Flat Fanta Marinade

I'm mostly putting the following "recipe" up for my reference only, but feel free to use it as you please. We had some orange Fanta left over from a party and it had gone flat. I decided to use it in a chicken marinade. As always, I didn't measure a thing, so your guess is as good as mine.

Here we go:

• Orange Fanta
• Salt
• Garlic powder
• Black pepper
• Paprika
• Ginger
• Kimchee flavored sesame seeds (probably not necessary at all, but I like them)

I sliced one onion into rings and had chicken which was pre-cut into 1-inch chunks (roughly). I let both sit in the marinade while I dealt with a salad for dinner (as well as a failed attempt at taro root....which I like, just not my recent attempt).

I heated some canola oil in a wok and put the chicken and onions in it, keeping the marinade in my bowl. Between stirrings of the chicken and onions, I added some chicken consomme powder and a little corn starch and stirred them in well. After the chicken and onions were finished, I added the rest of the marinade to the wok and stirred the chicken and onions into it. As soon as it thickened (which was not long), I dished out the chicken and onions.

-Thoughts after finishing the meal:

The elements of today's dinner didn't match each other at all. A salad felt a bit alien next to the chicken. Perhaps if it were a chicken breast, instead of chunks, it would have felt more natural. I feel broccoli would have been more appropriate for the meal. Perhaps stir-fried with the chicken and onions. Neither Nat or I are fond of cooked green peppers, but some people might enjoy those with this marinade also.

The taro root was a failure on my part. I overcooked it, I think, and it got too dry. I also think it would have been much better in a miso soup than a side dish of its own. Either way, we didn't end up eating it. We had bread, which we used to soak up the leftover sauce! Mmmmmm! But really, bread is somewhat lackluster for the meal unless you turn the chicken into a sandwich. Oooh! That's an idea! .... Anyway, I think I'll use rice (my suggestion) or tortillas (Nat's suggestion) in the future. Maybe both.

Using flat soda-pop in cooking is definitely an idea for cost-cutting, though. I don't know many families who didn't let a bottle of soda-pop go flat at some point and since it failed it's first use, why not offer it a second? Just be careful what flavors you use with what dishes.