Spicy Orange Chicken Bake

We had this for supper tonight.  I usually like citrus-type flavors with chicken, and we all like rice now, which is a small victory.  So this was supper.  From $5 Dinner Mom.

Spicy Orange Chicken Bake
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
6 carrots, peeled and chopped (I just did two big handfuls of matchstick carrots)
1 tsp finely grated orange zest
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (from the Bahamas oh yeah...I used 1/4 tsp though)
1 cup brown rice
1 1/4 cups hot water

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 9x13 glass baking dish with cooking spray.  In the dish, gently toss together the chicken pieces, carrots, orange zest, orange juice, tomato sauce, brown sugar, garlic powder, cinnamon, ginger, and red pepper flakes until well combined.  Stir in the rice and hot water.  Cover the baking dish tightly with aluminum foil.  Bake for 1 1/4 hours or until the rice is tender.  Fluff rice with a fork and let cool slightly before serving.

My niece and my mom were here for dinner and ate this with us.  My mom said she really liked it.  My kids all liked it.  Steve and I both liked it.  It did take 1 1/2 hours for the rice, and even then it could have used a few more minutes, but we have stuff to do; we can't just wait around for rice to cook.  Even with the rice a bit chewy it was still good.  However, my niece did not think so.  She took a bite, and said "Hmmmm...what's on this?"  And I told her it had orange juice in it.  She said under her breath "that's why it tastes so bad."  Hmph.  Everyone's a critic.  She did pick the chicken out of it, and she ate the carrots and a bit of the rice.  I think she ate more than she let on at the beginning, because I think she secretly liked it.  This was very yummy and easy and I'm sure we'll have it again.