I hope everyone had a great holiday and is ready to start the new year off right. Between the holidays and coming down with a bad cold, I just didn’t have the time or energy to do any blogging, but now it is time to try to get back to it. For my first recipe of the new year, I decided to try something that we hear Sheldon from the “Big Bang Theory” television show talk about all the time from their Chinese restaurant. It took a little bit of searching around, but I was able to finally find a recipe for Tangerine Chicken that the whole family would like. I found this one on Epicurious and modified it slightly by adding a couple of things to it.

Sweet-And-Sour Tangerine Chicken Stir Fry

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch thick strips

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons cream Sherry

1 tablespoon grated tangerine peel

1/2 cup fresh tangerine juice

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 teaspoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons peanut oil

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 red bell pepper, cut into matchstick-size strips

1 yellow bell pepper, cut into matchstick-size strips

15 snow peas, trimmed

1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained

4 ounces sliced mushrooms

1 green onion, chopped

Mix the first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.

Whisk the tangerine juice, vinegar and cornstarch in a medium bowl until blended. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, ginger and cayenne; saute for 15 seconds. Add the chicken mixture; stir-fry until just cooked through, about 4 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate. Add the bell peppers, snow peas, water chestnuts, mushrooms and green onion to the same skillet. Stir-fry until the vegetables are crisp-tender,about 3 minutes. Return the chicken to the skillet. Stir the juice mixture to re-combine and add it to the skillet. Simmer until the sauce thickens, stirring constantly, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper and serve with white rice.

I made some white rice to serve it over and I have to say the flavor was perfect. I was a little afraid the tangerine would overpower the dish, but it added some great refreshing flavor to the chicken and the sauce was great. We hardly had any leftovers at all, although there was enough for Michelle to pack some for lunch tomorrow.

I did get some new toys and gadgets for the kitchen for Christmas, including a meat grinder attachment for the Kitchen Aid, a couple of pots, a new pizza stone, a new salad spinner and a couple of new cookbooks, so there will be plenty of great new things to try in the coming days, weeks and months for us and for all of you wonderful readers. I have to say that the blog has done very well and I have had many more visitors than I could have imagined and I thank you all for following along. Tune in next time to see what we have cooked for dinner. Until then, have a wonderful evening, stay warm (it is frigid here in New York) and enjoy your meal!