no need for take-out: general tso's chicken

My husband's FAVORITE meal is Chang's Spicy Chicken from P.F. Chang's, their version of General Tso's Chicken. Most of the time (even now that we don't live near one) when I ask him what he'd like for dinner, that's his answer. So when Sunny Anderson was making her version of General Tso's on Cooking For Real this week, I decided to see if it would compete with Chang's, or at least get my hubby excited about what's for dinner.

Sunny calls hers Airman Anderson's Chicken...my husband actually thought I came up with the name.

Here's what I did differently:

1. I used chicken breasts instead of thighs since that's what we prefer.
2. Instead of serving it with her Stormy Rice, I made my Citrus Rice-tastic instead. I thought the slight orange flavor in my rice would complement the orange in the sauce of this recipe.
3. We sauteed sliced carrots, mushrooms, celery and scallions to toss with the chicken.

This recipe was more work than I initially anticipated, but after my husband's reaction, totally worth it. He says it doesn't beat out Chang's (not yet at least, I'm not giving up that easily) but it was very good, much better than what you'd get at any other Asian restaurant. My husband raved about the sauce, and that was the easiest part of the recipe. I have to say I really enjoyed it as well, but it was a little too spicy for my tastes. I think the next time I make it I'll dial back the cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes a notch or two so it's a little more enjoyable for me.

We'd absolutely recommend this recipe. As long as you have the time, this is much better than your typical take-out and is even yummy reheated for lunch the next day too, as we just found out.