Spicy Pineapple Chicken

Friday, January 31st, was Chinese New Year. 4ft brought home chopsticks from school and I thought it'd be fun to make an Asian inspired dish so he could use them. Something to know ahead of time. I love, Love, LOVE Chinese food. I would eat it everyday if I could. Every. Single. Day. My family, on the other hand, hates, Hates, HATES Chinese food (so they say) and so I rarely if ever get to have it. Funny thing though, when I make food with Asian flavors my family horks it down, making delicious piggy sounds, and always going back for seconds. How does that work, I ask you? I have no idea but that's how it is.

Since my surgery, I don't like citrus anymore. I used to love oranges, orange juice, orange flavoring -- orange chicken being one of my favorite Chinese dishes. Rooting around in my cupboards, I found a can of pineapple in 100% pineapple juice. Inspiration struck. So I put all the Asian flavors into the pineapple juice that my family hates, stir fried the chicken, cooked down the sauce, served it on a bed of garlic cous cous and my family inhaled it. Inhaled It! And of course, I scored "World's Best" Mom, according to 4ft, for making something especially for his chopsticks so he could use them.


Spicy Pineapple Chicken

Ingredients
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 TBS cornstarch
1/2 cup 100% pineapple juice
2 TBS soy sauce
2 TBS honey
1 TBS rice vinegar
1/2 tsp spicy chili garlic sauce 
2 TBS chopped green onions
2 TBS olive oil
1 TBS minced garlic

Directions
1.) Mix together cornstarch, ginger, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.
2.) Put chicken in a gallon Ziplock bag, sprinkle with cornstarch mixture, and shake it up -- coating all the chicken pieces. Set aside.
3.) Start heating oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat.
4.) Combine pineapple juice through green onions in a bowl and mix well. Set aside. (This dish cooks fast -- have everything prepped and ready before you start cooking the chicken that also includes the side dishes.)
5.) Add the garlic to the hot oil and saute for about 15 - 30 seconds -- careful to not let it burn.
6.) Add the chicken mixture and cook 5 minutes -- stirring often (possibly longer if you didn't make the chicken bite-sized)
7.) Add the pineapple mixture to the chicken and cook until sauce thickens and chicken is done about 5 more minutes.
8.) Serve hot with some quinoa or cous cous and a vegetable. 

Nutritional Info per serving (makes 4 servings)
Calories: 204
Protein: 20
Fat: 8
Carbs: 14
Sugar: 12