Chicken Pineapple Stir Fry

Day one into my recording what I'm making for dinner. This recipe sounded heavenly. And relatively easy to whip up on a Monday night. Full of fresh vegetables and wonderful combinations, I decided this dish was a nice change from our normal stir fry dinners. Don't get me wrong - my husband cooks a mean stir fry and makes incredible fried rice. This recipe, though, is definitely getting kept as "something different" when we're in the mood for something fun and fresh. The pineapple was a huge hit and about the only thing I can say is I wish I had more to add. Definitely go with fresh pineapple, even if picking a good one isn't something you think you have skill with doing.

I think I picked this up out of Diabetic Living's Weekly Newsletter. Unfortunately, most of the recipes I grab offline don't print the "where" for me and I've had them for so long I couldn't begin to tell you where they came from. This one is recent, though so I'm pretty sure I have the source correct.

The recipe as is serves 4. I added a whole lot of everything, basically doubling the recipe but didn't add much in the oil department. I tried to keep my vegetables fairly crisp - that's how I like them.

So, you will need:

4 teaspoons cooking oil

1 med. red onion, halved lengthwise and then sliced

1/4 of a fresh pineapple, peeled, cored & cut into bite-size pieces

3/4 cup zucchini cut into bite-size strips

3/4 cup trimmed fresh pea pods

3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (12 oz. total) cut into bite-size strips

3 tablespoons stir-fry sauce

1. In a wok or large skillet (and I recommend wok if you have one - I might have to invest), heat 2 teaspoons of the oil over medium-high heat. Stir-fry red onion in hot oil for 2 minutes. Add pineapple pieces, zucchini and pea pods. Stir-fry for 2 minutes more. Remove mixture from wok.

2. Add the remaining 2 teaspoons oil to hot wok. Add chicken. Stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until chicken is tender and no longer pink. Return onion mixture to wok. Add stir-fry sauce. Cook and stir about 1 minute or until heated through.

If desired, serve with fresh pineapple wedges. Makes 4 servings.

You'll have to forgive my pictures. I don't have a super-amazing camera and it's been dropped a time or two (it has nothing to do with the photographer... really... ) and I'm definitely not a "stager" by any means. Hopefully I get better over time.

Back to dinner: I will say, even if you follow this recipe to the letter you might want to add a bit of the stir fry sauce. And more pineapple. I was so afraid the red onion would overwhelm everything but it didn't.

In addition to that? Make sure you cut that chicken thin. I didn't cut it anywhere near thin enough and it took almost 10 minutes for it to cook through. Finally, I served it with Rice A Roni (yes - I know - pathetic but...give me time) and next time I'd serve it with something much nicer like jasmine rice or even plain brown rice. Mixed together that would be wonderful.

All in all? A success. Yummy. Aaron said I'm doing a pretty good job with this cooking thing. I think he knows better, though, than to say anything negative. Ask him what happened with the ironing...

'til next time. Tonight is leftovers. That's the other thing I have to learn - how to cook for 3 people, not 10, on a daily basis. I never think I'm making enough and we end up with leftovers. So far, I cooked last Tuesday through Thursday and we had leftovers on Friday and Sunday... and we're having more tonight. Tell you anything about my need to learn portion control? Ugh...

If you do decide to try this recipe, please...let me know and let me know what you did to make it yummier. I am definitely open to suggestions! I am not a "play in the kitchen" kind of person so this is an adventure to me.

Bon appetite...