The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

What a wonderful day, let me count the ways:

• 70 degrees and sunny in mid-March
• The eve of March Madness
• Wife's on the mend from vicious stomach flu
• And you, faithful readers get a guest blog from moi

Yes, Chef Hubs is back with another concoction. After a nice walk to soak up the sun & warmth, it was decided that I would tackle tonight's recipe as the usual occupant of this blog recovers from a little influenza.
I'm in such a good mood in anticipation of this weekend's basketball extravaganza that I happily obliged.

We tried a Sweet-and-Sour Chicken recipe that worked out perfectly for me. It called for quite a few vegetables, but since I did this week's shopping (again pinch-hitting) we were woefully lacking in the greens, reds & yellows called for in the recipe. As a veggie-phobe, I figured it would still be yummy without the aforementioned produce. 

Sweet-and-Sour Chicken
Source: Not sure - from random recipes saved on the wife's computer

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2  medium carrots, thinly sliced
• 1 medium red sweet pepper, cut into bite-sized strips (omitted, none on hand)
• 4 teaspoons cooking oil
• 1 cup fresh pea pods, tips and stems removed (omitted, missing in action)
• 12 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 8-ounce can pineapple chunks, drained (omitted)
• 3 cups hot cooked brown rice

Directions:

• For sauce, in a small bowl stir together chicken broth, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch, and garlic; set aside.
• In a large nonstick skillet, cook and stir carrots and sweet pepper in 3 teaspoons of the hot oil over medium-high heat for 3 minutes. Add pea pods. Cook and stir about 1 minute more or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Remove from skillet; set aside.
• Add remaining 1 teaspoon oil to skillet. Add chicken to skillet. Cook and stir for 3 to 4 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.  Push chicken from center of skillet. Stir sauce; add to center of skillet. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Add vegetable mixture and pineapple chunks; heat through. Serve with hot cooked brown rice.

Yield: 6 servings
Per serving: 265 cals; 5 g fat, 17 g protein; 37 g carb; 33 mg chol; 315 mg sodium.

Reviews:
The kid ate it all and seemed to enjoy. Chef Wifey also ate it with only slight trepidation, which I attributed to it being her first real, solid meal in five days rather than the looks of it.  I thought it tasted pretty good, nothing spectacular but not offensive either. Who knows, with veggies maybe it would have been great.

Ranking:
3.14159265 forks (it's pi day!!)