Spur of the Moment Orange Chicken with Veggie Quinoa

This may be pretty dorky, but- don’t you just LOVE when you can throw a bunch of random stuff together… that you’ve got hanging around the kitchen…. and make it in to a really really good meal?  Well, we are dorks because we certainly do, enjoy it- literally! 

Obviously you won’t make this recipe having the exact same happenstance of ingredients on hand… unless you made fish tacos Sunday, Quinoa Cakes Saturday, and are planning to make Wild Rice with Pistachio and Oranges ( coming soon!).    The inspiration, other then what we had to use, came from a craving for Chinese Orange Chicken- but no desire for the unhappy belly afterwards.

We had a good 2.5 cups of cooked quinoa ready to go ( rather then rice- perfect!), lots of oranges to spare ( mmm juicy orange and zest), cilantro/ red cabbage/ corn/ red onion and some thawed chicken breasts just ready to either waste away sadly or be magically transformed into this super high protein, ingredient efficient, tasty AND healthy spin on a Chinese meal.  We even had leftovers to take for lunch today- yep, we are cool!  Without further adue- here’s how we made this:

Ingredients::

4- 4 ounce chicken breasts, trimmed and sliced into 1″ strips

Sauce+ Marinade Chicken

Juice and Zest from 2 oranges

scant* 1/4 cup Teryaki Sauce

1 small dash Toasted Sesame Oil

1 large dash Fish Sauce

1 teaspoon red pepper chili sauce

1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder 

Quinoa

1 teaspoon Olive Oil

1/2 red onion, finely diced

1/2 cup corn

1/2 cup shredded purple cabbage

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped, plus more for garnish

1/2 cup white wine

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup reserved sauce/ marinade

1/2 orange, juiced

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

2.5 cups cooked quinoa

salt and pepper to taste

Method::

In a medium bowl, whisk together all marinade ingredients, reserve about 1/4 cup, set aside. Season chicken lightly with salt and pepper and garlic powder, then place the chicken strips in to the bowl of marinade and let sit for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile:

In a 10-12″ pan, heat oil over medium heat till hot.  Add onion, cook for 3-4 minutes till translucent and fragrant.  Add in the corn, cabbage, cilantro, tomatoes and stir to combine, 2 minutes.  Add in 1/2 cup wine and reduce by half.  Add in the quinoa, toss well, adding in marinade, orange juices and water to coat the mixture.  If it’s too dry, add more water.  Heat through, about 3 minutes longer.  Taste and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.

To cook the chicken, heat another 8-10″ pan over medium high heat with a small dash of oil.  When the pan is hot, add in all the marinade and chicken from your bowl.  Cook tossing often for about 7-8 minutes, till juices run clear and chicken is cooked through completely.  Serve on a bed of Quinoa and top with extra cilantro.

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Quinoa with Pine Nuts and Parsley

Quinoa is an incredible grain ( well technically it’s a seed), there’s a theme this month!  Like our Amaranth grain from last week, quinoa is very high in protein- the complete kind ( meaning that it includes all nine essential amino acids) and is especially high in the amino acid lysine ( essential for tissue growth and repair)  Along with it’s protein power, quinoa is a very high in manganese an is a good source of magnesium, iron, copper and phosphorus, which can be very good for you if you suffer migraine headaches, diabetes and atherosclerosis. source

Grains keep really well so they make great pantry staples.  They can really add volume and nutrients to any meal in a pinch.  This weekend was SO busy that we didn’t even grocery shop, so it was time to get creative with stuff we already had- Extra pine nuts from the Homemade Pesto, parsley from the Shrimp Succotash, and green onions ( that were almost out the door!) and chicken broth from our Asian Noodle Bowl.   With quinoa on hand it was a cinch to toss this side dish together.  We served it steaming hot with broiler buttermilk ( always left over from Muffins!) marinated chicken breasts and a quick fennel salad. 
 

Ingredients (Makes 4 servings)
adapted from Ellie Krieger So Easy
2 cups Reduced Sodium Chicken Broth
1 cup quinoa
1/4 cup pine nuts, dry roasted
1 bunch of scallions, chopped
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2teaspoon pepper

Directions

Place broth and quinoa in a sauce pan, stir, bring to boil, reduce heat to simmer, cook covered for 15 minutes.

Heat a pan over medium high heat, add the pine nuts and roast till slightly golden brown, tossing often.  Set aside in a bowl.

Add oil to the same pan and warm up over medium heat, add scallions and cook for 1 minute, add garlic, stir and remove from heat.

Fluff cooked quinoa, then add scallion mixture, pine nuts, parsley and season with salt/ pepper to taste. 

Serve hot!

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Panzanella with Turkey Sausage

This is a great recipe to use up a loaf of day old baguette… we had some stored in the freezer and decided to give this recipe a try.  Panzanella is a bread and tomato salad, which is super easy to throw together on a weeknight.  ( It is also similar to our previously posted Roasted Carrot and Arugula Salad ( so GOOD))  We paired the salad with some Italian style turkey sausage, to finish off the meal.  Make sure you have some ripe and red tomatoes, which luckily the store had this week.  Spring produce is in abundance- hooray!

Ingredients
6 medium ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges (about 1-1/2 pounds)
1 medium cucumber, cut into half moons
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced into half moons
2 cups arugula
2 cups baby spinach
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 small whole-grain baguette or other crusty bread (preferably day-old;
about 8 ounces), cut into 3/4-inch chunks and toasted in warm oven
1 16-ounce package Italian-style Turkey Sausage

In a large bowl, toss together the tomatoes, cucumber, onion, oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Add the bread chunks, arugula and spinach and toss well so all the bread is well moistened.

Preheat a pan over medium-high heat, add a little olive oil.

Add the sausage and cook, turning once or twice, until cooked through (160 degrees) 16 minutes. Serve the sausage, whole, alongside the panzanella salad.

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