A Light General Tso's Chicken and a Reclusive Rocker

1/21/2015

I made this lightened up
General Tso's Chicken....

I had a hankering for Chinese but I wanted it to be healthy with as few preservatives as possible.
Enter this dish...Martha Stewart's Lighter General Tso's Chicken.

Here's the fixins for this tasty dish...
By the way, I've made it TWICE within the past week.

Okay so first cook up the rice. I see I used water here.

Usually I use chicken stock for more flavor but water was fine.

Rice done?

Okay, slice the garlic cloves, grate the ginger, trim the snow peas in half and dice up that chicken.

Now we'll start by making the sauce with the cornstarch
and water.

By the way, I DOUBLED all the sauce ingredients but the snow peas.
You WILL want extra sauce.

Now add in the snow peas, garlic and
grated ginger...unless you are my sister-in-law Kim who is allergic to ginger, then just leave the ginger out :)

Now add in the soy sauce, red pepper flakes,
and brown sugar...

So your sauce is ready.

Hang on tight though,

gotta get the chicken cooked up.

For the chicken we start with another thrilling picture of cornstarch and water except this time we also have two egg whites and pepper in there. Yoo Hoo!

Throw the diced chicken in the bowl...

And mix 'er all up!

Okay, get all your prepped food ready for the stove top...

Cook the chicken in a couple tablespoons of oil, you'll need to cook in two batches, don't crowd the pan...
takes about five minutes each side.

Remove the chicken from the pan and add in the snow pea liquid mixture...bring to a boil, reduce heat and throw a lid on it for just a couple minutes...

...until it's all nice and thickened like this....smells so good!!

Now throw that chicken back in there...

And toss to coat.....you likey?

Now if you use the correct amount of snow peas, there will be double the amount I have in there.
Remember also, I doubled the ingredients for the sauce...the soy sauce, brown sugar, cornstarch and water, red pepper flakes, ginger and garlic.

Plate some up!

General Tso's Chicken!

Only much lighter!

The pea pods are fantastic, the sauce is light and perfect, the coated chicken...really satisfies that Chinese food craving!

Okay, Martha hits another home run with another fantastic recipe!
Here's the direct link to Martha's website, just click HERE.

Martha Stewart's Lighter General Tso's Chicken
Straight outta www.marthastewart.com

Prep Time45 minutes
Total Time45 minutes
Serves4

Ingredients

- 1 1/4 cups long-grain brown rice
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 pound snow peas, trimmed and halved crosswise
- 4 garlic cloves, sliced
- 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated and peeled
- 3 tablespoons light-brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
- 2 large egg whites
- Coarse salt and ground pepper
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, such as safflower

Directions

Cook rice according to package instructions. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, stir together 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 1/2 cup cold water until smooth. Add snow peas, garlic, ginger, sugar, soy sauce, and red-pepper flakes; toss to combine, and set aside.
In another bowl, whisk together egg whites, remaining 3 tablespoons cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add chicken, and toss to coat.
In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Lift half the chicken from egg-white mixture (shaking off excess), and add to skillet. Cook, turning occasionally, until golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate; repeat with remaining oil and chicken, and set aside (reserve skillet).
Add snow-pea mixture to skillet. Cover; cook until snow peas are tender and sauce has thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Return chicken to skillet (with any juices); toss to coat. Serve with rice.

Just click HERE to go directly to Martha's recipe print page to print this recipe off!.

While I was making this delicious dish,
the second time in one week,
I was listening to this soundtrack from the
Begin Again movie.

The movie is fantastic,
I loved it!

It stars Keira Knightly and Mark Ruffalo...

Also stars Adam Levine,

who was pretty decent, actually.

Here's the trailer for the movie.....

The movie was written by John Carney who also wrote Once

another awesome movie about singer/songwriters.

Begin Again features the Academy Award nominee for this year's Best Original Song from a movie...Lost Stars.

Much of the soundtrack was written by the reclusive former rocker
Gregg Alexander of New Radicals
fame.

Gregg walked away from fame just as his album
Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too
was hitting great heights in the 1990s.

Who can forget this New Radicals song that totally defined the 90s...
You Get What You Give.
Click on it, go ahead, and start dancing!

So yeah,

this Gregg just walked away from it all,

just as his other single was charting too...
Someday We'll Know.

Ninety miles outside Chicago...

It's only in the last few months, since the nomination of the Lost Stars song, that Gregg has decided to come out of seclusion.

Even after winning numerous awards for writing Santana and Michelle Branch's song Game Of Love in the early 2000s...Gregg Alexander remained reclusive.

Who DOESN'T remember this song...

it was ALL OVER THE PLACE!

So, it'll be interesting to see what songwriter wins the Academy Award for Best Original Song next month
at the Oscars. And if it's Gregg, will he show up to accept.

By the way, Gregg's long time writing partner is Danielle Brisebois,

an accomplished singer/songwriter,

although you may remember her from
playing Stephanie in All In The Family and
Archie Bunker's Place.

If you scroll back up, Danielle is adorable playing the upright drums in the
Someday We'll Know video.

Okay kiddos, that's all I gots for today!
Gots is a word.
Look it up.
In the Pretend Word Dictionary.
I'll loan you a copy.

Okay guys, thanks for humoring me!!
Have a great night and we'll talk at ya soon!!!

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