Sweet and Sour Chicken

This is a newer recipe to our family. I started making it a couple years ago when I was pregnant with my third son and doing Once a Month Cooking. I have made a bunch of adjustments to the original recipe to meet the needs of our family. The biggest change has been to double the recipe. I like to make a huge batch of this, bake part of it for dinner, and divide and freeze the rest of it. Originally I was able to get 4 meals out of the doubled recipe but as the family has grown I typically divide it into thirds. The original recipe also called for canned mushrooms, which I have omitted, and I have added bamboo shoots instead. Feel free to play around with the vegetables- this recipe is very flexible. It would probably taste really good with some roasted peanuts or cashews mixed in, but I never seem to have any nuts when I make it!

Sweet and Sour Chicken
1 cup sugar
6 Tbs. cornstartch
3/4 cup white vinegar
2- 20 oz cans pineapple chunks (reserve juice)
1 cup soy sauce
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. crushed garlic
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. ground ginger
4 large celery stalks, chopped coarsely
1 large onion, chopped coarsely
8 chicken breasts
4 green bell peppers, chopped coarsely
2 8-oz cans sliced water chestnuts, drained
2 8-oz cans bamboo shoots, drained

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake chicken breasts for 1 hour, or until no pink remains. Remove from oven and chop into 1 inch pieces. If serving dish immediately, keep oven on.

In a large pot, combine sugar and cornstarch; stir in white vinegar, juice from pineapple chunks, soy sauce, salt, garlic, paprika, ginger, celery and onion. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in pineapple chunks, chicken, bell peppers, water chestnuts and bamboo shoots. Divide into smaller portions and freeze any portions that you will not be serving immediately.

To prepare for serving, thaw meal (if frozen) and put in a baking dish treated with nonstick spray. Bake uncovered in preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Serve over rice.