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    Sweet and Sour Chicken

    by 12 Comments

    sweet-and-sour-chicken

    I had every intention of serving this over brown rice. But I got a little distracted by the Balloon Boy story this afternoon (so glad he was found…but boy I wasted a bunch of “what if that was my kid” emotional energy because of the whole ordeal). By the time I realized that the dinner hour was fast approaching, it was too late to get the brown rice going! So white rice it is.

    I also had good intentions of doubling it to freeze, but since we are still without a deep freezer, I opted to not double this meal up.

    Tonight’s meal comes from Carrie over at Carrie’s Cooking.  I also made her Pumpkin Soft Pretzels this afternoon…perfect after school snack!

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    Sweet and Sour Chicken

    Yield – 4 servings

    Preparation Time – 10 minutes

    Cooking Time – 40 minutes

    Ingredients

    • 1.38 lb chicken breast, diced ($2.06) On sale this week at Dots for $1.49/lb!
    • 2 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil ($.10)
    • 1/2 cup diced green bell pepper (free from the garden…this was the last of my peppers from the garden!)
    • 1 clove garlic, minced ($.05)
    • 1 tablespoon corn starch ($.05)
    • 1/4 cup soy sauce ($.25) (GF meal if soy sauce is GF!)
    • 1 (8 ounce) can pineapple chunks, with juice ($.79)
    • 1 Tbsp vinegar ($.05)
    • 1 Tbsp brown sugar ($.05)
    • 1/2 tsp ground ginger ($.05)
    • 1 cup rice ($.20)
    • 1 12 oz. bag frozen corn ($.49) On sale this week, plus promotion and used $1 coupon!

    **Buy generic/store brand soy sauce since there are rarely soy sauce coupons!

    Directions

    • In large skillet over medium high heat, brown the diced chicken pieces in oil.
    • Add diced green bell pepper and garlic and stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes.
    • In small bowl, whisk together corn starch and soy sauce, then pour the mixture into skillet along with the pineapple chunks, pineapple juice, vinegar, brown sugar, and ginger. Stir together and bring just to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5-10 minutes, or until sauce reaches desired consistency/thickness.
    • In medium saucepan, cook 1 cup of rice with 2 1/2 cups of water.  Bring water to a boil.  Add rice, stir and return to boil.
    • Cover and reduce heat to medium.  Cook for 20 minutes.  Fluff the rice with fork before serving.
    • Cook frozen corn as directed on package instructions.
    • Serve Sweet and Sour Chicken over Rice with Corn.

    Cost $4.14

    Comments

    4. I make a similar dish with pork when I find family-size pork chop packages on sale. I braise half of them and cut up the rest for sweet & sour pork. It’s funny, because my mom saw me do this once and it had never occurred to her to fix sweet & sour pork without breading the meat, so she never bothered fixing it. None of us like all of that breading anyway, and of course it’s so much healthier without it.

      I look forward to trying your sweet & sour sauce recipe, since I haven’t found a particular recipe I like without tweaking it.

      Reply

    5. I tried the sweet and sour chicken recipe tonight and it was awesome! I added a handful of those crunchy La Choy noodles on top…It never occurred to me to make this without the greasy fried coating on the chicken! yum!! thanks! (i have to say that i have tried several of your recipes and have never been even slightly disappointed!)

      Reply

    9. Thanks for a great recipe! My 4 year old and 1 year old both enjoyed it. This will be added to our “make again” recipe list for sure. I love that it uses things I almost always have on hand.

      Reply

    10. You can also check at local Chinese groceries if there are any in your area (like if you live in a city with a Chinatown) and sometimes find cheap soy sauce that is much better than US-produced brands.

      Reply

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