General Tso's Chicken: Taste Test Tuesday

Okay, some would call me a chicken because I don't like to try a lot of new foods. Guilty as charged. Well, Wes loves this chinese dish he gets at the buffet called General Tso's chicken. So, one day we were in the store and he was elated to see a mix to make General Tso's chicken.

Needless to say, I was not, but I decided that I needed to make it for him. I need good wife points, right?? :) So, we actually did this Taste Test Tuesday together because he wanted to learn how to make it too!

Here's the cast of characters: 1 lb of chicken, chicken packet (you can make it homeade but I had a hard time finding a recipe), rice, carrots, peas and soy sauce.

1. First you need to thaw your chicken breasts and cut them into chunk sized pieces.

2. Next you need to bread them. I just put some flour in a baggie and Wes shook it all around while he did the hokey pokey.

3. Throw the breaded chicken into a pan that has about 2-4 tablespoons of heated oil.

4. Cook until chicken is done and cooked evenly.

5. When the chicken is done, add the packet. It's exactly like adding a taco seasoning packet, where you have to add the water.

6. Then you cook it on low until the contents of the package are dissolved and the chicken has a nice carmelish coating.

Meanwhile, I attempted to make my first batch of Fried Rice. Here's the recipe from allrecipes.com:

INGREDIENTS
2 cups enriched white rice
4 cups water
2/3 cup chopped baby carrots
1/2 cup frozen green peas
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 eggs
soy sauce to taste
sesame oil, to taste (optional)


DIRECTIONS
In a saucepan, combine rice and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
In a small saucepan, boil carrots in water about 3 to 5 minutes. Drop peas into boiling water, and drain.
Heat wok over high heat. Pour in oil, then stir in carrots and peas; cook about 30 seconds. Crack in eggs, stirring quickly to scramble eggs with vegetables. Stir in cooked rice. Shake in soy sauce, and toss rice to coat. Drizzle with sesame oil, and toss again.

Here's the actual link so that you can print it out if you like:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fried-Rice-Restaurant-Style/Detail.aspx?prop31=9

Here's the finished Fried Rice. Not too shabby looking for a first timer!!

And here is our beautiful meal all put together:

Now, I wish I could tell you that I was blown away by the taste and vowed to try new things all the time. Errrrr....wrong! I didn't like the meal at all.....oopsie. Chinese food just really isn't my thing. But, the good news is that Wes LOVED it and was a very happy guy!!