Orange Chipotle Chicken

  Oh, we SEE you’re back for more????? Yes!  We’re so excited!

Wait – you’re not just here to see us?  You want food too?  Boooooo.   Well, food there will be today.  Get ready to become hungry.    I’ve blogged about these cookies before (maybe even twice before, I think??) but they are just so dang good that I can’t stop thinking about them.  In fact, right now as I’m writing this – I am doing everything in my power NOT to go grab one.  I’ve had 3 today and that’s probably enough!  These are the Carrot Oatmeal Cookies from 101 cookbooks, you’ll recall.  

OH man – I could just EAT this picture.  Hey – and can you tell that I am trying to make the best of the daylight for pictures lately!  Yay! Can’t wait for summer food pics though.  I’ve had enough winter darkness.

Speaking of winter – kids went for a ride on the snowmobile today with Eric.  Its not my most favorite activity for them (its stinky and somewhat dangerous) but it definitely helps to have them out of my hair when I’m working on pulling off an awesome meal for them when they come in.

Today’s special: Orange Chipotle Chicken from Clean Eating’s February 2011 issue.

INGREDIENTS:
-1 tsp chile powder
-1/2 tsp ground cumin
-1/2 tsp sea salt, divided
-1 tsp safflower oil  (you could probably use olive oil if you wanted to)
-4 boneless skinless chicken breast, about 1 lb. rinsed, patted dry, pounded to 1/2-inch thick
-Juice 1 medium navel orange (1/3 cup orange juice)
-2 tbsp pure maple syrup
-1 tbsp chopped chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
-1 tsp orange zest
-2 cups cooked brown rice
-1/4 packed cup chopped cilantro leaves (I omitted this b/c Eric is NOT a cilantro fan.  I know, weird.)

INSTRUCTIONS:
One: In a small bowl, combine chile powder, cumin, and 1/4 tsp salt. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet on medium-high. Tilt skillet to coat bottom lightly. Season both sides of chicken with chile-cumin mixture and cook for 3 minutes per side or until no longer pink in center. Remove from skillet and set aside.
Two: Add orange juice and maple syrup to juice and bits left in skillet and cook for 1 minute to thicken slightly (until it measures 1/4 cup liquid) stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in chipotle chiles in adobo sauce and orange zest. Add chicken back to skillet, return to heat and cook for 1 minutes on medium high turning constantly.
Three: In a medium bowl, combine rice, cilantro and remaining 1/4 tsp salt. Serve chicken over rice and spoon any excess glaze over top of chicken pieces.
Calories: 283, Fat: 4g, Carbs: 32g, Fiber 2g

The arsenal of ingredients…

  Chipotle chili pepper and orange zest hanging out with the freshly squeezed OJ!

Chicken!

I chopped up the chicken and tossed it in the sauce that way.  The recipe calls for you to leave the breasts as they are and toss them that way.  I think chopping them up helped each piece to soak up the delicious juice.  

Finished product!  This was really, really good.  I urge you to make it.  Now.   As you can see, I added broccoli.  Children need vegetables, you know.

We decided to top it off with a delicious, healthy dessert.  If you have never made Banana Soft Serve, well, I urge you to make this as well.  Again, this is something I have blogged about before, but again – it deserves another mention.  All you do is take 2 frozen bananas and put them in your food processor.  Let it run for 5 minutes or so (scrape down the edges every so often) and voila – you will have ice cream.  That’s it.   So here are the frozen nanners.  I recently bought 3 pounds of ripe bananas for 99 cents (SCORE!) so I have a bunch of bananas in the freezer just WAITNG to be used for this.  I chopped them up straight from the freezer and it wasn’t a problem.

  My assistant.

This is after a few minutes.  The brown blob you see there is Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter.  It gives the soft serve a little somethin’ extra.  Taaaaasty.

Finished product.  Seriously delicious.  And good for you!  All it is is bananas!  (Well, and dark chocolate PB too – but it tastes just as yummy without, I swear!)

See – he agrees!  Good stuff!

Well, that’s it for now.  There is hockey to watch!