My Chicken Challenge Victory

When I first started thinking about this blog, I wanted to try new ingredients and new recipes, as well as new "methods", for lack of a better word.  I realized that I have never in my life cut up a whole chicken, even though I seriously can't ever think of my mom buying chicken that was already cut up.  At 79 cents a pound, and with this in mind, I decided to tackle her "Orange Chicken", complete with the cutting of the chicken.  Here is the end result; vegetarians, shield your eyes when I get to the starting pictures!

Again, thank goodness for the internet so that I could watch a few videos and some illustrated diagrams of how to actually cut a chicken.  Let's just say that it is MUCH harder than it looks.  For my first attempt, my pieces were in relatively good shape, and if I try it again, I hope to improve.  In addition to cutting it, I boiled the bones which I strained for homemade chicken stock which I used with water to boil the brown rice in tonight.

So after tackling that task, the perfect recipe to use was my mom's tried and true recipe, a flavorful and moist way to cook the chicken pieces.

"Orange Chicken" or Chicken A La Mimi

1 chicken, cut up
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tsp mustard (I used dry - not sure what Mom used to use!)
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1 clove minced garlic (not in mom's original, but I added)
A few drops of worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup oil (I used olive; mom probably used vegetable)
1/4 cup white wine
1 can mushrooms, drained (I omitted b/c the rest of my family doesn't like them)

Blend all but the chicken, wine and mushrooms above in a blender.  Add wine to the liquid.  Pour over chicken and bake at 425 for one hour, turning and basting ½ way through.  Add drained mushrooms (if you are including) the last 10 minutes.  I actually flipped the chicken over 1/2 way through since I couldn't find my baster, and also put the oven on broil for two minutes after the chicken was done to give it some crisp.

I boiled a bag of brown rice in 1/2 water with 1/2 of my homemade chicken stock, reheated the roasted butternut squash and did some baked zucchini slices, dipping them in egg white and then a mixture of breadcrumbs and parmesan and cheese.  For the zucchini, I put them in with the chicken at 425 and did 5 minutes on one side, then flipped them and did around 8 minutes the other side.  They were nicely golden brown.  I added in a salad, and voila, dinner was on the table. 

I've been typing this on commercials while watching the Olympics Ladies Individual Beam and Floor Exercise events and just realized that I am going to be going through withdrawals after tonight!  I can still remember my days as a gymnast - if only my talent matched the heart I had for the sport.  I can remember literally running down the stairs in my parents house to do front flips and round off back handsprings in the living room.  That house on Bonnington Court sure did have a lot of wonderful memories, usually built upon the gathering of people and my mom's cooking.

Well, the floor exercise just ended, and that was the coolest music I have heard - a bit of a take on a Pink Floyd song I believe?  All I can say is YAY for Ally Raisman - what an incredibly beautiful performance.  I'll have to be sure to check the listings for any events coming up because it has been an amazing gymnastics Olympics!

I was going to include my "Banana Bread Crumble" which was supposed to be Banana Bread, but I'm going to save that for tomorrow so I can finish my book (The Language of Flowers - by Vanessa Diffenbaugh) and get some sleep!

Ciao for now ;)