Mandarin Chicken with Pea Pods

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Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe.

Have you ever had fruit with your chicken? It may sound kind of crazy, but it adds a nice sweet citrus flavor to this dish. This ZReduction recipe includes your fruit portion for the meal and your cream portion for the day.  Enjoy!

Servings:  Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

• 1 package of chicken tenders. They are usually just under 1 pound per package. You are allowed 6-8 ounces in Z2.
• 2 cups of pea pods, trimmed
• 11 oz of mandarin orange segments. Make sure you get the ones packed in their own juice with no sugar. Otherwise take the time to drain them and rinse them thoroughly with cold water in a colander.
• ½ tsp of paprika
• ¼ tsp of pepper
• juice of one orange
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• ¾ cup of chicken broth
• 1 Tbl of cornstarch
• 3 Tbl of water
• ½ tsp of ground ginger
• 2 Tbl of Braggs aminos
• 1/3 cup of heavy cream
• olive oil spray
• sea salt to taste

For the Mandarin Chicken:

Take out your chicken tenders. Rub them with the paprika and pepper. Spray a large sauté pan with olive oil spray and then lightly brown the chicken tenders. Add the orange juice, chicken broth and garlic. Cook on medium high until the chicken is no longer pink. This will take just a few more minutes.  In a small bowl add the corn starch and the water. Mix. Add the ginger and the Braggs to the cornstarch mixture. Stir.

When the chicken is fully cooked, add the cornstarch mixture to the pan. Place on a low heat to bubble gently so the sauce thickens.

When you are about to serve, add the cream and the orange segments and heat slightly, but make sure it doesn’t boil.

*Keep in mind this will use up your dessert portion for this meal too.

For the Pea Pods:

To quickly cook the pea pods…put them in a sauté pan and add just enough water to cover them. You can also add a little (or a lot) of garlic while they’re cooking if you want them to have an extra kick. Cook on medium high heat to bring the water to a boil.  As the water boils out, the pea pods will cook. They only take about 3 minutes. I like mine to still be a little crunchy. You can add a little Bragg’s Aminos or sea salt once they’re cooked, or just eat them plain.

Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Cheers,