Like our two spoiled silly cats, my husband and I are creatures of habit.

We each drink our coffee out of the same mugs every morning and he must have a snort of single malt every night. My standing Starbucks order is a “venti non-fat one Equal latte.” No shots, thangyouverymuch.

At our local Asian eatery, I have a few faves in rotation, but Steve only has eyes for the Orange Flavored Chicken over white rice. The chicken pieces look batter fried, served in a gloppy sauce with broccoli and some dried bird’s eye peppers and orange peel tossed in for effect. Cholesterol, schmesterol.

While thumbing through this month’s issue of Clean Eating yesterday, I hit upon a much healthier recipe for “Chinese Orange Chicken” in the “Classics, Only Cleaner” column. I was compelled to give it a go since the Clean-er recipe boasted it saved not only 153 calories but 12 grams of fat and 216 milligrams of sodium per 1-1/2 cup serving.

A 1-1/2 cup serving? I LOLed. Who eats 1-1/2 cup of any food that isn’t contained in a Lean Cuisine?

Anyway, a quick scan of the ingredient list showed I needed only the chicken, snow peas and five-spice powder, and I opted to use cornstarch rather than the recommended potato starch. In hindsight, I should have sprung for the $9, 1-1/2 pound bag of Bob’s Red Mill potato starch since I now believe the dish would have looked Clean-er. Apparently, potato starch gives dishes a more opaque look than cornstarch. Cook and learn.

I also added 3 cups of fresh broccoli florets to the dish for tradition as well as nutrition.

The lack of five-spice powder was easy to remedy. I mixed 1 teaspoon each of ground cinnamon, cloves, fennel seed, star anise and crushed red pepper. And yes, I had star anise but not Szechuan peppercorns. It’s called cooking improv.

Steve’s eyes lit up when I announced Orange Flavored Chicken was on the menu for dinner. Or maybe it was just the effects of the Lagavulin. It was quite the tasty dish — and I would make it again — although I would recommend serving brown rice with it instead of the Udon whole wheat noodles. So much for my break from tradition…

The husband, being a creature of habit, gobbled up much more than his 1-1/2 cup share of the pan. He did not, however, lap the plate like a cat. Although I swear I heard a purr.

Clean Eating’s Chinese Orange Chicken:

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Zest of one naval orange

¾ c. fresh orange juice

¾ c. low-sodium chicken broth

2 T. raw honey

4 t. reduced-sodium tamari

1 T. potato starch

2 t. rice, white wine or apple cider vinegar

1 t. ground ginger

¼ t. red pepper flakes

¼ c. white whole-wheat flour

1 t. Chinese five-spice powder

1 t. ground coriander

¼ t. sea salt

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into ¾-inch pieces

2 T. safflower oil

olive oil cooking spray

1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into ½-inch cubes

6 oz. snow peas, trimmed

8 scallions, cut into ½-inch lengths

In a medium bowl, add garlic, orange zest, juice, broth, honey, tamari, starch, vinegar, ginger and pepper flakes. Whisk until combined and set aside.

In a large zip-top bag, add flour, five-spice powder, coriander and salt. Shake to combine. Add chicken to the bag, seal and shake well to coat chicken.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add 1 T. safflower oil. Add half the chicken, taking care not to crowd the skillet. Cook until golden brown and no longer pink in the center, turning 2 or 3 times, 4 to 5 minutes total. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with the remaining oil and chicken. (Leave any excess flour mixture in the bag and discard it.)

Mist the same skillet with cooking spray and return to medium-high heat. Add bell pepper (I also added broccoli here) and sauté, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Add snow peas and sauté, stirring occasionally, also until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Add scallions and sauté for 1 minute, stirring frequently.

Whisk juice mixture again and add to skillet. As soon as liquid starts to simmer, reduce heat to low. Simmer until thickened, stirring frequently, about 30 seconds. Return chicken to the skillet until heated through, about 1 minute.

Serve over brown rice or whole-grain noodles.

Serves 5. (In theory.)

Clean Eating, March 2014, page 41, “Classics Only Cleaner.”

Tags: #chicken, #chickendishes, #ClassicsOnlyCleaner, #CleanEating, #cooking, #LauraRaposa, #OrangeFlavoredChicken, #TheFoodsmith