Recipes

I’ve shared several recipes in the past for home beauty treatments. Here’s a couple more I found in the latest issue of Spry magazine. For a relaxing “spa day” at home, brush on the facial mask while you’re soaking your feet, then follow with a nice, hot bubble bath!

Avocado and Honey Facial Mask

2 ounces mashed ripe avocado (about 1/3 of an avocado)

1 t. honey

1 t. molasses

2 T. orange juice

Few drops of chamomile essential oil

Combine all ingredients. Apply to face (using a soft paintbrush works well). Leave on for 30 minutes, then remove with a damp washcloth.

The avocado adds moisture to your skin while the honey and molasses pull out toxins. The orange juice is a very mild astringent while the chamomile oil is soothing.

Minty Margarita Foot Soak

1 T. Epsom salts

1 T. sea salt

Juice of half a lime

Half a lime, sliced thinly

Handful of fresh (or half as much dried) mint leaves

Fill a basin with very warm water and add all ingredients. Soak your feet for 10 minutes then gently towel dry.

The Epsom salts soothe aches while the sea salt acts as a scrub. The lime is a mild astringent and the mint is soothing and smells good – aromatherapy!

August 6, 2011: Citrus Sesame Beef Kebabs Recipe

Another way to grill meat that is easy to prepare and easy to clean up is by making kebabs. This recipe calls for sirloin and mushrooms, but you could also add chunks of red bell pepper for color.

Citrus Sesame Beef and Mushroom Kebabs

½ cup soy sauce
½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
¼ cup lemon juice
1 t. sesame oil
½ t. minced garlic
½ t. sesame seeds
½ t. dry mustard
1 pound sirloin, cut into strips
8 ounces mushrooms


Combine all ingredients, through mustard, in a nonmetallic bowl. Add meat and mushrooms and marinate for two hours. Thread meat, alternating with mushrooms on skewers. Grill over medium high heat for about 10 minutes, depending on desired doneness of meat. Use leftover marinate to baste the skewers; discard when done.

Serves 2 - 3

July 25, 2011: Sirloin and Pineapple Kebobs

Top sirloin is one of those meats that’s hard to tell just how it’s going to come out – I have some steaks that have been very tender while others have been more on the tough, chewy side. Just to be on the safe side, I like to marinate top sirloin. This is a recipe I concocted with flavors meant to complement the sweetness of the pineapple chunks.

Brush some of the leftover marinade on the pineapple chunks before grilling, as shown here.

Sirloin and Pineapple Kebobs

1 pound top sirloin steak
2 cups pineapple cut into large chunks

Marinade:
2 T. soy sauce
Juice of 1 orange (about ½ cup)
1 T. dried, minced onion
1 t. minced garlic
1 t. jarred, minced ginger
1 t. sesame oil

Trim meat and remove any silverskin. Cut into large (about 1 ½ to 2 inch) chunks, keeping the sizes as uniform as possible.

Combine all marinade ingredients and add steak. Marinate at least two hours in the refrigerator and set out at room temperature for half an hour before cooking.

Thread alternating cubes of steak and pineapple on skewers (will probably take 4). Grill over medium high heat for about 5 minutes per side, until medium rare. Remove from grill and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Serves 2 – 4, depending on appetites and side dishes.

Tip: Feel free to add other veggies to the skewers, such as red bell pepper, sweet onion, mushrooms, etc.

June 18, 2011: Mojo Pork Recipe

I love summertime grilling but the problem is that I get bored with the same old hot dogs, hamburgers, steaks, pork chops and chicken. The way I change things up is to vary the marinating sauce. This recipe is based on one I found in the Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Grilling.

I tried it on my husband and my niece and the unanimous verdict was… Delicious! I think it’s got just the right level of spice and tang with a memorable flavor.

Mojo Pork

1 lb. pork tenderloin
2 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, rinsed
¼ cup orange juice
¼ cup onion, coarsely chopped
1 t. dried oregano
1 T. lemon juice
1 T. honey
1 T. cooking oil
2 cloves garlic

Combine all ingredients (chipotle peppers through garlic) in blender or food processor. Process until smooth. Pour half over the pork tenderloin in a zip-top bag and marinate for a minimum of one hour. Refrigerate remaining sauce.

Grill over medium heat, not directly over heat source. Cook for 30 – 45 minutes, basting occasionally with remaining sauce. Cook until the meat is still pink inside; do not overcook! Remove from heat and let rest, tenting with foil, for about 5 minutes before serving.

May 14, 2011: Honey Ginger Grilled Salmon Recipe

Here’s another recipe that’s great to slap on the grill during these warm spring-almost-summer months. This one is healthy as well as being quite delicious. And because fish never requires more than a half hour or so of marinating, it’s an easy dish to make at the end of a work day (plus using the grill means fewer dishes to clean up afterward!).

Honey Ginger Grilled Salmon served with roasted leeks and sweet potatoes and Alfredo broccoli and rice

Honey Ginger Grilled Salmon

1/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup soy sauce
¼ cup honey
1 t. each freshly grated ginger and minced fresh garlic
1 green onion, finely sliced
4 salmon steaks

Mix all ingredients together except for salmon. Microwave on high for 30 seconds to melt the honey. Pour the marinade over the salmon in a nonmetallic dish or Ziploc bag. Marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature or 1 hour in the refrigerator.

Grill over medium high 6 to 8 minutes per side, or until the fish flakes easily.

Tip: If the salmon steaks have skin on one side, grill longer with the skin side down and just finish off the cooking process by searing the skinless side for a couple minutes.