Spicy Orange Chicken

I've been having to make dinners quickly before I work at 5 every day.  I found this the other day on a blog that I follow and it sounded quick, easy, and I had most of the ingredients.  This Spicy Orange Chicken is like takeout, without the high cost and it takes about as long as you would have to wait for them to deliver anyways!

Spicy Orange Chicken
adapted from: This Week for Dinner

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1/2 C flour
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/2 t. pepper
• 3 T butter 
• broccoli (optional, or any other veggies that you like)

Sauce:

• 3T brown sugar
• 3T vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
• 1.5 C orange juice
• 1.5 t. nutmeg
• 1.5 t. dried basil
• 1 t ground ginger
• 1-2 t red pepper flakes
• 1 small can mandarin oranges (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine flour, salt and pepper in bag. Shake chicken pieces until coated. Brown on both sides in butter in skillet over medium heat. Drain off fat. The chicken probably won't be cooked all the way through, but that is okay!
2. Combine sauce ingredients and add to skillet. Cover, turn the heat down to low, and simmer ~30 minutes or until tender.  Make sure it is not simmering too violently, or you will end up with tough chicken.  For a “sophisticated touch” add drained mandarin oranges and heat about 5 mins.  
3. If using (frozen) veggies, add about 5 minutes before finished cooking. (I added mine too soon and ended up with tough, brown broccoli, oops!)  You may need to turn the heat up a bit to bring the sauce back to a simmer.
4. Note: cook chicken and sauce in covered skillet, but tip the cover a little to thicken sauce towards the end of cooking time.  Sauce will also thicken if you let it stand about 5 minutes before serving.
5. Serve over rice, or grain of your choice. Enjoy!