Orange Chicken and Orzo with Cucumber Fennel Salad

See zoom image of dish in my album here.

The chicken was based on Crispy-Skinned Chicken a l'Orange by Melissa d'Arabian of the food channel. Only change i made was to brine the chicken for an hour prior to searing and using boneless skinless pieces. It was delicious ... very tender and sweet. The use of frozen orange concentrate was a good idea.

The Orzo side was also based upon one of Melissa's recipes but i took an idea from Bobby Flay and folded in halfed cherry tomatos. Seemed to work but i put in a bit too much salt. Orzo is a fun substitute for rice.

The cucumber crab salad was pretty much my own concoction: cubed pickling cucumbers, crab meat, sliced fennel in a creamy vinegarette which i probably won't be able to recreate. It was well recieved.

Cooking time 1 1/2 hour but that makes 2 meals for both of us.

Effect on diet will show up 9/04/2009.

Tags

recipes
seth signature dishes
chicken
fennel
orzo
plastic habits
food

Comments

Seth says

MR 2009-09-04 09:35:38 12529

Looks like you are becoming a culinary artist!

Well it's an active hobby tied in to my drive to improve health ... the two are strongly connected. The primary theory being that if you concentrate on eating good food and are seriously involved with it's creation, then you won't be interested in eating junk and easy food. It is one of the plastic habit mechanisms of replacing a bad habit with a good one. Outside of that i've just recently discovered that i really like to cook.

Mark de LA says

Good idea!

I'm all for increasing consciousness in all activities. A plastic habit puts you in charge instead of the habit. I just got the New Hollywood Diet book. I like fruit which was mostly my motivation & perhaps your success.

BTW, do you feel healthier or just lighter?

Seth says

Yes i feel much healthier ... far fewer heart flutters ... much less back pain ... ability to walk further without pain. Before i lost all the weight i couldn't walk for more than a couple of minutes without sitting down. Tuesday i walked briskly for over an hour without resting.

louie vuitton says
Thank you for the information

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