Healthy Changes, Day 5: Sweet & Sour Chicken

Day 5 Overview:
Weight: 212.5 lbs (-4.5 total)
Exercise:  3 miles in 52 minutes (almost at 17 minute splits!)
Recipe:  Sweet & Sour Chicken

Instead of the curry crazy "noodles," I had leftover millet risotto for lunch.  I made olive oil sauteed squash and zucchini seasoned with fresh rosemary and pepper to go with it and quite enjoyed it all.  I hit the library and then went on a walk with no dead snake in sight.  I wonder if he got away or if the snake had been "removed" by the next day?

Home by dark and Henry started prepping the garlic, ginger and chicken for dinner while I took a shower.  I took over the cooking so he could watch the world series of poker on ESPN.  It cracks me up when they call it a "sport."  No, actually, it isn't a sport.  A sport is something where you break a sweat, work up some cardiovascular goodness, and build muscle - none of which happen while sitting at a poker table.  Don't get me wrong, I know that poker is an amazing game and takes giant brains and great courage to play it well, but it isn't a sport.  Just because it's on ESPN doesn't make it one either.  But I digress... 

For some crazy reason this recipe tells you to preheat the oven.  Uhh... why??  I didn't do this & I recommend you don't bother either since it is all cooked on the stovetop.  Also, I have no idea why they say low heat for the first part, unless it is just a mode of caution.  It took FOREVER to get the sauce to come together and I actually put the chicken in before it was very "saucy" just to get dinner finished sooner.  I took the chicken out and cooked down the "sauce" into what more resembled a syrup or dressing and then turned off the heat and put the chicken back in.  Henry prepped the salad parts and then we ate this great smelling and tasting meal.  It was a little heavy on the ginger, so I recommend not using as much as they call for the first time around.  The only things we adjusted were that we used tamari (a gluten free soy sauce), 1/8 c apple cider vinegar, 1/8 c balsamic, and we didn't preheat the oven.  Otherwise it was the same as the recipe listed below.

Sweet and Sour Chicken with Mixed Greens
1/2 cup wheat free tamari or nama shoyu or coconut aminos
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar or balsamic
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
2 large garlic cloves, peeled and minced
A knob of fresh ginger (roughly 1 1/2 inches), peeled and minced or 1 teaspoon ginger powder
2 chicken breasts, sliced into long strips about 3” long and 1/2” thick
1 teaspoon sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 475
Over low heat in a pan mix the first five ingredients until you have a smooth and thick sauce, roughly 12 minutes.
Lay chicken pieces in the sauce and cook, stirring frequently, until cooked through (about 12-15 minutes).
Add pieces to bowls of mixed greens, pour the remaining sweet and sour liquid equally over each bowl.
Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve. This works well warm or chilled.

Serves 2-4
Time: 30 minutes
Recipe from the Clean Program website.