Chicken - Sweet and Sour Chicken

After Rob had Bell's Palsy last year, I made a promise to myself that I would do my best to make sure he was eating healthy and regularly so he wouldn't have to experience that again. I talked to my friend Ferren about what she does for meals. She told me that she does meal planning and actually had planned months in advance. The way she has her meal planning set up is genius and so it was decided...I would give it a try. 

I found a website called http://www.saymmm.com/index.php that does free meal planning. I signed up and began my list of what I thought I wanted to make. Some stuff was great, other stuff was just okay. Me and my big mouth had to tell everyone I know about all the new stuff we were trying at home. 

Which leads me to the first recipe I'm posting about...

One thing we like to do at work is talk about food. After all, food is essential to living and it's very enjoyable (most of the time). My managers almost always ask me every morning what I made the night before and then a new discussion about what was made and what we like begins. 

One of my managers, Amber, was telling me about a sweet and sour chicken recipe that is easy to make and is so tasty. I asked her if she would share the recipe and she did. 

YAY FOR ME! 

This recipe sat in my inbox for several months before I decided to try it. Let me tell you, that was a mistake! I should have made this right away because it is SOOOO GOOD! And it's easy! Anyone could whip this up. I highly recommend everyone to try this recipe. 

(I did ask her permission before posting this, so feel fortunate you get to see it.) 

Here it is: 

These are my mom’s modified recipes for Sweet and Sour Chicken and Asian Fried Rice.  These recipes are lower sodium compared to the original recipes.  The original recipes are on the Six Sisters Stuff blog.

Hot Sweet and Sour Chicken

Ingredients for Chicken:

3 - 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 1/2 cups corn starch (or 3/4 cup corn starch + 3/4 cup whole wheat flour)

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 - 1/2 cup canola oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cut chicken into bit size pieces. Place corn starch in a gallon size baggie or a Tupperware container with a tight fitting lid. Place beaten eggs in a bowl. Heat oil in frying pan on medium heat. Dip chicken in eggs, coating it well, then put in baggie or bowl with corn starch. Shake well to coat. Cook in fry pan with oil until done, turning over, about 3-5 minutes.  Place in 9x13 pan that has been sprayed with pan spray.

Ingredients for Sweet and Sour Sauce:

Whisk together:

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 TB liquid aminos (or low sodium soy sauce)

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. hot pepper flakes (or more to taste)

Directions:

Pour even over chicken. Bake 20 minutes. Stir to coat and bake 20 more minutes. Stir again and turn oven to 425 degrees and bake for 10 minutes more. Remove from oven stir again and serve.

Asian Fried Rice

Ingredients:

*1/4 cup canola oil

1 cup frozen mixed vegetables (or peas and carrots, or any combination)

1 small onion, chopped

2 teaspoons minced garlic (or a "shake" of garlic powder, to taste)

1 1/3 cup jasmine rice, uncooked

2 cups water

1/4-1/3 cup liquid amino's (or low sodium soy sauce)

Directions:

On medium high heat, heat oil in large fry pan or wok.  Add mixed vegetables, onion and garlic.  Saute until tender.  Stirring to prevent burning.  Add 1 1/3 cups uncooked rice, and a little more oil if needed, and saute.  Keep stirring to prevent burning.  When rice is puffed and turned white, turn heat to simmer and add 1 cup water.  Cover and let absorb.  When water is absorbed, add 1 more cup of water, cover again and let absorb until rice is tender.  (If needed turn off heat to prevent burning, and let sit until rice is tender.)  Add liquid amino's or low sodium soy sauce and serve. *I often use the left over oil used to cook the chicken if there is any in place of the 1/4 cup canola oil.  Just for extra flavor.

I didn't make the Asian Fried Rice because I didn't have all the ingredients, so I don't have a review about that. I just served the chicken with white rice. 

The chicken was perfect! It wasn't overcooked and chewy at all. It was moist and cooked perfectly actually. The flavoring for the sauce was fantastic! It wasn't so sweet it was overpowering. You could really taste the sweetness and the spiciness mixing together into heavenly bliss on your taste buds. Also, it wasn't as sticky as it looks, it was just perfect! 

My picture is pathetic and it is undeserving for this meal. But I wanted you to see what my dish looked like. 
Don't judge my paper plate; I didn't want to do dishes!