The Scraps of Life: Table Scraps - Chinese Fake-Out Dinner

It is no secret that I LOVE Chinese food. I'm talking, I could eat it every day kind of love. But I don't have the money to buy Chinese take-out every day, nor do I have the desire to drive to any special grocery store to buy ingredients that I can't find at Meijer. Also, if your children are weird, like mine, and they don't like Chinese food, (Whose kids are these anyway?) you still have to cook a meal for them anyway. And THAT takes all of the fun out of getting Chinese take-out.

I have solved BOTH of those problems with these recipes! An entire Chinese take-out meal made at home - egg drop soup, crab rangoon, and orange chicken!

I found the orange chicken recipe on Pinterest. If you haven't joined Pinterest, you should! It is a virtual pin board of all kinds of inspiration on the internet, from recipes to crafts to home decor to make up tutorials, and on and on and on. That's a whole other blog post for another day. I did tweak the recipe ever so slightly to suit my needs, and it still turned out fantastic!

Orange Chicken

For the marinade and sauce:

3/4 cup chicken broth

3/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1 1/2 tsp. finely grated orange zest

6 Tbsp. white vinegar

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, grated

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 1/2 lbs. boneless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. cornstarch

2 Tbsp. cold water

For the chicken coating:

3 large egg whites

1 cup cornstarch

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

vegetable oil for deep frying

Combine chicken broth, orange juice, orange zest, vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, and cayenne pepper in a saucepan, and blend well. Put chicken pieces in a large ziploc bag. Measure out 3/4 cup of the marinade and add to chicken in bag. Seal bag and shake it around to distribute the marinade evenly. Put chicken in refrigerator and marinate for 30-60 minutes, but no longer. Heat the remaining sauce on medium high heat and bring to a simmer. In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch and water until smooth. Add to the saucepan, and continue simmering until the sauce is thick and translucent, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Preheat a deep fryer to 350 degrees.

For the coating, put egg whites in a pie plate and whisk until frothy. In another pie plate, mix the cornstarch, baking soda, and cayenne pepper. Drain the chicken of the marinade in a large colander, and pat dry with paper towels. Dredge the chicken pieces (about half at a time) in the egg whites, then coat with the cornstarch mixture. Shake off the excess coating and transfer coated chicken pieces to a plate. Once deep fryer has reached 350 degrees, place chicken in fryer (half at a time if using a small fryer) and cook until done, about 5-8 minutes. Transfer cooked chicken to a paper towel lined plate.

Toss chicken with sauce and garnish with sliced green onions, if desired. Serve with rice.

Remember my weird kids? Well they won't eat the sauce on the chicken, so if your kids are weird like mine, you can just put aside some of the fried chicken for them before you toss it in the sauce. Tell them it is popcorn chicken and give them some ketchup. It is horrifying to me, but a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do.

Crab Rangoon

4 oz. imitation crab meat, finely diced

8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

dash of A-1 steak sauce

dash of garlic powder (If you are a little heavy handed on that "dash" that's ok. Is there such a thing as too much garlic powder? I think not.)

sliced green onions to taste, optional

wonton wrappers

1 egg yolk

vegetable oil for frying

In a large bowl, combine the crab, cream cheese, A-1, garlic powder, and green onions until well blended. Spoon about a teaspoon full of the mixture on each wonton wrapper. Brush the edges of the wonton wrapper with egg yolk, and fold in half, corner to corner, making a triangle. Push the edges to seal. You don't want any of that crab/cream cheese goodness sneaking out of there when you fry it! Then fold over the two bottom corners, making it look like an opened envelope. Repeat until all filling is used. If you used the deep fryer to cook your chicken for the orange chicken recipe, you can just throw these in after the chicken cooks. Just fry them until they are a nice golden brown. If you don't want to use the deep fryer, you can fry them in batches in vegetable oil in a large skillet until golden brown on both sides. Transfer finished crab rangoon to a plate lined with paper towels.

Egg Drop Soup

(Confession time. This is my husband's recipe. I have never actually made this myself. He always makes it when we have crab rangoon, and it is so good! I made him write it down for me so I could post it here today. So if you make this, and it doesn't turn out right, it is all his fault.)

6 cups water

6-9 chicken flavored bouillon cubes

3 Tbsp. white vinegar

1 Tbsp. soy sauce

3 Tbsp. corn starch

1 cup cold water

Sliced green onions to taste

4-6 eggs, beaten

Combine water, bouillon cubes, vinegar, soy sauce, and green onions in a large pot. In a small bowl, stir together cold water and corn starch until smooth. Add to mixture in pot. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Slowly add the beaten eggs while constantly stirring. The eggs will cook instantly as you pour them in the pot.