Tangy Orange Chicken

I stole the idea for this sauce from Ashley B's thanksgiving cranberry sauce. Mine is more orange and less cranberry so the effect is totally different. It's just the right amount of tart and sweet, and satisfies the craving for orange chicken from Manchu Wok. Crazy thought....would lemon juice instead of orange juice somehow make me some lemon chicken? I miss lemon chicken. Filing that idea for later.

The dish pictured below is the second iteration of this recipe, tried with pork instead of chicken. There weren't any fresh cranberries so I used dried. It was still tasty (although not quite as awesome), and slightly less paleo for the sugar in the dried fruit. Alas. I ate it with roasted sweet potato chips, which is my favourite side dish, and is good for when you're a bit too hungry to be totally satisfied by meat and greens. The first time I also made kale, which would have made the picture less ORANGE, but I was lazy this time. And I didn't have any Kale.

Orange Chicken

Ingredients
~1/2 can of orange juice concentrate, unsweetened (I'm quite sure actual orange juice or freshly squeezed oranges would be as good if not better)
- cranberries (fresh if you can, dried works too)
- 1 or 2 apples, peeled and diced
- boneless chicken breasts (or porkchops)

1. Heat the orange juice (diluted with equal parts water), cranberries, and diced apple in a pan that's large enough for your meat to fit in as well, and let simmer.
2. Sear the chicken in some olive oil in a separate pan. I have no idea if this is necessary, but I did this with the intention of keeping the juices in. The chicken was very juicy, perhaps the searing was responsible.
3. Add the chicken to the pan with the sauce and cover. I flipped the chicken repeatedly to cook both sides and to keep the top from drying out.

The time needed will depend on how thick your meat is. The chicken took probably 30 minutes or so, and the thinner porkchops were quicker. You're done when the meat is cooked, and the apples and cranberries are all squishy. The first time, the sauce reduced too much before the chicken was done, so I added more water as needed. The second time the pork cooked before the sauce was reduced, so I will reduce the sauce a bit more before adding the pork next time.

Roasted Sweet Potato Chips

1. Thinly slice a sweet potato. You can peel it but I never bother (although I do remove any sprouting roots or funky looking spots!).
2. Spread out on a cookie tray, and drizzle with a little bit of olive oil.
3. Season with sea salt and cracked pepper. Sometimes I also use garlic powder, and once I even used ginger!
4. Bake for about 20 minutes, flipping half way. If the potatoes are cooked but still too squishy, broil for a few minutes to crisp. I bake them until the thinnest parts start to burn.