Day 18 - Gym-Night Recipe 1: Sweet and Sour Chicken

There are two different types of "work nights" at our house -the nights that we go to the gym, and the nights that we don't.  There are also those nights that we say we are going to go to the gym and then we never make it.  Rarely is it the other way around, let's be honest.  But on those gym nights, we like to go to the gym before coming home, having dinner, and settling in for the night.  The only problem with this strategy is that I am not a fan of eating late.  I usually feel like crap the next morning if I have a big dinner right before bed.  So, with this debacle, I have to find meals that I can make in 30-minutes or less (yes, very Rachel Ray of me), but also cook things that we like.  Often times there are recipes out there that sound amazing, but there are ingredients in there that I have never heard of.  The last thing I want to do at 7PM is figure out what the heck "tahnini" is (bad example, because I do know what it is, but still, you know what I mean).  So the trick is to find recipes that sound good, with ingredients I recognize, and truly only take 30 minutes - inlcuding prep and cook time!! 

I am sure there are those of you out there that agree, so I am going to share with you two of my favorite "Gym Night" recipes.  I did not make these up, but I have tweaked them based on experience.  You can see my commentary in "Italics" below.  I also don't have the nutrition facts for these recipes either.  If you don't want to make them because you don't know how many calories are in them, fine by me.  I don't count calories.  I eat food because it tastes good, and I like to make my family happy.  So here is the first recipe:

Sweet and Sour Chicken served with Brown Rice

Ingredients
2 thawed chicken breasts, cut into 1" cubes
1 egg white
2 Teaspoons Corn Starch
Oil for cooking
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1 Medium Green Pepper, diced into 1" chunks
1 Medium Onion, diced into 1" chunks
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1 10-oz can of Pineapple Chunks; drain the juice and set aside for later
1/2 cup of White Vinegar
1/2 cup of Ketchup
A dash of salt
3 Tablespoons of brown sugar
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Minute Rice (either brown or white, you choose) - follow the instructions on the box for the amount that you would like for this meal.  We generally do the basic serving for 2.

Method
In a bowl, combine the chicken cubes, the eggwhite, and the corn starch so that the chicken is completely covered. Let sit for 15 minutes at room temperate.  I like to do this step before going to the gym.  I place the bowl in the fridge while we are gone, that way the chicken is completely covered and ready to go when we get back. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together the reserved pineapple juice, white vinegar, ketchup, salt, and brown sugar.  This is another step I like to do before the gym.  I whisk it all together and then I let it sit in the fridge while we are gone as well.  Also, I have doubled the recipe for the Sweet and Sour Sauce.  I made the recipe a few times, but there was never enough sweet and sour sauce.  Mike likes to pour the sauce over his rice (me too), so I decided to make more.  It has worked out ever since.  The measurements above is the already doubled-recipe, so no need to double again, unless you are serving more people of course.

Cook the rice as instructed on the box.  Now is a good time to start this process.  We often tag team this step.  I will start the rice, and watch the water boil (very productive I know).  Mike will usually start the next step of cooking the chicken.

Next, heat a large frying pan with high heat (you can tell when the pan is good and hot if a bead of water sizzles on it).  Once hot, add the oil to coat the bottom of the pan.  Add the chicken to the hot oil, in single layer.  We have found that sometimes the chiken will stick together because of the egg and corn starch; that's okay.  You can break the pieces apart after they have started cooking a little.  Let the chicken cook for about 1-3 minutes until browned on the bottom.  Flip the chicken, and allow the other side to brown, again for another 1-3 minutes, or until the chicken is completely cooked through.  Once done, remove the chicken from the pan, but leave as much of the oil in the pan as you can.  Mike always has the most trouble with this step.  He simply dumps the whole pan of chicken onto a plate, oil and all, even after I have reminded a dozen times not to.  It's okay if you want to do that too; you can simply add a dash more of oil in the next step.

Turn the heat down from high to medium, and add a little oil if needed.  Add the green pepper and onion chunks to the pan.  Let them saute for a few minutes.  We usually let them cook for about 2-3 minutes.  The idea here isn't to let the vegetables become soft.  The crunchier the veggies are, the better the recipe is.  Now, add the pineapple chunks and the sweet and sour sauce to the pan.  Turn the heat back up to high, and once the sauce is simmering, add the chicken back into the pan.  Let the chicken sit in the sauce for a few more moments, and serve over rice.
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The whole recipe takes about 30 minutes total.  I do 15 minutes before the gym, with the cutting of the chicken and the veggies, and making the sweet and sour sauce.  Then when we get home, its simply cook it all up and chow down!!  Good luck with this recipe, and let me know what you think.  Of course, make it your own, and have fun.