Orange chicken

 

I tried a new recipe in my slow cooker.  I found this Orange Chicken recipe on Pinterest using marmalade as the base.  I have a glut of my whisky marmalade in the store cupboard so in the spirit of using up what's in there, I gave it a go.  I also used some of the frozen chicken pieces.

 

Orange Chicken

 

7 chicken pieces (I didn't even defrost them)

3/4 cup of marmalade

1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

2 tablespoons Tamari soy sauce

3 tablespoons brown sugar

 

Quickly brown the chicken pieces and add them to the slow cooker with a splash of water.  Combine the other ingredients and add.  Cook on High for 2-3 hours (less if not frozen I guess)

 

It was very sticky and had a slight BBQ flavour.  The 7 pieces fed 3 of us with stir fried rice and veggies.

 

 

I quickly popped into Sainsbury's this afternoon after gym with OH (he needed milk and cat food but ended up with 2 full bags of shopping AND realised he'd forgotten the cat food!!!)  I got a kilo of mince with a yellow sticker and also had a coupon for £1.06.  So only paid £3.43.  It's currently bubbling away as a batch of bolognaise sauce for the freezer.

And look who's been stealing my raspberries!!! I know grey squirrels are the scourge of our native red ones but he was so cute despite being caught in the act :-)

Making progress

 

I'm making progress with the veg patch. I forked it over yesterday, took me just under an hour.  The soil was very compacted and there were a lot of roots to deal with near the fence.  The soil is definitely clay so will need to add lots of goodness to it over time.  At least I'll have chicken manure ;-)  My biggest problem atm is keeping Emma off it!!  Next stage is to build a fence round it.  I'm thinking metre high with chicken wire and a couple of posts.  Not worked out how to do a wee gate yet!!

 

Where I live we still get frost until May so I'm chitting potatoes and planting peas and beans indoors to get them started off.  I'm checking the viability of seeds I've already got so hopefully won't cost me much in terms of buying new seed this year.

 

I still have my 2 raised beds and pots at the front so need to get those sorted out today.  It's brown bin collection tomorrow so I need to get those weeds sorted and get fresh compost from my local recycling centre.  It's free but you need to bag it yourself.  Guess what the The Teenager will be doing today??

 

Look who was wandering round my garden last night!  He/she froze when I let the dogs out for the last time.  I was able to run back inside and get my camera.  Lucy walked past it but Emma wanted to play with it!  I watched it for a wee while before it decided it was safe to move again.  It ran across to gate and disappeared under it.

 

I took the last of the Seville oranges out of the freezer yesterday and boiled them overnight in the slow cooker.  They're cooling just now, waiting to be shredded and turned into whisky marmalade. When I got my empty jars down I found 2 large jars of Apple and plum chutney.  I'd obviously 'tidied' them away before Christmas.  They'll be perfect for eating now.  One for me  and one for my lovely mum.

 

I'm really enjoying my holiday.  Even though I'm keeping myself busy it feels relaxing doing all the things I just don't have time to do when I'm working.  I found a sock I started knitting last summer so might even get some knitting done today as well.  Lovely :-)

Edited to add:  Jars of chutney are actually marmalade!!  That's why I should label everything at the time :-)