Orange Chicken

I've had a busy, stressful week at work. I'm exhausted... please excuse my blahness.

Yesterday started out with oatmeal with raisins, honey, flax seed and pumpkin pie spice. After working my butt off it was time for lunch. The old standard - half of a chicken and cheese sandwich with a handful of potato chips. My snacks yesterday included a Kashi pumpkin pie granola bar (YUM) and low sodium vegetable juice with a mozzarella stick.

After work I went to the gym. I've realized recently that the gym is my stress outlet. I did tricep, shoulders and ab strength training then kicked my own butt with my HIIT! I pushed myself! I started out at 5.5mph for the first five minutes. The first three 30 second sprints were at 8.5mph, the next three were at 9mph and the last one was at 9.5mph. It was the first time since my cough that I was able to push myself running. It felt great!

For dinner I made Orange Chicken which was from an old Cooking Light. I served it over brown rice and a side salad.

Matt's review: It was a Donovan's Special Special (his friend "Donovan" makes grilled chicken with brown rice, his "special") which also implies only slightly more special than boring
Lauren's review: boring!
Final decision: boring = trash

I think this dinner could have been a little better if the chicken was placed back into the pan with the sauce to absorb some of the sauce instead of just pouring what little sauce was remaining over the top.

Orange Chicken

Ingredients

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper
1/3 c. all-purpose flour
2 t. olive oil
2 t. butter
1/2 c. white wine
1/2 c. orange juice

Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound each piece to 1/2 inch thickness using a meat mallet or small heavy skillet. Sprinkle both sides of chicken evenly with salt and pepper; dredge chicken in flour.
Heat oil and butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; cook for 1 minute or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Add chicken to pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken; slice thinly and keep warm. Add wine and juice to pan; cook until reduced to 1/2 cup (about 4 minutes). Serve sauce over chicken.

I'm off to watch the new episode of Bones with my husband while enjoying a glass of wine and baking cookies. Two more recipes to come - Chicken Piccata with Capers and Honey-Walnut Coin Cookies.