'His and Her' Dinner #3

Welcome back for another edition of 'His and Her Dinner' where I share my secrets of making 2 dinners out of the same base ingredient because my husband is the pickiest eater ever!

Tonight is a Double Feature!

This week I was feeling a little Asia inspiration. I should explain however, that the only Asian food that I actually eat is Sweet & Sour Chicken with white rice or Orange Chicken, also with white rice. Honestly, once I find something I like, it's hard for me to try something different. I know I give my husband a hard time about this, but I admit that I am guilty too.

Now, I give you fare warning that the meals that I feature tonight are not that different from each other. However, if I have to use an extra pot or pan to make the dishes separately (which I did) then I think they qualify to be featured here.

First up...

His: Chicken balls, fried rice, green beans

Hers: Sweet & Sour Chicken, fried rice, green beans.

I should explain that "chicken balls" are my homemade version of chicken nuggets. I just cut up a chicken breast, dip them in milk, coat them in a light flour mixture, and then fry them on the stove until golden brown. For my Sweet & Sour Chicken I just heated a little sweet & sour sauce from a jar, added chunks of pineapple and then tossed my portion of the chicken balls in the sauce.  I had intended on making myself white rice, but I was out, so I had to eat the fried rice. I also attempted to cook the green beans the way that Carl said he liked them: with soy sauce, salt, and pepper...they weren't that bad. I prefer my green beans with just butter and slivered almonds. We will probably repeat this meal again soon...like I said, when we find something we like it's hard to change it up.

Second Helping...

His: Spicy Orange Chicken with white rice and BABY CORN

Hers: Spicy Orange Chicken with white rice and BROCCOLI

Let me just say that buying a jar of 'Panda Express Orange Chicken Sauce' would have been much easier than what I did to make this dish! I bought Orange Marmalade but it had orange rind in it that just looked horrible (like maggots quick honestly). So I heated the marmalade until it became thinner and then strained it so that all the little "bits" were gone. I then sauteed the chicken in this extra spicy seasoning. When the chicken was done cooking I added the strained marmalade and simmered it for a bit. That made the sauce WAY too thin- Oops! I boiled the rice and steamed the veggies separately. I then put 1/2 the rice in each pot, added the baby corn to one and broccoli to the other. Next, I just split the chicken into the two pots, added a little of the sauce that was to thin and tossed each of them separately. I even fished out a bit of broccoli that had made it's way into Carl's portion because that would have just ruined it. It was okay, I probably won't attempt this one again, or at least I'll try to make it a different way.

Bonus Feature!

This is no joke...this is really what our refrigerator looks like right now. No, we are not broke, we can afford food...we just had a very busy weekend and haven't been able to make it to the store yet. We are getting ready to go now and we even made a menu and list for week. There are several dishes this week that qualify to be featured here, so until next Monday...Happy Dining!