Orange Chicken Dinner and Gratitude Fortune Cookies

Looking for an orange chicken dish that you can make yourself, without all the MSG? Your search ends in the freezer section at Trader Joe's. The Mandarin Orange Chicken is a family favorite of ours. I garnish it with green onions before serving and accompany it with fried rice, a recipe made with brown rice (also from Trader Joe's) mixed with mushrooms, onions, and egg.

For dessert, fortune cookies go perfect with this meal. Try this classic recipe but insert messages of gratitude inside as part of the gratitude challenge. Take the pledge and download the 21-day calendar.

Gratitude fortune cookies would make a great girl scout or brownie project.

Fortune Cookie Ingredients (via FoodNetwork.com)

• Nonstick spray
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1/2 cup superfine sugar
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 tablespoons water
• Pinch salt
• Fortunes written on strips of colored paper
• Special equipment: silpat

Directions

Cook's Note: using a silpat makes it easier to remove the cookies from the sheet tray.

Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.

On a half sheet tray, spray a silpat with nonstick spray. In a medium bowl whisk egg whites until foamy. Add the flour, sugar, almond extract, water, and salt to the egg whites and beat until smooth, about 30 seconds. Pour or spoon 1 tablespoon of batter onto prepared silpat and spread with the back of a spoon into a very thin 4-inch circle. Repeat on the other half of the sheet, making only 2 cookies per sheet tray. Bake the cookies on middle rack of oven until golden brown around edges, about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and working very quickly, with an offset spatula, remove cookie from baking sheet and place a fortune in the center of the round. Fold to create a half circle. Bend pointed edges of cookie toward each. This should be done quickly since the cookie will become hard and brittle within 10 seconds. Let cool.