Simple Sweet and Sour Chicken

This is one of those "go-to" recipes in my repertoire. It's super easy to make, comes together quickly and everybody loves it. It's nothing like the Chinese restaurant version of sweet and sour chicken but is tasty just the same. And a much healthier version without all that breading and oil from frying the chicken.

What You'll Need:
1-2 Tbs. olive oil
1 medium yellow onion
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 cup chopped carrots (I cheated... I bought a bag of precut slices at Trader Joes)
3 chicken breasts
1 can diced tomatoes
1 small can pineapple tidbits
1/4 brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 Tbs soy sauce

What You'll Do:
Using a large sauté pan, heat 2 Tbs olive oil over high heat. I prefer the pan be nice and hot before I even put the chicken in the pan. I want it to sizzle as soon as I place the chicken. Gives it a better sear and color. Cook the chicken until nearly cooked all the way through. (4-5 minutes each side). Remove the chicken and set aside. You don't want to fully cook the chicken in this step or it will be over cooked in the finished dish. Reserve the oil in the pan.

Place the chopped onion, bell peppers, carrots and crushed garlic in the hot pan and stir fry 2-3 minutes until the onions begin to soften, cooking and stirring consistently. Add the can of diced tomatoes and pineapple. Stir until combined and let simmer 2-3 minutes.

Add brown sugar and ketchup and stir. Add soy sauce and ground ginger and stir. Chop the chicken breasts and return the chicken to the pot. Stir. Cover and let simmer about 5 mins. Serve over hot rice.

Piña Colada Muffins

It's getting warmer and already I'm excited about the fresh fruit of summer. I LOVE Pineapple. It is the sweetest, most delicious fruit in my opinion. There's nothing like cutting into a pineapple and taking that first juicy bite while you're cutting because you can't wait for the finished product. The canned stuff just fails in comparison. The flavor is just not the same. Fresh is always best.
That being said, canned is really convenient in cooking. I never buy the stuff packed in syrup however. Always look for packed in water or in its own juice.
The inspiration for this crazy creation was just that.. a can of pineapple. I wanted to make something for breakfast for my girls that was creative and different. I opened the pantry and stood there for awhile... searching... what to do, what to do... saw the can of pineapple. Hmm.. pineapple upside down breakfast cake? Nah... they wouldn't eat it. A bag of coconut... ah... now we're getting somewhere. Do I have any bananas? Yup.. Yes! That's it! Piña Colada Muffins.. they'll think its funky and fun!
And they did. They loved them and the muffins turned out moist and delicious because of the extra fruit in the mix.
What You'll Need:
This recipe is a variation on a previous post for muffins. The ingredients are the same... just a couple of additions:
1 ripe banana
A can of crushed pineapple
1 cup shredded coconut

What You'll Do:
Prepare ingredients according to the directions in the previous post.
Add 1/2 cup of coconut to the dry ingredients and set aside. When mixing the wet ingredients, begin with mashing a banana in a bowl. Add the crushed pineapple and the rest of the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Fill muffins tins 2/3 full with batter. Use the other 1/2 cup of coconut to top each muffin.
Bake for 20 mins at 350º.