Sweet and Sour Chicken

You guys. You guuuuuuuuys. I feel like I'm such a horrible friend to you.
First of all, I always creep you out by telling you that you're my best (and only *cough cough*) friends even though you've never even seen my face.

Then I don't cook or bake anything for a few days and you all start to miss my creepiness. But mostly my food. But you also miss my creepiness maybejustalittle because deep down you really love me back.



And then to top it all off, I accidentally wrote down the wrong amount of flour on my M&M cookie recipe, misleading you down the path of yuckiness. I was so ashamed when I read the comments and everyone's like "What the heck you little turd! These cookies are dry crumbly crap!"

Only you said it nicely. That was just me bashing myself mostly. But it's true. And now I know that that recipe was wrong for sure. On New Year's Eve, instead of going to one of the many classy parties that I was invited to, I stayed home and remade a quarter of a batch of those cookies and I was appalled when I beheld that horrid dough. It was dry and crumbly. I cursed it. I thew it in the trash. I covered it with a piece of paper towel so I wouldn't have to look at it ever again. 



So I started over. I figured out how much flour they are actually supposed to have. I amended the recipe. We all played karaoke. Dad retreated to a lonely corner and covered his ears praying that the new year would come soon. All was well. 

Just kidding about all the parties I got invited to by the way. If I really did get invited to a party, I would have told you about it waaaaaay earlier. Like I said, you're my only friends..... *insert crazed psycho grin*



Anyways, you will forgive me for all of my shortcomings as soon as you taste this wonderful chicken. It's Mom's and my new favorite meal. Just make it. Make it and our relationship will be back to the way it should be.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Adapted from Live Love Pasta

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
A little olive oil for frying

1 ½ cup sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
3/4 cup cider vinegar
2 Tablespoon soy sauce
2 Tablespoons garlic powder

About 6 cups of vegetables*



Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in egg and then in cornstarch. Fry in a little oil until browned (you might have to do it in batches depending on the size of your pan). The chicken does not need to be cooked through at this point. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Mix sauce ingredients together and pour half of it over the chicken and toss to coat. Bake for about 30 minutes at 325º, stirring halfway through. The chicken is done when the biggest piece is completely white and opaque when you cut it in half.  Meanwhile cook your veggies. I put a little olive oil in with them and fry them on the same pan I did the chicken in for about 20 minutes. Bring the remaining sauce to a simmer in a small pot and let thicken about 8 minutes. Pour the sauce over the vegetables. Mix the chicken and veggies together and serve over rice.


*You can use any that you like. You can even just steam a bag of already mixed vegetables if you're feeling lazy. I used 2 cups of snap peas, 1 big carrot, 1/2 of a red pepper, 2 stalks of celery, 1/2 of an onion, and two 8 oz. cans of water chestnuts. I like broccoli in it too. Just be creative.

See? That's better, isn't it? Mutual love and friendship. It's great.