...It's what's for dinner...

As many of you know, I live in a teensie weensie college town in Western Tennessee.  The only place to grocery shop is Wal-Mart and there is an extreme shortage of good restaurants.  The exception of this is three Mexican restaurants.  That's right, three.  Why we need three Mexican restaurants in a town of around 15,000 people, with only a 1.7% Hispanic population, is lost on me.  Other than the places to get delicious fajitas and quesadillas, there is only one restaurant that Bryan and like to eat at, and it's a little pricey, so I have to cook most of our meals at home.

One thing that I've missed is good Chinese food.  I've always loved Chinese food and it has been a staple in my diet at least once every two weeks since before I can remember.  I've been completely starved of Chinese food for the past year...until I discovered deliciousness in the boxed dinner isle.

The Orange Chicken is my fav!

Granted, it is not exactly the same as what you would get at a good Chinese restaurant or hole-in-the-wall take-out place, but it's pretty stinkin' close.  And, when you can't get Chinese food that is stomachable within an hour's drive...it's heaven.

It's really easy to fix too.  All you need is whats in the box, a pound of chicken (you could also use pork or shrimp), water, and vegetable oil.  

In the box (clockwise):  white rice, sauce mix,
seasoned cornstarch, chiles.

I do a few things differently than what the box suggests, though.  First, I don't put in the hot chiles.  Jackson won't eat it if it's spicy and I'd prefer to keep my heartburn at bay.  Second, I add half a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies at the end of cooking.  It adds some more nutritional value and substance to the meal.  This is one of the few meals I can sneak vegetables into, chop them up really fine, and Jackson will actually eat them!

The finished product!  YUM!

Jackson agrees!

Fixing Wanchai Ferry has it's benefits other than just providing me with my Chinese fix.  One, it's much cheaper than Chinese take-out.  Two, it's probably saving me a few inches on my waist-line.  Typically, many Chinese dishes (General Tso's, Scallion Chicken, Orange Chicken, Honey Chicken, Sesame Chicken, etc.) are all double fried.  Wanchai Ferry is only cooked in 2 Tbsp. of vegetable oil and I've found I can even cut back on that a little.

There are a couple downsides to Wanchai Ferry.  First, I wish the white rice was brown rice.  I prefer brown both in taste and nutritional value.  Second, if you need to feed more than two adults and a small child, I'd suggest fixing two boxes OR making something on the side.  Frozen egg rolls/spring rolls would be nice or even a good serving of fresh fruit.

The dogs are making the clean-up really easy too.

Try it and let me know what ya'll think!

XOXO