orange chicken recipe

If you had an unexpected paid day off - what would you do? 

Today was that day for me. The first thing I thought was....what am I going to do? Jace is gone until tomorrow so typically M-F I'm just working all day. This week has been stressful so a day off is something I am super grateful for. I went to the market, did some errands and cleaned house. I have so much housework to catch up on it so this will be the perfect day to do that. I'm also renovating our home in a way and decorating it so I did some of that as well. 

I also decided to catch up on blogs. Because this week has been so stressful, I haven't cooked homemade meals like I typically do. I made this Orange Chicken recipe a few nights ago and I'm just now getting to it because life has been busy and emotional and stressful. This recipe is from HERE - Insanely Good Recipes. 

Ingredients:
2 large chicken tenders, cut into pieces
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups flour
**1 tbsp all-seasoning mix (see below for a homemade version)
vegetable oil for frying
1 cup orange marmalade
1 cup BBQ sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce

**Here is an All-Seasoning mix from Taste of Home and I made a big batch and use it for other meals as well

Ingredients for All-Seasoning Mix:
1/2 cup paprika
3 tbsp onion powder
3 tbsp garlic powder
4 tsp salt
4 tsp dried thyme
4 tsp oregano
4 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp white pepper
2 tbsp pepper
4 tsp chili powder

Whisk all ingredients together and use as needed. 

Directions:
Cut up the chicken into bite-sized pieces. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. In a separate bowl stir together the flour and All-seasoning mix. Add the vegetable oil (at least half of a bottle) to a frying pan and place it on medium-high heat. Once it's hot (flick with water and if sizzles, move to the next step) dredge the chicken in egg and then flour. Cook the chicken pieces until brown, about 3-5 minutes per side. If it burns right away, turn the head down. Transfer the chicken to a serving plate. 

While those are frying, in a separate frying pan, add the orange marmalade, BBQ sauce and soy sauce. Let the mixture simmer on medium heat and stir often, 15-20 minutes. Believe it or not, this sauce was an AMAZING combination. It doesn't sound like it but it was SO good. 

Add the chicken in the sauce until coated and serve with rice.