I love food so much. The very reason why i'm big (body size big). I eat a lot. I eat out a lot for that matter. But sometimes, eating out gets a little expensive especially with a tight budget. So what's the next best thing to do? Make your own meal. The DO IT YOURSELF meals from yours truly. Today, my chef spirit has again took over my body and decided to rummage the fridge for leftovers. Thank God, I still have an extra chicken breast. And an orange and honey. So I thought, how about I make an orange sauce for my chicken? It was a very good idea. You never really know the use of what's inside your fridge and your pantry if you don't put them together and experiment.

Below will be the ingredients and the procedure.

CHICKEN BREAST WITH SPICY HONEY ORANGE GLAZE

Ingredients:

1 Skinless Boneless Chicken Breast
Salt
Pepper
Cayenne (or Red Pepper Flakes - depends on how spicy you want it to be)
Paprika
Dried Basil
3 tbsp Oil (Olive Oil, Vegetable Oil or Canola Oil - healthy choices)
1 tbsp Unsalted Butter (or Margarine)

For the sauce:

2-3 tbsp Honey
2-3 tbsp Orange Juice
1/2 tsp  Orange Zest
4 Garlic cloves, minced finely or grated (or depending on how much you like garlic)
Cayenne (or Red Pepper Flakes)
1/2 tsp Salt

Procedure:

1. Prepare the chicken. Run cold water on it, then pat dry with a paper towel. Dry it real good.
2. Slice the chicken 3 times, like having three lines, to cook the chicken through and through later.
3. Season with salt, pepper, paprika and dried basil. Put on the spices generously like a coating and then set aside.
4. Start making the sauce. Combine the minced garlic, honey, orange zest and orange juice in a bowl. Mix thoroughly. You should get that zesty, orange-y smell. If it doesn't smell orange-y yet then add more orange juice if you have to.
5. Add the salt and cayenne (or red pepper flakes) for the added kick. And then set aside.
6. Heat the oil and the butter on a skillet. Just use medium to low heat so as not to burn the oil and the butter.
7. Place the chicken on the skillet. Be careful and use kitchen mittens and an apron because the oil might splash when you put on the chicken (i dried my chicken so i don't know why the oil still splash. got some oil burns on my hand)
8. Pour hot oil over the chicken continuously and cook for 4-5 minutes then flip and do the same thing.
9. Once the chicken is cooked, set aside. Put the chicken on top of the paper towel to take the excess oil off so that it wouldn't be too greasy.
10. Pour the majority of the oil somewhere else, but leave a little for the sauce. If you still want to save the oil, pour it in a jar or a bottle for future use. If not, pour it on the sink or the trash. I don't know if throwing hot oil on the sink would destroy it.
11.  Heat the skillet again, preferably low heat and pour the sauce mixture in it.
    
12. Cook the sauce for at least 1-2 minutes or until bubbles start appearing. Stir continuously until sauce is a little thick but don't burn it. Then turn the heat off
13. Place your chicken in your serving plate and pour the sauce over the top. Pour generously. The sauce will make your chicken flavorful. ;)
14. Garnish your dish with orange slices and parsley or chopped onion chives.
15. Take a picture of it. POST IT ON INSTAGRAM!

Note: Serving is for only one since I usually just cook for myself. If you want to cook it for many, then just tweak on the ingredients. You do the math.

This is just an experiment dish, but for me it really turned out real great. The flavors just jive together. The saltiness of the chicken compliments the citrus-y flavor of the sauce. Plus the garlic and the cayenne gave it the extra kick. What more if I used the red pepper flakes? The food that I cook usually are just experiments. Putting together ingredients I find in the fridge and my pantry. You really don't know unless you try them. Most of my experiments were really restaurant grade dishes. I should know because I love eating out at restaurants. I usually expect the flavor to not jive, but in the end, they do. Sometimes, what I think is mediocre turns out to be really great, more than mediocre.

I'll do more of my DIY meals and post it here and share to you the how to's so you can try it for yourself too and you can judge whether or not its good or if it needs improvement.

Thanks for appreciating! And always remember, ANYONE CAN COOK! ENJOY!