SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN--OR SWEET AND SOUR NOT-CHICKEN

My comments in blue.

This recipe is from Julie Pinkham who I do not know. She is a friend of Liza Peterson who is the wife of Cameron who is my nephew, son of my sister, Julie. Got that? Lisa just had a beautiful baby girl. They live in Hawaii and did not freeze all winter, like I did. I love them anyway.

I made this tonight but didn't do the chicken option. I am trying to eat more meatless meals. I boiled the carrots for about one minute. I added an onion and sauteed the onion and green pepper for a couple of minutes--which may actually have been too long. I wanted them really crunchy. I added a can of mushrooms and would have added lots of celery if I had any. I think celery really adds to Chinese stir fry. I also would have added water chestnuts if I could have found them. I KNOW there are four cans in this house somewhere because I just bought them a month ago when they were on sale! ~sigh~ I added some sliced zucchini but only did that because I didn't have celery.

1 lb. Chicken – cut into bite size pieces
½ tsp. coarsely chopped or ground Ginger
½ tsp. Salt
½ tsp. Onion powder or salt
½ tsp. Garlic powder or salt
1 Egg
¼ cup Flour
3 Tbs. Butter/margarine I used a bit of olive oil to saute the veggies
1 can Pineapple chunks
½ cup Brown sugar
¼ cup vinegar (preferably apple cider)
1 Tbs. Soy sauce
2 Tbs. Cornstarch
1 Green pepper - chopped
6 med. Carrots - chopped

Mix together ginger, salt, onion and garlic powders, and flour. In a separate bowl whisk the egg. Coat chicken pieces with egg and then flour mixture. Melt butter over med-high heat, add chicken to brown.* I didn't use chicken at all and actually it was good without. Not AS good, probably but good enough and we are trying to eat less animal products.

Boil vegetables until tender crisp (this doesn’t take as long as you think--see my option, above) – keep them warm until added. When chicken is browned add can of pineapple (with juice) to meat--I used a 20 0z. can of pineapple tidbits. Add vinegar, brown sugar, and soy sauce. Heat thoroughly. Take a couple of Tbs. of juice out to mix with cornstarch I held some of the juice out to mix with the cornstarch before hand – whisk with fork until a smooth paste. Add back to meat and let juices thicken. Add veggies right before serving. Serve over rice or noodles.

*When I'm in a time crunch, or really just being lazy, I forgo the egg and flour and just dump the chicken into the pan and sprinkle with the ginger, onion, and garlic powders. It's not as good, but it still works. And if you want the traditional Chinese Restaurant version, you can add a little red food coloring to the sauce.