Freezer meal review: Orange Chicken

Orange Chicken

Okay here is my review: YUM!

My kids loved it, the husband loved it, and I loved it. I followed the posted instructions. I made a few tweaks because I always do. What I did was I seasoned the flour first with some salt and pepper, patted the chicken dry, then dredged it. Then I put a TBS of oil in the skillet and cooked it 3 mins on each side with a lid on. Then I removed it from the pan. Added bag one. Then about a minute later added bag two. It seemed a little runny so I added half a tsp of corn starch, but then after I added the chicken I realized I probably did not need to. So I brought it to the boil, which took about 30 seconds, added my chicken back in, covered it for a couple minutes, then flipped all the pieces so it would be evenly coated, and then took it off the heat. I let it stand about two minutes, then served it with rice and broccoli.

It thickened up nicely. The flavor was good. Maybe a little spicy if you don't like a kick, but you can always reduce the red pepper flakes a little if you do not want spice. It was not Panda Express flavor, but definately orange chicken, and really very yummy. My kids ate every bite!

What I would do differently:
1. For the recipe I only used three chicken breasts, and the full sauce, but I would maybe even do 1.5 times the sauce for the 3 breasts because I wanted extra for the rice, and there wasn't much.
2. Make more. I was really careful about portioning so we would not have any waste, as my family is not big on leftovers, but since Dad was home (He usually does not eat dinner with us), it seemed like we had enough, but not enough for seconds. We had just spent a couple hours at the pool, and the kids were pretty hungry, so on an average night, where they snack between meals, it probably would have been plenty.

Freezer/Bag meals

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Okay, Yesterday I made some freezer bag meals. These are meals that are not really cooked all the way, but that are prepared so all you have to do is throw them in the skillet or oven. Very convenient. Very cost effective. And time efficient. The pocket pies take a while! We made 20 meals about 3-4 servings per meal, and 100 twice baked potatoes. It took a few hours, and cost about $140. I did not shop sales or anything. Here are the recipes and bag instructions. I got some of these online, but can't remember where, so I am not taking total credit! 

To get the twenty meals I basically made everything times four. Only with not as much chicken because I like lots of sauce, and we don't need that much chicken. So I kept the sauce measurements and halved the chicken to make portions right for our family on the two asian ones, but kept the chicken for the pocket pies.

Sesame chicken:

6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, pat dry with paper towels . Cut into 1 inch strips or bite size pieces.

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup soy sauce

1 cup water

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2-1 teaspoon ground ginger (fresh is better)

1/2-1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Orange chicken

Chicken cubed and dredged in seasoned flour

Bag 2:

1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce

6 1/2 tablespoons orange juice

5 tablespoons sugar

1 orange, zest of

Bag 1: Stir fry mix:

1 teaspoon garlic, minced 1/2 teaspoon crushed hot red chili pepper 1/4 cup green onion, chopped 1 tablespoon rice wine

Cream cheese salsa tacos

1 jar salsa, 1 package cream cheese, Chicken (I use about 4-6 breasts). Crock pot, and shred

Serve with tacos, cabbage, etc.

Chicken pot pie

• 1 heaping cup of shredded chicken
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/3 cup chopped celery
• 1/3 cup chopped carrot (1 carrot)
• 1/2 cup frozen peas (my addition)
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon dried dill (my addition)
• 1 recipe (2 disks) Cream Cheese Pastry (recipe below)
• 1 large egg, for egg wash

Melt butter, sauté onions, celery peas and carrot for 3 mins. Stir in salt, dill, and flour, cook for another rminute, add chicken broth and stir, add chicken, and cheese. Cool in fridge

Cream cheese pastry

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out dough

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt           

Mix all but flour and salt, then add in flour and salt until combined and holds together in ball. Turn into well floured surface, and divide. Refrigerate 30 minutes. Roll dough out, center to edges, turning frequently until 12 inches wide.

Flank steak rub

• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon dry oregano
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 25 grinds fresh black pepper
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

These are the instructions I put on the outside of the bags:

Sesame Chicken

·       Heat a large non-stick skillet that has been sprayed with Pam, over medium-high heat.

·       Cook chicken for about 6 minutes or until no longer pink. 

·       Pour sauce mixture into skillet with chicken.

·       Cook until sauce thickens slightly

·       Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

·       Cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until chicken starts to soak up the sauce.

Orange Chicken

·       Heat wok or large skillet add 1 Tb oil, cook dredged chicken

·       Remove chicken, set aside.

·       Add Bag 1- wok for one minute

·       Add Bag 2- Bring to boil

·       Add chicken back in.

·       Serve over rice

Chicken pocket pies

·       Preheat oven to 375, line baking sheet

·       Place pockets on tray, pierce top with fork.

·       Beat an egg with 1 TBS water, brush on each pocket pie

·       Bake 20-25 minutes

·       Let rest 5 minutes before serving

Flank Steak

·       Thaw in fridge

·       Preheat broiler

·       Remove from foil

·       Broil 6-9 minutes per side

·       Remove from heat, let stand for 5-10 minutes, slice thin, against the grain.

Chicken tacos

·       Thaw and heat filling

·       Heat tortillas on skillet

·       Serve with cabbage and other toppings

Neil Diamond

Last night Brett and I got to go on a fun date to see Neil Diamond in concert. He is OLD! Haha tons of his songs and hits were written before I was even born. In fact, the tour he is on, he started in like 1977. That says something about the huge appeal he has. The concert had people in their 80's and teens, all singing along and having fun!

We started out by going out to dinner at our favorite place up by Rio Tinto, Joe's Crab Shack. I ordered my favorite thing on their menu, the coconut shrimp! Wendi joined us! 

 We then met up with the rest of our concert going group (they ate elsewhere), and walked over to the stadium to get ready for the concert. We had a great time laughing and joking, and making conversation with the people seated around us.

 This is our happy group, minus Jeff (who sat a few rows away), and Betsy's friends, who took our picture. It was Betsy and Glenn, Wendi, Jeff, Brett and I.

 Betsy was having the best time, she was just on cloud nine that she was seeing Neil!

 We didn't have the greatest seats, but we still had an awesome time!

 The baby even seemed to love it, she was moving and kicking like crazy. I think she was dancing along to the music. This is me indicating with a heart her love of Neil. Later we thought it might be more appropriate to use a diamond, see below!

 This is at the end of the night. I was SOOOO tired by then. It was fun! Glad we got to go.

Girl Time

Lexi and I have a favorite nail salon we like to go to every now and then to splurge and spend some much needed girl time. We decided to make it even more fun, so we scheduled appointments for us and we each had a friend along. We invited a neighbor and her daughter who is Lexi's age, and boy did we have fun.

The girls had a blast choosing their polish colors, and of course a glitter polish to put over. They loved getting their feet scrubbed, and massaged. I think the part they were most fascinated by was the mud mask that was put on their feet and cooled them. They were both so funny about it.  Here are few pics of our fun morning out!

Brett's Birthday

Brett turned 33 this year and I wasn't really feeling great, so I hadn't planned a party. I decided to just have a few family members and friends come for dinner, but once I started inviting I realized it would be more than a few. Once you cover family, neighbors, and all our old friends, you have several, so I figured, okay, let's just invite new friends, etc. too. And so we did.

I decided for food we would go Mexican, so I made several trays of enchiladas a few days before. Then I bought lettuce, and tons of fixings for taco salads, made pulled pork, and cut up a bunch of fruit. Threw in some quesadilla fixings for the kids, and ordered a huge cake from Harvest.

 

The party was a success. The food was perfect, the guests fun. We had a great turn out. I was worried since we did it on a Sunday we would not get a great turn out, but my fears were unfounded. It was very fun! Brett loved the Yankees hats he received! As well as other thoughtful gifts. Thanks everyone who came and helped us celebrate! I sure love him!

Growing up...

Derrick has been my BABY for a while now. Granted he does not drink from a bottle, nor does he wear diapers, but he is MY baby. I love to snuggle him, read him stories, sing to him, get his loves and kisses. I spoil him, and let him get away with too much, I have a hard time leaving him with others. He has a hard time being away from me (separation anxiety??) He is a joy for me on an almost daily basis.

This morning I woke up and was pleased to find that he had not gotten in our bed last night. He loves to sleep with us and frequently gets up in the night and comes to snuggle in (i.e. kick me in the back, lay his head on my stomach, sleep right on top of me). Last night he came in our room, but since we had talked with him about mommy needing sleep, so he can't get in bed with us, he camped out on the floor. When I looked down on him sleeping it was like a freight train hit me, he is not a baby any more. He is getting so tall. Those little arms and little feet are not so little any more. His limbs are elongated, his teeth all in. He is growing up.

Now, obviously I already knew this, but seeing him all stretched out on the floor, as long as my dresser, just made it soooo real. My baby is growing up. Pretty soon he will be blushing when I yell, "I love you" as I drop him off at school. He will be too busy to sit still on my lap and read goofy stories because he will want to be out with his friends. He won't want to spend every second with me, just because it is me. And I am okay with that. I love the way life progresses, I look forward to days of playing board games with my kids, and watching movies I will actually enjoy rather than Dora and Cailou over and over and over and over. But for now, I will cherish the moments.

Boy, girl, boy,... What's next???

We had our gender ultrasound today, and we are happy to announce that baby Yerkes #4 is going to be a Girl!!!!!